OUR AMAZON PRIME VIDEO
"BUY IT NOW" STORY!
The most amazing thing happened!
Ginger Thomson and Jay Vanduch have been on the Doorhickey invention journey for a LONG time (okay, 25+ years)! Their persistence and tenacity paid off when casting producers contacted them about the possibility of being among the ~60 entrepreneurs throughout the U.S. to appear on Amazon Prime Video's new business competition game show, "Buy It Now." Our smiles were almost as big as the A to Z arrow on the Amazon logo!
A long way to go!
The vetting process, which began in September, 2023, was rigorous! A casting director discovered us at The Inspired Home Show in Chicago earlier that year. He reached out to see if we were interested in being considered for an opportunity to appear on a new Amazon entrepreneur series. That sounded great, so we scheduled a phone meeting with the casting director.
Within a few days, we were notified that we made it to the audition round! We then completed a casting application, submitted a 10 minute audition video, and created a 90-second pitch video. The casting director then pitched our product to the internal executives. After that was approved, we needed to pass muster with the network executives. All of this takes time, of course, and weeks went by without any word if we had made it to the next level of consideration.
Then in early December...
We received this email:
"Congratulations on making it to the next round of casting for Buy It Now, we so appreciate your patience with this process! This does not mean you are on the show just yet. It just means that we have pitched your company to our executives, they are interested in your company, and you are still being considered.
The next step in our casting process is filling out the Participant Agreement. Please note that if you are selected as a participant, specific dates when you will need to be available in February/March of 2024 will be provided to you."
Wait, WHAT??? OMG!
We signed the participant agreement, passed the background check, and submitted sales numbers. They emphatically told us that, from that point forward, we were NOT allowed to discuss our status or potential involvement in the show with anyone or on any social media.
The following week, we needed to provide business ownership information, court case information, if any, our business website URL, and all business licenses, permits, etc. Then they vetted all of our social media accounts (e.g. TikTok, Facebook, Instagram).
It Keeps Getting Better!
On January 16, 2024, we received this email:
I’m a senior producer of Buy It Now! We would like to schedule a Zoom to learn more about you and your business. We will also give you more info about the show and its process (as much as we can, of course, as we are still in the creative process), and because of that, this is just a call for us producers to get to know you both and your product better. So it’s not necessarily a done deal just yet, but a chance to dive deeper and highlight your story to share with the executives!
She Said We're Adorable!
Our producer followed up with this:
Ginger and Jay,
Talking to you yesterday was the best! You two are so “adorable,” and I loved learning more about your story and the DOORHICKEY.
So, as we discussed, here are the follow-up items:
• SEND US the following:
• PERSONAL PHOTOS/VIDEOS of relationships/moments we discussed on this call
• Photos / Videos of you two growing up
(Ginger / in her parents' radio station basement, Jay in the Dells)
Photos / Videos of when you both met in SD
Photos / Videos of you two over the years with your family (if you’re comfortable)
Photos / Videos of Ginger's townhome with sliding doors, if there are any
Photos / Videos if there are any of the bathtub toy your son had
Photos / Videos of the first iterations of DOORHICKEY
Photos / Videos of any other doors / objects you or your customers have used DOORHICKEY on
~ Anything you can think of not mentioned here that will highlight your journey for us!
• LOGO
• PHOTOS/PDF flats of your packaging
The Official Phone Call!
Two weeks later we received the most incredible phone call from our producer! We were chosen to compete on "Buy It Now!" We were getting an all-expense-paid trip to Los Angeles to pitch The Doorhickey! She said a travel manager would be in touch with us to arrange the flights and hotel. Was this really happening???
The Day of the Shoot
We flew to L.A. Sunday, March 10th, recorded our episode on March 11th, then flew back to South Dakota on March 12th. What a whirlwind experience! The big day was the 11th when we met the three other competitors in the hotel lobby at 6:00 a.m. A huge black van pulled up and took us to Amazon Studios in Culver City. Sure, we've been in the television production business for decades, but not at THIS level! We were escorted into the green room and the producers helped us get situated. We were taken to hair and makeup, to another sound stage to record interviews, then back to the main stage where the show would be recorded. They led us back stage to rehearse on the set they built just for our pitches. It was a full-size kitchen wall with a sliding glass door!
Your 90-seconds starts...NOW
We were queued to go on set "Shark Tank" style. Host J.B. Smoove announced our names and made a bit of small talk. Then, it was pitch time! An audience of 100 potential customers started to click a red light or a green light to show approval for our product. All we needed was 10 green lights to advance to the celebrity panel of judges. Several audience members asked us questions, then we were asked to reveal the price of our product. The audience voted red or green again. We advanced to the celebrity panel of judges who provided feedback about The Doorhickey. The judges were Jamie Siminoff, Founder of Ring, Tony Hawk, skateboard legend, and Jenny Freshwater, an Amazon executive.
An Ending that doesn't Suck
The Doorhickey literally sucks, but the ending of this story doesn't! While we didn’t make it to the official Buy It Now Storefront, the experience "opened doors" (pun intended) we’d never dreamed of, and you can now find us on Amazon.com!
Thank you, Amazon, for believing in us!
Everyone through every step of this process was incredibly kind and supportive! We're SO grateful we had this experience. THANK YOU, AMAZON!
Ready to watch us pitch The Doorhickey on "Buy It Now" on Amazon Prime Video? We're on episode 12! If you have a sliding glass door, or know someone who does, you can purchase a set by clicking on the Amazon logo below! Also below is a photo gallery of us preparing for this experience and on stage.
Thank you! Ginger Thomson and Jay Vanduch, inventors of The Doorhickey
Disclaimer: This page shares our personal experience on Buy It Now. To see the full outcome, watch episode 12 on Prime Video.