Mission Accomplished

No, I’m not making a woefully outdated Bush slam. I’m just acknowledging that my nightmare video project is done — it “premiered” at the company “revenue party” (i.e., the big party for the marketers and member services folks) to an extraordinarily positive response.

It was a prime example of the editing rule of thumb — if in doubt, leave it out. Our initial cut came in at fifteen minutes, but after showing it to a few people, I confirmed my suspicions that some of the gags just fell flat. On a big, group-participation project like this, you’re reluctant to cut anyone out entirely, but if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Sometimes it was the way a particular scene was shot, the way it was executed, the way it fit into the larger whole, but nobody benefits from a substandard piece overall.

So I made my apologies to those whose contributions had been left on the cutting room floor and went with a final ten-minute edit. And the audience really got a kick out of it. People are bugging me for copies of the DVD now, which I take as a good sign.

And with that, I’ll likely be signing off for Christmas. I’ll be back in the office next week, so I’ll still probably take a moment to drop the occasional snide comment, but in the meantime, here’s wishing all of you happy holidays!