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Your MCA-I Membership: Big Bang for the Bucks!

March 10, 2004

By Michael Danese

My hometown of Allentown, PA might not be the center of the universe, but it sometimes feels like it!

In the past several months, I’ve needed help with my projects in the far reaches of the country, and the planet. Where could I find crews and support in all of these places?

The MCA-I network, of course!
I needed footage of an event in Las Vegas, and quickly! So, I called Gary Stone in Orange County, CA. Gary covered the event and got me the footage I needed, and then some.

I needed interviews shot at our facility in Tempe, AZ. A single call to Jamie Cromack was all that was required. Jamie handled everything!

Somewhere in the middle of Florida is a farm that uses my company’s products. I COULD fly there, drive to the location, shoot at the farm and do some quick interviews. But instead I called Debey Von. I had the footage the next week.

Air Products just signed a major contract with Boeing. Wouldn’t it be great to get some footage of their rocket to use in my new Helium video? I could have called their corporate communication person. That would lead to the request process, a legal review and eventually, I might get what I need. Or, I could call my pal Larry Eder and get the footage the next day. Guess what I did!

For the same program I needed some surgical footage, showing a blood gas machine. I could possibly have contacted a local hospital and started down the endless path of red tape and privacy protection laws to get permission and eventually schedule a shoot sometime in the next few months. Instead, I dropped a quick e-mail to Clare Rabe DeBoever at Baylor Health Care System in Dallas. Clare even consulted with one of their surgeons to decide what would be best to show! Three days later the footage was edited into my program.

For my next program I need some interviews and footage shot in Venice, Italy, and Malaysia. I could call information and try to find crews there, or travel around the world and get what I need, or, call Joe Maiella at CrewStar. Joe knows crews.

Sure, there are other ways to get what you need for a project. But, that would involve hours of research, guesswork and uncertainly.

In each and every case, when I used the MCA-I network, not only did I get what I needed, and then some, I got to catch up with some wonderful people. People that cared that I got what I needed. People that I could trust to make the right recommendations and referrals if they could not do the job themselves. In turn, I can’t even begin to count how many people have called on me over the years for information about our corner of the world.

A few years ago I was involved with Steven Spielberg’s Survivor’s of the Shoah Foundation. My “job” was to help them out when they simply could not find a crew to record their interviews. By calling upon the MCA-I network, hundreds of members volunteered their time and skills to shoot over 1,000 interviews for the Foundation in North America and Europe.

Now, as I consider the cost of my MCA-I membership, and remember what I said up top, all of this (except the Shoah activity) happened in the past several months.

Did I get the bang for my membership buck?
Obviously any one of the above examples is worth 10 times more than the cost of my membership. And, when you look at the list of advertised Member Benefits, the personal touch isn’t even listed. IT IS A BONUS, and, in my opinion, PRICELESS!

So, I want to again thank Gary, Debey, Jamie, Clare, Larry and Joe.

People like you are the reason that I belong to this Association!

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Michael Danese is supervisor of video production and audio visual services at Air Products, an Allentown, PA-based Fortune 500 company that supplies industrial gases and chemicals to numerous markets and industries around the world. You can reach him at danesemc@airproducts.com or 610 481-8872.

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Editor’s Note: To renew your membership or to join MCA-I, visit our national office online at www.mca-i.org or call them at 312 673-5931.

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