‘Solar Paneling the Hollywood Sign’ exemplifies what we at GameChangers call a productive game.  Here’s how the game has played out before today…

In mid-January, as part of my work with Brand Neutral and the World Wildlife Fund on March 28’s Earth Hour event in L.A., I proposed the idea to the staff of the Sustanability Dept. for the City of Los Angeles.  They told me that anything to do with the Sign has to go through L.A. Councilman Tom LaBonge, in whose district the Sign sits.  I asked their blessing to pursue the idea as a ‘private citizen.’  They gave me their okay, and said that if I could get LaBonge’s backing, Mayor Villaraigosa would support such a project.

That evening I started the group ‘Solar Panel the Hollywood Sign’ on Facebook.  This proved to be a strong initiation, as hundreds of people, in and outside my own network, signed up pronto, many of them writing to tell me what an inspiring idea they found it to be.

Soon after that, I was able to schedule a meeting with Tom LaBonge and his Chief of Staff, Renee Weitzer.  Renee is a member of the Hollywood Sign Trust, and has a long history of defending the integrity of the Sign’s appearance from all kinds of assaults and appeals by commercial interests (and dealing with court injunctions by residents of the neighborhood beneath the Sign to keep it from being illuminated at night).  She took an understandably defensive position.  But LaBonge’s interest was piqued, and he suggested to Renee that we be allowed to ‘continue the conversation’ with the Trust.  Today is the first meeting of the Trust since then.

Meanwhile, as productive games do, this one invited all kinds of participation, and players from around the world continued to step up and offer their support.  Among them:  local L.A. radio legend Pat ‘Paraquat’ Kelley; Brian Sirgutz, the CEO of CauseCast; KevinWall, the founder of Live Earth; Terry Nunn of the rock group Berlin; Brooke Gardner Fedro of Andre Agassi’s foundation; T. H. Culhane of Solar CITIES, recently named by National Geographic as one of its ‘Emerging Explorers’; and Maria Menounos of Access Hollywood  who will soon be hosting a show called Hollywood Green.  The group on Facebook now numbers nearly 1,000.  (We’re hoping to hit that # by 1:30 today!)

One of our most valuable players has been Deep Patel, founder and CEO of GoGreenSolar, a major online resource for solar technology.  Deep stepped up early in the game, and has brought immense depth of knowledge and legitimacy to our quest.  This project would not be where it is today without his support.  Another important player has been Rafael Quezada, an L.A.-based architect and designer who has probably done more photography of the Hollywood Sign than anyone.  He has received permission from the Trust to sell his photography of the Sign, and is intimately familiar with the terrain, both geographic and political, on which the Sign sits.

A productive game gets results.  Even before today’s meeting with the Trust, and no matter what the Trust has to say about our ideas, this is a win for us.  I can’t possibly detail all the positive outcomes in the time I’ve got before our meeting, but here are a few:

Prashant Kamat, a chemistry professor at Notre Dame who’s working on nano solar technology is meeting with Kevin Wall to discuss a possible multi-million dollar investment in the technology, that will enable paint to generate solar energy.

Wall has retained GameChangers to help him develop a keynote speech and advise him on the production of the World Cup opening ceremony, which he is producing in 2010.

I introduced Deep Patel to a group of environmentally-conscious Disney executives.  Deep is submitting a bid to Disney this week to put solar paneling on the roof of its El Capitan Theater in Hollywood.

My friend Paraquat Kelley, who suffers from MS, has gotten some of his legendary mojo back by playing the game.  He can’t really get out of the house much, but he’s our ‘consigliere,’ and advises the group on the politics, the history and the real estate implications of Solar Paneling the Sign.

Ron Roecker, who does PR for the Grammys, has volunteered to guide PR around this game.  As a result of his involvment, he and I are putting together a GameChangers curriculum geared specifically to PR professionals.

After I cited ‘SPHS’ in our GameChangers workshop at UC-Irvine last week, Chris Abbamonto, the Campus Energy Manager for UC-Irvine who was in the workshop, introduced himself and asked that we stay in touch regarding future opportunities.   David Obstfelt, whose MBA class hosted the workshop, calls ‘SPHS’ a perfect model for how to generate business in the Networked World.

Photography Myra Vides is doing a photo essay on our quest.

Videographer Joe Greczkowiak is shooting footage for a documentary about our quest.

And just now, ten seconds ago, Ted Leonsis got in the game.  WooT!

All of us involved in the project have built great relationships that we didn’t have before the game began.  And this is only the beginning!

On with the show!