02.22.2007 | Posted By: Maya

The footage was rough, but the pizza was tasty. Thanks to Bernardo's awe-inspiring Promo video, last nights RTN screening had the best turnout yet! To catch you up to speed, every month we like to invite the public down to our Costa Mesa headquarters to screen the "rough cut" of an episode that will air on PBS in the Fall. After the show, we have an informal critique/brainstorm session, which gives the editors a chance to get viewers' opinions on how to improve the show. We talk about the footage, we ask questions...and most importantly, we eat pizza.
(side note: if you're ever craving pizza in the Newport/Costa Mesa area, Laventina's Big Cheese is the way to go!)

The evening began at 6pm, with people from all around (local film classes, surrounding colleges...) piling onto the couches next the ol' Legend. Series editors Mo and Bernardo emceed the event and introduced the main attraction: the as yet unfinished 7th episode of our upcoming PBS series featuring our Atlanta team interviewing Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and PDI/Dreamworks Head of Character Animation Rex Grignon.

Not to ruin anything, but this episode has a craaaazy ending!

After watching the rough cut (and scarfing down our pizzas), the night ended with an open talk about the footage: what we thought was boring, interesting, intense, funny, confusing, amazing...just a totally casual, comfortable discussion. The series editors were interested in hearing all types of comments and reactions to the episode: "It was incredibly helpful and reassuring to hear feedback from people with a fresh perspective on the content. The awesome thing about the screening is that the feedback directly affects the final cuts of the episodes," said series editor Bernardo.

If you're interested in helping us shape our show and attending one of our future monthly screenings, contact Mo or Bernardo for more information.

02.20.2007 | Posted By: Maya

A few of us just back from a weekend excursion to a certain little lit-up city out in the desert. The [Monaco (link to: http://dorstcordell.com/rtndev/images/rvs/monaco01.jpg)] was our ride of choice for the 300-mile drive, but we gave her a little rest when we stopped at Peggy Sue’s 50’s-style diner off I-15 (the Marlon Brando burger is like butter…literally).We rolled into Vegas around 8pm—and we continued to roll (very slowly) through traffic for another hour until we found ourselves the perfect spot to plant our home on wheels. From then on, I kid you not, my memory is a blank. All I can say is that a certain owl-themed hotel treated us very well—and if we weren’t splurging our earnings on the nickel slots, we were gorging our bellies full of endless seafood and decadent desserts. Or we were sneaking into hot tubs.

02.16.2007 | Posted By: Maya

You’ve heard of casual Friday, right? Well, since pretty much every day here is casual (maybe a little too casual for a few shower-dodgers…), we decided to spice up our work week with a “Formal Friday.” We got so excited about it that we started giving out awards:

In 3rd, we’ve got the always-stylish Dan Fassnacht, with his hefty belt-buckle sealing the bronze medal.

In 2nd, there’s Brian McAllister, who achieved the perfect balance of casual formality with his blazer ‘n flip flops.

And in 1st, we have the unbelievably chic Brian Pelayo, fist-pumping the skies in his gold-medal-earning tuxedo. Revel in the glory, Brian, you earned it!

And then, of course, the obligatory group photo:

This is how we do. On Formal Fridays.

02.09.2007 | Posted By: Maya

Howdy! Welcome to the first entry of our first-ever RTN blog. This is where you’ll get the inside scoop on all the goings on around the RTN headquarters—who failed to restock the toilet paper, where we keep the stash of low-fat granola, who filled the RV up with gas instead of diesel… We’ve got all your juicy juice right here… Welcome, Adam! First off, we’d like to welcome experienced documentary filmmaker and drive-in movie expert Adam to the staff! Adam will be joining the Special Ops team—the fine people that create all of our online content. As you may have noticed, we enjoy giving nicknames to people/places/things (I believe the fridge is called “Burt”). So here are our affectionate names for the different departments here at RTN: Production: “The MFKs” (you might hear such words in a gangsta rap video) Series Production: “The Series Team” (straight to the point) Online Production: “Special Opps” (stealthy like a fox— what a name!) Campus Outreach: “The Dream Team” (no Jordans here, but you’ve got B.Macs and C-Notes) Development: “Mike and Aaron” (simple as that). Design: “The Brians” (one Brian doing the job of 27!) Now you’re in the know. Welcome to Roadtrip Nation.