Andrew's Studio Adventures

Andrew Newton is a man of systems. He envisions how things will work, he plans what has to be done to make it work and then he figures out how to do it when Tarik sees the budget and cuts it in half! This is a very special skill Andrew has.

A bit of background, Mr. Newton is a design grad, so he has an eye for imagery and space. He graduated and got what all respectable graphic design grads get... he was A&R'd by Nettwerk Records digital division, Nettmedia, and got a job at that prominent music label. Nettmedia placed Andrew at their client EMI Music to teach them about this new thing to them called the Internet. As a web savant in the early, early days of internet broadcast he ran the ongoing broadcast at Virtually Canadian (The worlds first 24/7 online radio station). After that for years Andrew sold digital marketing solutions to agency's and publishers; while planning his next big move. During this time Andrew honed in on a trend that was not nearly the buzz-word it is today-SEO. Andrew approached me with a rich SEO idea and I said: "Enough of that...let's make TV shows..." He has been around in the reaching-masses biz as a lead-thinker for a long time.

Now Andrew is our General Manager. This means he is in charge of everything that gets produced from a delivery-perspective. From studio shoot to satellite feed, Andrew is the guy who runs the show.

This interview should be interesting because I drive him crazy and this is the last thing he wants to do today. He is a pretty busy guy.

Andrew!!! Andrew....got a sec?

Andrew: "No."

Mike: "Catch you later?"

Andrew: "No."

I have a plan to get this interview...Chocolate. Off to Mac's for a treat....

Mike: Hey Andrew... What made you decide to get into broadcast production?

Andrew (eating chocolate like a bat eats a grape) : "You did. Remember?"

Mike: Oh, yeah.. What do you remember the early days of RedFish being like.

Andrew (laughing): I don't remember them.

Mike: All a blur, huh?

Andrew: Crunching numbers in Tarik's office about a project we are still working on called Broadcast SEO. Do you have any idea how relevant that search string will become?

Mike: What have we done since then? That you can recall in less than 15 seconds. Go!

Andrew: (laughing). We went from making commercials you would see on WUTV in 1988 to a company that just won an international award for a commercial we produced about Gonnorrhea...and somehow we have produced 54 half-hour TV shows that are pretty compelling; and 26 that are dry, yet informative. We have come a long way.

Mike: What made you first believe we were going to pull this off?

Andrew: That's not a fair question. You didn't even know this was going to happen. You just needed something to sell (laughing).

Mike: How did we build a sound stage in 14 days to get ready to shoot Man-up!?

Andrew: You grinding us. You drove us. Although people love me at first, it soon becomes apparent that I expect results.

Mike: But you had a plan.

Andrew: Sure I spent three fucking months planning every nut, every bolt, every squirt of green glue. Then, of course, Tarik said, "No. Do it for half". ...and it still kicks ass!

Mike: Brag a bit about it.

Andrew: Well....it is built for sound. For such high and open working space, there is almost no reverberation. We are in a reasonably size space, we can handle over 24,000k of lights, we shoot live to drive with as many as 5 cameras. We hit ground running 14 days after we started building the studio because we had to. Now we have an excellent studio space for rent, did I mention its air-conditioned? End of story.

Mike: What are your pride points in the company?

Andrew: I like the executive. I like the creative nature of the company. All the problems I will ever have at work revolve around how many tools I want us to have and the scope of our projects will dictate that I get the tools I need when I need them.

Mike: What does the future hold?

Andrew: More entertainment. The only thing the future wants is more entertainment.

And you will find it starting November 22 at 6:30 on SunTV. Good plug?

Mike: Brilliant. How was my interview?

Andrew: Not bad. I'm not a real fan of "what the future holds" kind of questions. Can I go back to work now?

Well that's Andrew for you, folks. Gotta love him. He is a good and honorable man. I hope you have the privilege of working with him soon.