Splat! Team Production Blog
Welcome to The Splat! Show Team production blog. Here you will find important updates from the team that make the Splat! Show a reality.
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Updates From The Splat! Show Production Team
Very Busy First Half!
Posted May 28th 2023
Hey guys,
It’s been a while now since my last blog post. I just wanted to post a quick update now we are heading into June and half way through the year. It’s absolutely crazy how fast this year is going.
We have been very busy with shooting new Seasons of The Splat! & Splatette! Show and we hope you are enjoying the releases so far. On the Splat! side we did a bit of block shooting to try and catch up after we had to delay a few things earlier this year. We are also releasing the shows at a slower rate this year to give each show the spotlight they deserve. Last we released so much content we felt that we didn’t really give each release the push they deserved. For those who wish to jump ahead, all you need is a Splat! Fan Club pass to purchase future releases early.
As of writing, tomorrow we will be shooting with Ian who you may have seen over on QuizBob. No potential future participant is off limits for us, we love meeting new guests and to get all the gossip too! Our planned shoot with Tom is currently still pending as we try to reach a date with him, Tom’s work life has gotten very busy since we announced his shoot and we will do our best to try and get it sorted. We may have to replace Tom, something we hate doing but thankfully we’ve only had to do this a few times over the past couple of years. We will keep everyone posted of course!
On The Splatette! Side we have also just completed our first “Celeb Splat!” with Megan from this years BBC’s apprentice. Like Splat!, Splatette! had a slower than usual start to the year due to the high number of private experiences we had booked for that time but we are following a similar shooting phase as with the Splat! Show.
Now that summer is here we might be scaling back our commercial shoots across Splat! And Splatette. We are approaching the start of our 20th anniversary which starts this September and I would like to move our plans and focus onto that. Plus, I had a terrible time shooting during the hot summer last year. So far things haven’t been as warm as last year, but we are only at the start of the summer season and anyone who’s been to Splat! HQ will know, it can very warm in our studio even during mild days. I still can’t believe that we shot our most popular show, Mighty Mitchell, during the record breaking unbearable heat. I previously announced that this current season of shoots maybe smaller than usual due to the upcoming 20th anniversary and that is the current thinking as we head into summer. We may take a few months off to prepare for the start of the anniversary. We probably won’t announce anything officially until closer to the time if we move ahead. We are still making plans and as always, things can and do change.
That is all I have to share for now. Just a quick THANK YOU to everyone who has supported the releases so far this year and it has also been a big pleasure to meet so many more fans at our private experiences again this year.
Best,
Pete
Season 21 Has Officially Started!
Posted March 3rd
Hey guys,
After numerous delays due to the high volume of private experiences that have taken place, we have now completed our first season 21 Splat! Show shoots. And what shows they are!
We really wanted to make a statement with our first two season 21 shoots, that we can still get the best new faces around. Sam and Ste were great at their respective shoots and I would argue that these two shows are some of our strongest for a long time. I just hope you can wait for their official release dates.
We also took the chance to tweak the show format a little this season. We have reintroduced the custard pie round after we had to stop during the pandemic. Planting pies in faces was a health hazard! I know that a few of you have been looking forward to pies making a return and the new game format works really well. Lucky Or Mucky is back this season too but we have moved back to the strings format, where the participant pulls the cords instead using numbers. Both Lucky Or Mucky Rounds with Sam and Steve are interesting for reasons that will become apparent when you watch them. We have also made some slight adjustments to the tank too, we have introduced colour branding to bring it closer to our website design. It’s only a slight change, but I think it looks really nice. Oh, and the flashing red lights are back after viewer demand too!
I know that you guys are looking forward to seeing the results of our first two season 21 shoots. I know this because the Fan Club has been on fire since the sneak peeks were posted and The Gunge Tank vote and pre-shoot offer saw strong performances. Thank you for the support. Why are we waiting till April 1st? Sadly, it’s one of those boring business decisions we have to take from time to time. But those who took part in any pre-shoot event will get to see our new guests sooner.
We now head into our second set of shoots (along with even more private experiences!) with returner Lucas (Gunge Fan!) and new face Liam. I hope you are looking forward to them too.
Beyond that, we are in some deep negotiations with some faces we know will be popular. We will share more when we have concrete details.
Thanks for your support as always, we can only do what we do with your support.
I hope you enjoy the season.
Best,
Pete
Gearing Up
Posted Feb 11th 2023.
Hey guys,
So just a quick update following on from the blog below.
I have rested up as much as I was able to during January and I am now back in full planning mode and actively casting guests for the new season. Things have gone slower than I would’ve hoped due to the high number of private experiences that have taken place since mid January. The diary is still pretty full with bookings until the end of February so please don’t expect any updates about our first commercial releases of the year for a while.
I’m trying to slot a few bookings into place before then, but I do not want to overbook and I want to make sure we have the right guests to kick off the new season. There will be returing guests, with some making their final Splat! appearances too.
So while I do not have much more to share at this time, the site is still being updated with releases from season 20 and of course regular Fan Club updates continue.
We are also looking at introducing a small yearly charge to visit the site. This will effectively replace the current free account system that allows you to view the show pages, preview images and trailers (trailers will move to the site completely and will not be posted to socials). We can only produce new content and keep the site online and make plans to expand due to the fans who actively purchase our content. We know there are many who just view the images and trailers, which is fine, but we will be asking them to contribute a small yearly fee if we move forward with this plan so everyone is contributing to the show and site. We don’t run adds on our site and free visitors who don’t actively purchase our content actually costs us money. There is an unbalance that needs adjusting as we move forward. We understand this will not please a few, but if you enjoy what we do we feel it’s the right way forward. This is still in the planning stages and if we move forward with this change we will announce more details when ready.
Thank you for bearing with me as I took some time off. Your support is everything and I promise the wait for brand new content will be worth it.
Pete
The Year Ahead and 20th Anniversary Plans
Posted Early January 2023.
Hey Splatters,
Pete here. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a safe new year. As the new year has now started, I just wanted to give a little update about the year ahead and a little personal update.
Before I jump into our plans for the year ahead, I just wanted to give a small update regarding myself. Last year was the first year that we were able to produce the show without too many distractions. Thankfully, we didn’t have to deal with any COVID restrictions (although the virus itself did still cause some issues for us and our guests) last year and it was very much all hands on deck during the year. We managed to produce our biggest season since season 16 and James was also able to make a few shoots too as he continued to gain strength after his long COVID battle. I was also able to schedule some down time away from the shoots in December for the first time in years which ran into early January. As I started to rest, something odd was happening and I felt very off. Burnout out had been creeping up on me throughout the year without me really noticing. It was only when I stopped to take a break that I felt exhausted and I was feeling the full effect of burnout. If you’ve ever experienced burnout you will know it’s not nice. You have zero energy to do anything, and I mean anything. I managed to continue to process orders as usual, but my plan to make some plans for the new year were not going to happen during this time.
Running this site and all its operations, shoots, business stuff and regulatory stuff takes its toll and sometimes it’s TOO much for me to handle physically and emotionally. I am getting a little better now and I will soon start to get back to running the shoots (the first private of the year is approaching). I will be making sure that during 2023 that I do not over stretch myself. This may mean that this coming season may be smaller in scale, but I won’t know that until the end of the year. My health is important and working the way I did last year will send me to an early grave. I will do my best as always, but I won’t let it affect my health to this degree again.
So what about the year ahead? Season 21 is the season that will lead into our 20th Anniversary season. Yep, September 2023 will be the start of the 20th year of The Splat! Show. I can’t quite believe that it’s been almost 20 years that The Splat! Show idea was born and that we are still here producing new content 20 years later. It’s crazy to me but so incredibly exciting. We are still here because of YOU and the support you’ve shown us over the years so thank you!
With our 20th Anniversary starting in September, season 21 will only run officially until September 2023 when our social 20th Anniversary season will start. Our 20th Anniversary season will start in September and will run until September 2024. There will then be break from September 2024 to January 2025 when season 23 will start.
We will of course be sharing our plans for our 20th anniversary as we approach September, but we have season 21 to shoot and complete before then. I will share more details about both when I am able to.
Thank you all for the support and I hope you look forward to the coming year!
Best wishes, Px