A Note To A Friend

Unfortunately, while in Atlanta, I missed seeing my friend Jodi who was out of town. She had been a producer here in Connecticut and is now high up the food chain at CNN.

Here’s what I wrote.

Dear Jodi,

I hope you had a great Passover. I’m sorry I couldn’t see you while I was at CNN. However, I knew you’d want me to make myself at home. It’s cool that your phone direct dials Burundi.

All my best to you and your family.

Geoff


It’s Emmy Time in New England

The Boston/New England Chapter of NATAS has their Emmy big nomination party listed on their website for tonight, April 5th. It’s the first night of Passover, so it seemed a strange time to have a party… and I was right. This afternoon I got an email telling me the celebration is tomorrow (when many people also have Passover Seders).

Either way, I’m already in worry mode. I have foolishly set myself up for disaster. Normally, I sour on my tape as the postman is taking it away. Not so this year.

The tape opens with a phenomenal animation by Chris Kirby, our art director. I told him what I wanted and he exceeded any possible expectation. With it, I was able to explain a strange weather event, with only a trace of frozen precipitation, that had half the state in traffic for hours.

Chris deserves the credit, but as the judges watched the tape, hopefully it reflected well on me. That’s my perception based on my judging experience of last summer.

See – I am setting myself up for disaster.

Helaine has already told me (and this is not the first time), if I’m nominated, she’s not going. The past few times, I didn’t either. The ceremony is very long. The chapter covers a huge geographic area – so many of us don’t even know the other nominees. With weather toward the tail end, it’s a tedious evening at best. And, odds are, most nights you get nothing for your wait.

I have been exceptionally lucky, winning 7 Emmys over the years. On a few occasions, I thought my winning tape was awful. I have won and then not even been nominated the next year. It’s a crap shoot, decided by strangers in a strange city, often enticed by nothing more than free pizza!

We’ll see what happens tomorrow.