During my epic road trip that inspired the book Precious Cargo: The Journey Home, a few other ideas came about. One of which was a a TV show mash up of Extreme MakeOver: Home Edition and Animal Cops: Detroit. Most shelters in America can hardly be called a shelter by definition. They are Death Row, just lines of cages and kennels where animals wait to be euthanized. But there were some that took another approach--one of rehabilitation, of beauty, of... all things, true shelter. They took out the cages and kennels and gave cats large rooms to live together, and the dogs lived in living room like settings behind doors and windows that the public could look through, the step through and meet the homeless canine. I believe every shelter can be that. But it's going to take education and opportunity, and what better way than to televise the process? Not only will it create change in and of itself, but it will inspire change across the nation.
I've attended conferences and classes and toured shelters across America in order to gain inspiration, to seek change, to see what's right, and to see what's wrong with the system. Making a shelter into an adoption center to compete with malls is just one step. It's also got to be a safe haven from the inside out. Not just kennels in the back and a pretty facade for the public, but a place where no animal ends up behind bars again.
In 2011, four years after the seed began to grow in my mind and I started my journey of discovery and education, I produced a pitch reel with a couple of great hosts willing to donate their time and using photographs I had taken and others from websites of shelters I hadn't yet visited. Here it is:
I've attended conferences and classes and toured shelters across America in order to gain inspiration, to seek change, to see what's right, and to see what's wrong with the system. Making a shelter into an adoption center to compete with malls is just one step. It's also got to be a safe haven from the inside out. Not just kennels in the back and a pretty facade for the public, but a place where no animal ends up behind bars again.
In 2011, four years after the seed began to grow in my mind and I started my journey of discovery and education, I produced a pitch reel with a couple of great hosts willing to donate their time and using photographs I had taken and others from websites of shelters I hadn't yet visited. Here it is:
After an eight-month option 2011-2012, the project went dormant again. I'm currently seeking a production company to partner with to hit the ground running. I have the shelters, I have the contacts, I have the designs in mind, I have the knowledge of how to get it done, and I have a decade and a half of working in the entertainment business behind the scenes. Now I just need the right partner to bring it to the screen.
If this speaks to you as something you'd like to get involved with, please contact me at [email protected].
If this speaks to you as something you'd like to get involved with, please contact me at [email protected].