FINISHED!

- MATCH OF THE YEAR –

It’s Sunday afternoon, almost half past one. Normally I would have attended the match of the year: The Amsterdam soccer team Ajax against the Rotterdam team Feyenoord.

I usually never miss it, but for the TV moment of the year I made an exception.

Wow, it’s almost done now. We have finished the studio recordings, in which I present the up coming show. During the recording I began to feel the price of the hard work, I made some slips, so it took longer than normal to record. My colleague Kees van der Spek rushed to the studio to finish the montage. I joked: After that we’ll bring this tape to the SBS studios, under full police surveillance. Imagine what would happen if this tape disappeared!

- ONE BIG JET FLAME -

Beth Twitty, who was my guest the last couple of days, has already left for the United States again. She will be appearing in a well known talk show tomorrow and could not stay any longer. I had a memorable time with her. On the Internet I’ve read some strange stories about Beth, but these don’t fit with my experiences.

I’m glad we’re ready to go. We needed every second the past three days, from Thursday, the moment it became known that we had a scoop, until now, but it feels like a long time to wait for this news. I realize this and understand the criticism and annoyance of some of our audience.

I have already written that the speed our story becoming world news surprised me. It wasn’t a slow burn but a jet flame and then yes, three days becomes a boring wait. But it could not have gone any other way. The story simply was not finished yet.

It takes a lot of work to make a two hour documentary, even when you have the material in your pocket. Normally you need one hour for every one minute of edited material, so a report of 90 minutes costs 90 hours.  That amounts to two full working weeks that Kees van der Spek and top editor Rick Lankreijer did in just a few days.

- COMING TO THE UNITED STATES -

In the editorial room we can now slow down a little bit. When it’s finished, the tension is less. The only one still busy making phone calls is our ‘press officer’ Peter Schouten. With his P.A. Kelly he reflects about the American networks which want to have me appear on their shows. We’ll be visiting the United States from Tuesday to Saturday with a large crew, to make a grand tour of TV shows and current affair programs.

Currently we are in negotiations with Oprah, Larry King (CNN), Good Morning America (ABC), Greta Van Susteren (Fox tv) The Today Show (NBC), The Early Show (CBS), America Most Wanted ( Fox Network), Court TV and The Nancy Grace Show. Some shows disappear and some new shows appear. Because they all have their own personal demands and preference for practical or personal reasons we can’t always accommodate them.

We have to be selective. After all, we can only be in one place at a time. We’ll also go to where Beth Twitty lives, Montgomery, Alabama. There are some interviews on the slate there as well.

All right, I will not reflect too much on the things to come, first and foremost, the coming show. I’ll watch it tonight with my family and friends who are as curious to see it as everyone else. And no…I haven’t told or shown them anything yet.