Shern-Min Chow Interview
Shern-Min Chow interviews H Raven Rose for Xtreme Entrepreneurs
Houston may new have reality television 
10:45 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 1, 2005
By Shern-Min Chow / 11 News
Houston may have a new take on reality television.
A producer is shooting a pilot called “Xtreme Entrepreneurs” that a network could pick up.
Viewers love a good makeover and this is Niki Henson’s chance for more than just a new look.
The 31-year-old opened Cornerstone Dental Academy two years ago. It’s a school for dental assistants, but it is now in some tough times.
“We’ve had to turn away at least 500 students,” she says.
Then Nikki heard about auditions for Xtreme Entrepreneurs. “It was like they designed it specifically for me,” says Henson.
The premise is to help someone whose business is struggling and who has serious real-life challenges, not producer fabricated ones.
“She has the challenge of a son who is nine years old chronologically, but six years old in personality and consciousness, and is also in a wheelchair,” says writer/producer H Raven Rose.
A team of coaches for image, finance, turnaround and business works on the projects. Each show focuses on making over one candidate.
Producers say a show that doesn’t vote off participants or humiliate them can work. “That’s why Oprah has such a draw,” Rose says.
The pilot was shot over a three-day period, on the proverbial shoestring.
“Our production budget was $5,000,” says Paul Gallegos, writer/producer*.
But it’s already paid off for Niki, thanks to a few phone calls from her coaches.
“We’re going to have a meeting Friday and potentially merge with another school,” she says.
The ultimate goal is to shop the pilot around to the networks, sell 13 episodes and, hopefully, a new way to look at reality television.
Note: Gallegos was paid $5K for a half-hour pilot episode; the coaches and experts worked in exchange for air time and publicity.
