BUILDING FRANCHISES
Finding the audience obsession, expert voice, or cultural idea that can become something people come back to.
G4 • Esquire Network • Entertainment Tonight • Spectrum News
THE IDEA
I’ve always been interested in why people come back to something. Sometimes it's the subject. Sometimes it's the person talking about it. Sometimes it's just a really good idea that has more than one episode in it.
Over the years, I've helped build recurring ideas around comics, gaming, cocktails, entertainment, and even the weird people who give Austin its personality. The subjects changed. The job was pretty much the same: figure out what people care about and give them a reason to come back.
THE FRANCHISES
G4 / G4TV.COM
FRESH INK ONLINE
Expertise
Comics had a passionate audience. Blair Butler had the knowledge and point of view. Fresh Ink gave both a recurring home.
THE MMO REPORT
Community + Personality
A dedicated MMO community, a funny and knowledgeable host, and a format built specifically for the people who lived in that world.
SESSLER'S SOAPBOX
Point of View
Adam Sessler had something worth saying beyond game reviews. Soapbox gave him a recurring place to say it.
Esquire Network
THE MIX
Finding the White Space
Cocktail culture was becoming a much bigger part of food and lifestyle culture, and I saw an opportunity for Esquire to build something around it.
I developed The Mix as a repeatable digital series that could use a cocktail as the doorway into a bigger story about people, places and culture. I pitched the concept and production model, and we made a pilot.
It didn't work.
We took what we'd learned, changed the host, refined the format and tried again. The result became The Mix, an ongoing Esquire Network series.
THE MINT JULEP
Writer • Producer • Director
For this episode, we went to Kentucky to explore the mint julep through bourbon, Churchill Downs, Derby culture and the ingredients behind the drink—then brought it all back to the bar.