musings on good work in media, marketing, management and ministry

I have produced thousands of hours of live and live-to-tape television, and the majority of all problems have come from IFB (interruptible foldback- that ear piece allowing a mix-minus feed of audio) or the prompter (the screens that allow the speaker to read the script whilst looking out at the cameras).

Last night at the Republican National Convention, the prompter demon reared its ugly head during the magnificent speech by Gov. Sarah Palin. [Read more →]

“We’re not trying to grow a church here.” That’s not exactly what you expect to hear right before the pastor says that we must expand to three services because of our rapid growth. It’s not normal, but that’s what Rod Van Solkema told us this Sunday at Crossroads Bible Church outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

So it begs the question: if Crossroads isn’t focused on growth, why is it growing? (Especially when so many churches are extremely focused on growth, but are actually shrinking.) [Read more →]

Wow… two hurricanes, two tropical depressions… yeah baby we’re flirtin’ with disaster!  Sorry Molly Hatchet for rippin off your song, but it works!  I’ve been part of a few productions that have been disasters in the recent past, but I haven’t been in a huge natural disaster for a couple of years… and the adrenaline is starting to pump again.

My family and friends think I’ve lost it. (again)  I’m sitting here watching The Weather Channel (that’s their first clue) and cheering on the storms — Gustav heading to the Gulf, Hannah (wouldn’t it have been sweet for its name to be Hillary?) headed to the islands and then maybe Florida, and two more potential big storms in the Atlantic.

Before I get flamed, I don’t wish suffering on anyone. I have spent decades in more than 65 nations working with people who have lost everything. I covered Hurricane Katrina, the Mexico City earthquake, volcanos, typhoons, military coups, wars, I’ve worked in the largest refugee camp in the world in Peshawar Pakistan, produced live TV from a community of squatters living on the garbage dump in Manila Philippines. I’ve been shot at for being in the wrong place at the wrong time just to show the world the truth.  I’ve paid for the funeral for a family in Zambia who had nothing and whose wife and mother had just died of AIDS. I’ve been at the borrowed hut of a 16 year old former slave and her two children of rape who had escaped from her Arab slavemaster to return to her homeland in South Sudan - who owned literally nothing. Even her one rag of a dress was borrowed. I still see the face of the mother in Ethiopia staring blankly into my camera lens, no tears left to cry, as she covered the lifeless body of her child with a cloth, another death of famine.  I’ve been witness to unspeakable loss and suffering, and experienced great pain myself, and I wish it on no one.

But if you’ve covered hard news, been at the scene of history being made, and put true, responsible (and award-winning helps!) reporting on the air, you get itchy when big news happens and you’re not there. So, if Gustav turns nasty… my bags and HD camera are packed!

Summer is just about history.  Labor Day — the traditional start of Autumn – is less than a week away, and I just got the jet ski registered and ready to put in the water! Good thing I have a wet suit!

We did have a great vacation. Early on we looked at the calendar and found only two weeks in the entire Summer that all four of us could be free to be together.  It was tightly sandwiched between Alex’s return from her language study exchange program in Germany and Tori’s month-long externship at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) in Sanabel Island.

So did a huge road trip from Michigan to Florida, fitting in a beach vacation on the water in New Smyrna Beach (where the girls learned to surf), a college visit at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, then a few days of diving with our friends at Abyss Dive Center on Marathon Key, a few days of zipping around on scooters in Key West, and finally hanging out on the beach at Sanabel Island before we delivered Tori to start work at CROW.

It was a great vacation. Why was it so good? Here are my new rules for vacations: [Read more →]

I’m spending a lot of time right now in Central Ohio, helping a huge television ministry as executive producer. It’s demanding, hard and rewarding but tonight it ramped up to a whole new level.

After dinner with my buddy and Avid editor extrodinaire Mark, I went back to the office to finish writing a script. Finally I pushed send in Outlook and drove through a nasty thunderstorm to the hotel where I am on a first name basis with all of the registration desk people.

Got ready for bed, don’t worry — no details — and the phone rings. Not my cell, the room phone. I knew it wasn’t 7am yet. There was a stinkin’ tornado sighted. (guess that weird horn noise wasn’t someone’s car alarm)

So, here I am, forcibly evacuated from my rented bed, sitting in a first-floor hallway with my pillow (how is that supposed to protect me?) and blogging.  The family across from me is really worried. A bunch of contractors are ticked because they have an early call. A really young couple is passing through on their honeymoon and think this is a cruel joke. They all mention I should be doing almost anything besides this.

And they’re right… I’ll be right back. [Read more →]

Two lessons today…

First: when you are on top of the world, everything seems to be going right, and as the church says, you’re blessed — don’t let up.  The situation can change quickly, crap can come out of nowhere, and next thing you know, you’re fighting, struggling, desperate to get back to where you were.  So, when things are great, keep working on it, make it greater.

Second: when you’re at the bottom of the pit, everything seems to be going wrong, and as the church says, you need a miracle — don’t give up. The situation can change quickly, a lucky break can come out of nowhere, and next thing you know, you’re fighting, rolling, confident that you are where you want to be. So, when things really suck, keep working on it, you can be great.

Background:  I grew up in New England and Larry Bird was my first sports hero. Kat and I lived in LA when the Lakers were on their roll of championships, she loved showtime basketball. We lived in Chicago when the Bulls were unstoppable and Phil Jackson was their coach and I did lots of work with ESPN and witnessed many of Michael’s magic moments. So our house is not united on basketball. That being said, LA fans, don’t hate me.

Tonight the Lakers were leading the Celtics by the largest margin in NBA history at the end of the first quarter. The Celtics were still down by almost 20 points at halftime.  The expert commentators had already given the game to the Lakers who had not lost a game at home in the entire postseason. The Celtics had the largest comeback from a halftime deficit in NBA history and beat the Lakers by six points.  One more game and they are the world champions.

When you’re ahead, don’t let up.  When you’re behind, don’t give up.

I can’t believe it.  I’m in the middle of producing a new reel, and I’m going through boxes of tapes, pulling out great stuff that shows off my skills — some have cool lighting, great writing, others show directing, tons of international stuff… you get the idea. The problem is this: they’re on every format known to man!

Truly, my archives contain lots of stuff I can’t watch even if I wanted to! I have Quad, 1″, 3/4″, M, M2, BetaCam, BetaSP, 8mm, DV, DVCam, DVCPro (25 and 50), DigiBeta and some stuff that’s in PAL.  I’m totally not kidding. (Does anyone remember Quad?)  Oh yeah, and now DVD and the newest additions to my stash are on HDV, XD and DVDProHD. Yikes. I need to open a post house just to dub my tapes onto some digital format that will last a few more years and actually be useful to me.

Yawn. Ok, Joe has a ton of cool tape. So what?  I’m building a new reel and parts of it will be online for your viewing pleasure, then for your booking pleasure and finally for my check cashing pleasure!  Want a copy to show your partner/investors/class/kids? Contact me and I’ll send you a DVD. No tape, just DVD. Got a project you want to talk about or know of someone who wants to give away a good BetaSP machine?  Email me:  jsindorf AT gmail DOT com.

I love the work of Robert Frost. It probably comes from my New England roots. The pictures that Frost paints with his poetry bring back so many vivid images from growing up in rural New Hampshire.

I own many Frost first editions, and a beautiful portrait of America’s Poet Laurette by renowned photographer Lotte Jacobi (signed by both of them) is one of my prized possessions.  So when this bit of news filtered down to me, you now can understand why it got my attention.

The Homer Noble Farm in Ripton, Vermont, where Frost spent more than 20 summers before his death in 1963, was vandalized by a bunch of idiots in December of last year.  A 17-year-old former Middlebury College employee decided to hold a party and gave a friend $100 to buy beer. Word spread. Up to 50 people descended on the farm, the revelry turning destructive after a chair broke and someone threw it into the fireplace.  When it was over, windows, antiques and china had been broken, fire extinguishers discharged, and carpeting soiled with vomit and urine. Empty beer cans and drug paraphernalia were left behind. The damage was put at $10,600.

Twenty-eight people — all but two of them teenagers — were charged.  You’ll never believe their sentence… [Read more →]

I like Father Michael Pfleger, or at least I liked him back when I was executive producer at WCFC-TV in Chicago and he was a frequent guest on the talk show “Among Friends”.  Back then, he was a white priest ministering in a predominantly black part of Chicago and seeing many lives changed. His words were of hope and love for the oppressed, and he was about drawing people of all races and backgrounds to the love of Christ.  Obviously something’s changed.

His now infamous tirade about Hillary’s entitlement to the Democratic nomination has placed him right up there beside Rev. Jeremiah Wright as racist hate-mongers abusing and misusing the pulpit.  Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, has asked Father Pfleger to temporarily step back from his obligations at St. Sabina’s Parish to reflect on his recent statements.  The statement that Father Pfleger has issued in response sounds sincere, but how much better if we hadn’t gotten to this point.

Once again, the church gives us a case study in management and ethics. Get out your notebooks. [Read more →]