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Mark Forman
Television & Film Producer, Director, Consultant
 Although I received my communications degree from the University of Wisconsin Madison in 1973, my real introduction to fund raising came 14 years later in 1987 when I was chosen to produce a short video for Phillips Academy, Andover. The goal was to support a capital campaign to raise funds for a new performing arts center. Patricia Edmonds was adamant that we not dwell on the shortcomings and deterioration of the existing facilities. Our solution was to capture the excitement and energy of one week in the performing arts at Andover.
Patricia chose me for the project because of the CASE award-winning work I had done in producing a monthly, magazine-format TV program called New Connections which aired on New Hampshire Public Television. New Connections was soft public relations for the University of New Hampshire. It featured everything from a segment on an astrophysicist with a research project on the Solar Maximum mission to a profile of a UNH roofer who took a leave of absence every spring to run his small maple sugaring operation.
Andover's Focus: The Performing Arts won a Silver CASE Award and the response by the target audience was so strong they decided to create another video specifically to raise funds for endowed teaching chairs. Andover: A Legacy of Great Teaching won a Gold CASE award. I'd always been drawn to meaningful projects but this was a clear indication that my style of interviewing and production was perfectly suited to the needs of non-profits and I began to specialize in this work.
There's something very powerful about the passion of real people talking about things they believe in. That passion can make an institution's message much more compelling than the dozens or even hundreds of messages it's competing with, and can surprise an audience that has become jaded and/or skeptical. Capturing the passion of real people and weaving their thoughts into a compelling story is an art and it's a skill that grows with experience and curiosity. There is a profound difference between words spoken with passion and a string of predictable "testimonials" that are tepid and uninspired.
How do I achieve that difference? I don't really interview people on camera, I have conversations with them.
I don't settle for the testimonial many people feel they are supposed to "deliver". I am curious and interested in why they are passionate. They sense that and respond to me differently than they would to a person with a canned set of questions. We end up unconsciously working together as I look for the meaning, the feelings that will inspire others.
The mixture of my documentary, corporate, institutional and non-profit work has put me in so many contrasting situations, I'm able to focus on the objectives of the program regardless of the surroundings. I've interviewed hobos in a "jungle" in Iowa; religious pilgrims on the banks of the Ganges in India; an NFL player working with at-risk boys in the middle of Harlem (where the ground around our feet was littered with empty crack vials), marine biologists on research vessels in the Atlantic and de-institutionalized mentally ill patients. The range of people includes everyone from a seven-year-old "writer/publisher" to the President and CEO of Pepsi-Cola of North America.
Equally diverse are the venues where my videos have been shown: a Student Conservation Association tent along the Connecticut River; the dining hall of Cornell University's off-shore marine biology lab on an island off the coast of Maine; and at the other end of the spectrum, in the grand ballrooms of both the Waldorf-Astoria and Plaza Hotels in New York City.
Of course, the most important thing is whether a video accomplishes its objective, solves a problem or meets a challenge. An effective video will not only have an impact on dollars raised, applications generated, or visibility enhanced, it will very often serve as an inspirational "shot in the arm" for staff and volunteers who are reminded with clarity of why their work is so important. I hope to have the opportunity to discuss your next project with you.
- Mark Forman
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