Inspiration... and where to find it.

There is nothing worse for a promotion producer than when the well of creative ideas runs dry. I'm not talking about writing the script. Staring at that blank computer screen is a different kind of hell. I'm talking about coming up with a "look" for your promo. Something you haven't done before. Something that pushes your skills to a new level. Perhaps you had a boxes phase. Then maybe you moved on to your circles phase. Then maybe you got really creative and did a boxes AND circles phase. Now you're bored with your work and you need some knew creative inspiration to get your imagination kick started again.

I usually keep the list I'm about to post here a guarded secret - something I only share with co-workers and a select few other stations in our broadcast group. But with so many people now sharing their creative ideas and talents with us on the world wide web I started to feel a little selfish. So now I'm going to share the love... or at least my list of inspiration...

Art houses and post houses have the coolest ideas. In my spare time at work (what little I have) I always look out for new sites. Over the years I've collected a bunch. Whenever I'm in desperate need of a creative kick in the pants I've found it on one of these sites. I hope they're useful to someone out there. If you have any to share that aren't on the list I'd love to see them.

Without further delay... the list.

#
http://www.602communications.com/
http://www.72andsunny.com/
http://www.168designgroup.com/
http://www.1741films.com/
http://www.2000strong.com/


A
http://www.a52.com/
http://www.activateyourimage.com/
http://www.aerodrome.com/
http://www.attik.com/
http://www.autonomy.tv/


B
http://www.beehive.tv/
http://www.belief.com/
http://www.bigstudios.com/
http://www.blur.com/
http://www.brickyardvfx.com/
http://www.broadwayvideo.com/
http://www.buckla.com/
http://www.bungalow3.com/


C
http://www.ca-square.com/
http://www.charlex.com/
http://www.citizenpictures.com/
http://www.click3x.com/
http://www.computercafe.com/
http://www.conceptfarm.com/
http://www.crash-sues.com/
http://www.creativebubble.com/
HTTP://WWW.CROSSROADSTELEVISION.COM/
http://www.curiouspictures.com/
http://www.cuppacoffee.com/

D
http://www.d-kitchen.com/
http://www.devastudios.com/
http://www.drfilmdesign.com/
http://www.dzpusa.com/


E
http://www.eargoo.com/
http://www.edgeworx.com/
http://www.editionaleffects.com/
http://www.elevate.tv/
http://www.eviltwinproductions.com/
http://www.exopolis.com/
http://www.eyeballnyc.com/


F
http://www.filmworksfx.com/
http://www.filternyc.com/
http://www.freestylecollective.com/
http://www.fueldesign.com/

G
http://www.ghostmilk.com/
http://www.giantoctopus.com/


H-I-J-K-L
http://www.homenyc.tv/
http://www.hothauscreative.com/
http://www.iamelement.com/
http://www.imaginaryforces.com/
http://www.impossiblepictures.com/
http://www.industrialcreative.com/
http://www.interspectacular.com/
http://www.interfacevideo.com/
http://www.kachew.com/
http://www.light-borne.com/
http://www.loopmedia.com/


M
http://www.makinestudios.com/
http://www.mfactor.com/ (seriously cool snipes)
http://www.moceanvenice.com/
http://www.montgomerycreative.com/
http://www.motiontheory.com/
http://www.moving-picture.com/


N-O-P
http://www.nailgun.tv/
http://www.newspeak.tv/
http://www.nthdegree.tv/
http://www.oceanvisualfx.com/
http://www.perceptv.com/
http://www.phoenixeditorial.com/
http://www.picturemill.com/
http://www.primalscreen.com/
http://www.prosceniumpictures.com/
http://www.psyop.tv/
http://www.pwny.com/
http://www.pyrocreative.com/

Q-R
http://www.radium.com/
http://www.red8studios.com/
http://www.ringoffire.com/
http://www.riotmanhattan.com/
http://www.riverstreet.net/
http://www.rudehoney.com/
http://www.rushes.co.uk/


S
http://www.shilodesign.com/
http://www.smashpoint.com/
http://www.splicehere.tv/
http://www.stardust.tv/
http://www.studiocity.com/
http://www.steelevfx.com/


T
http://www.t-a-g.com/
http://www.teamgroup.tv/
http://www.the-archipelago.com/ (this is the website for Lee Hunt and Concrete Pictures)
http://www.the-mill.com/
http://www.thestudioupstairs.com/
http://www.thinkc.com/
http://www.trancedesigns.com/
http://www.transistorstudios.com/
http://www.troika.tv/
http://www.trollback.com/
http://www.twistfilm.com/


U-V
http://www.unioneditorial.com/
http://www.uvphactory.com/
http://www.verbmedia.com/
http://www.videoboxstudios.com/
http://www.viewpointstudios.com/
http://www.vidiots.tv/


X-Y-Z
http://www.yuco.com/
http://www.zapcast.com/
http://www.zonadesign.com/

The Big 3

So I've found myself in a bit of a dilemma with a recent special report. Our sports anchor landed an impressive interview with Tony George (owner of the Indy Motor Speedway), Herb Simon (co-owner of the Pacers) and Jim Irsay (owner of the Colts). All three men sat down for one interview together. Truly a moment in Indiana sports history. We wanted to start generating buzz early in October so I put together a POP of sorts reminding viewers of all the exclusive sports interviews the guy has landed before. We tagged it out by saying wait till you see who he has November 5th. It worked. We had radio stations calling us, athletes asking the reporter, even our own sales staff was begging to know who it was. So what's my problem? Do three team owners in one room together justify the buzz or would we let people down when they finally saw who it was?

We did switch to promos for the actual interview last Thursday where their identities were revealed. Radio stations still wanted interviews and people who aren't normally sports fans admitted to being more than a little curious to see what these guys had to say. The interview airs tonight so we'll see if our strategy pays off. If it fails it certainly won't be from a lack of promotion. The spot aired on the DomeVision at the Colts/Patriots game as well as airing during the broadcast of the game itself. The game had a freaking 65 share. Too bad it had such a bummer ending...

Next up for me is another sports related special report. Then I'm off to work on a few things for sister station WNDY. I hope to experiment with getting some videos up on here in the near future. Wish me luck...

Here we go again...

Another sweeps month is now upon us. I'm coming out lucky this month since I only have two special report promos to edit. One is already in the can. The other should be completed tomorrow. Of course something always pops up during sweeps months so I'll probably have at least one more in there before it's all said and done.

A link for you... http://youtube.com/user/wish. We now have our own YouTube page for all our stations. There should be user pages for WNDY and Indy Univision as well. At least now I'll have a place to put my promos, as will the rest of the staff. The quality of the videos isn't the greatest but we're working on it.

The Indiana Broadcasters Association is having their Spectrum Awards this weekend. All told I believe the department is up for four (a record). None of us has ever won this one so we'll see if we can finally add this trophy to our department awards shelf. Of course if we do win one I'll have to lose a Family Feud or Bernie Mac bobble head doll to make room for it, but I suppose some sacrifices must be made...

Finally I have to share a superstition with you. I've been with WISH for almost 7 1/2 years. Over those years, I've learned that any time we're doing very well ratings-wise going into a book we usually wind up tanking the first several nights. Conversely the opposite is also true. When we're completely sucking going into a book we suddenly pull huge numbers when the book launches. Right now we've been doing very well as we head into tonight. That makes me nervous. We've got great stories and good promotion, not to mention a nice lead-in in Without a Trace, but you just never know. Viewers can be very fickle as we all know.

I'll be back in the next day or so to chat more about the promos I mentioned in my last entry. After tonight the cat will be out of the bag as to the identity of the big interview.