For Apploff Entertainment President and CEO Jeff Apploff, the path to breaking into Hollywood was a “weird road.”
After dropping out of school at 15 years old to help take care of his family, Apploff became a vice president of operations for Bageland, a franchise of 18 bagel shops in South Florida. He would go on to work at several different businesses in the restaurant industry, including his own chain called Promenade and a local supermarket, before deciding he wanted out.
“I just left the whole business. That was it. I said, ‘Enough. I don’t want to smell like fish anymore. I don’t want to smell like pastrami. I want to get out and do something’,” Apploff recalled in an interview with TheWrap’s Office with a View. “I knew there was something bigger for me and I was trying to figure out what it was.”
It wasn’t long after entering an open mic contest that he was bitten by the entertainment bug and became a stand-up comedian, touring the country for seven years. He would go onto create the Disciples of Comedy, who would sell shows on the radio while traveling from city to city. He also served as a producer of a local radio program, The Ron and Ron Show, for four years.
Eventually, his passion for the entertainment industry took him to Beverly Hills, where he met “Blind Date” executive producer David Garfinkle while promoting an Eddie Griffin concert. That meeting would inspire Apploff to start creating and pitching shows to networks just as unscripted TV was starting to take off. Despite having no manager or agent, he successfully sold “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” to Fox in 2006, which has gone on to surpass 100 episodes.
“When I sold ‘Don’t Forget the Lyrics,’ it was a big thing for me,” Apploff said. “I remember, we were taping the very first episode, and the girl that was the contestant had $105 in the bank. As it’s going on, she keeps winning more money and more money and more money. At one point, she had won $350,000 and she decided that was it and the show’s ending. She’s on stage screaming and crying and I’m in the control room screaming and crying. And for me, that was the moment where I went “I changed her life” and it changed my life.”
In his contract, Apploff negotiated a company logo to air at the end of the episode, which would lead to the creation of Apploff Entertainment, named in honor of his father. From there on out, Apploff would be taken under the wing of former Fox executive Michael Darnell and would go on to create games shows including Jamie Foxx’s “Beat Shazam,” Anthony Anderson’s “We Are Family” and Wayne Brady’s “Game of Talents,” among others.
As traditional cable networks have seen audiences decline, popular game shows like “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!” are finding new life on streaming. In an effort to ride that wave and get ahead of the curve, Apploff created “Best Guess Live,” a new interactive mobile game show hosted by Howie Mandel and Hunter March that launched on Netflix in December.
The idea for Best Guess Live, which has players compete for a share of a $15,000 prize each day, $30,000 on Wednesdays and up to $1 million on holidays by guessing a hidden person, place, or thing based on five cryptic clues, has been in the works for Apploff since “American Idol” premiered in 2002.
“When American Idol came out, what was different was you as a viewer could affect the show. After American Idol and until now, I have been trying to figure out how to crack the code on how does the show affect you? That’s very hard to do, especially when you think about trying to do that live and on a network,” Apploff said. “But being able to do a show like this, where it’s on an app and people can have their phone with them anywhere, I don’t have to do anything. I don’t have to turn on the DVR, we can play. So it really solves a lot of problems. And I love the idea that people have something to look forward to every single day, a way to make money and can have fun and be entertained while they’re doing it.”
Read TheWrap’s full conversation, which has been slightly edited for brevity and clarity, with Apploff below.
What are the major lessons you’ve learned in your career?
There are no rules. Everybody told me, “you don’t do it like that,” and “that’s not how it’s done.” I was like, “I don’t know how it’s done. All I know is how I do it.” People told me “you cannot go make a meeting without an agent or a manager.” And I was like, “Okay, well, I just did.” I remember I was at ABC, and they go, “How did you get in here? Who’s your agent?” I go, “I don’t have an agent.” They go, “who’s your manager?” I go, “I don’t have a manager.” They’re like, “‘”how did you even get in here?” And I said,”Well, I picked up the phone and called and here I am.” So that was the first thing that I learned.
The big thing for me is all of it was presentation. Even when I was in the restaurant business, we used to have lines out the door. I would go while people were out there and I would give them a taste of food and stuff like that. I had these big ovens that we built in the front of the store, so you would open them and people would smell the stuff as it came out and it was all show business. And then in stand-up, obviously you’re presenting, it’s only you on the stage by yourself. So you go out there and you do it.
Part of this business is also sales. You can go create something amazing, then you have to go out and sell it, then you have to make it for the people. So they’re all little tools that you get along the way in your life and you take those tools and find something you love that you really want to do and that became this.
How did Best Guess Live land at Netflix?
We had created this show several years ago and we were thinking about just going and raising money and figuring out how to do that. But HQ Trivia had some issues along the way and you think to yourself, “maybe now is not the right time to go out and raise money.” So it went into the little duffel bag that we have of shows. Sometimes you’re waiting for the right timing and trying to figure all of that out.
Our agent made a meeting for us with the Games team at Netflix, because we do so much in games and they were building out their games platform. We ask them, “What’s the perfect world? What are you looking for?” And they said, “Well, we’d love to do some kind of live interactive show.” And I was like, “Oh, I got one, we could play it right now.” And they go, “Seriously? Yeah, let’s play.” And we started to play in the room.
I started to do the puzzles with them, and by the time we had done six or seven in the room, that was it. It just snowballed from there. They’ve been so supportive and the show that we pitched them in the room is the show that is on now. It’s not that they didn’t have some great notes and help make it better along the way, but we had developed it to such a point where the show that we pitched then is the show that’s on.
Since you’ve launched Apploff Entertainment, how has the business changed in terms of the shows you’re pitching and what studios are looking for?
In any business, things change along the way and you have to change with the business. And in fact, you have to get in front of it sometimes. So in this business, you could see the writing on the wall several years ago. The network business at one time was the business to have and it still is a great business. We have several shows on network and it’s still great. But as things happen, you see it start to narrow. Those networks make their money from advertising so when you get less eyeballs, you get lower budgets and you have to figure out how to create something still that’s big and great at a lower price point and be able to produce it. So you’re thinking backwards all the time.
We always look for entry points. I want to do stuff that is not on television right now. What is different that’s not on television that when you walk in the room it’s going to make an impact? A lot of people will tell you they just want to say no. I look at it completely different. When I go in the room, I know that that executive from that network is dying to get their next hit. I just have to figure out how to convince them that what I have is that. So it starts with you create something that’s really original and great and you try to make all of the mechanics great. Most of the stuff we do is big game in competition, so we put it up on its feet and we run it so when we walk in the door, we know. But you look at the way the business has changed over the course of time, and there’s so much stuff on the internet now. So we have been thinking for a long time about how to do direct to consumer.
Best Guess Live with Netflix is every day at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET and for 15 to 20 minutes, they have a chance to win money from their house. They don’t even have to leave home. We’re seeing a major reaction. In less than five weeks, we went up 10x. We started with 7,000 people. We’re at over 70,000 people every single night now, and we expect it to be more and more. We’re also still creating and pitching great shows for both network and streamers and everything. We have a partnership with the NFL and are out with a big, giant, over the top, Beast Game-size competition with the NFL that takes fans to compete against each other.
There’s a real market here for people that want to play, that want to win, that want to have fun, that have a short attention span but they’re really enjoying this. We’re constantly looking and evolving and trying to figure out what we can do to really affect people in a terrific way and give them different opportunities. While we’re thinking about that, you have to think about AI, you have to think about there’s going to be other competition. When HQ Trivia came out there were 50 HQ Trivia clones. So we have to be on top of our game and always thinking about what’s that next thing.
Speaking of AI, what are your thoughts on its emergence in Hollywood? Is Apploff Entertainment using it in the production process?
We do not utilize AI to do any of the stuff we need to do. We don’t write a script with it. We don’t ask a question with it. We don’t do any of that stuff, though I have used an internal AI engine that we have to see if AI could pick up one of my clues. As far as what’s going to happen, AI is happening. There’s really nothing that you can do. The only thing that you can do is stay as informed as you can and then use the tools, qualities and creativity we have.
There’s a lot of things that we do in order to be on top of our game. You have to be a partner that the network, the streamer or whatever partner wants to be in business with. You want people that you have fun with, that will cover your back and AI is a different thing. It’s not going away. It’s going to grow more and more. I just can’t live in fear of it. So my whole thing is how do we stay in front of it? How do we add value to ourselves? How do we add value to our partners? How do we add value to the viewers, to the players? And if you continue to do that, you should be okay. But who knows what the future is?
Consolidation has also been a looming threat in Hollywood. How concerned are you as a producer, especially given the recent news with Warner Bros.?
Consolidation is going to happen. It has been happening and it’s going to continue to happen. Poor Warner Bros. has gone through four consolidations already and I have a lot of friends there. I’ve done three projects with Warner Bros. I’m close with everybody over there. So watching what happens is very tough. I’ve been in those corporate situations before where there’s layoffs and all of that is very, very difficult to go through. So you have to be able to adapt to that.
Television is not dead. People are consuming more content than they ever did. You have to figure out how to weave through that. I don’t fear it. You just have to be in front of it. There are people that make money, but not like they did before. You have to look at what are the opportunities that are going to open, not the doors that are shutting. If you don’t find that, you have to kick a hole and make a door for yourself. It’s just part of what you have to do.
What’s your advice for someone looking to break into the industry or a professional looking to advance in their career?
My advice would be to do the work. You have to really go and study what it is that you want to do. It depends on what your skillset is, but do something that you love. Don’t worry about the rules. Try to come up with an amazing, original idea that you can walk in a door where you’re part of it and they have to have you. It’s hard to do. It took me until I was 45 to really figure out something that I loved and then it’s grown from there. I love it every day and I don’t feel like it’s work. So that’s a very, very important thing.
I always believe in blueprinting, everything that I do is blueprinted. You need a plan: where are you now? Where do you want to be? Tell me everything you think you need to do. When I started in this business, I did exactly that. I saw I’m nothing and I want to be here and I want to be able to have TV and movies. I still have not hit anywhere near what I wanted to hit when I built my dream. But I did say, “Well I am eventually going to need a an agent or a lawyer. So to do that, I’m going to have to be able to sell some stuff so they feel like I’m worth it.” And so I go, “Okay, I need to at least sell two projects. I’m going to need to create 10 projects, because I know not every one is going to sell.”
If you blueprint your career or do mini blueprints of each thing you want to do, then at least you have a roadmap to follow. You wouldn’t get in your car and just drive somewhere, you have to know what you’re doing.
