OCTOBER 28: CNN Day
It was CNN day! We were actually going to be interviewed by one of their producers. I had a slight twinge of excitement and a load of butterflies just thinking about it. “what if I screw up or just go blank?” I thought. It was all ridiculous anyway, as I had been down this type of road before. Michael and I had told our story to so many people. It was something we could do in our sleep.
At 10:45, a white SUV pulled up in front of my house and out popped two young people.
One was the producer. Jennifer was in her late 20’s and was quite friendly and attractive.
The camera guy was named J.P. Both were great. I felt immediately at home with them. So did Max, my golden, who ran through my legs to greet them in his usual retriever style. They came into my house and looked it over. I showed them the kitchen and “unsold” the prospects of shooting there because the layout just wasn’t right. They checked out the living room and nodded that this could work well. Jennifer saw photos of my daughter, Stacey on our bookcase and was excited seeing these photos. “Look J.P., it’s Stacey, do you remember her?” she blurted out. J.P. did remember her from when my daughter had worked at CNN for Anderson Cooper. She was a producer for Anderson and stayed at it for about 3 years. The work was rough. The hours were brutal. News never takes a break. This was why we got the interview in the first place. It was Stacey who connected us with Jennifer. So, knowing this fact was a pretty good reason why I didn’t really care where we shot the interview.
We strolled over to Michael’s house and it was decided to that we shoot in his kitchen. He had an island in his kitchen which would be a little tight but enabled JP to set up his camera on one side as we sat on the other. It worked out well.
Damn, we were good! Jennifer asked a bunch of questions that we had heard before but we attacked each with vigor. We were good….no, we were great! We bounced comments back and forth and we were like a well oiled info machine. After 45 minutes or so, it was over. Next would be a quick trip to our fulfillment house, Handi-Crafters. This is where my stepson works every weekday. They hire people with employment barriers--in other words, they are special needs folks.
It was just a 40 minute drive. We pulled up, JP unloaded the equipment and proceeded to shoot three of their workers, as they packed orders of our sauces in cartons. They did a great job, too. These special needs people do a great job. Better than others. They take pride in their work. They smiled. They hugged us when it was over. It worked out beautifully.
We bid farewell to our CNN friends afterwards and told them we’d be in touch the following week to coordinate other upcoming film bits that needed to be shot for our story.
I needed to go home and crash. A one hour nap would work just fine. So I did. I love naps. But this was a special nap that day. It came after knowing that we would be on international TV. Seen by millions of people around the world. My imagination had us getting calls from Saudi Arabia, Germany, Italy, Russia, even India! We would find out soon enough though, as we are scheduled to go on the air sometime in early December. We will let everyone know ahead of time.
Oh yes, it was a great nap indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment