Vintage

Memphis Business Journal          page 13     June 5 – 9, 1995   History Tapes & CityscapesVideo Firm Expands with Growing Market

By Kerissa Hollis  

After getting its start producing video profiles of cities, City Productions, Inc., is expanding its scope – and its work force.  Run by President Cole Smith, the company is making a name for itself, carving a niche in the educational market.

Smith began working on the idea for City Productions back in 1990, and the business was incorporated in 1992 (MBJ, Aug. 8-12, 1994).  He says the first year of business he focused on developing the concept for the company, and the second year he began pursuing his business goals by producing city videos.

The company’s first video profile was of Memphis, highlighting several of the city’s tourist attractions.  Video portraits of Nashville, Little Rock, Hot Springs, and Branson, Mo., soon followed.  Late last year, City Productions released a profile of Atlanta.  Smith says those videos mix historical points of interest with current attractions.  It’s a blend of past and present.  “We’ve kind of made a nice, round circle in the consumer market in the Southeast,” Smith says.

In a series of videos with a historical focus, City Productions created a four-volume set on capital cities in each of the 50 states. Those volumes were released in December, and they netted honors for City Productions. 

The company earned three Telly Awards for its production of the state capitals series – one each in the education, history and travel categories.  The Telly Awards were started in 1980 to recognize outstanding non-network and cable television commercials.  The competition was later expanded to include film and video productions as well as non-network TV programming.  

Currently, Smith says, City Productions is working on a five-volume series about U.S. presidents, as well as a video about Washington, D.C., both of which are set to be released this summer.  City Productions already has orders for the presidential set, according to Smith. There are plans for more educational videos on the drawing board.  “After the presidential series, we’ll be starting work on (a series about) Indian tribes,” Smith says.  Also on the agenda are videos about the Grand Canyon and other national parks around the country.  Smith says the tapes are geared to schoolchildren 10 and up, though “we’re trying to make them so that all ages will get something out of it.”

Smith says the idea of producing educational videos arouse partly form his interest in history.  Smith also sees the videos as part of a mission to maintain awareness about the heritage and history of the country.  “I may make a small impact, if I do at all, but at least I put forth the effort,” says Smith   With informational and educational videos as products, Smith says City productions’ main customers are schools and libraries.   

Smith credits the service City Productions provides to schools and libraries as one reason for the company’s success.  “We try to provide a product that is not available to them and work within their confines,” Smith says.  For instance, he says City Productions will work with schools in paying for videos, sometimes waiting until schools enter a new budget year before receiving payment. “it’s like any business.  You have to be focused to provide a service,” Smith says.  Along with its growing catalog of titles, City productions’ work force has also grown.

In the last eight months, the company has jumped from four employees to abut 20.  Smith says he firmly expects the number of employees to double again in the next year.

Previously located downtown, the business has moved out east to larger office space, which Smith says they’re beginning to outgrow.  Smith says the company is gearing up to produce seven or eight titles a year for the educational market and another five or six city videos.  By the end of this Year City productions will have 22 titles under its name.

With an expanding staff and a business that is built around a number of projects, Smith is increasing the services provided by City productions to keep work flowing between video projects.  “As we grow and have our own internal staff, there are things I would like to do,” he says.  “But first we have to establish ourselves as a company capable of providing that kind of quality.”  Smith is crating a production division ad a graphics division.  Smith says he wants to use his staff to pursue other opportunities in the communications industry, such as creating corporate training tapes and television commercials. "We just started probably in the last two months doing that .  I’d like to work with advertising agencies,” Smith says.

Graphically, City Productions is creating its own box designs for videos, and the company has also landed an account to do video box designs and artwork for a company in Denver.  The additional work “keeps us sharp,” Smith says, and “helps us keep people on full time.”

He says employees who helped him launch City Productions still work with him, and he credits their dedication to helping the company grow.  Smith is also beginning to license the City Productions name for other videos, saying that will help the company increase the number of titles it can offer.  He is quick to say that licensed videos must meet company standards and be of broadcast quality.  The tapes also need to target schools and libraries.  “If it’s something I feel schools and libraries will be interested in, I’ll consider it,” Smith says.

Like everyone else involved in communications and production, Smith continues to watch technology being developed, and he sees immense opportunities for City Productions in various aspects of the information superhighway.  He plans to put some of thee information on his education videos on the Internet so schools can download information through their computers.  Smith says he hopes to have that program operational in two years.

He also plans to be turning out projects on CD-ROM in the fall of next year.  Smith’s long-term goal is still to have his own cable channel.  He says programming and name recognition for is company must come first.  With the constant change in technology, Smith says he’s not sure how he will make his inroads into the television industry, adding that the changes that will  take place in the industry over  the next five years will largely determine that.  There is a lot of risk, but I also think there is a lot of potential.”