My idea would be to get as much ready now as is reasonable, so that on broadcast day you have stuff ready to go as energy and creativity levels flag. Towards the end of the programming you're going to want good, fresh-faced content for drop-ins. Some ideas of pre-recorded stuff that is relatively easy for you guys to wax lyrical, and might be of interest to new listeners / viewers:

• Cooking with Eddie

• Pre-recorded recap of the previous film, or "previously on FiyH" segments

• Short panellist interviews, giving background on who they are and what they've done

• Story 101 segments with Mike, giving insight on script problems

• Directing 101 with Trey

• Teague or Eddie's rough guide to editing

• Brian on the Harry Potter fan fiction he's always banging on about

• Etc.

Basically I'm thinking about segments you can use to avoid dead spots towards the end. With credits there's about 19 and a half hours of Potter, that leaves 5 hours to fill while people take bio breaks etc.

Last edited by Dave (2013-10-23 20:16:24)

I think cheap means crap pretty much everywhere, could you do the 8 HP themed dishes while still looking at producing healthy stuff for each movie? There's a whole series in eating well for less (with a family, training, or physical activity in mind).

Yeah, I think I may have to combine the two concepts.  Off the top of my head:

Philosophers Stone:  Slow Poached Egg over Nitrate Free Bacon Dashi
Chamber of Secrets: Stuffed Red Peppers, 4 different fillings
Prisoner of Azkaban: Smoked OxTail under Cauliflower Parsnip Mash (See the mash is imprisoning the.....)
Goblet of Fire:  Hand made Tsukemen Ramen in a spicy Shoyu Broth
Order of Phoenix: ?
Half Blood Prince: ?
Deathly Hallows 1: ?
Deathly Hallows 2: Pizza.  I'm done.

If you shift the stuffed peppers here, you could have stuffed red, orange and yellow peppers, getting kind of a fire/phoenix motif going.  That's also going to be the middle of the night, and you could make something like that in advance and thereby minimize cooking at a bad time, give yourself a bit of a break, etc.

Well, with the "potions" theme the obvious way to go here would be drinks, but at 4 in the morning and the 16-hour mark, alcohol might not be the way to go.  Some kind of exotic coffee?  And maybe scones (playing the role of chemical nuggets)?  (Not like they'd be rocks or anything, I hasten to add!!)

Something else just to put out there, in terms of the time/money/effort theme.  You have a slow cooker, I assume?  If you have some kind of stew, goulash, etc., you can prep it in advance and use cheaper cuts of meat, etc.  Just a thought.

Actually, Prisoner of Azkaban should just be a Beef Wellington.  And While I'm at it, Ill find an excuse to remake the Oxtail Shepherds Pie.

Last edited by Eddie (2013-10-23 22:01:58)

If you have a tea in a yellowy tinge you could totally call it Felix Felicis and get away with it.

Not like anyone's gonna be well rested enough to tell the difference anyway.

I don't want to go too far on food tangent guys.  That's a value added feature.  Main attraction is the telethon itself.

I thought about that.  It seems very on the nose, but yeah, grilled Game Hen or something seems appropriate.

I like the idea of the cooking segments, that could be really cool.

How about something to get the 'outsider HP fans' on board early? Maybe put the word out that you're looking for short pieces to camera about 'What Harry Potter Means To You?' and then cut it in with some nice inspirational music.

Pumpkin spiced lattes!

ALL NIGHT LONG

I intend to beat my LOTR record and remain on mic for all 8 films. Place your bets now for how long I actually last.

I am down with this, with the proviso that bathroom breaks don't count against my total.

^Very nice.

Not sure about pricing down in Cali, but spaghetti can be put together fairly cheaply and in large quantity.  Also, do different meats or things like that to change the spicing.