TRIP PAYNE –
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Wouldn’t it be funny if that were the name of someone making safety films in the corporate world?
Well… I did. I spent a quarter of my 40+ production years making films for Du Pont Corporate Headquarters. Won a lot of awards, like, Best Director from the International Monitor Awards and a Gold Medal for Best Director in the New York Film Festivals. I like to say I cut my teeth on filmmaking from those years of trying to take staid, overdone “industrial” topics and turn them into Hollywood-styled
“info-tainment.”
I preach that today’s audiences are schooled on Hollywood production values and story. Consequently,
if anyone wants to reach a non-broadcast audience, they'd better think how to mimic viewing tastes at home. Take a look at my samples that span four decades and you’ll see what I mean. ABERDEEN PROVING GROUNDS says I changed the face of training with "LASER SAFETY," winning multiple awards for my episodic television concept.
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Touches with the rich and famous have left some indelible marks on my "infotainment style." I wrote a few jokes for Bob Hope once, created Tanya Tucker’s “Intimate Portrait” for Lifetime Network, spent more than two years creating various exhibit films at Hoover Dam, produced a live event in Nashville hosted by Peter Jennings and special guest Lauren Bacall, shot on a popular backlot in Burbank to recreate an Iraqi battle scene, was awarded United Way’s prestigious Gold Award for Best Campaign Film in the nation, mimicked “Wayne’s World” for the State of California, and dramatically recreated award-winning material regarding sexual harassment for the Fortune 500.
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I received a New York Film Festival World Gold Award for “He’s Coming Home” – a film requested by the US ARMY to portray the emotional experience of a young Soldier’s family. Married to the hit song by Cowboy Crush, it became a headliner at Nashville’s CMA-fest and aired on GAC-TV.