Watts New
Live-to-Tape TV Series
General Motors
© General Motors
How do you create a Live-to-Tape TV show for a Fortune 25 company when there’s no playbook, no budget, and no time?
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Watts New was GM Energy’s live-to-tape television series created to bring EVs, energy, products, and business updates to GM’s dealers and employees in a format that felt engaging, entertaining, and distinctly different from traditional corporate communications.
The series brought together storytelling, comedy, interviews, games, desk pieces, GM talent, and produced video into a recurring television format. Behind the scenes, it required an entirely new production process, bringing together creative development, writing, talent, locations, sets, props, studio logistics, filming, rehearsals, and post-production.
What started as a new idea became a repeatable internal television experience reaching more than 500,000 dealers and 90,000 employees. It also received recognition from GM leadership, including Mary Barra.
PRODUCTION CHALLENGE
We needed to get Watts New on the air—and we needed to do it fast.
The challenge was that we were building something we had never built before: a live-to-tape television series at a scale large enough to reach GM’s dealers and employees across the organization. There was no established production model, no existing internal playbook, and essentially no budget to build one.
I had to figure out how to take the idea from concept to finished broadcast while working around the schedules and needs of executives, talent, production partners, studios, and internal teams. Every piece had to come together quickly, from casting and location scouting to sets, furniture, props, scripts, rehearsals, filming, and post-production.
The challenge wasn’t simply making a television show. It was creating the infrastructure, process, and creative system to make the show possible—while moving at the speed the business required and finding ways to make it happen with the resources we had.
MY ROLE
As Showrunner, Head Writer, Creative Director, and Executive Producer for Watts New, I led the live-to-tape television series from the first brainstorm through final post-production and delivery.
I developed the series concept, format, voice, name, and episode concepts, then wrote the scripts and shaped the editorial approach for each show. My goal was to turn complex information about EVs, energy, products, and the business into an engaging television experience that felt more like a real show than a traditional corporate communication.
I owned the creative and production process from end to end. I pitched concepts to executives, wrote scripts and desk pieces, created jokes, games, and recurring segments, cast GM talent, scouted locations, designed sets and furniture, sourced props and vendors, coordinated studios, and directed video production. I also led run-throughs and table reads, directed post-production edits, and made the creative calls that carried each episode from concept to finished program.
The experience extended beyond the broadcast itself. I developed marketing materials, managed community feedback, and shaped the naming and identity of both the overall series and individual episodes, creating a recognizable voice and personality for the program.
From blue-sky concepting to the final cut, I connected storytelling, creative direction, writing, production, design, talent, and audience engagement into one cohesive experience. The resulting program reached more than 500,000 dealers and 90,000 employees, with the work receiving recognition from GM leadership, including Mary Barra.