Travel Channel Academy – DC

We have just completed another fantastic 4-day run of the Travel Channel Academy at Discovery HQ in Silver Spring, Md.

The classes were great, and the students were visited and met with Pat Lafferty, Chief Creative Officer; Matt Gould, VP for Development; Sue Norton, VP for Short Form Programming and Elizabeth Browde, Executive Producer for Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, as well as the usual group of Travel Channel execs who work with us. They also go a surprise visit from Travel Channel Media President and GM Pat Younge, who wandered over on Sunday morning and sat with the students individually as they screened and edited their second round pieces. My recommendation was to take Pat’s advice on how to structure he pieces and write the scripts – he’ll be looking at then all later this week (and if you want to have a successful career in cable, its a good idea to listen to what the President of the network suggests).

Next sessions: Chicago, NY and then back to DC.

And don’t forget our Advanced Sessions for 2008 – South Africa, Australia and Thailand!

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Michael Rosenblum

For more than 30 years, Michael Rosenblum has been on the cutting edge of the digital video journalism revolution. During this time, he has lead a drive for video literacy, and the complete rethinking of how television is made and controlled. His work has included: The complete transitioning of The BBC's national network (UK) to a VJ-driven model, starting in 2002. The complete conversion of The Voice of America, the United State's Government's broadcasting agency, (and the largest broadcaster in the world), from short wave radio to television broadcasting and webcasting using the VJ paradigm (1998-present). The construction of NYT Television, a New York Times Company, and the largest producer of non-fiction television in the US. Rosenblum was both the founder and President of NYT TV, (all based on this paradigm (1996-1998). The President and Founder of Video News International, a global VJ-driven newsgathering company, with more than 100 journalists around the world. (1993-1996). Other clients include Spectrum News, Verizon and CBS News.

3 Comments
  • rosenblumtv April 27, 2008

    Well, the bootcamp and a documentary film class are two totally different animals. We are very hands on. The bootcamp is really about making compelling films and video storytelling. The end product here is very short (like 1:00) films that are evocative and to the point. I should think that this kind of thing would resonate much more with your students than a documentary class (most conventional docs tend to be pretty unwatchable, imho, though there are certainly exceptions).

    Living in the USVI though… man what a deal! Maybe we can run one down there!!

  • a.c. burgess April 27, 2008

    Greetings! I teach English at a private school here in the U.S. Virgin Islands and recently I’ve focused on the Photo Essay with my High School Students. We use Mac and Windows Movie Maker and the results have been great in terms of what we have been able to accomplish. While I teach “concepts” I can’t turn the camera on. I am considering Travel Channel Academy. Do you think I’ll get more out of this than say, a documentary film class or something?

    a.c.

  • Brad Dahl February 12, 2008

    Great class. From someone that never picked up a camera or used video editing software, to making my first film in only 2 days was fantastic. Anybody that wants to know what the class is like email me! bdahl@dahlcom.net I cant recommend this class enough.