With the start of the New Year, we were excited to get back up to Times Square and New York City for some portfolio events. Early in the month our Executive Producer Craig Oppenheimer and I scheduled some meetings with McGarryBowen, Wunderman, and R/GA. On the final day in January we also stopped in for a quick meeting with Rokkan.
Our first stop was at Wunderman where Craig and I met with Senior Art/Content Producer Patty Widyn. Craig had made photographer recommendations to Patty for a number of projects, but this was the first time that they met in person. Patty was great and well aware of our photographer directory, but also loved that Wonderful Machine is able to step in and help with any facet of production – whether as full executive producers or stepping in as freelance producers to handle casting or pulling permits. We were happy to convey the full extent of Wonderful Machine’s services to a client who regularly uses our directory and show off some of our photographers’ portfolios.
Our next stop was at R/GA to meet with Associate Content Producer Shakira Tabourn. R/GA’s new open floor plan was quite impressive and after some light conversation, Shakira and I realized that we grew up in the same town, less than a mile from each other. The Big Apple doesn’t let you small talk for long, so we quickly got down to business. Wonderful Machine had helped R/GA produce an international project a couple of years ago and Craig had recently talked to Shakira about a project for an eSports league, but we wanted to make sure that they were aware of Wonderful Machine’s full capabilities and get to meet in person.
Our last meeting that day was with Senior Art Producer Kayte Geldzaler and Associate Director of Art Production Travis Kinsella at McGarryBowen. Kayte was a client that we had met with in the past and had done a few small projects with, but she was interested in seeing some new portfolios and hearing more about Wonderful Machine’s production capabilities. Both Kayte and Travis were impressed with Rocco Ceselin’s and Erin Kunkel’s portfolios. Kayte wanted to see lifestyle portfolios and Rocco and Erin both bring a great creative eye and unique style to a specialty.
Later in the month, VP and Senior Art Producer Darielle Smolian at Rokkan invited me and Craig to review some Automotive and Travel portfolios and to talk about how Wonderful Machine can help support Rokkan with their production needs. Darielle liked Dom Romney’s automotive portfolio and thought that Lisa Corson had great work. Darielle has a lot on her plate and loved that Wonderful Machine has the ability to take small or large aspects of a project off of her hands. We’re excited to get back up to New York in February.