It’s been another busy week here at Charles River Media Group.

On Sunday, while Cody Signore and Bruce Petschek were filming for the Winchester Ballet School, Don Schechter joined Pulitzer Prize winning photographer David Turnley to film Robert Kraft at Gillette Stadium. Mr. Kraft is the Chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group and is the owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots, Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution, and Gillette Stadium itself. Don joined David on a quick tour of Mr. Kraft’s owner’s box and trophy room, and then conducted the interview – for Harvard Business School – in his office.

 

 

Two of the impressive Super Bowl Rings belonging to Mr. Kraft.

 

 

 

 

On Monday a small CRMG crew consisting of Don, Bruce, Cody, and Chuck head over to Vicor’s headquarters in Andover, MA to film an engineer describe one of their products. This half day shoot was followed by a quick edit of the material and draft 1 was sent off to Vicor before the end of the day.

On Tuesday we wrapped up the Vicor video and began preparations for the completion of the set we are building for the last shoot of our film, Marranos. We also placed Leanne’s voice over for the PT Barnum Awards into our edit while beginning work on two new “digital” commercials. One television spot is for a North Carolina law firm and, the other is for tax attorneys based in Florida.

 

 

Today – Wednesday – we will be wrapping up those PT Barnum awards which consist of biographical films about Hank Azaria, Rob and Pru Sternin, David Rone, and Gary Winick.

 

 

The rest of the week will include continued set construction, a new intern joining us, the completion of the two television spots, editing on Marranos, and preparations for filming new vignettes about environmental initiatives at Tufts University.

 

Hello World!

Welcome to the first blog post of our all new website.

I am sitting in my office in Newton Center on a beautiful spring day listening to the sound of sets being built in our studio. It’s an exciting time here at CRMG.

Where to begin?

This new website – our third in the past decade – represents a new stage in Charles River Media Group’s development. We started off as a very loose collaboration of media professionals. Some were freelancers, others were crammed into offices in Revere and Brookline, MA. Our recent expansion into our Newton Center facility provides us a controlled environment to both film our own projects and rent affordable to others. New staff is working and have been hired to complete current projects and expand into new sectors. Our capabilities are now limitless.

More importantly, our human network is strong. Whether it’s our work with new CRMG personnel, new freelancers, or new companies, organizations, and businesses, the relationships we have built and maintain amongst all of us is, in my opinion, our greatest strength. When you move past the technological tricks and glitz and past the budgets and timetables, it is ultimately the willingness by everyone to create an outstanding and effective creative product – regardless of sector (business, corporate, TV, non-profit, political, etc.) – that is our greatest strength.

Many years ago, when I first started the business, I went to the Small Business Administration for some of their free advice. I met with two retired gentleman who had run various retail businesses. They asked me to explain my business model. They listened in horror as I described my desire to create an organization dedicated to the following principles: 1) Create high quality productions regardless of sector, 2) Provide flexible costs to accommodate clients’ budgetary restrictions, 3) Establish the company as a national brand, and 4) Foster the creative film works of CRMG staff and collaborators.

The SBA thought I was nuts….and they were right….but it worked. I disregarded their advice to focus solely on car commercials or corporate presentations, and tried to do it all. That’s why we have perhaps the most diverse client list around.

Where we stand.

We are currently finishing up edits for various non-profits and corporations. We have a few television commercials to wrap up as well as some productions about to begin. Our creative work – the feature film “Marranos” – is nearing it’s end. The sets that we are currently constructing for the final remaining scenes will also serve as flats for future commercial use in the studio.We are also in the early stages of developing new models for feature filmmaking and have various scripts and treatments in the pipeline.

What’s next?

One of my favorite television shows, The West Wing, featured Martin Sheen as the President of the United States often asking, “What’s next?”

Even though we are expanding our resources and our client base…

Even though an election season is heating up and the airwaves will be busy with activity…

And even though the recession will (hopefully) soon be in the distant past…

We don’t exactly know the shape of CRMG’s future.

Isn’t it exciting?

-Don Schechter

 

Continue reading “Hello World! (and a brand new Charles River Media Group)”