Media Partner Info
The Urban green partnership was born out of frustration in 2005. New sustainable home products, like solar paneling and heat pumps, came on the market as the past few years brought a new level of environmental consciousness, but there became a difficulty for the average person to learn how to make his or her home energy efficient according to budgetary needs. Our goal is to bridge that gap and help people integrate sustainability into their lives through example, education, and innovation.
UGP’s outlook differs from many other environmental groups. While environmental concerns are important to us they are not the sole impetus to adoption of sustainable practices. We stress that monetary and economic reasons are equally important motivators for such adoption. UGP strives to show consumers how truly environmentally sound practices can deliver tangible financial benefits (as evidenced by the recent “greening” of such multi-national conglomerates as Wal-Mart and BP whose environmental practices are driven by achieving a higher bottom line).
In 2006 UGP launched the 1st Philly Greenfest, which hosted about 60 exhibitors and 7,000 attendees. The event has steadily grown and in our 4th year (Sept 2009) we hosted over 25,000 attendees and over 200 vendors. Each year this event has helped to increase the awareness and connect people with organizations that can facilitate the pursuit of sustainable practices.
UGP is building upon the success of Greenfest Philly with the Philly 2 Zero (P20) project. P20 will be a 3-5 year installation at the NE Corner of Broad St & South Street in the heart of Philadelphia. P20 consists of the Eco Arts Building, an urban farm, a documentary about the designing and building of the Eco Arts Building, and the filming of the Green Life television series about the people who live in the Eco Arts Building.
UGP is searching for a media partner on the Philly 2 Zero (P20) project. Finding a media partner will be an integral part of P20 project and the following few pages outline the expectations of our organization.
What UGP is looking for in a Media Partner
UGP is looking for two major pieces of content: the first documentary style content about the planning, designing and construction of the P20 Project.
UGP’s media partner on the P20 Project will be responsible for creating two types of content. The first will TV show that chronicles the construction and operation of the EAB, urban farm and the numerous activities that will be take place at the P20 site, once complete.
Treatment for the Green Life
Authors : Dave Krupp, JJ Biel-Goebel, Laurie Fitzpatrick
Genre: Reality Series
Title: “The Green Life”. Where We Watch What Going Green Really Does to People.
Logline (short pitch): “the Biggest Loser” meets “the Real World” with the “John and Kate plus Eight” audience. Follow a group of 20 something’s, an elderly couple, and a family of 4 as they learn how to live green, work green, and save green while competing for the million dollar prize and the title of greenest people in the US.
Synopsis: “the Green Life” fills the void that people everywhere are experiencing in today’s Green washed world as they try to sift their way through seemingly infinite amounts of information on living a greener life as they find their own ways to save their pocket book and the planet.
Get inside the lives of three diverse groups of tenants who live in Philadelphia, PA — the grimy cash strapped City of Brotherly Love — and learn despite many obstacles what it takes to become one of the greenest people in the US. Watch these folks juggle the demands of growing their own food, changing to a vegan diet, conserving energy and saving money, all while still living the American lifestyle. As these groups compete against each other to have the lowest carbon footprint in the house, viewers will enjoy a front row seat to watch all the tension that arises as roommates and loved ones point out each other’s green shortcomings as the competition heats up.
- Watch the 20 something’s go to school, work and the bar as they try to change their lifestyles while dealing with the pressures from their peer group to be cool.
- Watch the elderly couple struggle through the adage of you can’t teach an old dog new tricks in hopes of saving their nest egg.
- Watch the family of four go through the already stressful act of raising kids with the additional challenges of greening two kids in Philly’s not so green world of cheese steaks and peer pressure.
Go on their dates, family outings, and their vacations as each of these groups juggle the carbon and financial implications of every decision they make throughout their day.
Relive the best part of it all: recapping each groups’ escapades from the previous week with a panel of judges who will point out all of the green and non green things each group did. And when you disagree wildly with one of our judges’ decisions…you will get to let them know! The audience will be instructed to vote and reverse key decisions made by the judges in that episode, which could help or hurt one or all of the groups. After the audience votes with a phone call, text message, or website poll, the judges will be informed that America disagrees with them and their decision needs to be reversed. Watch how our judges and our competitors deal with the audience scrutiny. Then have the audience, competitors and the judges take to the website forums to discuss how it all played out.
The three groups will live in apartments in the Philly 2 Zero (P20) project (greenest urban building in the US). They will have a quarter of an acre urban farm, and live next to a subway station. The 3rd fl apartments and common area will be built specifically for the show to allow access to the cast a crew. The second floor will house offices for the crew, while the first floor is reserved for a green coffee shop and nonprofit office where the crew will work. The entire project is situated in a neighborhood that has transformed this vacant parcel of land in Center City Philadelphia into a green space that, and P20 contestants, community gardeners, and neighbors will have to make room for each other in this already crowded Philadelphia neighborhood.
“the Green Life” will drive audience, competitor and judge interaction as the elderly couple, the family of four and the 20 something’s are all looking to win a million dollars for their apartment. The show and the web site will provide an online social network matrix, like Facebook or Twitter, through which the viewer will bond with the groups on the show. A unique social website will help drive audience participation through the following:
- An integrated moderated forum where viewers can dissect the judges’ decisions
- Live interviews with the group members, judges, and weekly experts of the show combined with an audience only video section
- Video blogging of content that does not make each week’s episode
- Website voting to determine episode settings
- Website tracking of the groups scores
Each episode will have portions devoted to different segments of the groups’ lives.
“The 20 something’s” – School, early career decisions, love and social lives will get the focus of this segment. We will follow each of the 4 people in this apartment as they look for relationships, party, and gossip about their group mates. These 4 distinct story segments will be edited together to create a tapestry of the 20 something’s quest to establish their career, love life, and friendships in a more eco friendly way. Our casting will select 4 young adults that are not very familiar with living a green lifestyle, don’t recycle much, waste lots of electricity in their homes, eat meat, and are between the ages of 19 and 24.
“The Elderly Couple” – Retirement, health, volunteering and children will get the focus of this segment. We will follow the coupled in this apartment as they look for plan their retirement, take care of their kids, deal with health issues, and take life on at their pace. These story line will be edited together to create a tapestry of how someone at this stage in their life learns, competes, and adapts old habits of energy use they have enjoyed all their life (television and computer on all day, air conditioning blasting 24/7, driving to local shopping) to a more sustainable green lifestyle. Our casting will select an elderly couple that are not very familiar with green, possibly don’t recycle, eat meat, between the ages of 55 and 70, have kids and grandkids, lives in Philadelphia, may have just suffered through the recent economic downturn.
“The Family of Four” – Raising kids, coping with family issues, and planning for their children’s future and for their retirement will get the focus of this segment. We will follow each of the parents as they work to make money and maintain their relationships. We will follow them as they learn about the impacts of their decisions on the family finances but also on their children’s future. These 2 distinct story segments will be edited together to create a tapestry of the adult relationship and how to raise kids in a way that allows them to have the best future they can. Our casting will select a married couple young in their 30’s who have two young children, preferably one boy and one girl between 2 and 12, they are not very familiar with green, possibly don’t recycle, eat meat, live in Philadelphia.
Writers Guild of America, West Registration Number : 1378222
