I finally caved in. After years spent agonizing whether “to spend or not to spend” my hard-earned savings on the Travel Channel Academy, I finally committed. And for the most part, it was worth it.You see, the Travel Channel Academy is a four day intensive digital filmmaking event and it essentially costs as much as plane ticket to Africa. Or, a down payment for a car, a semester in college, a MacBook Pro, four months rent, or 666 Coronas at Mez. Considering that I snowboard for a living, I’m not quite rolling in it...And since I already have some TV training under my belt (I mean, I used to get paid to be an intern at CBS), it was a hard decision to drop the cold hard cash. Was it was a real opportunity or a sneaky marketing ploy to make some profit? I didn't know. My friends didn't know. There was just no point in debating the question any longer. I had to see for myself.
So, as luck would have it, the Travel Channel spiced up their typical New York / D.C. / Santa Barbara lineup by adding a trip to the Rocky Mountains to the mix. They offered a session in Keystone, Colorado. Within an hours drive, I, too, could be there--Practicing the one-man band deal: shooting, editing, reporting, and potentially working one day for the Travel Channel. Ah yes, the Travel Channel Academy at Keystone would not begin without me.
THE ACADEMY
The course itself was a mix of class lectures and hands-on practice. Over the four days, we completed two one-minute stories. On the first day, our instructor Michael Rosenblum applauded my camera work, saying I had beautiful shots and that it would be a pleasure to cut the footage later. A++. On the second day, Michael was a bit less impressed. Sure, I had the editing down, but he said my writing was a bit like “bad local news.” Ouch. After all those years hanging out at the news station...it was of no use here at the Travel Channel. I had to recall something Michael's repeated often throughout the course, "Forget everything you already know." So my goal was to develop this new, causal style of writing. 
Day 3, we repeated day one and two. We shot and edited our second piece. It was good practice to hammer in the skills we'd learned prior. I found a wonderful family to help out with my assignment (Check out my video below). Day 4, we mixed audio, wrote scripts, and had one last show and tell. Overall, the Academy offered great hands-on experience shooting and storytelling, which reminds me: You can do anything you want, provided you have the motivation to actually do it. Writers write. It's as simple as that.Here's my second story: The Kazmaier's Go Snow Tubing. I'm super stoked it's actually posted on Michael Rosenblum's blog!!! (http://www.rosenblumtv.com/)
Though the editing lectures were quite basic, Michael’s shooting and storytelling lectures made up for the difference. His fool-proof 5-step film tricks and storytelling techniques were valuable. It was good to hear him talk about how everyone has a fear of missing something (have you seen my photo library???). So, rather than shooting EVERYTHING, it’s important to have discipline when acquiring footage.
It was a real treat to work with Michael Rosenblum. He is a character! For a man who uses the F word at free will and refuses to wear any other color than black, he’s got a point of view and it works. He’s blunt. And while some people don't like that, but he’s the man. He gave us the truth, even when the truth hurt. His lectures were captivating, like good TV, and filled with noteworthy points and colorful stories. I have much respect for Mr. Rosenblum. I knew of him beforehand; he invented the show called 5 Takes (a show I once desperately wanted to be a part of). The show followed five travel journalists around the world, giving them $50 / day to live on, with the mission to blog and videotape their experiences. Was I a shoe-in for that or what! ;) I now know that Michael Rosenblum is a part of something much bigger. He knows how to make good TV, and better than that, he knows how to sell it in a business sense. He himself has a number of interesting business deals and negotiations in progress. He sees the industry changing from the once “paper world” to the present “screen world,” and he’s riding well on top of the wave. Soon, everything will be in video. There will be video on every business web site, video classifieds, video resumes...And while the demand for content is going up, the total number of viewers goes down, and so is the price companies are willing to pay for that content. In comes a new fleet of video journalists. Michael Rosenblum gets it. I walk away very impressed.
The best thing about the Travel Channel Academy was being around other travelers again and meeting some of my longtime internet idols in real time. Lori Rothschild Ansaldi, Executive Producer for the Travel Channel, was there, sharing a sincere desire to open her door to the Travel Channel. And, two Travel Channel Academy alum were there too, as instructors. Boulder-born Ryan Van Duzer and Vail native Allison Otto completed the course almost two years ago and have since been very successful in the world of travel journalism. It was fun hanging out and getting to know them.
Check out their web sites here:
Michael Rosenblum: http://www.rosenblumtv.com/Lori Rothschild Ansaldi: http://traveltvgirl.blogspot.com/
Allison Otto: http://web.me.com/smalldogonthego
Ryan Van Duzer: http://duzertv.com
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