What’s a music company doing in the television documentary business? Very well, apparently. In August of 2014, I wrote about how TV stations were able to tell a little known story of American history for the first time thanks to a documentary produced by Mummy Cat Productions and Sam2. Sam2 is a joint venture between […]
What’s a music company doing in the television documentary business?
Very well, apparently.
In August of 2014, I wrote about how TV stations were able to tell a little known story of American history for the first time thanks to a documentary produced by Mummy Cat Productions and Sam2.
Sam2 is a joint venture between Stephen Arnold Music and Gordon Smith Creative.
The Journey — 450 Years of the African-American Experience reveals the never-told-before story of how free African Americans founded America’s oldest city, St. Augustine, Fla., long before Plymouth Rock and Jamestown.
The documentary was created to commemorate the contributions of black settlers for St. Augustine’s 450-year anniversary.
When the film received national attention, the producers showed it to local TV marketing executives who thought the film would be great for syndication. At the time, Michael Carr of Mummy Cat Productions and Gordon Smith of Sam2 had a feeling about the venture.
“We had a tiger by the tail,” said Carr. “We didn’t anticipate any of this.” “I knew we had a good idea and product,” said Smith, “but I’m very surprised at its success so far.”
Since then, more than 100 stations aired the documentary which attracted large viewing audiences during Black History Month.
In Nashville, Jacksonville and Indianapolis, The Journey —4 50 Years of the African-American Experience was second in its time period. In addition, more than 250 local schools aired the program as part of events that brought communities together.
“People did more than just watch,” said Carr, “they actively shared it and built their own experiences around it as well. ‘Journey’ demonstrates how compelling original TV content can be.”
“The response exceeded our expectations,” says Gordon Smith, co-founder of Sam2.
So much so that Sam2 says new documentary productions are scheduled for late 2015 and early 2016.
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