Back to the Drawing Board...

First the good news: The opening video segment we created for Monday’s firmwide meeting went over better than even I could have expected. The audience laughed at all the right spots (and even a few we hadn’t anticipated), and it set the tone for the remainder of the three-hour meeting exactly as we had hoped. We got positive feedback from several folks in the company, including a personal message from the CEO. My favorite response, though, was from someone who had both seen our proof-of-concept video and read the first draft of the shooting script. She said that before going into the meeting, she was not at all sold on the concept (we did the video as a satirical 1950s educational film). After seeing the finished product, however, her opinion was completely changed, and she thought it was fantastic. That’s the kind of praise that really makes you feel successful — winning over not someone who came in with no advance expectations, but someone who actually had negative expectations. We also had several video segments throughout the remainder of the presentation (including our special guest appearance by Bob Dole), but I think that opener was what really made the meeting the success that it was. My sincerest congratulations to Ginny Filer, who directed and edited that piece like a real pro.

Okay, now the bad news — although my client had the courtesy to wait a full day after the firmwide meeting so as to allow us to bask in the glory of that success for at least a little while. The “dramatized” case study video we did for the big hospital CEO meeting did not fare so well. Not so much the fault of the video, but the case overall is being radically rewritten — which means we have to completely reshoot the whole thing, not to mention recasting a couple of roles in which the actors (including yours truly) were too young-looking to pull off the roles (I know, I know, I should feel good about that, right?). And, naturally, the next meeting at which this will have to be shown is next Thursday. With Adam and I out of town for a meeting in Orlando tomorrow and Friday. Which means we start shooting this afternoon, and either finish up next Monday and Tuesday — right before leaving on a potential Chicago shoot Wednesday and Thursday of next week — or have Ginny shoot the whole thing by herself by the end of this week.

And here I was thinking I’d finally be able to catch up on some sleep...