Toying with Attending the TCA Tour

Way back in 2016, I did a GoFundMe campaign to attend the Television Critics Association press tour. It seems like forever ago now, probably because it was the one and only time I decided to try and go that route to attend. Oh, sure, I considered it a few times after that, but with the decrease in the number of freelance outlets for which I was writing, the increase in the number of those existing outlets who already had writers covering the press tour, and just feeling generally uncomfortable about going the crowdfunding route to begin with, I sat out the 2017-2019 tours, and…was there even a January 2020 tour? Honestly, I can’t remember. But thanks to the pandemic, there certainly hasn’t been another one since.

In January 2023, however, the TCA tour is going to be taking place in person again, and for the first time in many years, I’m actually in a position where I might theoretically be able to attend…if, that is, there’s enough interest from the readers of this newsletter.

I realize I’ve been less than prolific for the last little while, falling back on installments of “Just a Couple of Characters” rather than actual print interviews and articles, but I’ve at least had a good excuse for my limited output over the past few months: I suddenly found myself busy doing additional interviews for the book I’ve been working on with David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. Look for it in the fall through St. Martin’s Press. Rumor has it that it’s going to be called Surely You Can’t Be Serious…

But I digress. My point is that the last time I went to the TCA press tour, I didn’t have a Substack newsletter, which is to say that I didn’t have a place where I could post interviews and, at least in theory, make a little bit of money from the people who subscribe to the newsletter to read those interviews. If I attend the tour, I’ll be able to do interviews with a variety of folks, and I’ll also be able to share stories about my experiences attending the tour, something that I’ve always enjoyed doing, just because I’m still more or less an outsider from Virginia looking in on the Hollywood experience. It’s fascinating, it’s fun, and I always enjoy heading home when I’m done, but I also enjoy the time I’m there, the people I meet, and the things I do.

Will I do a GoFundMe this time, too? Maybe. What I’d prefer first and foremost is for people to support me by supporting this newsletter and going the paid-subscription route. But additional funding isn’t going to hurt, especially given that I’ve got a kid heading off to college in the fall!

So leave a comment, let me know what you think, and give me an idea if you’d consider contributing to the TCA tour fund. Here’s hoping I can make this thing work. It’s been way too long.