Making of "The Next" on The CW

Hi guys

The big day is here at The Vic. We tape our 4th episode in about 6 hours!

The day started with Joe making an appearance at A Cricket Wireless store- only more than 1,000 people showed up- crazy.

We’re running through our rehearsals right now just seeing the last contestant. What I’m looking to do here is work with each one of them as I get them to feel comfortable on our stage and really work their performance so that they’re just not singing up there, but really performing in a huge way.

That takes a bit of time but by the time were done with each one of them, their performance really changes dramatically.

At the same time, we’re finalizing our script for tonight so that by the time our host, Alison, gets here, we have all of the script in her Teleprompter. Lots of tweaks need to be made and even at that point, we sit with Alison and go over changes to put what were writing in her own words.

All of the audio adjustments are also getting made so that by the time you guys hear this, we’ve worked through all of the changes such as levels, EQ, and overall mix.

Later today, we will rehearse with our mentors and then it’s show time.

Lots of excitement here in town and lots of pics and videos coming your way soon.

Be sure to go to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/thenextcw

Hi Guys

More hard work today with all of the mentors and their contestants as they get them ready for tomorrow’s performance at the Vic.

As an update to my blog last night, we worked through all of the issues getting the full set inside the venue and to do so, we had to bring in special lights to make sure we can cover everyone. What happens in places like this is the balcony overhangs part of our set and our spot lights get blocked. These are typical problems we have to deal with so for any of you interested in production, be prepared for the unexpected.

Last night, me Joe and John had a serious throwdown at a place called Carmine’s on Rush street. Let’s just say with the brick of eggplant parm that both Joe and I had, we would have a great start to build a foundation of a house and it was delicious!

All three of us commented about how much we love this city and it was a gorgeous night with the weather being incredible for us.

Tonight, we have two huge things planned, we will rehearse a special musical performance by some of our mentors thats going to be incredible and then for those of u going to tonight’s CUBS game, We have a special surprise as we will be filming the incredible Gloria Estefan with her contestant singing during the 7th inning stretch. So feel free to scream wildly Gloria’s name tonight. We’re all looking forward to being there!

Lots more behind the scenes pics and videos being loaded onto our Facebook page www.facebook.com/thenextcw so be sure to check it out.

Show day tomorrow!!!!!

Speak to you soon

Dave

Okay- I might be from NY and live in LA, but can I tell you how much I love this city! The people are great, the city is beautiful and the food is Sick! For those of you who don’t know, I am the creator and executive producer of “The Biggest Loser” on NBC and if I keep eating like this, Bob and Dolvett will want to kick my ass! Day one for us was an action packed day as 4 ambush scenes took place all at the same time. Joe surprised his contestant at Top Shop a department store on Michigan ave. The. Surprise was great. Nelly went down to the pier after her heard his contestant was on a date on the ferris wheel. Seeing Nelly yell at his contestant to get down ‘cause there’s a lot of work to do was hysterical. Gloria had a terrific ambush as well as her contestant freaked out about working with an icon such as her. John decided to setup a guitar case on the streets under the L train and sing for money while he waited for his contestant to come down from the train platform. It was great and u guys are gonna laugh. To take you behind the scenes some more, I’m dealing tonight with some issues on our stage. The big show is at The Vic theater- an awesome venue, but it’s one of the smaller places for us and I want to maximize the way our set is built without making a number of changes. Our issue becomes one of building what we call a thrust which is basically a long runway that comes off our stage and allows our contestants to walk all the way out to the audience. One thing I did when we designed is set was have Bruce Rogers, our amazing set designer make sure that this looks intimate for the audience and puts all the action right up close for everyone. But in order for us to do that the right way, we need to make sure we can build out this thrust and light it properly. Right now, we have some decisions to make and that’s why Im about to head over to the Vic to meet with our lighting director- Simon Miles- who is great - and along with my director Joe, we will decide how large this runway can be built out in this place and at the same time make sure we can have everyone lit. There are of ton of challenges like this that we need to go through every time we move to a different location and everyone on my team who run the various departments will need to weigh in before a final decision gets made. I will show everyone pictures behind the scenes as to what I’m talking about if any of you care about how we make these decisions. Talk to you soon Dave