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Hi all,

Please excuse the lengthy post, (it was tough to compress everything as much as I did without leaving out too much information) but I hope you read it! I have been planning a project for some time now and after much talk and debate with a few people we think that now is a good enough time to inform you guys on the project.

If any of you are Top Gear addicts as I am, I think you might know where I’m heading with this. A while back after watching a Top Gear episode, I thought it would be amazing to actually take part in making that show but then I thought, if there’s not much of a chance I’ll be doing that in the near future, why can’t I make my own?

After getting excited about the prospect and eventually grounded again as reality set in, I began talking with a few people and asking for their inputs and ideas. We spent hours and hours thinking of a name for the show. Thinking about one wasn’t all that difficult; it was finding a domain name that was still available that was the hard part. Eventually we found a name whose domain name was available, and I immediately purchased autoecstasy.com along with autoecstacy.com, autoextasy.com, and autoextacy.com for those who can’t spell.

So far, the plan for Auto Ecstasy is to have monthly episodes, each 10 minutes long. To start, Internet distribution will be the only way the episodes can be viewed. As much as I believe in Top Gear’s unbeatable methods, I’d hate to totally rip their style. So I plan to develop as much of my own individual style as possible while not losing focus of what makes Top Gear so enjoyable to watch.

Reviewing new cars will always have the largest amount of potential viewers; so testing them will be an integral part of Auto Ecstasy, as it will draw in new and curious viewers. But we do believe the thing that will keep the viewers coming back is the same thing that keeps Top Gear viewers from watching another show. It is the fun, humorous, sometimes silly aspect they bring to the show that makes it so much fun to watch. We are thinking about having lots of challenges and fun little parts scattered throughout the show.

Now here’s the part where you guys come in. We still have many things to work out and was wondering what your opinions or suggestions are on these topics:

1. First of all, the biggest thing is the host(s). Having someone hosting the show that annoys everyone is not what this show needs. A couple suggestions are to have one male and one female host, and another was to have none at all just so there’s no chance of a host ruining the whole thing.

2. Music will definitely be key in the episodes for setting the mood and tone (Top Gear uses the emotions of songs perfectly in conjunction with the images). Do you think you have music that would be great for a show like this? Last resort of course is to make my own music. I am fully capable of doing it, but how good it will be is what I’m concerned about.

3. Where it will be filmed presents another obstacle. Is it worth it or even needed to get a permit to film on streets? A suggestion we’ve already gotten is to film on private property, but whose private property we don’t know yet.

4. Also, we evidently need cars to review, so we we’re thinking about hitting up a few local dealerships or even just hoping a few people are nice enough to be willing to let their vehicles be filmed. We’re hoping that there is a much larger presence of modified vehicles in the show for testing or challenges than in many of the car reviewing shows that are out there today.

5. Scripting and ideas. Although we’ve had many cool ideas for challenges, many of them are either way too expensive, or not very realistic for a show that’s just in its planning stage at the moment. We're always looking for a writer or two and am open to ideas you might have, no matter how stupid, crazy, or even irrelevant to the focus of the show you think it is.

6. Although I’ve done almost every video I’ve released by myself, I know that with a show like this, it would be impossible to do so without compromising the quality of it. I have already talked to Kevin Luc (aznkid.com) about being my Director of Photography, have a few people willing to do some audio editing, spoke to someone about doing the web designing, etc. We're always happy to hear from someone that says they can help in one way or another. The only thing is we don’t know what more we can offer in return other than crediting you at the end of the show to make it worthwhile for you at the moment.

7. Which brings me to my next point. 100% of the money I have at one time or another is spent on new equipment or equipment that supersedes my old equipment for producing videos. In order to continue to do so, we am hoping that Auto Ecstasy attracts sponsors, advertisers, or affiliates in one way or another.

If you got this far, thanks for reading! I can’t stress enough how important people like you will be in the moulding and shaping of this project. Please, if there’s any way that you can contribute to this project, we'd be more than grateful if you do have a suggestion, talent, service, opinion to offer, or even criticism.

Thanks again,

Will
Auto Ecstasy

 
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Male hosts only, not to be sexist, but its just more respectable

 
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You seem to have a point. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the input. Anyone else? :thumbsup:

 
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but when their is a hot chick as a host then people will pay more attention, and will have some interest in the show

 
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^ i disagree sure eye candy is good....but that chick on overhaulin irratates the out of me therefore making me less subseptable to watch....same with that bull dyke on that 4x4 show on spike.....i always like the classic to new coparisions.....ie '64 gto to 04'gto and so far and so forth.......also stock to modfied is neat...gives people a idea with some mods what their car can be .....for coparsions back roads and use the track....dont make your own music would come off as cheesey... for sponsers look to companies and buisness's we use (the car people) also you could always hit up Tim Hortons....come on they make 1000's off us every weekend night .....they should hook us up in return ...

 
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okay, let me start off by stating that my comment is in no way trying to be intentionally hurtful or negative to your idea, but i just like looking at the realities of a situation. with that said, i think your idea is flawed and will never be successful, and this is why ...

first off, the biggest issue you should be concerned about is MONEY and you need A LOT OF IT. even if you're backed by a major television studio, aftermarket company, etc. that still doesn't guarentee a successful show. take tuner transformation for example, that show was backed by speedvision, had several sponsors and still failed miserably. why? they had a modest budget for their cars and when the show came out, they could only afford around 2-3 k worth of mods for their project cars, which usually ended up being retardly ricey mods. same thing with your show idea, if you want to copy some of the "interesting" ideas that top gear does, you'll need A LOT OF MONEY.

second, reputation/legitimacy in the automotive field. i'm not sure who you are (since you don't mention it), but usually when i watch an automotive show, i usually pay attention to the person who is doing the talking, where they came from, what credentials they have. if i were to see a total stranger reporting on cars using internet videos, i most likely won't take him/her seriously, coupled with a low-production value video (most likely because you're doing all your filming, editing, etc.) than that just would add to the farce.

and last, which relates to point #2, reputation/legitimacy in the automotive field in gaining cars to review. sorry, but how do you expect to seriously report on cars from JUST relying on dealerships or random people nice enough to lend you their cars? also, i seriously doubt dealerships would even lend out cars to test drive in this fashion. with that said, most manufacturers only recognize automotive journalists who have been in the scene for a long time and have enough credentials to review their cars. the ONLY cars i can see you being able to remotely obtain are entry level ones, and why would i care to watch a review on the latest civic or cavalier or sentra, when i'm looking for a review on higher level sports cars which are only available to REAL automotive journalists?

i'm not trying to be pessimistic, but let's be realistic, without considering the above, an idea like this would just fail miserably or be laughed at by people in the automotive industry. the title "auto ecstasy" alone seems very childish, and not too professional.

 
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just thought of another issue ...

there's obviously a legal issue with doing the same stunts that top gear does. if anything, i doubt you could do the same things on public roads. so that leaves the track, are you willing to pay for track time? if so, again, you'll need a lot of $$$ to do it. and that just refers to using a car on the track for performance review, i can't imagine what kind of red tape you'll run into with the city of toronto or municipalities in trying to section off parts of road or areas to do the crazy stunts that top gear does sometimes.

 
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Hi goneinsixtyseconds,

Thanks for taking the time to give your opinion on the show. I do understand how important budget is with a show like this, and we're trying to do everything we can to make the most out of what we have. As for the reputation/legitimacy in the field, this is definately not a one-man crew. A journalist has approached us about letting us film the vehicles he gets (he has been getting a new vehicle on a weekly basis for some time now), as well as a few more that have contacted me who showed interest.

Again, I will not deny that you do not have legitimate points, it only makes us want to work harder on making this show something special.

Thanks,

Will
Auto Ecstasy