THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 30, 1997 TAG: 9701300050
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: 101 lines
SHORTLY BEFORE he flew off to New Orleans to sell his new series to station owners here and abroad, Tom Naughton in Virginia Beach learned that Rip Torn had agreed to host ``Ghost Stories.'' That was good news. Great news.
Torn's hot.
With Torn aboard, it meant that Naughton, founder and president of New Dominion Pictures on International Parkway in Virginia Beach, had a big name to impress buyers at the 34th annual gathering of the National Association of Television Programming Executives.
Torn, long a respected actor on stage and in films, is now a TV star and Emmy winner as Artie, the prickly producer on HBO's ``The Larry Sanders Show Starring Garry Shandling.'' If you can't get one of the hunks from ``ER'' to host your series - or Patrick Stewart from ``Star Trek: The Next Generation'' or Walter Cronkite - a Rip Torn will do nicely.
TV is buzzing about him, about ``Larry Sanders.''
``He'll be terrific,'' said Naughton.
All American Television Inc., the company in Santa Monica, Calif., that will put ``Ghost Stories'' into syndication, took Naughton to NATPE in New Orleans. There they plunked him down next to David Hasselhoff, Arthel Neville and Sgt. Slaughter of ``Warriors of Wrestling'' to meet and impress TV executives from around the world.
Naughton had a little of ``Ghost Stories'' on tape to show to buyers. He had Rip Torn all signed up. He also had an agreement from Bristol-Myers and Squibb to sponsor ``Ghost Stories.''
``We were ready for the competition,'' said Naughton.
And what competition it is.
The giants of show business, including Disney, Time Warner, Universal, Columbia TriStar, CBS Eyemark Entertainment, KingWorld, Paramount and 20th Century Fox Television, set up glitzy pavilions with gourmet chefs preparing lunch, and stars by the dozen posing for Polaroids, to help sell their syndicated programming.
Somewhere in the middle of all that falling stardust - ``Yoo hoo, Martha Stewart!'' - was little ol' New Dominion of Virginia Beach, knocking itself out to show the TV world that ``Ghost Stories'' will be great.
``The experience was scary, interesting and fun all at the same time,'' said Naughton.
The people from All American Television sold just as hard as Naughton.
Their pitch:
``The high quality drama of `Ghost Stories' will be enhanced by the magnificent special effects from the same teams responsible for `Waterworld,' `The Abyss,' `Clear and Present Danger' and `Batman Forever.' ''
`` `Ghost Stories' is a spine-tingling, terror-filled anthology series that blends frightening campfire stories with the look of modern-day horror films.''
``Each week, our cemetery keeper introduces supernatural stories that are certain to scare, spook and shock your audience. Sometimes the dead return!''
Naughton's product and pitch was impressive, said Richard L. Mann, vice president of creative services for All American Television. He expects ``Ghost Stories'' to be playing in at least 60 percent of America's TV markets this fall.
Naughton is hoping for 75 percent.
``There is also great interest in the series overseas,'' said Mann.
Naughton in Virginia Beach is awaiting word on when to start filming ``Ghost Stories.'' The first order will be for 22 episodes. Most will be shot here using local settings and local actors.
Torn will come to Virginia Beach to do his part.
Naughton and his associates at New Dominion are doing their best to fulfill the prophecy of psychic Edgar Cayce, who suggested in a trance that the Oceanfront would one day evolve into Hollywood East. New Dominion has produced hours and hours of high-quality television for the Discovery channel and The Learning Channel.
It's a CableACE winner.
Now comes ``Ghost Stories'' and the opportunity to move into domestic and international syndication where millions are made. The selling of ``Ghost Stories'' in New Orleans was Part 2 of Naughton's hustle to get the show on the air.
``First, we had to sell the idea to All American Television,'' he said. It's taken about a year and a half for ``Ghost Stories'' to grow from an idea that popped up at a brainstorming session in Virginia Beach to a polished TV series hosted by Torn.
And in less than 10 years, New Dominion has come from nowhere to a place at NAPTE in a corner of an immense convention center, selling programming with the best of them.
Picture a hall the size of an airplane hangar. See 15,000 to 20,000 people schlepping, sampling new programs on TV screens all over the place.
Over there, Hasselhoof schmoozes with TV executives from Germany and Australia, pushing ``Baywatch Nights.'' Over here, Arthel Neville and Fred Roggin push their new show, ``Arthel & Fred.'' All American has 96 series in 28 countries.
Selling ``Baywatch'' into syndication wasn't all that difficult, said Hasselhoff, because he was known around the world from his role in ``Knight Rider.'' ``Baywatch Nights'' is a harder sell, however.
He has star power - the same as Rip Torn.
By the way, ``Knight Rider'' is back as ``Team Knight Rider'' without Hasselhoff. It's one of the new syndicated dramas - ``Night Man,'' ``Conan the Adventurer'' and ``Soldier of Fortune Inc.,'' to name a few - competing with ``Ghost Stories'' for TV stations' time and money.
New Dominion Pictures is now playing in TV's big leagues. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by KRT Photo
"Ghost stories" host Rip Torn with his Emmy..."