The Antique Show: Brimfield Jeremiah Pasternak Cineflix / Antique & Unique Prod.

please visit TheAntiqueShow.blogspot.com to view all (sample episode, etc) as well as my background / bio. referenced content

Every week throughout North America there are multiple antique and collectible fairs of varying size and quality, but only can be known as the show of shows. The Brimfield Antique Show in Sturbridge, MA holds that distinction. Its the largest outdoor antique show in North America, any many say the world. Each May, July and September thousands of vendors come from far and wide to set up and sell to the hundreds of thousands of antique and design enthusiasts that come to shop. Items of interest and objects of desire are aplenty, as are some of the most unique characters with the most fascinating stories anywhere. Antique fairs like Brimfield are very much the life blood of the antique and design business, a bigger character than any individual could ever be, and yet up until now they remain a relatively untapped, somewhat mysterious resource in the world of television. Over the last few years, only a handful of series have visited one antique show or another, including the series for which my father and I were on, Natural Born Dealers, which was the first to shoot a full episode at Brimfield in 2011. This handful of series have shown that antique fairs can be a great place to buy and sell, but few, if any have gone a step beyond, immersing viewers, showing the full experience, taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge on hand and near endless supply of the finest artifacts and story tellers on the planet. I think its about time to pull back the curtain and show the millions of viewers interested in all things antique and unique the place that those of us in the industry consider to be Antique Mecca, Brimfield. The Antique Show: Brimfield is an authentic, no-fuss docu-series focusing on the unique characters, artifacts and wonderful stories from the most amazing of all antique fairs. Each episode will include interviews with buyers and sellers, several individual item spotlights, questions and answers, interactive games and challenges as well as many other elements (continued below in the vision) meant to engage the audience, providing a similar form of connectivity and immersion that one might feel when visiting a curated Pinterest page or design blog. The formula is similar to a number of HGTV series (Million Dollar Rooms, Americas Best Kept Secrets), but this fast paced, content rich approach is unique in the antique / collectible genre in which most series are voyeuristic, character / transaction driven. A drawback to a series like that is that you can only fit in so much of the cool stuff in between the story arc. With The Antique Show, as with a good bit of HGTVs current content outside the realm of antiques the cool stuff is the main focus and its about showing a lot of it! In a single episode of The Antique Show, we can feature 20-30 amazing pieces (with history, value, etc), as opposed to 5-10 on a traditional character-based series (which may only include cost / value). There is undoubtedly a need and want for both types of series, but as of right now there is only one available to viewers. Wed like HGTV to help us pioneer this new type of antiquing television that will

educate, inspire and undoubtedly enrich the lives of all that watch, whilst also being highly entertaining and more than a bit addictive.

Test Pilot: In July of last yr, I brought a small crew with me to Brimfield for a single day shoot with the hopes of capturing enough interesting, real and raw footage to put together a short sizzle reel. Starting from scratch, I wasnt certain what to expect, but was confident that as we started talking with buyers and sellers, seeing and hearing the rarely seen and heard authentic side of the antique and collecting world, the type of stories I was seeking would come out. For the sake of convenience (if you can consider having too much amazing stuff in one place a problem) I decided to focus on a single popular theme of the moment, Industrial Antiques. This focus proved to be a wise decision as it lead to some amazing interviews with dealers, artisans and buyers as well as a number of really unique items that we got to feature. In our single day of shooting we came away with so much amazing footage that I knew a 3-5 minute sizzle reel couldnt accurately capture the whole story I set out to tell. Instead, we put together this 30 minute mini-documentary / sample episode all about Industrial Antiques at Brimfield. Its by no means perfect, nor does it reflect the full scope of what The Antique Show: Brimfield could be moving forward, but I think its a great starting point. It certainly opened my eyes to those elements which worked well and what Id add / subtract continuing on (which Ill expand upon in depth below). More importantly, I hope this sample episode will give you an idea of the tremendous opportunities a place like Brimfield can afford and how I am as qualified as any to curate this material and lead the audience on the journey.

At this point, if you havent already, Id reccomend watching the sample episode as well as the additional interviews we shot at Brimfield outside the realm of Industrial Antiques. All can be found at TheAntiqueShow.blogspot.com

The Vision: Moving forward, there would be some improvements, additions and changes to what we were able to accomplish with the sample episode. The first being the addition of my father, Jerry Pasternak. At the time we shot the sample episode, he was unavailable, but as can be seen on Natural Born Dealers, he is a wealth of knowledge and knows the ins and outs of Brimfield better than anyone. Secondly, Id like to discuss the confines of a theme. The focus certainly helped us when filming the sample episode, but continuing on, Id like to see each episode including a wide range of antique and unique objects (similar to the other interviews we shot). With these more broad episodes, the types of specific questions asked on the sample episode would be less a factor, leaving room for a number of key elements / segments that we were not able to incorporate in the sample episode. Below Ive outlined those elements that make up a typical episode moving forward. 1. Long Form Interviews with Dealers, Artisans and 'Special' Buyers (set decorators, auction/store owners, famous antiquers): 2-3 per episode (as we did in the sample episode) 2. Short Format Interviews:

Questions for buyers - What did you buy? What are you looking for? Why are antiques special? What makes this particular antique show worth visiting? etc (very much along the lines of what we did in the sample episode) Unique Item Spotlight - sellers discuss specific items of interest with history, provenance, value, etc (as we did in the sample episode) Personal Stories of 'Picking' - Every dealer has more than a few amazing story of finding a diamond in the rough or something funny / interesting happening with an item. This is their opportunity to discuss that. Best thing I Ever Bought/Should have Bought - Collectors and Dealers discuss that one item that they were either lucky enough to find or had the opportunity to purchase and missed out. 3. Fun & Games - Brimfield is as much about pleasure as it is business, so these segment are all about testing the knowledge of buyers, sellers and collectors and having a good laugh along the way: What's It Worth? - individuals are shown an image of a unique item that recently sold and have to guess what they think it sold for. Real Story / Fake Story - individuals are shown an item and a video of an 'expert' giving the history of that item along with it's provenance, etc; some of which are actually by experts and are completely accurate, others of which are completely fabricated. The individual has to choose whether they think the story is true or false. Antiques / Repro - individuals are given the opportunity to see and touch an item and judge whether they think it's a genuine antique or a reproduction. What is It? - blindfolded individuals have to guess what an item is based purely on touch. It's a...? - individuals are shown an obscure, hard to identify item and have to try and guess what it is and what function it serves. 4. Profile Local Stores of Dealers set up at Brimfield: 1 per episode 5. Other Elements: 'The Rush' - Single shot following a fellow buyer as a show opens and everyone is speeding around, trying to see as much as they can in a short time with interactions with other buyers, sellers, history and value of items and so on. Before / After - feature individuals that purchased an item with the intent of repurposing it and see the before and after. Good Buy / Bad Buy - Buyers have the opportunity to ask an appraiser whether the items they purchased were a good value or whether they paid to much. Buying & Selling - items for which we buy/sell during a show. Also, being that Brimfield is most certainly home to more HGTV / DIY viewers than any other place or time throughout the year, I think it would be a great venue to bring HGTV / DIY antiquers and designers all together in one place. People like Bronson Pinchot, Emily Henderson, the Salvage Dawgs, Junk Gypsies and West End Salvagers would all make for interesting interviews and we could even get a taste for what they might be looking to buy / sell.

Cost & Scheduling: The first Brimfield of 2013 is just over 2 months away. Typically, that might be a short time frame to organize an individual episode of a series, nevermind a whole series, but Brimfield is not typical. Having been a part of a full week long production at Brimfield with Natural Born Dealers, in terms of

ease, convenience and keeping costs way down, Brimfield is a network and production companys best friend. Everything is in one location and with thousands of dealers / experts, tens of thousands of buyers and some of the most interesting items one will ever see, there is a near endless supply of material. Visiting Brimfield is like visiting every shop within several hundred miles, but rather than a journey that would take months, you can see it all in a few days. In terms of bang for ones buck, there is no comparison. Im confident that with a two+ camera setup and 15 days of shooting over the three shows of 2013, we could easily produce 12-18 x 30minute episodes.

Natural Born Dealers vs Fair Dealers vs The Antique Show: In 2006 I made my first antiquing pitch to production companies and it took four long yrs to convince anyone that a series focusing on those in the antique industry had value. Cineflix gave us a chance and in 2010 our first series Natural Born Dealers was born. With this show, the network(s) that we were working with wanted a transaction-based, character driven, old school meets new school series about a father and son working together and all the drama that comes along with our clashing personalities and the items we bought and sold. It wasnt quite the series I had initially set out to make, but it was a fun project that I got to play a major role in, both on camera and off, and the final product was a success. Unfortunately, when our US partner Planet Green went belly up, our series went down with the ship. I immediately turned to Proper, the producers of Natural Born Dealers and we discussed the success of our Brimfield episode, and how we might be able to shape an entire series around visiting antique shows throughout North America. These talks turned into the pitch made to HGTV last year for Fair Dealers. After a few months of talks, it was decided that series would not be pursued and I went back to the drawing board and back to Brimfield, literally. Being surrounded by so much history and creativity in one please brought me back to my original goal of wanting to produce a show less about transactions and drama and more about the individuals, the items and the stories that make this business so amazing to those in the outside world. With 'The Antique Show' sample episode I feel that we accomplished this and I think have proven that not only do we know the business of antiques, we know what viewers interested in this genre most want to see. The Antique Show is real, it's raw, it's honest and at the same time it's light, fun and I think a pretty refreshing take on the genre. It's the type of project that Id happily devote the next several years of my life to.

Beyond Brimfield: Although Brimfield is Antique Mecca, there are countless other quality fairs and amazing auctions to visit throughout the country. I hope to be able to prove the concept with Brimfield and continue on at these other venues. Ive compiled a most thorough list of shows, auctions, etc thru the month of March to show the scope and variety of the types of events and venues available. This can be viewed at TheAntiqueShow.blogspot.com