Wednesday, February 27, 2008

the excitement continunes...

yesterday i did a show on sirius radio
judith regan
a former publishing powerhouse
worked with rupert murdoch at fox.
read press on her before
it said she was bitchy, moody, short
i couldn't find her more fun.

i walked into the studio
expecting a 10 minute interview
she asked me to co-host the two hour show with her
i gladly accepted
on a rainy afternoon in NYC.

toures from BET was a guest
and the head of the ONE campaign
and so on.
it was great.
judith is crazy
slightly out of her mind
and so much fun.
i can see having my own radio show.

yeah.

ratings in weeks 1 and 2
are strong.
.8 on average
which translates into 240,000 households
watching THE EDGE each week.
exciting.

was editing show 5 yesterday
nude modeling and my interview with a whore from cathouse
are in one show
it is a compelling show
i forgot it was me hosting it
very real
very raw.
good stuff.

next week chicago and denver and LA and san fran
it will be busy
it's all flowing
nationally.

what would it be like to convince a major airliner in america
to give me a boeing 737 plane
charter it
with a band on board?

hmmmmmmmm

Friday, February 15, 2008

today is the day

THE EDGE WITH JAKE SASSEVILLE launches
39 markets
32 states
40+ million households

ABC News interview this afternoon
Fox this evening
Ellen DeGeners and Jay Leno are calling
life suddenly veers off, moving forward
in a direction i've always imagined
always believed would happen
just never thought it would be so unbelieveable
to live.

my friend joe
in ireland
sent me a big hoo haaa thing today
to celebrate the launch of THE EDGE.
the entire state of maine
will be the first to see the show
at 830pm tonight
special debut time.

to remember the days on local access
where i would produce one show in 12 hours
in a studio the size of a jail cell
oh those were the days.
my station manager, adolph holmes
used to get so annoyed at me re-arranging the studio
pushing the boundaries, even at age 15
of what was possible in television.
bob nixon, my good friend and magician mentor
would come down to fill time
being wonderful as he always was.
kate kennedy, zoe zanidackis, dennis kucinich, ed morris
my friends and family
all on the first episodes of THE EDGE.

and now, seven years later
a childhood dream tucked in my back pocket
and fearless determination in the other
THE EDGE makes its debut.

2day at ABC
charles gibson
elizabeth vargas
doing promos for 20/20
in the studio next to me
i thought i would originally be in broadcast journalism
now, though, i'm next to those who i idolized as a child.

peace out all

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

we're not in kansas anymore.

tonight i got a call
6pm
my publicist, susan blond,
friends with andy warhol
old-school New York
awesome, connected
said she needed a date to this event
a One Time Warner Center.

could i pick her up in a half hour
she asked.
i just met her this morning.
of course i said
and off i want.
an event that was celebrating 70s comedians
billy crystal
robin williams
the list goes on and on
tv writers there from coast to coast
and off susan blond goes
pitching the JAKE brand.

before i know it, i'm being interviewed by daily news
and NY Times, Time Magazine, the AP and others
are all considering stories.
and then, without realizing
jerry seinfeld is standing next to me.
surreal in every way
for this maine kid.

i went in a sweat shirt
and a black shirt
that i had worn yesterday
converse shoes
so not ready for this black tie event
yet i fit in very well.

the week of the show's launch
this morning, the New York Magazine article is published
i realized
no more reading press that comes out
too much.

why... you might ask?

NEW YORK MAGAZINE - 2/11/2008 - Clancy Nolan
In January, Jake scores a short interview with Wyclef Jean at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square. I ask Jake if he's a fan. "Not until we booked him." Two index cards filled with Wyclef facts are tucked in his pockets, but he has no questions. "I think I'm just going to let it flow," Jake says, as he grabs a diet Red Bull. The Edge gets eight minutes of Wyclef's time, and Jake spends it mainly on small talk. He asks what it was like to work with Shakira and awkwardly tries out some slang he learned from Cipha Sounds.

yes
8 minutes on small talk
and by small talk she means
talking about the politics of haiti
and living a dream
and inspiring a generation.

clearly not a part of the article
too real for NY magazine?
time will tell
be balanced
i say...
i am grateful it was printed
and continue to be grateful to wyclef
for being so awesome.

and so it goes folks
i'm getting a taste of what this is like
living it
loving it all

CHEERS

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

pepsi UP

today is a busy day
current TV and abc are at the top of my to-do's
along with advertisers and writing letters to all the guests
that came on board for season 1.

wow.

season 1 is in the can.

for the first time this morning
i realized that my show
the show i've worked my ass off
will be launching nationwide in syndication
next week.
surreal in every way.

tomorow meeting with pepsi
at corporate in northern NY
more JAKE-shaking and awesome opportunities
all around me
ahh it's great.
tonight at the office till 10p... still here
first one in this morning.

super tuesday
a new president is moving toward the white house
i pray and hope it's one that embodies change, integrity
and gives hope to what it means to be from America
with the american dream
to live it
breath it
smell it.

more later
i have 2 months off from taping
i think i'll travel
and jump start my school in africa
moving shaking doing being

cheers all

Monday, February 4, 2008

Rainn Wilson, LA, Las Vegas and Season 1 FINISHED

yo yo
back in New York City
the best city in the world.

i remember when in september i was concerned about being able to shoot 3 EDGE shows.
last week, in las vegas and los angeles, we shot our 12th and 13th episode
the finales of season 1.
it was absoultely incredible and exhilerating.
airtran paid our way out - the tropicana put us up and LA was beautiful and fantastic.
i moderated a panel at the yPULSE convention and afterwards an old friend --
an ABC family exec came up and asked me if i would do a series for them.
open to anything of course.

speak if of ABC, disney's legal department has contacted my team and asked that we stop using Jimmy Kimmel's likeness. Bound to happen... funny. Also hot off the presses from ABC, their business/creative development execs asked to meet with me before Las Vegas and then introduced me up the ladder at NATPE in Vegas. All great conversations going on... Walt and the Peacock - knocking at the door.


then we went to LA and on saturday shot with Rainn Wilson from that little NBC show called THE OFFICE. Rainn was so much fun - in the segment, I believe he bitch slapped me with a bag of Cheeto's about 32 times.

and so - here we go - the show launches february 14th. Ford and Overstock are thrilled - so many other sponsors knocking at the door. Networks are wanting to meet - we're now done shooting for 2 months... I think I'll escape somewhere to re-charge.

Check this ADAGE article that just recently printed. Cheers y'all

Brands Find Late-Night Relief in 'Sasseville'

22-Year-Old Wooed Top Brands to His Public-Access Show
By Emily Bryson York

Published: January 24, 2008
CHICAGO -- To the casual late-night viewer, Jake Sasseville may look
like a kooky kid with a public-access show. Except his show is on ABC
affiliates, following "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in about 40 markets, and he
counts Ford Motor Co., Overstock.com and Dunkin' Donuts among his
sponsors.

According to a Ford spokeswoman, the deal with Mr. Sasseville for his
"The Edge with Jake Sasseville" made sense for the automaker, allowing
it to "connect with younger buyers in a way that goes beyond
traditional advertising," as well as giving it the "opportunity to
partner with this dynamic individual and be a part of the show from
the ground up."

Wooed the automaker
Mr. Sasseville said Ford gave him a Focus and agreed to multiple ad
buys for the duration of his 13-episode "season." He admitted the car
company was reticent to cut him a check. But he wooed the company by
adding affiliate markets and integrating the Focus into the opening
credits and the end of each show.

"Especially at 22, to have done this, I sort of pinch myself every
day," Mr. Sasseville said. "I'm a kid from Maine." He said he has been
working on the concept for seven years.

On camera, Mr. Sasseville has a twitchy persona, makes frequent drug
references and sports a ratty pompadour. In a recent interview with
musician Wyclef Jean, he said, "I'm thinking this is a little surreal.
There are a lot of people who'd like to be in my shoes. I'm thinking
it's probably the same with you."

His advertisers sound convinced that Mr. Sasseville is on to something.

"He's right there speaking to the 19- to 30-year-old and doing
something that's never been done," Stormy Simon, senior VP-customer
care and branding at Overstock.com, said of Mr. Sasseville's
off-the-cuff, show-within-a-show hodgepodge. "We thought if someone
was going to pull it off, it would be Jake. Not a lot of people would
have the energy and tenacity to pull off like Jake does."

Mr. Sasseville said that Overstock is paying him $125,000 as part of its deal.

Did his homework
"I receive a ton of e-mails from folks all of the time, but Jake's
jumped out at me," Ms. Simon said. "This guy had done his homework."
He understood the company's mission, brand-name products at steep
discounts and seemed genuinely excited about the site's $2.95 shipping
fee.

Emboldened by his initial success at courting Overstock to help get
his show off the ground -- promising the online retailer exposure to
nearly every dorm room in America -- Mr. Sasseville tackled Ford.

"Their major objection was we weren't in enough markets," said Mr.
Sasseville, whose show was in 27 markets at the time. "So I went out
and cleared more markets, simple."

He brought TV cameras to close the deal with Ford as part of his 22nd
birthday celebration. (That footage will air during one of his shows.)
JWT negotiated for Ford.

Mr. Sasseville has worked out deals with Red Bull, which gives him
free product and gets logo placement on his website, and Dunkin'
Donuts, which allows him to use company restaurants for filming.
Several episodes, including the premiere to air next month, were shot
at a Dunkin.' The company hasn't paid anything for this placement.

To add affiliates, Mr. Sasseville buys a 30-minute spot in each market
for a number of weeks, getting a bulk-discounted rate. He sends the
affiliates a 28-minute, 30-second show via satellite.

Selling commercial time
By keeping creative control, Mr. Sasseville can cut the usual
commercial time marketers purchase from eight minutes to between
two-and-a-half and four minutes. He's worked his Ford Focus into the
opening animation and ends each show with a "Jake in Focus" moment,
inspired by the "moment of Zen" that closes "The Daily Show With Jon
Stewart."

From a product-integration standpoint, Mr. Sasseville seems to have
drawn inspiration from his lead-in, Mr. Kimmel. The more-established
show has done integrations with Pontiac, KFC and Samsung's Blackjack
phone. It's been a winning strategy. Mr. Kimmel's show has gained
considerably, in terms of ad dollars. According to TNS Media
Intelligence, the show brought in about $11 million in measured media
during 2006, and about $13 million in 2007.

~ ~ ~
Contributing: Jean Halliday