News

Gavin and Stacey “A Short and Tidy Catch Up” video is posted on the main BBC web site.

To promote the third season of hit BBC comedy series Gavin and Stacey, Baby Cow Productions assigned me the job of summarizing the complete series up to that point in a short video trailer. Working directly with show producer Ted Dowd I analyzed every episode for major plot points, character interactions, and comedy bits before editing everything together with Final Cut. Ted gave me creative freedom on the project, only requesting that the video be “funny” and that it tells the complete Gavin and Stacey story in under seven minutes. He also requested that I limit my resources to clips from the series and text titles.

The BBC posted the trailer on their main site in mid November, and since then several online media sites, blogs, and Gavin and Stacey fan pages have linked to the video. Gavin and Stacey was created by comedians James Corden and Ruth Jones and produced by United Kingdom based comedy production company Baby Cow Productions. It is aired globally on the BBC and its affiliate stations. I interned for Baby Cow from July to September of 2009 while studying in London.

For more information on Baby Cow Productions and Gavin and Stacey, see the following links.
http://www.babycow.co.uk/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007nf70



JoeyClift.com launches with a backpacking travel blog.

I wrote a reflective travel journal while backpacking through Europe last fall, and the highlights will be posted on Wordpress over the next two months. My B.A. degree from the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication guarantees the blog will take a “reporter’s outlook” on the trip, but it will be difficult to remain completely stoic while writing about such a growth experience. The blog’s goal is to share the travel lifestyle with people who are not able to go abroad, while offering tips to new backpackers.

I managed to fill several journals with writing, took over 1500 pictures, and a few hours of video, so there won’t be a lack of things to write about. The difficult part will be narrowing everything into a short, readable format. I visited nine countries, France, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, and The United Kingdom in the span of a month, losing a lot of weight, and developing a nice travel beard in the process. I experienced a lot in Europe, from watching The Pope speak in The Vatican, to nearly dieing in Barcelona, to doing a Groucho Marx-esque dance on the remains of the Hitler Bunker in Berlin. I hope the excitement of my experience translates well to text.

The blog can be read at http://yojoeyblogs.wordpress.com/



Justice Never Reloads enters post production

The film is based on a screenplay I wrote with Pat Mest, Kevin Frees, and Brian Tesch. Mest and I co-wrote, co-produced, and co-starred in the production, and it is based on the national comedy award winning Cop Drama pilot we created for Cable 8 Productions at Washington State University. Former Wazzu Films President Alex Euting chose to begin production on the film after it won the 2008 Wazzu Films Script Writing Contest. ASWSU, and WSU Alumni Chris NeVan donated the budget, and about 40 student volunteers worked on the film. JNR features an original sound track by Washington based industrial band “Black Aura” and an animated intro by Misguided Youth Productions. Misguided Youth Productions also created a web site to promote the film. We look forward to entering it in film festivals in the near future.

For more information on Wazzu Films, Justice Never Reloads, Misguided Youth Productions, or Black Aura, visit the following sites. http://www.facebook.com/wazzufilms
http://www.misguidedyouthproductions.com/JNR.html
http://www.misguidedyouthproductions.com/
http://www.myspace.com/blackaura






Joey Clift interns at Baby Cow Productions

While studying at American Intercontinental University in London, I had the pleasure to intern at comedy production company Baby Cow Productions. Comedians Henry Normal and Steve Coogan founded the company in 1999. It produced some of the BBC’s highest regarded recent productions including international hit shows The Mighty Boosh, and Gavin and Stacey. The BBC purchased a 25-percent stake in the company in 2008. I spent the internship reading and critiquing show scripts, editing promotional trailers for the BBC and True TV and Film, helping with Baby Cow’s social networking presence (Youtube, Myspace, Facebook, etc), as well as the intern standard of getting tea and lunch for my co workers, acting as courier, and organizing the office. Baby Cow accepts only a small handful of interns each year so I felt honored to have the position, and it was amazing to work with such a talented and welcoming staff. Laura Blatchford from AIU London deserves special thanks for all of her work in helping me get the internship, and I can’t thank Ted, Henry, Chloe, Ali, Dave, Lindsay, Kerry, and Jonathan enough for their help and advice.


More info about Baby Cow Productions can be found at http://www.babycow.co.uk/

Thanks for the memories Cable 8 Productions

After three years of involvement as a talent, actor, writer, and producer I said goodbye to Cable 8 Productions.
While attending Washington State University I worked on a total of ten full season productions totaling about 50 episodes worth of content for the college television station. It was a great learning experience, and I suggest anyone with an interest in video should seriously consider WSU and Cable 8.
It is difficult to narrow my favorite roles to a short list, but in the interest of brevity, here are my top three.

1. The Love Doctor – I hosted a relationship advice segment for the dating show Get Hooked Up for four seasons. Most of my segments were in-studio musings about the philosophy of dating, followed by a Q and A segment where I would answer dating questions sent in by the audience. The character is remembered fondly, and I feel like I made a positive impact in the community.

2. Cop Drama – What happens when you combine Adam West era Batman with the Lethal Weapon series and The Beastie Boys “Sabotage” music video? Cop Drama. Pat Mest and myself came up with this concept while watching old Patrick Swayze and Mel Gibson films one night in 2007. Two years of work on the franchise as writer, producer, and co-star gave me an experience that screams “this is what I want to do with my life.”

3. After Hours – My first experience with Cable 8 was as a host of the station’s late night comedy program. I used my previous stand-up comedy experience to write two to three minute rants each episode. It was a lot of fun, and it gave me good experience in scripted comedy and improvisation. The best times of the show would be when we took a small crew across the state to our rival university, and I spent the day committing acts of guerilla comedy on an entire campus of unsuspecting students.

More info on Cable 8 Productions can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_8_Productions

Reels and video from my Cable 8 experience can be found under the videos section.

My time as a Cable 8 News Reporter
Working as a one man band reporter for Cable 8 News in Pullman, Washington was a fulfilling experience that taught me many lessons about the news world. Cable 8 News is a nightly television news program and the “capstone” class for all graduating Broadcast News majors at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. The Cable 8 News team works in conjunction with Broadcast Production students to create a professional news program for the Pullman community.

My primary duty was to shoot, write, report, and edit news packages. In total I completed 16 packages, which is double the requirement for the course. Besides reporting I spent much of my time writing, producing or anchoring the news each night, with the occasional weather or sports reporting stint thrown in for good measure. While it was a lot of fun sitting on the sidelines of sporting events with a camera in hand, filming local concerts, and covering the community’s opinions on local events, I am particularly proud of a package I completed on an art installation at the school. The story was complex, with several sides offering differing viewpoints, and I feel that I represented everyone well.

Glenn A. Johnson, winner of the 2008 Edward L. Bliss Award for Distinguished Broadcast Journalism Education and the first educator inducted into the "Silver Circle" of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences teaches the course. Johnson has nearly three decades of teaching experience, and he is a big reason why WSU’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication is one of the top communication colleges in the country.

More information on The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication can be found at http://communication.wsu.edu/

Reels from my Cable 8 News experience can be found under the videos section.

Joey Clift interns for NorthWest Indian News
It was an honor interning for newsmagazine series NorthWest Indian News during the summer of 2008. NorthWest Indian News is aired globally on PBS affiliates, and on CoLours TV. I shadowed producer and Cowlitz Indian Tribal member Mark Anderson from May to August of 2008, working as a Production Assistant on package shoots, and several documentary style shoots, including a week long coverage of that summer's National Congress of American Indians meeting in Sparks, Nevada, and a 14-day shoot on the 2008 Tribal Canoe Journey. My main duties included helping with set up and take down of each field shoot, making sure equipment was safely transported, and shooting cover footage for the show. Some of my footage was used by Seattle’s King 5 News on a package covering the journey.

The internship gave me valuable insight into the news industry, and as a registered member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe myself, it was a memorable opportunity for me to experience my culture. Special thanks to Dr. Kenji Kitatani for helping set up the internship, and to Mark Anderson for letting me help him out for a summer.

More information on NWIN and Mark Anderson can be found at
http://www.nwin.tv/NWIN-Welcome.html
http://web.mac.com/glasswatermedia/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html