UK people - wanna be the next Mythbusters...?

[mikeselectricstuff]

From the London Hackspace mailing list :

Hello

My name’s Matt Haydock and I work for Bullseye Productions. We have
just been commissioned by Sky One to make a great new show
provisionally called 'Gadget Shop', an electronic, robotic,
mechanical, gadget show set in a high tech shop. I’m currently casting
to find an expert, or team of experts who would be interested in being
our team of experts who will be required to build  and experiment with
outlandish, bespoke gadgets and groundbreaking, unique, electronic
inventions.

The show will be a heavily produced reality/documentary show set in
out fictional gadget shop. At the front of house we will have our
small retail team in a shop which will be swarming with gadgets from
Audio Visual equipment to i-phones, remote controlled good and
electronics, gadgets and robotics of all kinds. We will have customers
coming into the shop and discussing and purchasing high street gadgets
but the substance of the show will be the parts where customers
require extremely wild and bespoke gadgetry.
In these parts of the show the customers’ request will be sent to the
‘workshop’, an area run by our two or three experts who can design and
build anything.
It could be anything from a hover board to a waterproof TV on a
robotic arm or maybe someone will want their i-phone tripped out so
that it can start the engine on their car. They’ll be wacky inventions
which will need an expert to explain the best way to tackle the
problem before taking on the challenge and providing a finished
product.

What we are currently trying to find is that expert. Someone who can
take on any challenge in the world of electronics, robotics and
mechanics and be our version of the ‘Myth Busters’ guys.

On Wedenseday the 2nd of February, we will be at the London Hackspace
casting for the show. In the afternoon we have Proffesors, elecronic
experts and inventors coming from all over to audition as part of our
gadget team and in the morning we are hoping to hold auditions for
anyone who is acociated with the Hackspace. We ask anyone who is
ineterested to pop along with something they are working on or have
worked in and talk us through it in a sort of 'Dragons Den' style. We
will be filming a few pick ups for the pilot and hopefully we'll get
some good ideas as to who would like to be part of our gadget team. So
if you are a confident mech and tech head who is up for playing with
gadgets and feels they are capable of tackling all sorts of problems
using technical wizardry then please get in touch or turn up between
10:30 and midday on Wednesday.

It will be a lot of fun and it’s a great opportunity. If you are
interested in being a part of this project or have any information
that might help me find a suitable candidate then I’d love to hear
from you.

I’ve pasted the treatment below so you can find out more about the
show if I haven’t explained it very well.

Thanks and hope to see you soon

Matt
02031893508
matt.haydock@bullseyetv.co.uk

The Format

This produced observational series takes us behind the scenes of our
real gadget store.  The store is staffed by outlandish and big
characters who know their onions when it comes to consumer electronics
and gadgets...and we will follow their day to day dealings with real &
cast customers who are looking for the latest electronic wonders, from
the best cameras to the ultimate TV’s. (This is where we will get the
nuts and bolts of the consumer review and take out of any gadget show)
Alongside this everyday reality, we will follow stories of customers
who need something a little (or rather a lot) different. In each
episode we will feature several of these customers (cast by the
production team) who will visit the shop with a unique, weird or
totally extravagant need.
They will want a device so crazy that they can’t just pick it up of
the shelf.
It might be a machine that allows a young boy to remotely feed their
dog using Wi-Fi or perhaps a fish tank that revolves to reveal a home
cinema set up for the discerning teenage daughter of the home? Or
perhaps it’ a Dad who wants to give their son the ultimate car related
boys’ toy for his 18th Birthday and for the Gadget shop to come up
with something totally unique or a wife who wants to “prank” her golf
obsessed husband with the “buggy of doom”.
When faced with such an outlandish request, the Gadget staff will
inform the customer that although they don’t have it hand, they have
the capabilities to design, create and build it for them ‘out back’.
This is our cue to cut to “The Gadget Factory” our secret lab/workshop
(think Q’s testing centre from James Bond, the BatCave or the fantasy
reality of SpyKids all with a sprinkle of Willy Wonka) in reality a
set designed studio space where “real world” rules don’t apply.
Working here at the beck and call of the Gadget Shop staff is The
Gadget Production team will be a hand-picked group who are the best
specialists in their field (whether robotics, electronics, fight,
remote controls, software, special effects) – each will have their own
speciality – and between them they believe they can build
anything...We will also be able to call on the odd “Mad Professor” – a
genuine PhD or leading thinker in any given relevant area of science
who can add a bit more detail and information when and if needed.
The team will work to make the client’s dream a reality. We will
witness the process from conception to design through to installation;
using the latest robotics, electronics, computer programming...and a
vivid imagination.  They will build prototypes, integrate gadgets,
construct machinery and do whatever it takes to create a fully
functioning, original device.
After they have built their new contraption they will either invite
the customer to come back to the shop to pick it up, or if necessary,
visit the client’s home to install it either way we will see it put to
use (and to the test) always leaving our customers (and viewers)
satisfied.

Matt Haydock
Development Research
Bullseye Productions
Entertaining. Effective. Original.

[Mechatrommer]

can somebody make it short for me plssss.

[Zad]

A UK TV production company are recording an entertainment "reality" show based on hacking gadgets. To be honest, it has all been done before by other shows.

It is set in a fake "shop" where they get (mostly fake) customers that want "the best camera" or whatever, which provides the show with an excuse to do a comparative camera review.

Another set of (fake) customers come in and request something like a fish tank that turns around to reveal a big television, which your people get the task of making.

I think that about covers it. Despite them saying Mythbusters a lot, it seems to be absolutely NOTHING like Mythbusters. I would love to go along, except I hate London, the competition would be fearsome, I am too old / wrong sex / not whacky enough. And I hate seeing myself in a mirror, never mind on TV.

[Sionyn]

Imagen the headache from a job like that.

there never going to find a expert like that 

let alone legal implications hacking such devices 

its doable put probably not in the time frame they have in mind plus 3 experts man are they kidding them selves

plus i bet pay is cheep

no way could they afford me

as dave says 'think McFly'

and yes not mythbusters

[Bored@Work]

It is set in a fake "shop" where they get (mostly fake) customers that want "the best camera" or whatever, which provides the show with an excuse to do a comparative camera review.

Almost. This is the part where the sponsors pay for getting their products "honestly" and "independently" discussed and recommended.

You know, the honest part will be that the sponsor paying the most will honestly see his product promoted most. The independent part will be that the recommendation will be independent of any product merits, function or quality.

Since they really don't need engineers to run that show, but posers, they won't have any problems to fill the vacant "expert" positions. Doesn't London have some acting schools where they can find actors. Well, thinking about it, some dosser from the street would probably do, too.

[Zad]

It doesn't usually work that way on UK mainstream media (Sky1 is definitely mainstream now). They will almost certainly be openly sponsored by PC World, Maplin, Jessops, or an appropriate sponsor who will get trade no matter what camera wins.

[EEVblog]

IIRC Mythbusters was in fact going to be show like this.
With a show host who narrates the myth and tells the story etc, and then briefly handing over to the "guys in the shop" to build something to test it.
But once the producers saw how well Jamie and Adam worked together, they dropped the format and just had them host the show.

Sounds like a TV show designed by committee.

Dave.

[Wim_L]

Hmm, would it be a bad thing if the devices accidentally or intentionally drowned/electrocuted/dismembered/(insert list of other gruesome ends here) the customers? I bet it would boost the program's ratings!

I guess Sionyn did have a point when mentioning the legal implications. I guess it's OK in Mythbusters because they mostly only endanger themselves 

[EEVblog]

It is set in a fake "shop" where they get (mostly fake) customers that want "the best camera" or whatever, which provides the show with an excuse to do a comparative camera review.

Almost. This is the part where the sponsors pay for getting their products "honestly" and "independently" discussed and recommended.

You know, the honest part will be that the sponsor paying the most will honestly see his product promoted most. The independent part will be that the recommendation will be independent of any product merits, function or quality.

*snort*

Since they really don't need engineers to run that show, but posers, they won't have any problems to fill the vacant "expert" positions. Doesn't London have some acting schools where they can find actors. Well, thinking about it, some dosser from the street would probably do, too.

Boobs compulsory.

Dave.