Franklin Springs Family Media

The Scout

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

We’ve returned to the sight of a new feature project that’s in development for a few days to further research different aspects of the story.

Our kind hosts took us an hour up the road to enjoy a Queen City football game - which just happened to be against the squad from Music City…

A few days later, they took the producer/director and a few production assistants on an aerial scout of the area…

Anticipation…

Here’s the response every filmmaker likes to receive…

Stay tuned to learn more about what they saw from up there…

The Bigs

Monday, August 23, 2010

We blogged earlier this summer about part of the upside of a demanding travel schedule this year being the opportunity to savor a few picturesque minor league baseball parks around the country, such as this one in Asheville, North Carolina…

A few weeks ago, on the other side of the country, we finished setting up at the Phoenix Convention Center…

We then walked a couple of blocks to the other end of the baseball continuum.  On a 112 degree Arizona day, we watched the Diamondbacks battle the Giants - in an enclosed, air-conditioned stadium… a dome.

All things considered, we still give the nod to a relaxed evening in the cool air of the Blue Ridge Mountains…

Road Show(s)

Friday, August 13, 2010

A recent swing West and back brought a few unexpected television encounters.

We pulled into our hotel in Los Angeles, and the lobby was teeming with the unmistakable buzz of production personnel.  The parking lot was full of production vehicles…

1,500 miles to the East, on the way home, we stopped to spend the night with friends.  We enjoyed breakfast the following morning…

They shared entertaining stories…

And then another television crew arrived…

A few of the cast members ended up coming back to Nashville with us…

There’s no chance we’ll be seen in an upcoming episode of The Biggest Loser.  As to the other show, we’ll find out soon…

There She Stands

Monday, June 28, 2010

We drove into Franklin on Saturday, and were happy to see seasonal decor starting to welcome in the coming Fourth of July holiday.

It reminded us of a similar Saturday morning eight years ago, when we received a call from a local singer with whom we had worked on numerous projects.

He explained that he had received a request during a recent trip to the Oval Office.  That was our signal to pull into the parking lot of a country market to maintain cell reception.  The singer went on to explain that the President had asked him to write a song that would inspire Americans as the country approached the one year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The singer told us how he had been stumped creatively and had gone to his farm in Franklin to seek inspiration.  He told how he stepped outside for fresh air, and looked up at the stars and stripes atop his flag pole.  In that moment, he had his breakthrough:  he went back inside and wrote There She Stands.

He asked us to join him on what became a whirlwind adventure as we hastened to collaborate on a music video.  That Fall, among many other places, the video played on jumbotrons prior to NFL football games; months later, it played immediately before President Bush delivered his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

The song struck a chord as the country grappled with the aftermath of 9/11.  Hopefully it has something to say all these years later…

When in Rome…

Friday, June 25, 2010

...go to the Coliseum.

When in St. Louis…

Hidden Treasures

Monday, June 21, 2010

The Franklin Springs team loves to travel, but we have a recurring sad refrain:  so many freeway interchanges lack any originality.  Super Target, Chili’s, Best Buy, etc. - you almost need to remind yourself what city you’re visiting.  Too often, they all look the same.

But Saturday night, 16 year old Peyton grabbed an iPhone in Eastern Colorado, purposefully positioned herself in the picture, and snapped this refreshingly unique glimpse of Americana…

Good to Be in Denver

Friday, June 18, 2010

Traveling through western Kansas got a little adventurous; it’s nice to have arrived safely in the Mile High City…

Consecutive Capital Cities

Monday, June 14, 2010

This leg of Franklin Springs summer travel takes us from Richmond to Nashville for a few days, then on to Denver.

The Virginia State Capital Building…

The Entrepreneur

Friday, June 11, 2010

We’re about to release Family Works - Inspiring Profiles of Family Business (Volume One), which includes a segment on Holden Coal, where we filmed over a few memorable Autumn days in Upstate New York.

We were pleased to discover that Mark Holden is speaking at a conference in Richmond, VA this weekend.  He stopped by for a spirited discussion with Cole and Peyton (flanking Mark below) at the Franklin Springs booth this afternoon.

We look forward to sharing the Holden family entrepreneurial story with you starting July 1.

Tourists

Friday, May 28, 2010

On our way to a conference in North Carolina, we traveled from Nashville through Asheville. 

Far from the spiraling ticket prices and salaries of the major leagues, there’s something very refreshing about a night of Single A minor league baseball…