Thursday, December 22, 2011

Christmas "break"

So we're all about to head out for what we all keep calling Christmas break, like we're in school or something.  Unfortunately this is real life now, and we are only taking 1 day off.  Its been an exhausting couple of days, and now that we're getting really close to launching, it was time to send out some press releases.  We got a healthy amount of responses which was pretty cool. 

First, I got a call from Ray Richardson, who does a talk show on WLOB 1310.  We are going to be a guest on his show next week, and we were all really excited about getting some media coverage.  I was feeling nervous about having to go on live radio in less than a week.  Not long after that, I got some emails from Fox 23 in Portland, and they wanted us on the show the next morning.  I had said yes to that, and about 1 minute later I got another call from TV 5 in Bangor, which I believe is the CBS affiliate, about them coming to the mill to shoot some video for a segment.  A whole stream of publication offers also were coming in, and it was pretty hectic.

After I had some time to think, I realized that we were going to be on live TV in less than 24 hours.  None of us have been on TV before, let alone live TV.  I got less than 3 hours of sleep last night because I was so nervous.  My mind was going a mile a minute with all the possibilities of what could go right and wrong.  We woke up wicked early and headed to Portland for the Fox gig.  We were sitting in the waiting area for the studio watching the TV, and kept seeing promos for our segment, which was cool, but my heart was pounding the whole time.  We finally got taken into the production studio which was a really interesting place.  Watching the news guys do their thing from behind the cameras was cool, and it really makes you appreciate how hard of a job they have.  We got wired up and sat in the chairs.  There were cameras, lights, teleprompters, and monitors that were hard to avoid looking at, and at that point everything became kind of a blur.  The only thing I really remember was being vividly aware of every movement I made.  I could also feel my heart pounding.  After a Will Ferrell-like blackout (http://movieclips.com/2gfPm-old-school-movie-thats-the-way-you-debate/), it was a relief to be done, and funny to think about how much time and worry went into less than 5 minutes of TV (I put the link on facebook.com/downeastcider). We watched it, and all in all we were pleased.  We definitely didn't hit a home run, but for a first time attempt without any huge mistakes, we were happy with the outcome. 

After driving back to Waterville we headed to the mill for the TV 5 video session.  This was much easier because it wasn't live.  It should air sometime next week, we'll post it when it comes out.  It was still a little awkward in front of the cameras, but we were a little more at ease knowing if we messed up we could just start over. 

Now we're taking care of some odds and ends before heading to our respected necks of the woods for Christmas (which, for the first time, I will be taking part in at the Hempton's, I'm so sorry Moses).  Next week will be really busy, I'll try to post when we're going to be on TV/radio/magazine/newspaper so anyone who is interested can check us out, or at least amuse yourself with our amateur media abilities.

Enjoy your Holidays and travel safe.

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