Post your videos for consideration on CurvyGirl.tv - launching January 2009

My Curvy Friends!

We are proud to announce that we are launching CurvyGirl.tv (not associated with curvygirl(dot)com) in January 2009! We have been working for a while on having some good segments to coincide with our scheduled launch date.

If you have ever produced a video, you may understand the length of time it takes (and cost) to produce a good segment. Since we producing these segments out of our own pocket, we have had a limited production schedule. As time passes, we hope to obtain many sponsors to assist with the cost of producing quality segments.

The good news about Curvy Girl TV is that we are also relying on our audience to provide high quality videos for posting on the site.

We are looking for YOU, to help us submit the best content related to the plus size lifestyle.

Before you decide if you want to submit...here is our mission statement:

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Curvy Girl TV and its curvy correspondents will fill a gap in today's media, reporting stories important to today's curvy woman (size 8+), with a special focus on the plus size lifestyle, a demographic almost ignored entirely in today's media outlets. Curvy Girl is committed to providing stories of depth that are equally entertaining, informative and inspiring. In addition to news and lifestyle stories, we will post funny skits as well as highlight plus size performers (singers, artists, actors, dancers, models, designers, musicians, stand up comedians, etc…).

All stories will be posted online at www.CurvyGirl.tv. In addition, they will be posted on several online sites that receive tens of thousands of hits per day, including MySpace, YouTube, CurvyGirlClothing.com.

Incorporated in 2005, Curvy Girl LLC is a lifestyle company catering to plus size women. Curvy Girl's first venture was www.curvygirlclothing.com, an online boutique taking the plus size fashion industry by storm. We offer fashion forward trendy styles, in plus sizes (12+). Our flagship store opened in Portland, OR in fall of 2007...

Curvy Girl LLC is NOT associated with curvygirl.com. To visit us, please check out www.curvygirlclothing.com. Look out for curvygirl.tv being launched in January 2009.

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Videos should be under 10 minutes in length (same as YouTube). They should be of good quality (image and sound). They should not have profanity or nudity. One exception to profanity is performance art submissions. Sometimes comedy, poetry and sketch includes profanity - just tell us ahead of time so we can warn our viewers. Nudity, on the other hand, is not acceptable. Please understand that there is a fine line with respect to profanity - if we find the video to contain so much profanity that it is vulgar and of bad taste, we will not accept the submission.

The types of videos we are looking for:

- PERFORMANCE ART which can include: Stand up comedy, Sketch comedy, Poetry, Singing, Musical performance, Rapping (MC), Belly dancing, Interpretive Dance, Unusual talents (you know if you can do something that makes people want to watch), Hip hop dancing, etc...

- SKETCHES (COMEDY). If you've seen videos by Joy Nash or Eric Schwartz on YouTube or MySpace, you know what we are talking about. Funny and original sketches are wanted.

- FUNNY VIDEOS: Think America's Funniest Home Videos (minus the grand prize)...something that will make someone giggle. Did you fall down at your wedding? Did something happen on camera that will make us laugh...share it!

- FASHION & BEAUTY ADVICE. If you have some fantastic tips for the plus size woman with respect to makeup (how to apply it, what types of products to use) or beauty (what colors are going to be hot next season or styles). Are you a serious fashionista (not a part time one, but a hard core one) - this is something you could have a lot of fun with. Please consider that you should be well groomed in the video if you plan on giving beauty advice to our watchers! Make sure you are dressed nice with your hair and makeup done if you plan on giving advice on fashion or beauty.

- EXERCISE & NUTRITION. Oh dear me...here we go! Trying to tell plus size women to lose weight. AB-SO-LU-TELY NOT! But, as plus women who want to be as healthy as possible, we want to share healthy tips on exercise and nutrition tips to our viewers as much as we want to share Fashion and beauty trends.

- RECIPES. Do you want to be Martha Stewart for the day? (maybe a bad example)...do you have a favorite recipe you want to share? Pretend you had your own cooking show and show us how to make your favorite dish. Don't forget to include the recipe and where you got it from (i.e. grandmother, Betty Crocker, etc...)

- RUNWAY VIDEOS: Plus size fashions on the runway are always very popular. If you know of a local fashion show in your area - make sure they add plus sizes to the schedule.

- VIDEO BLOG: Do you have an interesting story? Are you going through something wonderful, scary, exciting, heart wrenching (or all of the above) in your life (i.e. marriage, divorce, pregnancy, death of close one, disease, new beginning, rehab) - share it on video. We will do a background check on candidates selected for this and obtain references. Are you an actress trying to make it on broadway or in Hollywood? A dancer? A singer? A comic? A cougar? A puma (a cougar in the making) ....share your story with us...

- DECORATING TIPS: Especially on a BUDGET. Tell us where to go to find the best deals on buying cheap things to decorate our homes. Or, give us tips on how to use what we may already have

- HOW TO VIDEOS: How to paint - how to dance - how to do origami...do you know how to do something you can share with other women?

- NATURE: Introduce us to nature. Are you the next Jeff Corwin? Of course, don't go messing with dangerous animals if you don't have the experience for it...

- BOOK REVIEWS: Important here. The author has to be a female size 8+ or the protagonist has to be a female size 8+. How will you know? Oh, you'll know. Review your favorite book. Tell us why you love it (or why you don't). Hit the important issues - how does it relate to ME (me being PLUS SIZE WOMAN).

That's what we are starting with. We are producing other types of segments as well (inspirational, interviews, red carpet events, movie reviews, etc...) in the Los Angeles area, but we are looking forward to seeing submissions from across the globe for the segment ideas above.

Important considerations:

You must own the exclusive rights to the video or have written permission to allow us to use it.

The video must highlight a woman who is at least a size 8 or above (28 inch waist). Yes, this is correct. The woman must have a PRINCIPAL role in the video (i.e. not just a small role).

Please use good taste with submissions. We are a plus size community and it is unlikely we will post submissions that are insulting to plus size women (i.e. a sketch that uses a plus size person as the target of a horrible weight based joke - where that is what the person submitting considers the "funny" of the video).

The video can not be a commercial for your product or service. It cannot include website locations or other messages sending people to your site.

We understand that size 8 and 10 women (even 12) are not considered plus size to the average woman. A size 8, 10 or 12 woman would probably not consider herself plus size. They are, however, a forgotten segment in the media and rarely represented on tv. Plus size modeling agencies consider any woman a size 8+ for their plus size division. As such, Curvy Girl TV is putting that size within our demographic as well. Those women don't deserve to be shunned by our community as well.

Please note: We will not provide compensation for the videos submitted. Submissions will not be returned unless you send a self-addressed stamped envelope with your submission.

A release form must be signed by the owner of the video prior to us posting it on our site.

Not all videos will be selected. We are selecting videos based on many factors, including (but not limited to): quality, length, pertinence to the size 8+ or plus size woman/lifestyle. In the future, we may allow users to upload their own video content - at this time, all videos will be screened and selected by Curvy Girl TV staff.

We are not allowing electronic uploaded submissions at this time. You can email us a LINK to the submission for consideration. If we like what we see, we will then ask you to mail us a DVD of the video so that our techies can upload it. DO NOT EMAIL US a video as an attachment - the email will be deleted.

This is your opportunity to shine as a CURVY ARTIST/PERFORMER.

If you don't have a video but want to produce one (maybe this is motivation to go out there and make one), here are some tips:

- Lighting is important - make sure the room is well lit

- Distractions are a no-no. If you are taping something in your house, try to make sure the baby isn't crying in the background (unless it's part of the video). Try and have a clean background (i.e. if you tape in your house - clean up first) :)

- Sound is key. Let me say again...sound is key :) We aren't expecting top quality in sound - but do the best you can - try and not tape segments outside if it is windy (the camera will pick up every gush of wind) unless you have the right equipment to minimize unwanted noise distractions.

- Keep it simple. We are dealing with videos 10 minutes or less - try and make your point in as few minutes/words as possible. Let your video and images also tell part of the story - you don't have to always tell us what you are doing (or why).

- Editing. If you have an edited video - awesome. We prefer you send it fully edited. That being said, we reserve the right to take any video and let our editor edit as s/he sees fit. Since the editor isn't cheap, it is unlikely we will edit too many viewer submission videos, but we may decide to do this from time to time. You would be aware of the edit prior to us posting the video.

HOW TO SUBMIT:

Mail your submission and signed release (DVD only - we don't have a VHS player!) to:


Lisa Toton - Curvy Girl TV - 716 S Los Angeles St 303 - Los Angeles CA 90014

You must print, sign and include a copy of our release as well as a Video information sheet (which lists the information about the video and the people in it). All persons in the video must be over 18 years old. If they are not, a parent or legal guardian must sign a special talent release on behalf of the minor:

http://www.bigriggs.com/CGTV_Adult_Model_talent_Release.pdf

http://www.bigriggs.com/curvy_girl_tv_segment_information.pdf

or

EMAIL a link to your YouTube video to curvygirltv@curvygirlclothing.com with title: VIDEO SUBMISSION. We will let you know if we would like you to submit a DVD submission of your video via mail. (we will still not accept video uploads even if we authorize the video prior to you sending it).

We look forward to receiving your submissions!!!!!!!!!! Please do not call to follow up on video submissions - if we have an interest in posting your video, we will contact you once we have reviewed your video (to make sure we have the proper forms and information about you.