Out Personalities: August 2006 Archives

Had a hilarious and informative breakfast last week with the charismatic Paul Colichman. He is the driving force behind the Here! TV channel and Regent Entertainment which has released "Poster Boy," "The Mostly Unfabulous Life of Ethan Green" and "Shock to the System" among others. I was late to our meeting at Hotel Bel Air because I misread the Mapquest page and drove in circles for awhile. Paul lives just a few blocks away so was patiently having coffee with two of his associates when I arrived, all dishoveled and out of sorts.

I had just seen all of "Dante's Cove" season one and blabbed on about how enjoyable it was even before our eggs were delivered. Paul told me season two will be even hotter, especially the shows airing after relatively tame first two episodes of the second season that were sent to critics. I dunno, the first two were pretty smokin. Will the rest even be LEGAL?

I asked Paul why everyone on the show is so darn beautifiul. I wonder why he doesn't throw in a homely face here and there, someone with a gut or even knobby knees. He was blunt in his reply: "It's TV! Everyone's gotta be pretty, everyone's gotta be gorgeous!"

Gee, ya think?

Colichman says he wants Here!Tv, available to 50 million digital homes, to be considered "the gay HBO. We're trying to do an entertainment service that is something straight people have always had."

As the producer of the acclaimed "Gods and Monsters" and other films, Colichman knows how to make quality projects on a tight budget. He built Here! nearly three years ago with the knowledge that to do the edgy LGBT entertainment he wanted to create, he would have to on his own since advertisers would want to have some say over content.

"all of the shows, all of the movies make money," Colichman says. "We don't do vanity projects. I want to make sure everything we do makes a profit. The ideal time for this is now."