| Industry |
 Paintball Vision
Dick Clark, the man behind television's Golden Globes, AMAs and the production empire that has become Dick Clark Productions. But the world's oldest teenager also promises to be the man who will put the NXL on TV. An American dream?
Dick Clark, 74, Producer
-Are you mainly a producer ?
Yes, I produce television shows.
-We'll start with the one everyone is curious about : paintball ?
I learned about it two years ago with Beaux Carson, he brought it to my attention the first time he played.
-You wanted to see for yourself.
He brought me here to the World Cup championship a year ago with the idea of actually getting this sport on television. I thought it was probably the most exiting X-rated sport I'd seen, and I was sure we could do it.
-You acquired the NXL rights to get it on a network, I take it you didn't have to pay for them.
No.
-Was there a stipulated time frame in the contract?
There's all sorts of contractual stipulations that are too boring to talk about... No, all that information is confidential.
-Is Beaux Carson's company, Signature Films funding the project, or is in fact Dick Clark Productions?
No, it's a company called Olive Productions that's funding the entire project.
-There are numbers here that you probably won't want to talk about, we've heard that if the ESPN 2 pilot gets .5% of the audience, ESPN will pick it up for 150 million, if it's 1.1%, ABC might take it for 300 million dollars...
I don't know where you got that information but it's all false.
-You know that therewere a lot of other efforts in the industry to get it on television. The PSP did a show on OLN, there is another show on Spike TV, and the NPPL host shows on Fox. Do you keep an eye on them?
I have not seen any of them myself. I'm familiar with our presentation is structure in a game-like... it's structured much like hockey or football or soccer. It's structured in a way that it translates to television.
-Some people are trying to sell paintball like an extreme sport, much more like skateboard, and televise it like the X-games, or a beach party... Your company, on the other hand, is trying to plug it as mainstream sport.
It's a sport.
-And the audience is ready for that.
We definitely believe that to be true, and there will be 20 to 30 cameras to transmit something that will be understandable by audiences at home.
-Mike Ratko (NXL) did talk a little bit about this, but you are aware that the NXL had a hard time keeping a tight ship this year, as many players left due to lack of salary. Do you have anything you'd like to tell them?
No. I know nothing nothing at all about the NXL and its players.
-What do you think the potential for a paintball TV audience is?
It's the fastest X sport in the world at the moment. We just beat snowboarding and we're on our way to beating skateboading. There are 13 million participants in the US, hopefully, there'll be more than that.
-And in terms of TV audience?
No idea.
-Your vice president, Al Schwartz spoke about a potential celebrity paintball game show...
That was another venture a long time ago that hasn't bore fruit, and we haven't followed it up.
-You know that the late Maurice Gibb was an avid paintballer?
Really? We have a lot of famous people involved. The producer, Penny Marshall. Shatner is doing something on his side... Splat TV, is that what it's called?
-Talk of a feature length movie?
There is conversation with two studios about a movie where paintball is a background.
-In March, you said that you has 30-40 things going at the same time. How far up or down is the NXL?
It's on the air.
-What other sports shows have you produced?
Not many.
-You said that being a producer is like being a garbage collector...
Yes, I really did. Well, it is...
What was your worst production call?
I've had so many I can't remember.
And your best?
It's just not important, because I've produced thousands of hours of television.
-We have quite an international readership, so I wanted to find a different way of explaining who you are and the influence you've had on American culture. It's not a pyramid, it's a true or false.
Let's go.
Q+A true or false ?
-The reason why you don't seem to age is because your father was in the cosmetics business.
No
-You majored in advertising
Yes
-When you quit Bandstand in 1989, it had become the longest running television variety show of all time.
That's true.
-You believe that drunk drivers should always be arrested
I guess so.
-You became a full time presenter for Bandstand after the regular host was arrested for drinking and driving.
That's true.
-« the man was big. He was the biggest thing at the time in america. He was bigger than the president » Hank ballard ; the midnighters, is talking about you.
Oh, I heard that yesterday for the first time, I have no idea what Hank said.
-You were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
I believe so.
-American bandstand was the first television show to show integrated dancing.
It was, yes, in 1952.
-You didn't believe in MTV when it first started
No. I didn't think anybody would watch it.
-You were, in fact, the first vj
I suppose.
-American Bandstand was the original reality TV show
I think so, yeah.
-You're angry that you didn't come up with American Idol
No.
-You're not Al Gore, but 15 years ago, you predicted the internet, or that we would download music, without records.
Oh, yeah.
-You played yourself in a 1966 episode of Batman
yes.
-You produced a show called Action League Now about tiny puppet superheroes
What was it called? I have no idea what that was.
-You own the Krispy Kreme franchise in the UK
Yes.
-You're thinking about bringing Taco Bell to Europe
No.
-Dick Clark Production shares are traded in the stock market
It was a public company at one time, yes.
-You are part owner the largest independently owned and operated radio network in america .
Yes.
-You regularily watch the apprentice
yes.
-You have a reality show on the way
yes
-You will be reviving american bandstand in 2005
Hopefully.
-You believe that TV paintball will be a hit
Yes.
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