The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)–which holds an annual convention each April in Las Vegas that serves as a prime destination for the commercialmaking community, particularly those on the post side of the equation–is launching another show.
The debut NAB Post+ Production Show will be staged Nov. 15-17 at the Javits Convention Center in New York.
The convention also represents another milestone–one of the final NAB shows under the leadership of longtime NAB president/CEO Eddie Fritts.
Last week the NAB announced that Fritts’ successor would be National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) president David K. Rehr, who has been signed to a multi-year agreement and will assume the NAB leadership post on Dec. 5. Fritts will remain a consultant to NAB through April 2008.
The NAB Post+ Production Show, developed to complement and build on the NAB Post|Production World Conference held as part of NAB’s Las Vegas-based spring convention, capitalizes on the partnership between NAB and New York-headquartered digital media training center Future Media Concepts (FMC) and is sponsored by Tewksbury, Mass.-headquartered Avid Technology and New York-based Apple reseller and service provider Tekserve.
The new event is targeted to the New York and East Coast production and postproduction communities and will combine training and certification programs for digital artists with a content creation technologies-filled exhibition hall. Scheduled keynote speakers are Emmy Award-winning editor Chris Willingham (24), Academy Award-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker (The Aviator, Raging Bull), and Academy Award-nominated editor Tim Squyres (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
“This does not replace the NAB [convention in Vegas],” emphasized Future Media Concepts president Ben Kozuch, who is co-chairing the event with NAB VP of science and technology John Marino. “The NAB in Vegas is an inclusive show for the whole [media] gamut. In New York, we focus on production and postproduction. It’s not the antennas, etc. which are at the all-inclusive show.
“We saw a need.” he added. “There’s a large postproduction community in New York that doesn’t go to Vegas. We felt the New York market–with the agencies, postproduction facilities, television stations and corporate communications organizations–could benefit from a high-end video show–aimed at the professional market.”
“NAB [in Vegas] is obviously the event that serves the entire world… this is not an attempt to replicate it. But New York is an important market and this [show] is an opportunity we wanted to jump into on its maiden voyage,” related Stephan Gray, senior VP of marketing at Avid. “Hopefully this will draw not just from New York but also the region.”
At press time, NAB had announced that the exhibition space was approaching full capacity, with scheduled companies including Avid, Apple, Autodesk Media & Entertainment, 1 Beyond, AJA Video, Bluefish444/Digital Voodoo, Bogen, Boris FX, da Vinci, the DC Office of Motion Picture & TV, Digital Rapids, Doremi Labs, DVS Digital Video, East Coast Final Cut Pro User Group, Filmlight, Fujinon, Lightworks and Maximum Throughput.
Meanwhile, the event will offer 120 training sessions taught by FMC certified instructors, authors of technical books, and users. Apple and Avid certification classes are also scheduled.
During the keynote sessions, Schoonmaker plans to share her experiences editing director Martin Scorsese’s feature The Aviator, describing the film’s creative challenges and how she worked to solve them while showing key clips from the movie. A 30-year postproduction veteran, Schoonmaker has collaborated closely with Scorsese on films including Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, GoodFellas and Casino.
Keynote speaker Willingham has won three Emmys for his work on 24. With a career spanning nearly three decades working in postproduction, Willingham has amassed credits that include The X-Files, 21 Jump Street and The A-Team. He and his wife, Lynne, who is also a film editor, recently completed work on Empire, a six-hour miniseries for ABC.
Tim Squyres–who will deliver the final keynote–has edited eight films for director Ang Lee, including The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman, Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm and The Hulk, in addition to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
Meanwhile, the NAB readies to welcome its new president/CEO Rehr.
Bruce Reese, president and CEO of Bonneville International and NAB joint board chairman, called Rehr “a highly skilled advocate with a passion for policy and a deep understanding of how Washington works. I am delighted that we have identified someone I truly believe will be an outstanding advocate for broadcasters for many, many years.”
With more than 20 years of experience on Capitol Hill and in the lobbying community, Rehr is described as an outspoken advocate for entrepreneurs and small business before the federal government. Under Rehr’s leadership, NBWA won many legislative battles on behalf of small business enterprises and climbed into the top 10 of Fortune magazine’s Power Rankings of the 25 most influential lobbying groups in Washington. The NBWA Political Action Committee (NBWA PAC) has grown from a PAC that raised and spent a little more than $400,000 each election cycle, to nearly $3 million–catapulting it into the top 10 disbursing PACs since 2003.
