Twenty years ago, John Greviskis dreamed of being the next Robert Redford, the next Clint Eastwood, the next Dan Aykroyd. In short, the next Hollywood star.
Today the once-hungry actor would settle for stardom in the Bob Vila-Norm Abram mode. He’s betting on the uncharted waters of televised boat improvement to get him there.
“I’m amazed nobody thought of it before,” says the genial host and creator of “Ship Shape,” a half hour weekly cable show aimed at America’s estimated 20 million recreational boat owners.
The show, which Greviskis writes, directs, produces, edits and stars in, combines three of his passions: acting, boating and working with his hands.
A recent episode shows him squatting behind a trailered boat in a sun-seared Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., boat yard, marking with the aid of a carpenter’s square the center of the transom.
“Welcome,” he says, turning toward the camera, “to America’s favorite boat improvement show.”
The marvel is the man’s not sweating. Not now, not at the end of the show. But rest assured, he and Capt. Matt Bradley are installing a 24-volt, 74-pound thrust trolling motor and a pair of outriggers.
“We towel off a lot and occasionally change shirts,” he laughs, explaining the dripless appearance under a merciless sun.
Greviskis’ delivery is friendly, enthusiastic. “I try to make it exciting for people,” he says. And while sanding, sawing, bolting, wiring and painting may not exhilarate, the end result can.
“Hey guys, love your show,” e-mails a fan. “You’ve turned me into a do-it-yourself person.”
“Hope you’re on the air for a long time,” says a professional boat cleaner who boasts of using “Ship Shape’s” tips.
Each episode consists of two do-it-yourself projects with a tool list and rating of difficulty (easy, moderate or challenging), a tool quiz, a boat review, an operational tip, a maintenance tip and a plug for a cool new product.
Bob Symington, owner of American Powder Coating, an Oakland Park, Fla., advertiser, says Greviskis is charismatic.
“He talks with the confidence of somebody with a lifetime of experience.”
And he gets people involved, encouraging those who “don’t have $5,000 a year to spend on a maintenance budget” to tackle projects themselves.
Most of the projects are aimed, Symington says, at boaters with “average-plus mechanical skills.”
Nelson Wilner, marketing manager for Bennett Marine Inc., a Deerfield Beach, Fla., advertiser, says, “John takes something that most people find difficult or expensive or time-consuming and makes it a fun thing.”
The show moves quickly with nifty graphics and an opening scene of a boat skimming across the ocean.
It’s a far slicker show than Greviskis started with three years ago. Then, he had to buy his own air time. And when he tried to sell his show to bigger cable outlets, he was told that while the concept was great, the production quality was, well, you know.
The tape was grainy, the shots not too imaginative, “no dissolves, nothing like that.”
In December, Greviskis revamped the show. He got a new production company, switched to better tape, began shooting with two cameras, and now, “Everything is a dissolve, not a cut. It’s so much more friendly to the eye.”
He also added an announcer and a couple of new features.
A month after the makeover, “Ship Shape” went national on Speedvision Network, boosting its potential audience to 22 million homes. (In the Chicago area, the show is available to a limited number of cable subscribers on Wednesday evenings. Check your cable company listings.)
It may not be Hollywood, but it sure beats peddling coffee beans in Detroit. That was the plum promotion Greviskis was offered in 1984. Four years before, he had returned to Solon, Ohio, after a disappointing attempt to break into the movies.
“I starved,” Greviskis says of his California experience.
While he failed to sell himself to the movie moguls, this fellow with a theater degree sure could push the beans. But he hated the job.
When his bosses offered him a big promotion–the Detroit territory–he winced and packed his bags. Then he headed south.
“My best friend had moved to West Palm Beach,” Greviskis says. He had visited him, loved the area and decided he’d set down roots in this fertile turf.
He landed a job selling air time on radio and rapidly became top salesman at the station. He soon was writing ad copy, developing the campaigns, doing voice overs, and, at clients’ request, starring in their ads. His office became plastered with Addy awards.
Successs convinced him in 1990 to start his own ad agency.
Five years later, at the funeral of his wife’s grandfather, the idea for “Ship Shape” came to him. Like his own grandfather who had owned a marina in Ohio, Tracy’s granddad had been on the water most of his life. He was a commercial fisherman.
For some reason, maybe because he was surrounded by so many boaters, Greviskis got to thinking that day that there is “This Old House” and “Shade Tree Mechanic,” but no similar how-to show for boaters.
Tracy learned long ago her high-energy husband moves with alacrity when struck with inspiration.
On Labor Day ’95, two months after the funeral, “Ship Shape” premiered on a small West Palm Beach, Fla., cable station that reached 200,000 homes.
The show cost Greviskis $1,000 to produce and air. But from that first show, he turned a profit. “One hundred dollars,” he says.
Three months later, making enough to support his wife and two young sons, he sold the ad agency and has not looked back.
“I made a hobby a job,” he says gleefully. “It’s just so cool.”
In April of last year, he went on the Sunshine Network, making him accessible throughout Florida. Ten months later, he went national on Speedvision.
“There’s a lot more to it now, the people, the costs of the boats, the gear, we do locations. All that stuff adds up. I’m probably spending 10 grand a show.”
But like the big boys, he has cut production to 26 new shows a year instead of the 50 he churned out in the beginning.
His big thrill recently was being called to Newport, Ore., to work on a couple of boats that will be used in the expected release of the celebrity killer whale Keiko, off Iceland. Keiko starred in the film “Free Willy.” Children from around the world raised $15 million to set Keiko free.
Greviskis and his on-screen partner, Matt Bradley, installed a special dive ladder on one boat and a fish finder on the other.
Greviskis was thrilled that Keiko surfaced while the cameras were rolling at the edge of his aquarium tank. Needless to say, the whale steals the scene.
Despite working long hours, seven days a week, Greviskis has far more time for his family.
“My wife comes by, and we have lunch together every day.” He lives just three minutes from his office at Seminole Boatyard in Palm Beach Gardens. “Some of the stuff I can do right from the house,” he says.
Also, his sons get a kick out of coming to the boat yard to help with projects.
Viewers want to know how this guy knows so much?
“I don’t,” says Greviskis, who is as handy with home repairs as he is with fixing a boat. “I do research. If I don’t know, I ask. And I ask the experts. . . . By no means am I the know-it-all.”
As for that youthful dream, hey, this too is show biz. “I made my own job. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Does that mean I’m not talented enough to get on television any other way?”
He shrugs, turns his palms upward, and with a genuinely hearty laugh declares, “I don’t care.”
