Cedar Cove and Quality Produced Television
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When I worked in broadcast Television as a Creative Services Director in El Paso in the mid 1990s the company I worked for, Lee Enterprises of Davenport Iowa, used to tell us that “A letter from a viewer equaled roughly 1,000 viewers in ratings equivalents,” and how important such communication was to our station. Maybe that was in the back of my mind as I came to the Facebook page of Andie MacDowell and wrote a personal message in regards to her CEDAR COVE Television Series with writer Debbie Macomber on The HALLMARK CHANNEL. I hope she and the production company will find encouragement from my letter not just as a viewer but also as a writer and former broadcast professional too.
“Just wanted to write and say as a Christian Fiction writer how much I admire the work of Debbie Macomber and the adaptation of the concept for the series you star in. Your work and the talent of the cast and supporting cast is exceptional.”
“I don’t think I’ve enjoyed television this much since Northern Exposure, Thirty-Something, and Earl Hamner’s WALTON’S series with Lorimar in the 1970s. It also seems like a great vehicle for you and your fellow cast members. It brings optimism and almost a vacation feel to the type of television, movies and books I enjoy to view/read as well as write.”
http://www.guideposts.org/inspiration/inspirational-stories/andie-macdowell-on-small-town-roots
“Something that set a good tone before the series pilot was a guideposts interview online that you gave. Although I’ve admired your work for years I was blessed with the depth of what you shared about family and your life in connection to small town lives. That’s a theme I see in Hallmark Films as well as several Christian Fiction publishers. That may be the hope and why so many viewers are drawn to a slower pace of characters and their daily lives. Thank you for that interview and your personal thoughts.
For many reasons I hope the Cedar Cove series thrives, grows and continues as much as for you all as for viewers, readers and as inspiration for those of us as writers.”
Just for reference I’m 54 and have been in radio as a personality in the late 70s/80s, TV as a Creative Services Director/Producer in the 80s/90s and since the mid 90s studying writing as in fiction. Small to medium markets of El Paso and Odessa/Midland Texas though in DFW since 2001.
What was once a private hobby of writing Christian Fiction novels has since the decline of broadcast affiliate employment/production become a new emerging career for me. The doors opened in 2011 when introduced to the ACFW through a small church writers event and introduction to that organization. I have seriously been pursuing Christian Fiction through the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) and closer to the goal of publication. We are called ‘pre-published’ – a nice term the industry uses for the journey towards publication.
I have an agent interested, a publisher (Harlequin Love Inspired) and senior editor waiting on a completed manuscript, and several multi-decade published writers who are mentors including Arlene James, Margaret Daley, Gail Gaymer Martin, Stephanie Grace Whitson, and Colleen Coble.
I have a 3 book series in development for a possible 2014-15 publication window with Harlequin in their Love Inspired division and Historical sub genre. The greater value for developing writers is being launched into their demographics of readers to what Michael Hyatt, the former Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers calls ‘building a tribe of readers.’
In Arlington I’ve admired Sandra Brown’s work as a NY Times Bestselling author for the past decade. She started with Harlequin novels 20 years ago when the ABC Affiliate pink slipped her from their morning news team. And I admire Debbie Macomber’s life story as well. Its what I’d call a Robert Frost ‘Road Less Traveled,’ path towards a better life. Just one of those gifts that turns what we love to do into a potential future when careers or lives deviate from original plans.
Much like your character, Dylan Neal and all of your great supporting cast members is a life of Hope through challenges. It makes for a great series that connects with a demographic of people who appreciate the encouragement. I know because I am one of them.
Up to 2010 I was involved in co-producing documentaries and media advertising over a good deal of my life career since the late 1990s. In my 30s I earned a BA/MA Journalism/Communications in hope of becoming recession proof in the 2000s but life did not work out that way.
I chose to help take care of aging parents with health challenges and part of that was relocating to DFW for better health care. Foolishly, I thought I’d be a pearl in its Oyster but never really broke into the network owned stations. If I had I might not be close now as a writer towards publication. So part of the pleasure now was the pain to get here.
Maybe that’s why I celebrate Debbie Macomber’s success with admiration in the Hallmark films and now series that bears her name.
I admired Jannette Oke and several others whose even small novels became television movies for Hallmark and other similar networks.
Another series I’ve admired is Cynthia Cidre with TNT on the production reboot of DALLAS. I suspect similar production styles with HD now are used in your series as Cidre’s.
Your production team’s work is stunning in HD. From the location to talent its just so beautiful. I hope you might be able to pass along the appreciation for the work to all involved.
I’m optimistic that episodic, dramatic, television, with great writing, writer(s) actors/talent, and crews might have more potential to return from the deviation of so called “Reality TV” of the past two decades into quality television production. Thank you for your work and involvement. I hope it has a long lifespan and influences many other networks to follow suit. It encourages me as a writer, a former producer and production specialist and not the least as a viewer.
Sincerely,
Steve Myers
Arlington, Texas
