I had two things going for me. First, I was a big ballroom dance fan, having learned it in the 1990’s and taught it at Arthur Murray in the 2000’s. Second, I knew how to pitch television show ideas, having taken pitches with the executives at Genesis Entertainment and New World Entertainment earlier in my career, and having been hired to pitch clients’ ideas to agents and broadcasters when I founded Malibu Marketing.
I knew a good idea when I heard one. And one I had myself in early 2004 was a ballroom dancing show with celebrities dancing in competition.
I called it “Gotta Dance!”
It was at the NATPE (National Assn. of Television Programming Executives) Conference in January where I first brought the idea to a potential producer and distributor.
From my Journal, January 19, 2004:
NATPE Day 2 in Las Vegas. After breakfast I headed back to the convention center at the Venetian. The larger distributors were in suites instead of on the show floor, and while I paid respects to a few old friends up there, it was not a good feeling. They are in suites because they don’t want walk-through traffic…just appointments. Not a very welcoming feeling at all. Back on the show floor, though, was a different story. Wayne Lepoff and Stan Katzer introduced me to an executive from the Good Life Network, to whom I pitched an idea for a TV show with ballroom dancing and celebrities. He liked the idea, and I’ll now write it up to send in for formal consideration. Wouldn’t it be exciting to get that on the air!
Exciting indeed! The next day, back in Los Angeles, I started typing up a presentation. It took a few versions before I got it just right, including the idea to make it more exciting by adding celebrities.
January 20, 2004:
Started typing up the power point presentation this morning. “Gotta Dance!” is now “Celebrity Gotta Dance!” and I’ll send it off tomorrow to the Good Life Network, who I met with Wayne yesterday at NATPE.
I was excited. There had been ballroom dance competitions on PBS but never anything like this.
The Power Point pages were concise:
Page 1:
Celebrity GOTTA DANCE! One Hour Weekly Series featuring MUSIC! DANCE! CELEBRITIES!
Page 2:
An original concept combining the fun of Ballroom Dance Competition with the excitement of American Idol!
The ensuing pages outlined the show itself.
In Segment One, celebrities would be paired up with their partners and a professional choreographer, choose the type of dance and music they wish to perform.
In segment Two:
The rehearsals are taped and cut down into three-minute montages with music, fun and perhaps a few stumbles which lead into…
Segment Three:
THE COMPETITION
Each pair performs to a two-to-three-minute piece of music in front of a studio audience!
The audience selects a winner and the winning contestant receives cash or a sponsored prize!
More pages in the pitch included these points:
+ There’s an unlimited pool of actors and actresses from whom to attract celebrity guests.
+ This advertiser-friendly format can also feature sponsored bumpers and vignettes with dancing tips from the professionals!
+ Everyday guys dream about leading a glittering starlet across the dance floor, as women swoon when thinking of being led across the floor with a handsome leading man! (okay, maybe I stretched that one a bit)
+ Hosted by a talented, humorous, engaging emcee…Bob Eubanks (Bob has been a friend of mine since I was a writer on “The Newlywed Game”).
+ A franchise in the making! Kids Gotta Dance! Miami Gotta Dance (or other regional versions)! Gotta Salsa! Gotta Swing!
And so on, and so on…
I made a few copies and set up a few meetings to see if my idea would gain any traction.
February 17, 2004:
Tuesday. Went with Wayne Lepoff to pitch my Celebrity Gotta Dance show to Rob Word at PAX-TV. I used to work with Rob at Lionsgate, so it was nice catching up, but he wasn’t interested in the show.
That rejection, along with a “no” from Good Life, took the wind out of my sails and I readjusted my focus from working as a consultant to finding another fulltime job in television.
That job arrived in early 2005, when I was hired as the Creative Services Director at television station KUSI in San Diego, leaving my years in the world of television production and syndication behind me.
Every now and then something would come up that reminded me of “the old days,” usually station visits by salesmen I used to work with, or calling my former counterparts at the studios for promotion materials related to shows we were running on KUSI.
But one blast from the past hit me like a ton of bricks when I got this call:
June 27, 2005:
Got an interesting call from Wayne today. He asked if I knew about this dancing show on ABC that seemed to be doing very well. I admitted I did not. He told me it was an awful lot like the show I created last year and pitched around town. Hmmm…this worries me. I know what happens in Hollywood and how ideas get stolen. I will have to look into this.
I hadn’t heard about “Dancing with the Stars” but was getting a sinking feeling inside. I looked online and did a bit of research, but wouldn’t make any judgements until I saw it on TV myself.
July 2, 2005:
Saturday. Watched what’s become the hottest show on TV this summer…”Dancing with the Stars,” which is very close to the show idea I registered a year ago, “Celebrity Gotta Dance!” The Good Life Network and others passed on it, but I should have taken it to ABC, which now has “Dancing with the Stars.” Apparently, ABC’s show is based on a version seen on British TV, so I don’t feel ripped off directly. Unless that show was ripped off from me!
As it turned out, “Dancing with the Stars” was based on the British television show “Strictly Come Dancing” that debuted on BBC One on May 15, 2004, four months after I first pitched my version. Knowing how slowly the wheels of television deals turn, I figured it had to have been in production earlier than that. I eventually read online that the idea was pitched to BBC One sometime in 2023. I can remain skeptical, but realistically I can’t imagine an idea pitched to the BBC in late January getting the green light and into preproduction in time to debut in mid-May. So I let go of any idea of pursuing a lawsuit. And I became a big fan of “Dancing with the Stars.”
Interestingly, I didn’t think much about what might have been after that, but someone else did. Two years later.
April 23, 2007
After a busy day at KUSI, it was our Monday night routine at home for the past few months…dinner and “Dancing with the Stars,” “Deal or No Deal” and “24.”
Speaking of “Dancing with the Stars,” when I was talking to Wayne yesterday he told me something interesting. The celebrity dancing show I created and pitched with him to a cable network three years ago at NATPE could have been a franchise show, but the programming executive we pitched was too dumb to recognize it. Well, Wayne ran into him recently and the guy told Wayne that passing on my show was a huge mistake. Small consolation, but at least the guy admits to making the dumbest decision of his career!
One final note on “Dancing with the Stars.” A year and a half after that, the show was doing a live tour with their professionals which eventually came to San Diego.
December 17, 2008
Wednesday. In to KUSI early, where we were expecting three of the stars from this year’s “Dancing with the Stars” tour to be guests on “Good Morning San Diego.” Only one of the three showed up, however. The one the girls in the office were all gaga for wasn’t the one…Maks Chmerkovskiy apparently overslept…a big disappointment. The one who did come was adorable Cheryl Burke, my favorite among the professional women dancers on the show. She was very gracious and posed for photos with everyone. I gave her a ride back to her hotel downtown after the show and enjoyed talking about “Dancing with the Stars.” It’s just work to her…she doesn’t get caught up in the competition. Cheryl was very sweet. What came across to me was that she’s really still a young girl, and she’s handling her celebrity very well. Doesn’t seem to have gone to her head. She’s a dancer, not someone acting like a “star.”
Cheryl Burke performed during 16 seasons of the show, and to this day remains my favorite dancer to have been on the show.
So many years later, “Dancing with the Stars” is still going strong on ABC, and my career, which could have taken a much different trajectory had executives at the Good Life Network or PAX-TV made a different choice when I pitched them “Celebrity Gotta Dance!” in 2004, has still been remarkable, although significantly less lucrative.
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Wow, that is so interesting, and yes, your career could have taken a very different turn. But still nice to know the idea caught on quickly and so very wonderful to see such energy and hard work from the professional dancers, and celebs 🥰🥰