July 30, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(BUFORD, GA)
Biscardi Creative Media helps “THIS AMERICAN LAND” return for Season Two on Public Television nationwide. Opening windows to our natural heritage: America’s landscapes, waters and wildlife.
“We always hear about what we do wrong – how bad humans are, but in this case we have the opportunity to say, hey look what people did!” – Chris Parish, Peregrine Fund
Biscardi Creative Media (BCM) is extremely proud to announce THIS AMERICAN LAND is back this summer with new compelling stories from our environmental front lines. But it’s not “just another environmental show.” THIS AMERICAN LAND is different: It’s for everyone – conservationists, hunters and fishermen, outdoor enthusiasts, scientists, and all Americans concerned about protecting our natural resource heritage. There’s nothing quite like this on national television.
THIS AMERICAN LAND hosts Bruce Burkhardt and Caroline Raville
“We keep calling this the ‘little show that could’ because for a national television series, particularly one with so much travel involved, we’re a very small creative team,” notes Managing Producer Walter Biscardi, Jr. “I don’t think there’s many other folks who would attempt something like this, but when you have a veteran production team and so many incredible stories around the country that no one else is reporting on, you say ‘why not?’ and just go do it.”
Executive Producer Gary Strieker
Created by world-renowned Executive Producer Gary Strieker and featuring veterans Marsha Walton and Bruce Burkhardt along with newcomer Caroline Raville, THIS AMERICAN LAND provides timely, engaging stories about wild places you may never have heard about and the passionate people that are devoted to protecting those treasures for us all. THIS AMERICAN LAND is a distinctive approach to covering serious national conservation issues. In addition to its original stories, the series showcases segments from participating local public broadcasting stations in each episode, drawing attention to the special natural resources of that locality and what local people are doing to protect them, along with “Science Nation,” reports from science & technology correspondent Miles O’Brien.
Caroline Raville reporting from Utah in Season Two of THIS AMERICAN LAND.
And the viewers are responding. Last season the series had 64% coverage of the U.S., airing in 89 markets across 192 channels, with a potential 8.3 million viewers. The audience for THIS AMERICAN LAND is men 55% and women 40%, so it skews more male than the average Public Television program.1 Season Two has already added 2 major new markets with KCLS Los Angeles and WHYY in Philadelphia. Why is THIS AMERICAN LAND generating so much attention?
“It’s entertaining, informative and it meets the critical need for more public awareness and informed debate about serious issues that affect all Americans,” says Executive Producer, Gary Strieker. “The landscapes, waters and wildlife – climate change, air and water quality, hazardous waste, pesticides, habitat loss and endangered species, threats to public lands and wetlands and unsustainable growth. The series is dedicated to its role in producing serious environmental journalism that responds to this need.”
Bruce Burkhardt, Marsha Walton and Gary Strieker watch on as Caroline Raville tapes a lead-in.
With so many locations and a changing technological climate, Biscardi says THIS AMERICAN LAND presents a host of challenges for the BCM team. “We use photographers from all over the country to help cut down on travel costs and as such, many different types of cameras are being used for the series. For the post production process it’s up to us to not only edit the stories, but manage the many formats that come in and make an engaging and beautiful high definition show for the viewer.”
Editor R. John Becker prepares a graphic in Photoshop for THIS AMERICAN LAND.
After cutting Season One in Final Cut Pro 7, Biscardi and his team made the decision to move the series over to Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 to take advantage of the software’s native editing capabilities. “My company was built around FCP for 11 years and it was tough to leave the tried and true, but the speed of native editing while retaining the traditional editing workflow made the move to CS6 fairly smooth. We’re still working out some of the kinks but we’re able to turn around longer stories more efficiently because my editors can just get right into the story instead of all that conversion process we used to have to do with FCP 7. Not to mention we have many more hardware options available to us with Adobe being cross-platform.”
Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 in BCM Edit 3
The BCM facility features 9 edit suites, 5.1 surround sound mixing theater and Davinci Resolve color enhancement system along with the hardware needed to finish everything the series needs under one roof, something Strieker greatly appreciates. “Working with the full-service team at BCM has made it much easier for us to produce first-class results. Marsha and I can really concentrate on the production aspect of the series because we know that whatever the technical and creative issues we throw at them, they will meet the challenges and deliver the episodes on deadline. We couldn’t do this series without them.”
BCM Davinci Resolve suite featuring a Flanders Scientific LM-2461W Reference Monitor.
“For me it feels like I’ve come full circle in my career, I started out at CNN in 1990, spent a lot of my time there in the Environment Unit and now I’m a part of this incredible conservation series. It’s so rewarding that we’ve found an appreciative audience that is growing.” says Biscardi. The BCM location in Buford, GA even seems tailor made for the series. “It’s actually kind of cool where we are because we’re on almost 2 acres with a big back yard that backs up to the woods and a small pond, and we’re really close to Lake Lanier so it’s not unusual to see ducks, blue herons, rabbits and other animals in the backyard. Seems like an appropriate place to create THIS AMERICAN LAND.”
“If we take care of it, we can have it forever.” – Spud Woodward, Georgia Coastal Resources
THIS AMERICAN LAND Season Two begins feeding July 25th, 2012 to Public Television stations nationwide. The series is distributed by NETA (National Educational Telecommunications Association). Check your local listings for time and station in your area.
Watch the Trailer for Season Two here: www.thisamericanland.org
Watch all 13 episodes from Season One here: http://thisamericanland.org/FrontLines/2011episodes.html
Read the Blog featuring interviews with the crew and Caroline’s blog about a recent Dinosaur dig in Utah for Season Two. http://www.thisamericanland.org/blog/
THIS AMERICAN LAND is a production of Environment News Trust. For more information about ENT, please contact Gary Strieker strieker@newstrust.org www.environmentnewstrust.org
About Biscardi Creative Media
Biscardi Creative Media (BCM), is a full service, script to screen Creation Company founded in 2001 by Walter Biscardi, Jr., a worldwide recognized leader in creative digital design. BCM is located in brand new 6,000 square foot production facility in Buford, GA. The company’s production credits include “Good Eats” (Food Network), “Foul Water Fiery Serpent,” (PBS) and many other broadcast and independent projects. Credits also include multiple Emmy, Peabody and Telly Awards. For more information about Biscardi Creative Media contact Walter Biscardi, Jr. walter@biscardicreative.com (770) 271-3427
1 TRAC Media Services Report 7/20/2012
Great team! Even Walter! A highlight for me to spend a couple days playing in and around the water with Marsha and Caroline and a few hours with Mr Streiker. Focused talent with an eye for adventure and true beauty.