Debbie's Secret WLIW Diary
By Deborah Gilbert
Someday, historians will write of the epic WLIW EastEnders Fund Drive of 2005, and maybe even make a mini-series about it. Til then, here are some excerpts from my secret diary:
December 18, 2004, 10:30 PM Last night I got a call from Larry Jaffee. It seems that a woman, who wants to remain anonymous, left a message on his answering machine claiming that EastEnders "is in grave danger" of being cancelled by WLIW; that the new program manager, Joe Campbell, wants it gone. The woman, our "Deep Throat", thought Larry should know in case there might be something he could do about it. Larry said he'd be out of town until after Christmas, and could I check it out; call WLIW and find out if it is true? I said sure, no problem.
December 23: I have emailed and called Joe Campbell and he hasn't returned my messages. I also called another contact at WLIW, Susan, but she says she doesn't know anything about it. I don't want to be a pest, but after a few days of him not responding to my original communications, I convince the lady at the switchboard to give me his direct phone number and I call about every half hour until he picks up the phone himself.
I introduce myself & ask if the rumor is true. He confirms. He says there is no point in them doing a pledge drive because they have not been successful enough in recent years and no one is watching EE. We have a conversation that is mostly cordial; I assert that fans are committed to the show & he says he sees no evidence of that. I ask how much dosh do they need & he says 29K. I ask him if there's anything we can do to change his decision; I say the 29K is doable; I say what if we commit to raising the money, what then? He says the only way to save EE is to hand them 29K by January 31. It sounded so flippant, I sort of stammered and asked another way. Nope. I heard right. 29K by January 31. What if we close? Nope, it has to be all 29K by 1/31. And will they offer any assistance? No; no pledge drive, no on-air announcements, no access to lists of past donors, no email blasts, no ability to reach fans that we already don't know about ourselves. He says he knows that there is no audience for EE and if we think otherwise, we should prove it to them. I say, "We will!" I say we will be in his office on January 31 with 29K hand. We say our goodbyes. I hang up the phone & think, "SHIT! What did I just say we'd do?!?" Note to self: Make New Year's resolution to be less impulsive. But immediately Dana is in. I am positive that between the 3 of us organizing, we can get this done & I know we have to try.
December 27: We've already started spreading the word via the internet and in our weekly newsletter, but realize that won't be enough. Larry wants to get Campbell's "offer" in writing before we go to the expense of mailing out all those postcards to his mailing list ourselves. But everyone at WLIW is on vacation til January 3.
January 3: Checks are starting to arrive. Larry gets the committment from Campbell in writing, and WE'RE ON! We xerox the postcards, Larry prints out the list, and Dana & I spend the evening getting the cards out, then
January 8: As the checks start to really roll in, I have begun thinking of us 3 as the Road Runner to WLIW's Wile E. Coyote, and am now picturing Terrel Cass all blackened and accordian-shaped as his latest "ACME EastEnders Killer Kit" just blew up in his face. Beep-beep!
January 11: Today a few disgruntled individuals, led by a couple of infamous internet trolls, started a campaign to upend our WLIW fund drive by claiming we are callous to collect for anything other than the tsunami. We worry briefly but fortunately they are quickly skunked by other posters. Beep-beep!
January 17: We're going to WLIW's Community Advosory Board Meeting on the 19th. Larry has the idea that we should bring all the envelopes; the checks from fans, to use as a visual. I think it's bad, bad idea. I envision us losing the money on the train. He's insistent. I feel better after Dana offers to drive.
January 18: OK, so we shlep out to Long Island, ($18,000 now in tow) to WLIW for their meeting. This is my first time seeing it and I'm a tad underwhelmed. It looks like a bunch of trailers. They really DO need the money & I'm now wondering why they've never offered Cheetos as a pledge premium gift. Even so, we had to show picture IDs to get in (well, Larry does look like he should be on a terrorist watch list). Inside we are greeted by a very friendly Laura Savini. Joe Campbell is only there via teleconferencing. He is actually in Manhattan, but on the monitor looks as if he's on the space shuttle. (Note to self: write to NASA and propose new program to send PBS program managers into space).
When Mr. Campbell speaks he talks of having to make tough decisions that cancel the favorite shows of some viewers. He mentions EastEnders, and says the ratings are low & furthermore they rarely hear from fans about it. He says they receive maybe 10 letters. A community board member, (an older gentleman with badly dyed hair, whose main interest seems to be making sure WLIW has more shows about trains) smirks and lets out a little guffaw at that.
Finally it's time for guests (us) to speak. We introduce ourselves, and I hold up the foot high stack of envelopes (good idea Larry!) and say, "This isn't 10 people. This is $18,000 that we have collected in just 2 weeks, from EastEnders fans who want to keep their favorite show on the air."
Their mouths drop open. Joe Campbell just says, "Wow." Even train guy loses his smirk. But everything goes south from there as a very antagonistic board member in Manhattan accuses us of threatening them.
(Huh??) Could he work for Corrie? After the meeting, outside, a board member approaches us and whispers that EastEnders is one of his wife's favorite shows & that he hopes we succeed. Laura Savini also wishes us luck.
We get back to Dana's garage & say our goodbyes. As I am walking home, I suddenly realize that I am walking down the street, in NYC, at night, carrying $18,000 in a Duane Reade bag. I start to run.
January 20: A stressful day. Larry is riddled with doubt. I am still confident (maybe delusional) we'll make it, based on the rate of returns we're getting. I think I've been talking to Larry too long. This battle is all very personal for him. I am starting to picture Larry & Terrell Cass squaring off on rubber mats, Greco-Roman wrestling style, in their spandex tights. I am put off my lunch and decide to go out for a walk to clear my head.
January 21: Larry's been doing lots of press. In one article, he referred to our Deep Throat (whose identity we don't know) as elderly sounding. Uh-oh. She'll just luuuuuuv that!
January 22: ARGH! A blizzard cancels our Soho House do. Given EastEnders pledge drive history, we should expect no less. We reschedule for 1/27. But the key is the postcards to the Walford Gazette mailing list. With the response from that list, we'll hit the target even before Thursday. Without Larry's list, we'd be in deep.... snow.
January 25: Where did January go? I know I had it here somewhere... We have our second event at Fiddlesticks. We decide that the owner, Nathaniel, should be added to the Queen's Honour's list.
January 26: I jump the gun & email WLIW to tell them we have all the money (we actually don't yet, but I can tell from what is coming in the daily mail, and by the RSVPs for Soho House, that we will comfortably go over).
I ask for an appointment for the 3 of us to bring in the money. Larry & Dana panic, but I didn't want to wait til the last minute to notify them, then not be able to reach them in time.
January 27: We hit the target early in the day & the Soho House event takes us over. And BTW, EastEnders looks FABULOUS on the big screen in the screening room!
January 31: We 3 go to WLIW's offices in Manhattan to hand over the dosh collected from fans. Laura, Joe & Susan spent about 90 minutes with us listening to what we have to say. They are very gracious and thoughtful.
The meeting is very fruitful & the upshot is; they want to meet with us again after their March pledge to discuss how they can improve future pledge drives for EastEnders. VICTORY! A month ago they were insisting that there was no audience & now they are talking future! BRILLIANT RESULT! And not a moment too soon. Poor Larry looks like he's aged about 15 years in the last month.
And in the end, despite the stress of having just a month to raise the money, we are really lucky (and grateful) that WLIW did offer us a reprieve. The fact is; it is their station & they could have just said it's a done deal. But they did offer us a chance & we ran with it!
Post script: I'm thinking that when they make the mini-series of this magilla, the casting should be: Rob Schneider as Larry Jaffee, Sandra Bernhard as Dana Gordon & Debra Winger as moi (Deep Throat as herself, or course). But if it's an animated feature, we'll do our own voices. Beep-beep!
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