DENVER — The second season of The Marijuana Show (www.themarijuanashow.com) begins shooting this week, bringing with it $10 million in investment capital that’s available to its 20 contestants. Created by Tingle Global Media’s Wendy Robbins and Karen Paull, the program bills itself as the first reality show about investing in Cannabis.
Season 1 consisted of ten 30-minute episodes, all shot using Sony’s F700 camera and presented in HD. Robbins and a small team of editors cut the series using Adobe Premiere Pro, working from her home in New Mexico. Season 2 will begin production on October 9th and when Post caught up with Robbins and Paull — both of whom also serve as show hosts — the team had already mapped out a five-day shooting schedule.
Robbins, who spent more than a dozen years working on documentaries and reality shows (and also co-invented the Tingler head massager), says Season 2 will have a style similar to that of the popular Shark Tank series, with backstories, scenes of contestants preparing for the show, the process of getting ready for the pitch, and actually pitching their ideas. Mentoring, she adds, will also be a big part of the program.
Using five cameras, and working with two sound recordists, the team hopes to have enough material from their shoots in Denver, Los Angeles and Seattle to put together another ten episodes for Season 2, which they plan to roll out in early 2016. Their goal is to have a Season 2 sizzle reel assembled in November.
L-R: Karen Paull and Wendy Robbins
“Last time, I ended up doing a lot of the editing,” says Robbins. “This time, we’ll have a team to get a rough cut together, then I’ll go in and tighten it. I work with a team to color correct, put in the graphics and music — the whole nine yards. I go into an interview and kind of am editing as I’m in the space. I seem to understand how to put a story together, but it’s important to have a third eye looking at it objectively.”
The main shoot will take place at a private residence in Denver. GoPro cameras will be used in addition to the Sony F700s. A drone is being considered for aerial footage of the scenic property, which features includes a lake. Additional footage will be captured at Cannabis dispensaries, and with the show’s sponsors.
At press time, Robbins and Paull were talking to networks and platforms for distribution. “We’re talking to Netflix — that would be our ideal — and Amazon as well,” says Robbins. “Hulu, interestingly enough, are not super Cannabis friendly.” Dish, Xbox, Comcast and video-on-demand outlets were also being considered. “We’re also negotiating with partners for large Cannabis portals,” she adds. “It’s really important for our sponsors to be able to reach B-to-B and B-to-C contacts.”