[Because, as it turned out, I’d already used the video in the previous installment of One Continuous Take, I wanted to give my paid subscribers a nice chunk of wildness you probably hadn’t seen before. A full show. 28 minutes and 30 seconds.
In the tease, the lady says, “You’re watching Wild Berwyn!”
Yeah, sort of. See, the original idea here was to put out a new show, certainly reminiscent of the original Wild Chicago, with yours truly in the usual Jungle Jim garb, prowling about the city. So I decided to call it Wild About Chicago. I raised some capital online, began promoting it, and then, the phone rang. It was the legal department of WTTW. Jerry, the lawyer I’d worked with many times over the years at Channel 11, and a fan of the show, had a question.
“Ben, what are you doing??” The inference was, I should know better. This title was too close to the old show’s fabled name, according to WTTW, and I needed to stop using it. Or else.
After consulting with my own menacing legal department at Ben Hollis Worldwide, Inc., I took the path of least resistance. And I got to use another title I’d actually always liked and had waiting in the wings, one that I needn’t share with any monolithic Chicago institutions. Wild Life City Safari.
The show’s roots were in a series of short pieces I produced for the Berwyn Development Corporation, to showcase some of their fun businesses. I was encouraged to bring my usual Wild methods to the party, keeping in mind, of course, that the idea was to create video that would attract viewers, a.k.a. paying customers. Methods, I still firmly believe, that work great in the realm of so-called “Business Video.”
What ensued was a small catalogue of fun videos that I thought would be fitting for wider distribution. I’d pull the best ones together, add a new title, and find a place to show them. They’d be organized and presented according to their location.
Yes, it’s different making video content for a paid client, and making video content for a late night show on a non-commercial TV station. But I have to admit, I was really happy with how zany and fun these pieces turned out. I think it was because the participants were just so up for getting loose, dropping the “business” veneer, and playing with me. That works, and has worked, wherever and whenever I’ve donned the safari suit and started talking with folks on camera. The content remains driven by one thing: passion the participant has for what he or she is doing, and their inviting us into their worlds to see for ourselves.
And did I mention what the word Wild means as an acronym?
W.I.L.D. stands for…What I Love Doing!
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