George MacArthur 2 Greensides Avenue Toronto Canada M6G 3P6 705-878-9878 geomac@cogeco.ca June 20 2012 Dear Ms. Sweeney:
Ms. Coleman has composed a lovely reply to my letter of May 1. It is dated May 15, but did not arrive until June 11, hence my follow up submissions to Mr. Iger, Mr. Lee, Mr. Moran, Mr. Saade, and Ms. Dummer, and the delay of this particular response. She says your policies prevent you from reviewing unsolicited materials, and experience has taught you that if you abandon your policies for one person, you will soon have no policy at all. However, policies are not inviolable laws, so it remains your prerogative to overrule any self imposed policy to examine unsolicited materials when a good reason presents itself, and there is no better reason than a great idea. Disney policies will suffer no harm from making an exception. Ms. Coleman also cites an interest in avoiding misunderstandings when projects are created internally which may seem similar to submissions made from outside the company. The question is, could any potential misunderstanding from merely reviewing my submission be as bad as the current ABC/CBS imbroglio? The answer is not remotely. Is my approach to getting a green light highly unconventional? Yes, out of necessity. There is a new reality series following three teams battling to build and fly an ultra-light helicopter that can climb 10 feet and stay airborne for 60 seconds yet has no engine and must be leg powered by one superbly fit human. The first team consists of brilliant but cocky former and current NASA engineers. The second team consists of dozens of staff and graduate students from a top ranked engineering and helicopter design school under the personal direction of the charismatic Dean, who happens to be a former DARPA executive (DARPA is the top secret U.S. Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency that develops cutting edge new technology for the Pentagon). The third team consists of an enigmatically captivating violinmaker and inventor. The winning team will be awarded $250 000 and have their human powered helicopter placed in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Would you watch? Ms. Sweeney, ask this question of any focus group and you will get some of the most affirmative responses possible. Why? Because reality is stranger and more fascinating than conjured fiction like Big Brother or The Glass House. I have an array of unique storylines for the show as well as deep insight into how the series would be initiated and conclude, plus contingency plans for virtually every possible outcome, but these particulars need to be communicated through direct dialog. Megastunts: Highwire Over Niagara Falls gave ABC the most watched non-sports summertime telecast on the major networks since at least 2006 and attracted ABC's biggest audience in this two-hour time period in more than five and a half years. My series will attract virtually the same demographic that propelled the aforementioned. It's a significant demographic that has been ignored by the major networks for a very long time. Let's talk.
Sincerely,
George MacArthur