2008 UPDATES

June 2008: Filming belly dancers way past my bedtime. I love international cultural experiences! Here with Chicago's best: Kamyra & my Sony D600. Shooting and producing for Alibaba.com, the world's largest online B2B marketplace. Beats factory work!

February 2008: Katmandu! That's in Nepal at the foot of the Himalayas, between Tibet and India. Volunteering to shoot and produce a documentary fundraising film for an impoverished children's school for two weeks. Here with my new friends and my Panasonic 100A. I love international cultural experiences! Click here to see Nepal trip pix

    To do my fair share of improving this mixed up world (Tikkun Olam) I work at a deep discount for worthy causes: provided I am working directlywith the 501(c)3 charity, not a middleman or producer. Local organizations helping animals or children I film for no charge. NGOs & relief agencies working in foreign countries also very welcome.

January - June 2008: Lots of TV shows and Biz Videos: History Channel "The Hindenburg", HBO's Gangland series & for twelve episodes for Discovery Channel's new show: Planet Green's Renovation Nation, for NBC a lifestyle show called "House Smarts", for The Biography Channel: "Gangster Molls", for The Learning Channel: "The Great Wallendas" shot in the country's largest jail, and for Animal Planet: "Tiger Poaching". The above were all filmed in High Definition using the Panasonic HDX 900, HPX 5000, Sony F900 and Sony Z1U.

Corporate work includes documentary style focus groups of real people for Sears, Young & Rubicam PR and Kraft. A safety video for Uline, meetings and conventions for Alibaba.com, Sensient Technology, Critical Care Nurses Assoc., Zebra Technologies, McDonalds & SAS Software, for Best Buy a doc encouraging Hispanic kids to stay in school, sales promo videos for Gladson Interactive and many others. Many medical videos for Glaxo, Eli Lilly, Chamberlain College of Nursing. Filmed the Hyatt Hotel Corp.'s new customer service training series with a large cast. Documentary segments on miracles for a televangelist show in Chicago's toughest neighborhoods. Lots of Online Videos: shot and edited thirty six segments for online giant Cooking.com, included many famous chefs, for other companies large and small: executive talking heads (high quality) for websites. And for Nike's website HD doc shooting for The Human Race 10K. Finished filming the documentary Out of Left Field about the new Chinese Olympic baseball team, PBS purchased it and it airs August 13.

Personal: My kids have the best summer jobs: Ben is the national challenge course and climbing instructor for the Boy Scouts in a national forest outside Palm Springs and Rachel is leading horseback expeditions in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons for camps with disabled kids. I am trying to slow down for the summer with kayaking, horseback riding and LOTS of yoga (www.totalbodyyoga.com).

2007:

NOVEMBER & DECEMBER:

For Dr. Phil Show I filmed a segment about the Drew Peterson missing 4th wife case. For Chicago's largest advertising agency I filmed for a week a fast paced pitch documentary style, for Kraft I shot a corporate video on the massive software changeover challenges. For a televangelist TV show I shot a segment on the only known case of someone becoming totally free of AIDS (through prayer), and for a real estate conglomerate I shot a corporate film about housing the servers of America's largest tech companies, plus a medical video on new breakthroughs in breast cancer treatment. Early January filming a High Def TV segment on a homicide solved by science for one week. Starting Pre-Production for a fundraising doc I will produce for a Therapeutic Riding & Educational Center, they help rehab wounded vets coming back from Iraq as part of the Horses for Heroes program. I feel so grateful to these guys, plus I love working with horses!

Personal: Vacation finally! Going on a sailboat cruise in the French West Indies starting in Barbados over the holidays, LOTS of scuba diving and sea kayaking. Mother Nature has given up trying to kill me and now it's Father Technology: one aborted landing and an emergency landing with fire trucks on the side of the runway, PLUS on another flight we shattered the windshield at 30,000 feet! (All on American Airlines).

APRIL - OCTOBER:

TELEVISION: Just filmed R&B artist R. Kelly’s latest music video “Real Talk” in Hi Def with the Sony Cine Alta. He wanted a “keeping it real” look. For National Geographic TV a documentary (also Hi Def) about Americans who get thrown in the worst foreign jails for doing stupid things, in this case a teenager who spent four years in a Peruvian hell hole for smuggling drugs. For The History Channel a new Hi Def series on gangs: Hell’s Angels and for Yahoo! en Espanol TV a series on Hispanic role models and music groups. Also lensed a new reality show: A Movie and a Makeover and episodes for The Dr. Phil Show and COURT TV’s Forensic Files.

DOCUMENTARIES: Shot a very touching documentary for Wounded Warriors, (a charity that assists wounded vets) about a young female amputee triathelete training for the 2008 Para-Olympics and another interesting documentary on Bruce Crandall Vietnam War hero helicopter pilot finally receiving his Medal of Honor for the Battle of Landing Zone X-Ray. Ankle deep in tears: filming a documentary about a young, beautiful former Miss Illinois who is now a crack head and crystal meth addict, having failed in five rehabs her parent's are at wits end, the disintegration of the perfect family... Shot a documentary on the Jesse Jackson anti-gun movement and a fund raiser for Lutheran Family & Children Services. Lastly a documentary about a Virginia Tech shooting survivor.

CORPORATE VIDEOS: Lots of CEO filming plus I am producing a major interactive video kiosk project for JPMorgan Chase (15 videos on green screen!). Shot plenty of sales, marketing and HR videos for: Abbott, Kraft, Oxford Instruments, Prudential, Orbitz, Zebra Technologies, Stericycle, AOL, UTStarcom, ITW Paslode and many smaller companies. Filmed a major series of rage control therapy videos for the University of Chicago Pyschiatric Department with 16 professional actors. Lots more but it all blurs together…

Personal: Great Summer!! Even though the above looks crazy busy I purposely slow down for the summer months: kayaking and eagle watching on the Mississippi headwaters, finally found a stable (in Galena Territory) and spirited horse and guide who lets me not just canter but GALLOP! My town Libertyville was chosen for Money magazine's top 100 places to live (go figure). Mother Nature tried to kill me again, the May 15th tornado outside Peotone missed me by just 200 yards! It was so dark I didn’t know what was happening until all the construction barricades became line drives. Kids visited. Yoga 3X a week Shiva Rea style. Saw Bruce Springsteen! He played our wedding song Born to Run..

JANUARY - MARCH 2007 :

Life is really good (but my tan is wearing off). From 5 star resorts to trapped alone in my truck trying to keep from freezing to death (got caught in the Feb.15 deadly monster blizzard that closed Interstate 65 on my way to a shoot). Shot 5 days in Scottsdale and up to the high desert of Utah plus NYC to film more on the hi def documentary on the Chinese Olympic Team. More COURT TV: 9 days (some with exterior shooting at -7 degrees) recreating a murder and the capture of the perp (solved by forensics). Shot a biz TV show hosted by Terry Bradshaw, and a video news release on avoiding hepatitis with William Kennedy. Lots of corporate videos: Stericycle, Kraft, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Motorola, US Gypsum. Filmed dozens of website videos for cooking.com (with famous chefs), plus DIY online videos for Advanced Auto Parts, and even more (no charge) video for the Leukemia Research Foundation. More filming on a recruitment documentary for the Jesuits. I was the hit of Career Day (who wouldn't want the exciting life of a Cameraman?). Personal: Little Dog is way too much fun see more dog pix here, waxing my kayak for the river marathon, visited my son in beautiful Flagstaff, AZ, getting in condition for the Shiva Rea yoga retreat in Lake Geneva, so very excited!

DECEMBER & NOVEMBER 2006

Shot a Dr. Phil Show on a rage-a-holic husband, an indie documentary on the old Ivy League Baseball Leagues, sales and marketing videos for: Hills Bros. Coffee, Kraft Cheese, Stryker Medical, Advance Auto Parts (shot in the worst blizzard in 27 years!), Perigon Healthcare Supply, Zebra Technologies, Haemonetics Blood Systems plus filmed a freebie for the non-profit Leukemia Research Foundation. Also, producing an online marketing video for a prestigous architechtural firm. Took lots of time off around the holidays, added a small Havanese dog to our family: see My new little dog "Bella Luna mi Amore". 2006 was my best business year ever, each year is always better than the last. I thank all my clients, friendly competitors, family and friends for making it so great and I wish you all a fantastic 2007!

OCTOBER 2006

Wow!! As of the 20th it's looking like a record setting month: just shot 12 consecutive days on four projects. Shot five days for COURT TV's Forensic Files about a wife killer caught by the real CSI scientists.

Shot the new informercial for Donald Trump's Wealth Expo and shot the CEO of The Learning Annex. A first: hired as a forensic video consultant to analyze surveillance tapes for a casino being sued by a slip & fall scam artist. Shot a fundraising documentary for the Jesuit prep school Loyola Academy, a VNR (video news release) for AARP about free dental care for the poor, more USPS shooting, filmed a seminar for big medical supplier Owens & Minor and a sales video for Zebra Technologies, plus a comedy short about cubicle life. Interesting: shot a political TV spot for a retired Air Force officer running for mayor of a mid-size Wisconsin city to clean up the corrupt and brutal police department, which recently shot to death his twenty year old son for no reason during a routine traffic stop, while handcuffed.

Producing three videos: 1) a sales video for a blind entreprenuer who created software for the automotive sales industry, 2) for the state of Tennessee a training video for new welfare benefits recipients and 3) sales & training video for a new medical laser machine. I am able to dedicate time to produce because my creative partners/buddies: Editor Jeff Hellyer (773-725-1525) & Director Paul Buchbinder (708-214-7064) handle the projects in editing, thus allowing me to continue shooting which for me is the fun part!  Gotten so busy I'm moving my funky little bohemian office to a real office park with the normal people: doctors, lawyers, accountants and such. I'll try to keep the music down...

SEPTEMBER 2006

Bizzzy! Shot a Dr. Phil Show segment on an incestuous father in denial while taking a polygraph test (yuck!), and for COURT TV's Forensic Files a story about a grisly homicide that was solved by science (yeah!). Lots of corporate videos: Farmers Insurance, Oracle, Liberty Mutual, US Postal Service, ING Financial, Kraft, AOL plus I'm producing a meetings video for a diamond store retail chain. Shot more on the Loyola Academy fundraising documentary. Producing at no charge a fundraising video for Operation Homefront, a non-profit helping military families left behind and their returning wounded warriors (a special cause of mine). Personal: Went to Santa Cruz (one of my favorite towns) for a family wedding in the Old Governor's Mansion for 5 days. Stayed on the beach in Capitola, CA and hiked the redwoods in John Muir Woods north of San Francisco. See pix I shot of the wedding.

AUGUST 2006

Directed and shot a banking software training video for JP Morgan Chase Bank totally in Mandarin Chinese! Lensed a sales video for Microsoft, an in-house corporate video for Office Max including shooting CEO, a demo video for a popular club singer, an infomercial for Neumann Homes, stock footage of rivers, an educational video on improving literacy rates for the U.S. Governors Conference, a safety video for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock included shooting the CEO, more MetroScene TV shows.

JULY 2006

Just shot "Triangle of Death" for Discovery Channel's new series Battle Zone about a very important, yet unheard of battle in Iraq. Also a sales video for REB industrial shelving (world's highest), an informercial for Bigelow Builders on their innovative planned community outside Chicago, shot Crate & Barrel's annual convention and its CEO, plus a corporate video for McKinsey Consulting. This is the beautiful season here so I'm chillin' every day off I have.

JUNE 2006

Busy! Broadcast documentary about an addict who taught her honor roll student daughter how to smoke crack, a TV documentary expose: American Idol Uncovered, a corporate sales video for Sortimat high tech medical manufacturing, segment for a feature length documentary on women’s divorce challenges, several commercials for a college specializing in art for Career Education Corp., a racy commercial for a new condo development, flew to LA on a multi-million dollar patent infringement lawsuit shooting and editing a video for the defense.

MAY 2006

Life on the road…Shot a documentary in New Orleans on The Big Clean Up (didn't smell quite as bad this time). Shot a sales video for a software company in NJ and my favorite city: Seattle! Shot a corporate video for Cisco Systems. Back to Seattle in a couple of weeks on a documentary sponsored by Allstate. Shot an infomercial for X2 Vests and a doc about fertility treatment for obese women. Filmed MetroScene TV for Season II. Personal: Proudly finished the twenty mile Des Plaines River Canoe Marathon in my kayak. Bought a Jeep Grand Cherokee for talking head shoots. Finally getting settled into the new house. Inspired by the golfers looking for lost balls in my backyard I am polishing up my very rusty golf skills. Plan to use their lost balls…

APRIL 2006

Krazy busy. Seven days through Southern IL filming a COURT TV show about a blundering murderess caught through forensic science. For Allstate shot a documentary about employees giving back to their local communities. For Westinghouse Energy I produced a sales video on industrial robots that weld in radioactive areas of nuclear power plants. For Nexxus Hair Products I produced a short sales video about their new initiative to sell directly to the public (using 20 hot models from the Ford agency!). Shot a sales video on a new type of blood platelet gathering machine (while tornadoes were touching down) and filmed a market research video on how the public is changing their news gathering preferences.

March 2006

Shot a documentary the first week of March in Japan.(China is on the horizonwhen funding comes through). If you love baseball take a sneek peek of this film in progress at:  www.tomjenningsproductions.com, click "Projects", then click Hi-Res download. For The Dr. Phil show shot a segment using home cams about destructive arguing styles that ruin marriages, and another episode about mooching children who never leave home. Lensed a documentary about an unfortunate 21 year old woman who went through 15 foster homes, included shooting the projects.

February 2006

Flew to Boca Raton for a marketing video for the software company Front Range, shot a Forensic Files show (homicide!) for Court TV 5 days on the road. A documentary and meeting coverage for Loving Families about family counseling for low income families. Another Dr. Phil Show, a corporate video for KinseyConsutling, a sales video on the new radio frequency scanning chips and another hectic 11 days for MetroScene on the best places to eat, party and live in Chicago.

January 2006

13 more whirlwind days for MetroScene TV show preparing for the launch on Feb2. Produced 3 ninety-second spots for Bridal Expo, for the Dr. Phil Show set up 2 time lapse cameras working 4 weeks, shot an internet show for HVACTV, and a sales video for Knaack construction supplies. Plus, I set up my edit suite in historic downtown Libertyville.

December 2005

ocumentary for TV on cutting edge techniques of physical therapy for special needs kids. Personal: Took most of month off. Selling my house and buying a new one 10 minutes away. Maintenance free on a golf course. No more weekend yard work!.

November 2005

Shot & produced another corporate video for Chase. Won the Gold and Silver in the MarCom Awards (Marketing Communications) for the American Express & Abused Women's Shelter videos I produced and DP'd. Shot for Kraft about new test products and for Court TV a documentary about yet another husband trying to get away with murder. Filmed a concert of Jewish Opera and shot legal stills for a court case. Plus another week of MetroScene magazine show.

October 2005:

Driving solo to Flagstaff, AZ Oct. 10-14 to bring my son's car to him and visit the Grand Canyon where I once worked at the El Tovar on the South Rim. Shot an Oprah segment on womens health issues, a sales video for an upscale real estate developer of luxury rehab condos, a Dr. Phil show on a couple having money issues, a Liz Phair private concert and a documentary on the cleaning up of an asbestos Super Fund site. All in the first week of October. See why I need a little time off?

September 2005:

5 days documentary shooting in New Orleans a two hour special "Rescuing the Rescuers" on the pyschological toll Hurricane Katrina is taking on the police, firefighters & EMS personnel. Best part was filming a night raid with the SWAT team to eradicate scumbags and snipers! An unbeliveable, surreal experience. I have always been fascinated shooting in devastation zones, where the thin veneer of civilization has been peeled away and the best and worst of our species comes to the forefront. Also a commercial for La Porte Health Systems and a fundraiser for Morris Hospital. A corporate video for Crate & Barrel, a commercial for The Wedding & Home Show. For Entertainment Tonight a behind-the-scenes segment on the new Fox hit series Prison Break, shot in a real prison. Shot 5 days a pilot for a new lifestyle TV show "MetroScene" about the hippest happnin' area of the U.S.'s major cities.

August 2005:

11 day vacation shoot in Italy from Venice to Rome a HDV (Hi Def Video) documentary on the new Chinese Olympic Baseball Team and hopefully I will follow them to the 2008 Olympics. Also shot in Italy a documentary on two adventurers who rode 15,000 miles on horseback from the bottom of Chile to the top of Alaska.

July 2005

National Geographic's Explorer (hi def) about the science behind surviving disasters. A new Discovery show Pop Nation, a segment on amassing collections of odd things (hi def also). A corporate video for Liberty Mutual Insurance. A documentary sponsored by Allstate on a summer camp dedicated for children suffering from burns in the mountains of Washington State. Vacationing in Seattle & British Columbia!

June 2005:

8 day shoot in southern Illinois on a story about a homicide solved by forensics, including reenactments, for Court TV. Produced a sales video for JP Morgan Chase on cutting edge digital storage technology. Filmed a new adventure TV show, Sea Dogs, for Discovery in the Florida Keys for 5 days. It's about some crazy macho women and men who race out to sinking ships, usually at night in storms, to plug the leak for a reward from the insurance company. Also a video news release for Nabisco. Cat died. Daughter graduated high school!

May 2005:

Holy Water-Gate had its premiere in prime time on Showtime! I'm very proud. Shot a documentary on the good works of the Arizona Humane Society. DP'd (also Produced & Directed) 2 high energy corporate videos (Whirlpool & American Express), shot an infomercial for Commodities Made Easy, two commercials for Browns College (Fashion Design & Nursing), a VNR for the AARP about the elderly using ER rooms as primary care facilities. My emotional documentary for Orphans of the Storm premiered at their annual banquet and had a great effect on donors.

April 2005:

The Innocent, a feature length documentary I shot had its world premiere at the Chicago International Documentary Festival, it’s a documentary film about men and women wrongfully sentenced to death…who lived to tell about it. For the Illinois State Boxing Championships I produced and shot the competition and sold the videos through my new little company "Chi-Town Fight Tapes". Shot an instructional training video for Critical Scan diabetes test equipment. For Sony Pictures a documentary about hip-hop artists intervening with at-risk inner city teenagers to try to turn their lives around.

March 2005:

Lots of traveling. A litigation support video on a personal injury case about a famous surgeon who will never operate again, for the Food Network an episode on Kitchen Gadgets of the Future (don’t laugh it was a lot of fun!), a physician education video for a new drug to combat breast cancer, a fundraising documentary for the Special Olympics, a cop training video for the Law Enforcement Training Network, a fund raising documentary for historic Grace Lutheran Church of Oak Park, a documentary to be shown to Congress about why funding to help the disabled find jobs should not be cut, plus I will be producing and shooting a documentary for Orphans of the Storm animal shelter.

February 2005:

A corporate video for Hewitt & Associates, an infomercial for a new nutritional supplement, a corporate video for Kraft Foods, a pilot with the world’s expert (Dr. Helen Morrison) on serial killers, several videos in two languages (I also produced them) on food stamp reform for several states sponsored by Citicorp, began a WW II documentary on Chiune Sugihara who opposed the Nazis at the risk of his own life to save thousands of Jews.

January 2005:

Just bought the popular new Panasonic DVX 100A to service all the requests for 24P. Two challenging Dr. Phil Shows, had to hide two cameras and a time lapse unit. For the pharmaceutical giant Fujisawa a corporate video on a major merger, for Ford a media training seminar, two Forensic Files shows: an arson homicide and catching a killer with a microscopic speck of dirt, plus a video news release for a new lasik eye surgery procedure.

December 2004:

Busy, busy month. Started with a video news release for the AARP about dancing as a great exercise for seniors, a half hour infomercial on car financing for unfortunate people with no credit, a ten day high definition infomercial in NY for the financial giant ING, Crate & Barrels’ corporate image film, two episodes of Court TV’s Forensic Files about a killer who claims sleep walking as an alibi and a segment about new evidence in the Lindberg baby kidnapping case, a fund raising documentary for Allstate on a woman’s shelter, shot the Hard Rock Hotels’ internet video, a History Channel segment on president Andrew Jackson, a corporate image video (which I also produced) for Ultra Diamonds, two instructional DVDs (also produced) for SHL on pre-employment psychology testing, a training video for Snap-On Tools, two Dr. Phil Shows: anorexia and spoiled children, a segment for Antique Road Show. Documentary about the Quilters of Gee's Bend, a group of rurally isolated, utterly impovershed African American elderly women whose quilts went from selling for $20 to the Whitney Museum practically over night! Told you it was a busy month.

On another note, a one-hour documentary I DP’d has won a Cine Golden Eagle! Holy Water-Gate, produced and directed by independent filmmaker Mary Healey-Conlon, a professor of documentary production at University of Rhode Island, is definitely the most important project I have ever had the honor to participate in, and that says a lot. This hard-hitting film explores the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church and it’s inexcusable cover up. Edited by my good friend Jeff Hellyer of Edit House Chicago (773-725-1525). For more info visit www.holywater-gate.com. Keep an eye out for it on Showtime in the near future, don’t miss it! For programming inquiries visit www.louiserosenltd.com

A major budget, full length feature documentary I shot throughout the last half of 2004, Strong at the Broken Places (www.strongatthebrokenplaces.com) was released. The film, shot all over the U.S., focuses on the human cost of the war in Iraq as expressed in the words and faces of the soldiers themselves and their families, many who are now shattered.

Finished the year with a week-long scuba diving vacation on an island off the coast of Belize. Made friends with a manatee, petted many sting rays and fed some sharks!