(Originally posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007)
Michigan Association of Broadcasters
Summer Conference 2007
Well, I just returned from the MAB's annual summer get-together in one of my favorite cities, Grand Rapids.
Several of my favorite people were inducted into the MAB Hall of Fame: My old friend Tom Bender, Regional General Manager & Senior VP of Greater Media Detroit (WRIF, WCSX & WMGC); Tom Bryson, President & General Manager of WJRT-TV Flint; Gary Reid, University Distinguished Senior Specialist at Michigan State University and General Manager of WDBM-FM (Michigan State) and Chairman of the MAB Foundation and many other distinguished titles (including good friend); and Stephen Trivers, President and General Manager of Fairfield Broadcasting Company.
It was also great to see another good friend, Ross Biederman, recieve the Lifetime Achievement Award. Ross is the President of Midwestern Broadcasting in another of my favorite places, Traverse City. The company owns numerous radio stations in Northern Michigan, and has been one of our favorite employers.
His operations director, grad Jack O'Malley, has been with the company for over 25 years and many other employees have been there for long periods too.
I had the chance to spend quality time with many of our employers and returned with several job leads!
Jeff Sepulveda
Emmy Award
I want to offer my congratulations to grad Jeff Sepulveda (pictured right). He just won an Emmy award for his work editing a news clip for WDIV-TV 4 within a 24-hour period.
The name of the story is What Shall We Say, a 9/11 tribute to a native Detroit woman who lost her life in the World Trade Center.
To see the clip, click here.
Skeleton Factory's
Little Red Devil
Filmmakers Todd & Tommy Brunswick have completed their seventh feature film, Little Red Devil, which is scheduled for release this fall.
Michigan Vue just did a really nice article about the project, which was shot on high-definition for under $1 million. Tommy and Todd have been making films here in Southeastern Michigan for 7 years, originally under the name of Crossbow 5 Entertainment.
With the success of their first five low-budget (under $100,000 each) direct-to-video films, they found a partner and investor in Arlene Gildenberg and renamed their production company The Skeleton Factory.
Today they currently have four movies for sale and plan to screen Little Red Devil at Revolution. They are hoping a company such as Lion's Gate or Anchor Bay will pick it up for national distribution.
In addition, grad Mike Kudreiko was the director of photography on this and grad Chris Rosik was script supervisor.
To read the Michigan Vue story about Little Red Devil, click here.
Ross Marroso's Osama Bin Latte
In other news, grad Ross Marroso just let us know that his latest short film Osama Bin Latte has been accepted by the 2007 Dragon*Con Independent Short Film Festival in Atlanta as part of a huge comic convention.
Many of our grads -- students at the time -- were involved in this production, thanks to Ross and the efforts of Video Placement Advisor Nicole LaDouceur.
Ross' first effort was a documentary on Superman called In A Single Bound, which has had a successful run at many festivals. Not bad for a guy whose day job is WDIV's airbourne reporter. Visit Motor City Movies for more about Ross' indie projects.
By the way, Ross has also been teaching a screenwriting workshop right here at the school.
"I am teaching people who to use Final Draft, the leading screenplay writing software in the business," explains Ross, "but more than that, I am spending a lot of time teaching people what to do with a screenplay once they're finished with it."
If you're interested in signing up for a future class, shoot Ross an email.
Detroit Local 101 "Best Local Radio Show"RIFF2
In radio breaking news, we were delighted to see that RIFF2, Greater Media's HD2 station, was recognized by listeners as having the "Best Local Radio Show."
You can hear Detroit Local 101 on Tuesday nights at 10:00 PM by going to www.riff2.com or if you are one of the lucky few to have an HD radio go to 101.1-HD2. It's all about local bands and is pretty unique, and if you're part of a local band, call Suzy Cole at 248-542-0101.
A Big THANK YOU to Michael DeVille
In closing, let me thank grad Michael DeVille for his outstanding work as an A/V Technician for Carnival Cruise Lines. He shoots videos of passengers, both on and off the ship, to create lasting memories of their good times.
His supervisor is so impressed with his work that he asked him where he could find others with his skills and attitude, and of course, he referred him to his alma mater -- the good old SHS. Thanks, Mike!
That's it for this week. Oh, by the way, when and if you respond to either the blog or leave me a message here or on MySpace, puleeeeeeze let me know your name. That's
your full name, so I can get back to you!�
