I read with interest your front page article on June 30, regarding Greenfield considering paying a $28,000 underwriting fee for the production of a 3-to-5-minute video which will purportedly “air on PBS.”
The city councilors mentioned in the article are correct in their questioning the value of this particular project. After a 25-year career as a broadcast journalist with the Chronicle program at Channel 5 in Boston, I worked briefly for time with an outfit that promoted this same sort of production model. I left that program when I understood what was really going on.
It sounds like a really good deal. The subject of the story pays for a segment on a show hosted by a famous person. In their minds it “airs on PBS,” and afterwards the subjects get to keep the video to use for their own promotional purposes. What could be better?
The problem is that this is often a deceptive pitch at best, and in my opinion a bit of a scam, given the price tag for such a short video. While it is probably true the segment will be “offered” to PBS stations via a satellite feed the production company purchases, the reality is there is no guarantee any stations will actually use it. Even if some did, what exactly are you getting for your money? The likelihood is the audience would be minuscule to non-existent, shown in fringe off-hours and in tiny broadcast markets.
In fact, I believe PBS and its member stations adhere to guidelines banning marketing programming paid for by subjects of the programs altogether. To imagine that the short segment on Greenfield will “air on PBS” wildly overestimates the reality.
Here is a link to a story on NPR a few years back outlining the controversy surrounding this type of production model: https://n.pr/2UFj8Jy
Greenfield should be very clear what exactly they are getting for their money. If the town wants a promotional video, it would be much better off hiring someone like Scot Broderick of Lightspeed Productions right there in town, or Rawn Fulton of Searchlight Films in Bernardston. This would keep the money local, and go with experienced seasoned pros who know the town personally and would likely do a much better job, for a fraction of the cost.
David Skillicorn is a resident of New Salem.