KillPhil

Hi Everyone, Happy New Year and I hope you have a good one!

A few months ago I taped a segment for a TV show called FOUR ROOMS and it’s going to be on CBC this evening (Sunday, January 5th at 8 PM). It’s a little bit Dragon’s Den meets Antiques Roadshow.

I can tell you it wasn't about selling one of the cars but rather about two books I have that were once owned by Marilyn Monroe. I can’t tell you what happens in the end and who knows, with editing I may end up looking somewhat competent or more likely a fool but what the hell, it might be worth a laugh at the next Artisano's, Saturday morning GTG even if it’s at my expense! Enjoy!

Cheers,



Phil Downe
Founder, Yorkville Exotic Car Show
(416) 920-2228

Save the Date!
Father’s Day, Sunday, June 15, 2014

For more information please visit:
YorkvilleExotics.com
@YorkvilleCars

86 944 Track Toy (3.0 NA, LSD)
04 BMW 645ci
03 Toyota 4-Runner Ltd.
30 Chrysler M66 Royal Sedan

porsche0nut

Great pinstripes!

CamsPorsche

Cool...I'm eager to see what this show is like!

ronnie993tt

Can't fool me, that's Stephan Colbert! Surprised to see anyone even marginally right of a Marxist on the CBC?

CamsPorsche

Mate good effort trying to sell the books but you'd be better off targeting a Marilyn Monroe auction or collector.

Its clear these buyers are out for their own.

IHATECLAIMS

I happen to be channel surfing and caught the show yesterday.

I am curious to know what happens behind the scenes in these shows if you care to share with us.
How much time the buyers have to research, to you have contact with them prior etc. etc.

I won't spoil it for those that may want to catch it. Besides the father and son combo on the show they really seemed to want to bash the sellers.

KillPhil

Sure, first of all there's a lot of Hollywood going on and a lot of it is staged. The Producers kept reminding me to be aggressive in the face of low-ball bids. They were getting bored after two months of filming and no real controversy. Whenever you're on the sound stage, being led around by an assistant, unless you're being filmed you have to wear a sound-proof headset so you can't hear what's going on or what direction the producers/directors are giving to the different Buyers. Meanwhile, i'm pretty sure the buyers hear what's going on in the other rooms as one of them, (Eddy) mentioned a fact that I had only told to Scott in an earlier negotiating session.

The buyers have very little time to evaluate and in fact not one of them even looked at the affidavits. i had four copies made and sealed in envelopes and not one was even opened.

They also do a lot of cut and pasting. The girl Jessica told me she didn't like me and asked me to leave her room practically before I settled in my chair. I asked her what made her so angry and talked my way back into the discussion and she just continued to "bait" me. Then she stole my line and used it. I said "The first rule of negotiation is realize when there's no possibility of a deal and move on." They took that and filmed her retort after the fact and it became her line, "The first rule of negotiation is don't belittle your buyer." Then the editors just cut and pasted clips until they think they have an interesting segment, whether it happened that way or not.

Still the fact i have the books is now out there and it'll be interesting to see if i get any serious offers.

The story of the two books can be found at:http://marilynsmissingbooks.com

Cheers,
Phil Downe
Founder, Yorkville Exotic Car Show
(416) 920-2228

Save the Date!

Father’s Day, Sunday, June 15, 2014

For more information please visit:
YorkvilleExotics.com
@YorkvilleCars

86 944 Track Toy (3.0 NA, LSD)
04 BMW 645ci
03 Toyota 4-Runner Ltd.
30 Chrysler M66 Royal Sedan

zer026T

CBC has the episode posted online... The book negotiations begin at 27:00 :-)

http://www.cbc.ca/fourrooms/episodes...ode-1-season-1

Turbodan

good job Phil. I thought it was interesting but got old pretty fast. I give this show maybe 3-4 episodes before it dies. The buyers seem like they are only looking to steal the items, and low ball every one.

halo777

I also happened to catch this right when you were on. Nice showing!

SPOILER ALERT !!!!! Do not read any further if you haven't yet seen the episode

IMHO, from my single viewing of your episode, this show has a many fatal flaws... they Buyers are generally uneducated, compassionless, low-ballers. I would say the best comparison to a successful show would be Pawn Stars. The differences:

Complassionless - Pawn Stars characters are generally likeable. These Buyers were either rude or uninteresting and flat.

Uneducated - The Buyers lack expert knowledge of the particular items, and they dont bring in an Expert appraisal on the show (unlike Pawn Stars). They questioned the validity of your supporting documents, but never had them examined. Therefore, they can couldnt make you a solid offer, because it would be a gamble. Why did they even bring you on the show then, and waste everyones time if they had no Expert? On PS, they would have called in a local Expert, and looked at your docs. Then they would have given you an offer based on their findings.

Low Ballers - In general, many of their offers seemed so low to be insulting. This was not just with your items, but with the other people who attended. In my opinion, if you are going to run a show like this and have the viewers feel some connection with the regular characters (i.e. the Buyers) then you have to be overly very fair with your offers, and close at least 70% of the deals. The viewers want to see a deal. They dont want to see insults and wasted time.

In the end, I agree with Turbodan. This will be a short lived series.

My question... Why does Canadian television suck (in general)? I am no expert in television programing (although I did major in Cinema Studies... note, bad career choice leading to me working in IT for the last 15 years) and I can see the clear problems with this show. Maybe they copied a little too much of Dragons Den (which I love, and was copied from the original Japanese show) and not enough of PawnStars. Regardless, it is just another example of a poorly executed Canadian television production. Bring back Kids in the Hall !!!

halo777

The other place where they are probably missing out on some added action is though competition. They keep the four negotiations separate. Why not bring the top two offers into one room and let them battle it out to create drama?

Dr Mitch

I like the idea of bringing in two dealers to compete.
I only caught second half of show, I dunno, some of the low ball offers seemed justified based on what people brought in. They need to find more unique (and valuable) items and more charismatic buyers IMO.

halo777

Agreed

ronnie993tt

The reason Canadian TV sucks is Hollywood attracts all the good talent. What's left is a bunch of grant seekers..............but I don't really have an opinion.

halo777

That makes sense