A New Jersey-based film production company that traveled Route 66 earlier this year is taking its footage to an editing company to create a reality-based travel program, according to a news release over the weekend.
Vincent Cricchio of Vincent Video is consulting with Timeline Video on the editing. They plan to create a pilot episode to shop around to television networks.
From the news release:
The most frequently asked question is, “what kind of show is this?” The series is a cross between a travel/ history/ reality show. Viewers will discover the history of the road as told by the people who live there, it will showcase where to sleep, eat and play. The show will reveal the talented people along the route by introducing the work of several mural artists, poets, authors and musicians. Some of the episodes will reveal romances that occurred on the old road while other episodes will present the mysteries of the old road. All episodes will display the excitement and adventure waiting behind every turn of Route 66 in a captivating and new approach!
The common thread, besides the road itself, is the shows’ host Vinny and Holly. The series will follow Vinny and Holly as they start their Route 66 journey in Chicago and as they travel the old road across Americas’ heartland to the west coast. Some areas have as many of three old road alignments to choose from, but this series focuses on the oldest drivable alignments. Route 66 can take the form of a four lane highway, a narrow brick road or an old unpaved dirt road. This quality makes the old road as ‘diverse’ as the landscape and people it passes.
Cricchio said in an e-mail that he and Holly filmed 240 people during their Route 66 trip and shot about 300 hours of footage. They plan to whittle it down to 28 half-hour episodes.
I received a few e-mails from roadies who were stood up by Vincent Video during the production schedule. One could maybe attribute this small percentage of irked folks to misunderstandings. Or maybe the Cricchios decided to abruptly jettison a few interviews so they could stay on schedule. Or maybe the Cricchios were jerks that day. I don’t know.
I’ll reserve judgment until I see finished footage. Billy Yeager, the director and brainchild behind the in-production indie film “Jesus of Malibu,” seems to be a flake. But I also acknowledge the footage he shot around the Route 66 ghost town of Two Guns, Ariz., looks wonderful. Great art and/or entertainment can come from strange places and strange people.
However, once Vincent Video finishes the pilot, the hard part begins — selling the show to a network. I know of at least one professionally produced program filmed on Route 66, “Rhythms of the Road,” that was shopped around to no avail. It’s a tough market out there.
I was one of those that was not exactly stood up by Vincent Video, but not contacted for a follow-up. I had provided details about the FIVE (not three) alignments of 66 in my area, including some contacts. I had set aside a day off from work to spend with them. It was supposedly built into their schedule that they would have that day off. Yet when the time came, there was absolutely no contact from them leading up to that day, nor during that day.
Like you, Ron, I can reserve some judgment on the final product. But they have an obstacle to overcome already having failed to contact several of us along the way as they had promised.
Actually what they had stated all along and from the very beginning, was that once the trip had started and filming had begun, that e-mail would be the best way to contact them, as they would be too busy traveling and filming to stop everywhere along the way and answer phone calls (they very clearly communicated this). Some of us did the job of keeping in constant communications along the way, facilitated as a guide throughout their trip in our area and had no problems at all! It is incumbant upon ourselves to promote our section of the road, and not the other way around. They do not owe us, we owe them! As Ron pointed out with other filming ventures, there’s no guarantee what may come from them, so we have to make the most out of the opportunities we are given. Some had a great experience with Rythms of the Road, and others did not, as is likely with any of these ventures. It is what we make of it, or the opportunity we missed out on. With over 2,000 miles of road out there, and not being a huge production taking years to film and compile the trip, anyone is bound to miss out on pleasing everyone’s appetite for Route 66, there’s simply too much out there to experience in a short time frame. If something comes positive from it, that’s really all we can hope for. Just as is the history of our route and the telling of the stories, people are bound to make mistakes, and there is no one person that knows it all, nor is there one person that is the ultimate authority on all things Route 66! Hopefully they will be successful in their venture, get some film exposure promoting the route out there, and in some way it will end up helping us all…
I’ve been on both sides of the aisle on this one, and I have to tell you, it is and should be the responsibility of the people traveling and filming to do the updating to those that they have scheduled. The reason being is simple: their schedule IS GOING TO CHANGE. That’s just the way it is, and they should have no problem communicating with us for updates. You get up in the morning on Tuesday, and email a friendly reminder to your Wednesday meetings. You then start calling ahead to your first couple of meetings of the day. And you have someone on staff calling ahead while others are driving. In this world of cell phones and smart phones, it is pretty inexcusable in my opinion for them to not make us aware.
Frankly, I would also argue that THEY owe US just as much as we owe them. For they are using our knowledge and information and contacts to make money. We are using their publicity for the preservation and promotion of the highway that we love. Seems those planning on supporting themselves through both of our endeavors should be the responsible party.
Just don’t forget, WE, are also using them from that publicity, to make money ourselves all along the route. Just how do you think Route 66 is supposed to survive, if at all, just because we’re some sort of museum living on government subsistance? If the businesses die, the towns die and everything else goes along with it. Of course what they’re doing is to make money, do you see any mega-philanthropist out there in love with Route 66 yet? At least this couple chose a story of the history of Route 66, and focused on a lot of old timers telling their stories, not nearly as commercial an effect as others that have come through. Some they filmed in our area, could literally be gone tomorrrow! Rythms of the Road used our properties and settings to supposedly make money on their own right, then came back around and tried to sell advertising to those same properties – is that what you call professional? However, unless you’ve got the money, equipment, time, staff and marketing to do the job of filming all of Route 66 and representing everyone on the road, then YES, WE OWE THEM! The time will come when one of these ventures was the last to film some of our most cherished old timers on the road, and when that time comes, I will be ever greatful for them having filmed it for my enjoyment to still be able to watch. I can only hope there’s enough of us out there that are younger, that will be able to keep the Mother Road alive for the future. There’s some great signs of that happening right now, we’ve got to keep that positive momentum growing, and we’ve got to keep growing it younger, so our beloved road will still be around for many more years to come…
FYI, some of us are NOT making money on the road. I suspect Ron and Emily fall into that category. I regularly LOSE money on the road, and that includes my book. Many others from Jim Conkle to John Doe traveler lose or spend their money regularly with only memories and happiness to show for it. So, yes, they ARE doing us a service and I would never deny that and never did. But we are here for the long haul and they are here for the short-term potential money. You do the math.
I am Vincent Cricchio of Vincent Video, and I have just read the comments. Here is my response:
We did our very best to include everyone who wanted to be part of this production. I regret that a few people who wanted in were passed by, and I apologize to those folks. We scheduled our shoots very aggressive, and sometimes a little too aggressive. We had to in order to film all the folks and locations along over 2,000 miles of road. Sometimes we were unable to connect to the internet at motels for reasons beyond my technical knowhow, so I could not read or send emails. This caused problems since this is my way to coordinate meetings. Glitches happened. Some locations did not provide a representative to guide us and we were not able to find the shoot location, or representatives did not show up as agreed. Often our research could not get an address for a location and other times our GPS sent us somewhere else.
It was a challenge to do the shoots and we would work without any time off. We began August 20th and ended October 20th with just 5 days off, and that was to do things like our laundry.
They can still be included in the show by submitting footage that they shoot and send it to us with a media release found on our website. This offer is open to all business and people who live on Route 66 so long as they make haste and get it to us before we edit the episode of their location.
Our intentions are based on a Win-Win philosophy. We love our country and saw a need to help generate commerce in America. We want to produce a TV show dealing with travel and history. Make no mistake about it we want to sell what we film. So instead of doing a travel show visiting overseas locations, we decided to promote the historic passages in America like Route 66.
The truth is that we kept to our schedule most of the time and the people of the road were open, friendly, and helpful and made me proud to be an American. Although I never had the time to stop and enjoy the old road as a tourist, I enjoyed every mile and every person I met. I miss all those folks.
The towns I filmed will get copy of the episode they appear, and they get the raw footage as well. The business we filmed will also have the raw footage that they can use to make advertisements if they so choose. Vincent Video will do this free of charge as our way to say thanks to the people who we filmed, of course they will have to wait until we are finished editing our 28 episodes.
I hope this clears up any misunderstandings. If anyone out there is still miffed at us, Merry Christmas to you and all the Route 66 folks.
-Vinny