 Safely persisting through the hundreds of COVID-related production challenges for TLC Part #3: Inertia Part #2 encourages video and filmmakers to face decisions with honest acknowledgment of the benefits of and barriers to making the video productions we’re passionate about. One barrier is truly all in our heads. 3) Desist to Persist This part of our story isn’t unique: when we started our video production company, I quickly found that growing a new business while raising a family meant taking on work that was outside my passions. I genuinely enjoyed working on sportscasts, industry events, and popular television shows. But I also used a lot of energy feeling conflicted, thinking that my success was in a rivalry with my purpose. When I learned to release those limiting thoughts, a new energy rose in their place. I began to honor the way I was providing for my family. I dug into the deeper value of each project. If we were asked by friends or colleagues to join a purely commercial project, we said yes because sometimes it's enough being in the company of good people working hard, facing challenges and setbacks to achieve a common goal. I learned to persist in getting the bills paid while also creating paths toward making the art I wanted to make. Hold on tight to your dreams. To new video producers, I’d say let go of limiting thoughts early. It’s ok. Get the gigs you can, discover the opportunities each one holds, and keep your goals in mind. Even while seeking out competitive compensation or commercially successful productions, we can still try to address the issues and topics that are important to us.
You might try setting a weekly appointment with yourself or a colleague to design and implement a plan that leads to telling the stories you want to tell. Even if you can only devote 30 minutes a week at first, you will be taking the step. And each step provides energy for the next . Image caption: safely persisting through the hundreds of production COVID-related challenges for TLC
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 Part #2: Inertia The reality of running a video production company can sometimes feel like a choice between making positive, impactful video and making a living. Part 1 of this series shared a mindset that we’ve found helps us stay both focused and balanced as video producers crafting solution-forward stories. That mindset places our work in a realistic context, recognizing the validity of our dreams as well as some sobering realities. The realities are indeed sobering, yet they hold the power to free us and unlock new possibilities – when we take a certain kind of action. 2) Decide Since the very beginning, I’ve wanted to use video production to tell uplifting stories about positive change. But back then, we really needed to get our video production business established, so we cast a wide net and worked on the variety of projects that came our way. Then, about five years into our business, a Rubicon moment sparked a shift. I’d spent a day on location at a petroleum refinery, making marketing media for an energy company. That evening, as I unpacked my gear, I discovered that everything, from my sleeves to my socks and cameras to car seats, was slicked with a tacky film. Refinery emissions, especially particulate matter (PM2.5), settle out of the air onto surfaces near and far(1, 2, 5). And there it was, right in front of me. Thinking about what that meant to the people who worked there, and those who lived nearby, was a career-defining moment. I started investing time and energy into bringing my vision to fruition. If you choose not to decide, The exciting thing is, we don’t need an epiphany – we just need to decide. It actually takes just an instant, barely the blink of an eye. The stuff that takes so long is all the research, emotion and consideration. That tiny moment when we release all of the other possibilities and commit to one chosen goal – that’s the decision.4
Take a look at your goal. Take it seriously. Find out what it will cost to reach it. Decide whether or not it’s worth it. If it is, then pay the price and do it.3 References: 1: Air-Surface Exchange Process Overview | US EPA. (2016, November 10). US EPA. https://www.epa.gov/cmaq/air-surface-exchange-process-overview 2: Blumenfeld, J., Zeise, L., & Director. (2019). Analysis of Refinery Chemical Emissions and Health Effects. https://oehha.ca.gov/sites/default/files/media/downloads/faqs/refinerychemicalsreport032019.pdf 3: Nightingale, E. (1956). The Strangest Secret. Nightingale-Conant Corporation. 4: Robbins, A. (1986). Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement. Simon and Schuster. 5: Tavella, R. A., Júnior, S., Santos, M. A., Georges, S., & Dutra, R. (2025). A Review of Air Pollution from Petroleum Refining and Petrochemical Industrial Complexes: Sources, Key Pollutants, Health Impacts, and Challenges. ChemEngineering, 9(1), 13–13. https://doi.org/10.3390/chemengineering9010013  Part #1: In honor of director, producer, actor, and (reluctant) activist, Robert Redford
As video producers, many of us want to change the world for the better. We got into this in the first place because we wanted to help people laugh, or cry, or think, or feel, or consider a new idea. However, the reality of running a video production company can sometimes feel like a choice between making positive, impactful video and making a living. Our documentary Saving Walden’s World was just selected for the SOHO International Film Festival, and I was reminded: here’s a film that’s truly solution-forward. Filled with successful systems that can be adapted and implemented in other places, it’s exactly the kind of film I love to make, and the world will benefit from more films like it. But how? How can we – as creators, technicians, artists, organizers, project managers, and everything else we are – sustainably run a video production company making these important, world-changing stories? This is the first in a series of posts about some of the lessons we’ve learned so far: 1) “Your films will not change the world.” Fortunate to have worked on a film produced by Barbara Kopple and accepted to Sundance, I sat near the front with director Kristi Jacobson on opening night as Robert Redford addressed all the attendees. I felt like he was looking directly at me when he said, “your films will not change the world.” I’ll never forget that sudden feeling of disappointment. After all the energy that had been building during the years of making our film, and the anticipation of the first time attending the indie industry’s version of the Oscars – was he saying it was all for nothing? He went on to propose that we all are a part of a larger movement. Our role is the voice, the messenger, communicator, historian, forecaster, or amplifier, alongside those who are making a difference. Expecting our film or video to be the One that shifts humanity puts too much pressure on the production. For some creators, that pressure can lead to overthinking, hesitation, and risk aversion. Others respond to the pressure by becoming despotic, willing to ignore colleagues’ needs as they pursue their singular vision. Healthier, he suggested, recognize and attend to our true role: to bring an audience into a world they would not otherwise be able to access. The larger movement has the experts, the advocates, the power of its members. But to connect new audiences and to deepen the connection with people who are already “in it,” that’s where we come in. Agnieszka Holland, director of “Green Border,” said it this way: “You need many more voices like mine to change something in a substantial way. I tell [people] that I don’t think the film will change the world, and a young girl in France said, “Maybe your film will not change the world, but it certainly changed my world.” Thanks for your time. Coming soon, Post #2: Inertia. References: Kramer, G. M. (2024, June 21). “Society is ready to kill”: “Green Border” director Agnieszka Holland on the refugee crisis. Salon.com. https://www.salon.com/2024/06/21/green-border-agnieszka-holland-refugees/ Inspire Media Outlets to Tell Your Story (8 Reasons Media Outlets Will Help Expand Your Audience)6/19/2025  Jeff Rogers (l), host of World Views' “Jeff’s Homemade Game Show,” shares the fun and value of our show with WGN Morning Show hosts Dan Ponce (r, above) & Ana Belaval (r, below). Not only does a great story connect with potential customers, but it can also become a valuable asset to media outlets in their quest for content. You can create a video production that is so engaging and relevant to your area of expertise that news outlets, talk shows, podcasts, and social media sites can envision how your product or service would captivate and excite their viewers. And when they share your story, their audience becomes your audience.
Marketers call this “earned media,” distinguishing it from advertising (paid media) or media hosted on your own site or social media channel (owned media). A Win-Win Business researchers (references below) have found that earned media does affect brand awareness and purchase intent. Furthermore, the spin of that earned media (how positive or negative it is) can also affect customer satisfaction. The data is there: creating high-quality video storytelling that other media outlets want to share is good for business. Earned media is also good for media outlets. They need to stay on top of trends, gather inspiration for their own content, and consistently release interesting content. They might watch your captivating video to help them understand trends, gather inspiration for their own content, and potentially repurpose it for their own platforms. They might also be interested in discovering new storytelling or visual styles, or even use your video production for its news value if it relates to a current event. How Does It Work? Ideally, the media outlet would replay your inspiring video and even invite you to participate in their broadcast or post. This would allow you to delve deeper into the subject matter and potentially connect directly with a new audience. As a result, a new version of your original story would be shared on the web and hopefully viewed repeatedly over an extended period of time. But it all starts with two major qualifications: relevance and quality. The content of your video production needs to relate to the needs or wishes of an audience and the storytelling needs to be clear and to connect with people emotionally. To capture the attention of a media outlet and its audience, your video must meet one or more of their needs:
REFERENCES Colicev, A., Malshe, A., Pauwels, K., & O’Connor, P (2018). Improving Consumer Mindset Metrics and Shareholder Value Through Social Media: The Different Roles of Owned and Earned Media. Journal of Marketing, 82(1), 37–56. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44878276. Lovett, Mitchell J., and Richard Staelin. “The Role of Paid, Earned, and Owned Media in Building Entertainment Brands: Reminding, Informing, and Enhancing Enjoyment.” Marketing Science, vol. 35, no. 1, 2016, pp. 142–57. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44012140. Accessed 10 June 2025. Shaozhi, W. (2020). An Empirical Research on Social Media Marketing and Consumer Responses: Leveraging the Power of Online Opinion Leaders. The Kyoto Economic Review, 87(182/182), 34–63. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48619711 Stephen, A.T. & Galak, J. (2012). The Effects of Traditional and Social Earned Media on Sales: A Study of a Microlending Marketplace. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(5), 624–39. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41714453.  Producer/Director Bob Maraist of World View Productions discusses fine tuning their integration story between Magid’s Harvey Cohen and Intelligent Generation's Khalif Woodard. Storytelling in business is nothing new. As far back as 1895, when the John Deere company published its first issue of “The Furrow, A Journal for the American Farmer,” businesses and other organizations have recognized storytelling’s power. What is new is the ubiquity of mass communications. Gone are the cost barriers of print media production and postal rates. Under the very real pressure of those expenses, marketers of those days had to approach every message as an investment. The lifespan of a print publication was eons longer than an Instagram reel, so every brochure, magazine and postcard needed to be created with the understanding that once it was out, it could not be changed. With such risks inherent in the process, each story needed to be carefully crafted and perfectly produced. Today, it is relatively inexpensive to mass message a mass audience. Editing digital media, especially websites, to introduce new offerings or fix errors takes relatively little time or money. This freedom to do more with less has opened the people of the world to each other in truly new ways. But like a wagon that rolls behind the ox that pulls it, this freedom brings along a high-volume, mid-quality messaging environment. John Deere is still right: people still love stories. And this, perhaps more than ever, is the key to standing out. In an environment flooded with messages, quality storytelling is what’s rising to the top. More and more we’re getting calls from organizations telling us that people aren't aware of their products or services, they don’t understand what they do, how they can help, what makes them unique, and why they should even exist. Storytelling holds significant value in business, internally & externally, by enhancing connection with audiences, conveying messages effectively, and differentiating brands. It helps build trust, foster loyalty, and make brands memorable, ultimately contributing to growth. Building Connections and Trust Stories create emotional connections with audiences, making them feel understood and valued. It takes an experienced professional to tap into personal experiences and struggles, building trust and empathy, leading to stronger relationships with customers, employees, and partners. Stories humanize brands, making them relatable and fostering a deeper connection beyond products and services. For example, we recently met with clients looking to produce user testimonials. To illustrate what they were looking for, they showed us a clip that used actors, on a stage, with a professional voiceover. The piece was well-performed and produced, but it lacked a sense of what it means to engage real people, in real surroundings – people who weren't getting paid to wait for the lighting to be perfect or to repeat lines or actions over and over. Real stories require a completely different skill set, and not everyone can work with real people and also make it cinematic and engaging. Effective Communication and Message Delivery A well-told story can convey complex ideas in a way that is effortlessly understandable and memorable. Stories help visualize concepts, making them more real and relatable to the audience. By using anecdotes, metaphors, and other storytelling techniques, organizations can communicate their message more persuasively. A commercial software client called after the big presentation of a general awareness video we produced conveying a complex message. They said people were coming up to them afterwards saying, “now I know what your organization does!” Brand Differentiation and Memorability A compelling brand narrative helps businesses stand out from competitors. Stories make brands memorable, increasing brand recognition and recall. By sharing their unique story, businesses can showcase their values, mission, and what sets them apart. Enhancing Internal and External Communication Internally, storytelling helps align teams around a common purpose and values. Externally, stories can engage customers, build brand loyalty, and influence consumer behavior. By sharing both successes and challenges, businesses can create a more transparent and authentic image. And here’s a biggie: a great story inspires media outlets and social media to share your story, and even invite you to tell more of it! Fostering Innovation and Leadership Stories can inspire innovation and encourage employees to think creatively. Sharing personal experiences and insights can establish thought leadership within an industry. By telling stories about their journey and vision, entrepreneurs can inspire their teams and investors. Cognitive scientist and author Mark Turner said, “narrative imagining — story — is the fundamental instrument of thought….It is our chief means of looking into the future, of predicting, of planning, and of explaining.” We are all looking for story. We’re all telling a story. And in a sea of messaging, story is how we’ll continue to see and be seen. References: John Deere, The Furrow, A Journal for the American Farmer Forbes, Carmine Gallo Entrepreneur, Adam Horlock UC Berkeley ExecEd Steve Seagar Marketing Insider Group, Lauren Basiura Mark Turner
We’re so grateful that Saving Walden’s World continues to reach so deep and so wide, garnering accolades along the way. We put our full heart and mind into every video production we do, and it’s gratifying to see our work touching so many people and inspiring action. Thanks, Vermont Public, Vermont International Film Festival, Made Here Film Festival, director Jim Merkel, and the whole crew!
HAPPY EARTH-DAY EVERYONE! Earth-Day is an opportunity to reset our goals and ask ourselves what we do on a daily basis to give back to the earth that provides us life. At World View, for decades we have considered this both at work and at home long before it became "sexy." We also see it in the type of work we engage in. We've spent weeks filming at the eco village Dancing Rabbit, for the Morgan Spurlock FX documentary series, 30 days, following two 30-year-old New York City friends and typical Americans i.e., ravenous consumers, and users of fossil fuels, as they live 100% OFF THE GRID. This entertaining series introduced the mass audience to topics like: environmental footprint, energy shortage, renewable energy, recycling & composting EVERYTHING (can you say humanure?), bio-fuels, hay bale house, rain water capture & conservation, hybrid cars, off-gassing, agricultural impact, and more. As a producer on a number of HGTV series, we've provided additional insight on Green aspects of building and design, recognizing that every design choice has environmentally friendly options, while every green option has design elements. These practices had previously been learned while renovating our own homes. Profiling Alice's Garden, a thriving urban community garden serving over a thousand community members, was the result of a personal exploration into urban green movements in Milwaukee a number of years ago. We also met and profiled other community leaders that understand the benefit of developing green spaces in the fight against crime, improving neighborhoods and the environment on so many levels. We chose to profile 3X James Beard award nominee, chef Greg Leon of Amilinda, because of his amazing cuisine and his commitment to using fresh ingredients from local farmers. In the technology space we worked closely with Intelligent Generation to help them share their successes in the solar energy capture & storage field. We are very proud of the feature film, Saving Walden's World, which we helped shoot and produce, and is currently doing the festival & screening circuits around the world. SWW is a film about women led solutions to the possible 6th extinction through the eyes of those living in and making a difference in less than utopian societies. We met the director and author, Jim Merkel, at a local Earth week event, just as Jim was nurturing the first seeds of the idea taken from his earlier book, Radical Simplicity: Small Footprint in a Finite World. Jim had changed his life dramatically from a conservative engineer working on top secret weapons communications for the government, learning how destructive his life was to others, to traveling the globe to witness the best practices and living in a most sustainable way. We knew there was an inspiring story to share. Our own practices start with minimizing our footprint by working with creative collaborators remotely during pre-and post production. During production, we set out to be as efficient as possible on location or in the studio, and using local crews around the world, which keeps production costs down and minimizes the amount of resources used. We at World View can do better, but we're proud of the subject matter we've chosen to explore, and hopefully have inspired viewers to get involved in saving this planet of ours. We will always try to make ourselves available for any and every project that addresses Earth-Day issues & solutions. Please reach out if you have a project or an idea. Images below: L-R, row 1: Filming the Casimiro Family in Cuba for Saving Walden's World, Rooftop garden in Cuba, Silo house at Dancing Rabbit for 30 Days. Row 2: Morgan Spurlock, Chef Greg Leon tests local produce at Amalinda, Venice Williams E.D. for Alices Garden Urban Farm. Row 3: Nate Haban films rooftop garden at Clock Shadow Creamery, Commercial solar array at MAGID for Intelligent Generation.
As Easter approaches, it's a good time to reflect on one of our favorite TV productions I worked on, Miracle Quest, on Travel Channel. From the stigmata of Padre Pio in Italy, or the many miraculous visions of The Virgin in France, to the rebirth of the American Indian White Buffalo tradition, this series provides viewers with a sense of adventure and open-minded curiosity as it examines the theories, questions the authorities, and speaks with those who've experienced miracles first-hand.
The teaser below takes you to the first stop, Italy, to meet Vatican experts, locals, and believers who come from all over the world, moved by their faith. Our travels through Italy's historic cities and countryside, from coast to coast, navigating the mountainous terrains and active volcanoes, gave us unique access to those that have experienced miracles. I was fortunate enough to be the Director of Photography alongside two brilliant women, multilingual producer & director Mathilde Bittner, and host & theology expert Flavia Colgan. Shooting multiple locations in approximately one week, was not without its challenges. The budget was snug for sure, requiring us to use second tier equipment to get top tier results. The support crew were young and hungry and learning curves were steep, but everyone stepped up, and took on the day to day challenge. Many have gone on to be brilliant directors, producers and visionaries in their own right, like James Mann & Matt Hobin. Mathilde had a clear vision and always communicated it with grace, despite sometimes little sleep due to last minute logistical changes, or rewrites. What a model she was, setting the tone for everyone. NEXT STOP: FRANCE "Like" this if you'd like us to post more clips. CONTACT WORLD VIEW FOR ANY PRODUCTION NEEDS, AT HOME OR ABROAD 847-561-0576 Telling the stories of the renewable energy revolution is nothing new to us at World View Productions, Ltd, but it is still an honor when we connect with some of the early adopters. Intelligent Generation, a leader in empowering businesses to engage in the clean energy grid, called upon WVP owner Bob Maraist to produce an engaging and informative general awareness video that would inspire businesses to learn more about IG's capabilities and software. IG's clients like MAGID, G&W, and Abt, have some of the largest, most cutting edge solar energy systems in the country. The scale of their rooftop solar panels, the varying battery storage, and micro-grid distribution systems were the backdrop to their testimonials stating the benefits they get thanks to working with the Intelligent Generation team. Before going on location Bob helped the IG team recognize the DOZENS of additional opportunities WVP can deliver from the initial shoot. When the initial video was presented to a full house, IG received comments like: "Now I understand what you really do!" The IG team sees new and exciting opportunities to stay connected to their audience by harvesting additional material from the single production. Learn more and see the video If you are looking to elevate your business through stories in renewable energy capture and storage, and their financial, security, and environmental benefits, contact World View Productions at 847-561-0576, or [email protected]. SAVING WALDEN'S WORLD SCREENING AND FESTIVAL TOUR CONTINUES TO NYC FOR UN's SUMMIT FOR THE FUTURE9/20/2024 The UN's Summit for the Future is the current event bringing director Jim Merkel to NYC for a screening of the award winning documentary Saving Walden's World. Behind him are the many wonderful festivals and screenings that Jim attended in August as he sailed the beautiful coast of Maine on his Sailing for Sustainability Tour, with the goal of arriving to each location without the use of fossil fuels. There's been packed houses, great audience reaction, lively conversations, and some great after-parties! Saving Walden's World features Jim, a recovering military engineer as he explores societies that accomplished many of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals decades ahead of the 2030 targets, including greatly reducing poverty while enhancing gender equality. Do you live in or near NYC, then come see the film that is taking international film festivals by storm at DCTV in the Firehouse on Monday, September 23, just in time for Climate Week and the UN Summit for the Future. "Saving Walden's World" is now in thirteen international film festivals, garnering seven awards, (so far)! Jim is honored to be joined by co-director & 2-TIME OSCAR WINNER Deborah Shaffer, and Pedro Martin Navarro, for this special event. Deborah Shaffer was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement at DOCNYC in 2023. Deborah and Pedro both contributed significantly to the film, especially on the ground filming in Cuba. Learn about Jim's studies in countries where sustainability and women's empowerment are joining together to bring positive, progressive change. Date: Monday, September 23, 2024 Time: 7:00 pm, doors open at 6:30 pm Place: DCTV, The Firehouse, 87 Lafayette St., NY, 10013 Tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/savingwaldensworld... Details: savingwaldensworld.org SWW trailer: https://tinyurl.com/29fhuh2a Afterparty at DCTV follows Q&A. #film, #documentary, #DOCNYC, #UNSDG, #indiefilm, #sustainability, #womensempowerment, #reproductiverights, #sustainability  |
THE WVP BLOGBob MaraistI started in this industry with an interest in sharing the life changing stories of those who otherwise could not, so that I and others may learn and grow. Archives
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