Ex-Markets figure ‘picks TV winners’

GEELONG collector boss Ian Ballis could reinvent himself in TV’s picker game following the crash of his Mill Markets empire.
Mr Ballis features in a show that film company Chemical Media is pitching to stations in a bid to join the collector/picker reality TV genre proving popular with shows such as American Pickers, Hardcore Pawn and Hollywood Treasure.
Executive producer Tony Jackson confirmed Mr Ballis’s part in Finders Keepers.
“We’ve got a show with Ian and we’re pitching it to broadcasters,” Mr Jackson told the Independent.
“There’s no interest yet but we’re in talks.”
The show was selling itself as a “modern day treasure hunt’’ in which eight of Australia’s top traders face off in a knockout competition putting their reputation on the line and their skills to the test.
Traders have one day to use their wheeling and dealing skills to turn a $250 bankroll into a tasty profit.
They present their bargain buys from their $250 budget to an assessment panel featuring Mr Ballis.
The highest assessment-earner goes to the next round and a chance to win everything collected throughout the series in a reality TV game of finders keepers, losers weepers.
Chemical Media is an independent production company set up by the team that brought Lonely Planet to TV.
Mr Ballis told the Independent he hoped SBS or Channel 10 might screen the show.
An administrator recently sold his former Mill Markets group to antique dealer Mark Ward.