Meet the minds of your in house Creative Strategists and Production Managers

Let’s go on a trip. The place I’m taking you resembles the culmination of a circus side show, mental institution, mad scientist’s laboratory, and the embodiment of a spatial anomaly. This is the mind of your in house creatives and production managers.

 

Most of us seemed to have been built for this occupation. I know in my case it’s ironic how the things that got me in trouble in school are now some of my most reliable tools. From kindergarten through the 8^th grade, each year my parents came to expect a call for a parent-teacher conference. My educators all said the same thing –he’s exceptionally bright and very imaginative, maybe too imaginative. But Mike has the attention span of a goldfish and will not easily acclimate to structure. 

 

Radio has always been salvation for the C average student. In my case, it became a homing beacon for the kid in kindergarten that ate the paste on more than one occasion. It seemed ideal for the high school AV geek –squeaky wheeled cart and all – who was voted class clown. When I reached college, radio was a black hole with an inescapable gravitational force. Inside that musty old shag carpet-walled studio, there wasn’t just more room for creative expression. It demanded it.

 

Yet, no different from what physicists theorize, a black hole assimilates matter –it doesn’t completely destroy it. There, it has a new purpose.

 

With radio, daydreaming became brainstorming. Impersonating my junior high drill sergeant gym teacher was characterization. Reading science fiction novels hidden in my text book during class is now research –or at least inspiration. (I now read human behavioral content, searching for its impact on market trends). The class clown part; I’m eager to please people –especially clients. And not acclimating to class structure applies to raising a red flag when experience tells me something won’t work. Despite being a people pleaser by nature, I learned early the values of not being a “yes man.” Fortunately, I learned how to be more diplomatic about it.

    

"He's exceptionally bright and very imaginative -maybe too imaginative."

Not all of my SummitMedia creative and production peers ate the paste or barely passed school. Each of their paths were probably quite different from mine.

 

However, we all share the same values. Each of us regard our AE’s success as part of our batting average. Each time you close on something we create, we’ve won today’s game. When it turns into a year-long contract, we won the league title. When that contract becomes extended and grows into a bigger budget, we just won the World Series.

 

We can do this when you bring us in at the ground floor. If you haven’t noticed, each of us loves to collaborate with clients who see us as part of the team that has partnered with them. When you bring us in during a CNA, we can back you up by sharing our combined century long experience. In my case, there have been occasions where I showed the client how to do basic recording and editing, when time availed itself. They loved it. It’s an adrenaline rush for us to see your clients even more excited about their experience.

 

Even though this is an investment with expectations of results, this is still a relationship.

 

Yes, we realize this is a business. But, it’s supposed to be a fun business. And we like making sure your client is having fun, too.

 

Next week, let’s explore what makes any company of almost any size succeed –and not just survive.

 

Thank you for allowing me some of your time. I know it is in short supply

 

Mike –The Reel Architect.