So when we are starting out we were trying to figure out how to pace the show. The benchmark in the US had become TMZ which was really quick cut and there were a few dozen topics covered in each episode. We shot the reopening of the King Kong ride at Universal and cut it to a two minute piece. if this was back in my E! days, I would have given it a minute but figured better to be safe and slow it down.When we showed it to the team in China they commented" nice piece but we have one question. Who is King Kong?" It never occurred to us that the character, so familiar to movie audiences in the west, was virtually unknown in China. So we went back and added two minutes about King Kong and his importance in the history of western film, then showed this new 4 minute piece to the Beijing team. "its better", they said, "now we know who King Kong is, but one more question. Whats Universal?" Back to adding two minutes explaining Universal. Then it was good. so a one minute piece for US TV turned into a 6 minute piece for China. we learned never to assume that there is any common knowledge about media and entertainment history and you can never provide enough context and back story.

Blog by Larry Namer President and CEO of Metan Development Group and Founder of E! Entertainment TV