End of January!?

It's the end of January already! How time flies. Work is flying by as well! Before you know it, it'll be summertime, but I've got lots of deadlines before then. A couple days ago we had our Monthlies, which I've discussed in previous entries. The Monthlies have changed to Quarterlies, but the content is the same, final and in-progress footage from all of our shows and commercials. Needless to say, everything looks great, both the in progress stuff and finalled shots from commercials and film. A nice surprise we saw was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, being directed by Fincher. I can't say at what the stage the work was, or how much we have, but I can say that it's going to blow your socks off when it's completed and comes out later this year. IMDB puts its release date as Nov 2008, so mark your calendars!

The VES View and Vote has begun again, narrowing down the three or four choices we have to the final one which will earn a statuette at the VES Awards later this year. Lots of great footage to look at, as well as some great behind the scenes, which most of the general public will never get a chance to see.

The VES Mentoring program should also be starting sometime in the next week or so. Like last year, I'll be mentoring a student. My last student landed an apprenticeship/internship at Rhythm & Hues, and is staying on to work on another show as a comper after her work on Alvin. They've opened up the program to a couple more schools, and I think we have a couple more mentors, but I'll know more later this week or next.

I mentioned before that a product of mine has undergone PPA evaluation and approval, so I now have patent pending. However, I didn't mention that I also submitted it to a group at the end of the last year to test its commercial feasibility, of which I received the results.

The PIES format is a comprehensive, structured evaluation system consisting of 45 criteria that are used to evaluate the commercial potential of your idea or invention and to provide you with a risk profile of your project. These criteria are based on over 35 years of research and new product experience, and will provide you with insights into the risks you face and the strategy you will need to employ to reach the marketplace.

I've got a couple hurdles before this sucker makes it to market, but I'm getting there. I've also submitted the product to a infomercial marketing company, of which I should hear back in the coming weeks.