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[Updated] Celebrating Two Decades: The One Foot Productions Journey
Ever wondered what happens when you blend tech wizardry with raw creative energy? As we hit our 20-year milestone, One Foot Productions continues to dance at this electrifying intersection – and what a wild ride it's been from inside joke to industry innovator.
Over the coming weeks, we'll be unpacking the most valuable lessons we've learned during two decades of creative problem-solving. Consider this your backstage pass to our journey – the triumphs, the failures, and everything in between that shaped our approach to production, technology, and storytelling.
But first, a little context about who we are and how we got here...
The Tiniest Grand Piano in Show Business
The "One Foot" in our name? It wasn't born in some stuffy corporate boardroom. Picture this: musicians in a recording studio bragging about their nine-foot or twelve-foot grand pianos, when someone cracks a joke about a mythical "one-foot grand piano." Our founder Kevin loved it so much, he playfully credited an album as "produced by One Foot Productions" – though the company didn't actually exist yet.
Fast forward to 2005: when the Tribeca Film Festival came calling with a contract, Kevin needed to make things official. That quirky inside joke suddenly needed letterhead, and just like that, our creative journey went from imaginary to unstoppable.
What We've Built (Besides a Reputation for Getting Things Done)
You might not spot us in the spotlight, but you've definitely experienced our handiwork. We're the invisible force making the Tony Awards run without a hitch, the creative minds crafting original content for NBA All-Star Week, the problem-solvers who pivoted the Apollo Theater's gala to virtual without missing a beat, and the dreamers who built an intimate music festival in the California wilderness just because, well, why not?
Our three-headed groove monster of expertise has evolved through:
Technology: While everyone else obsessed over front-of-house systems for ticketing and marketing, we built dBocl (Database Organizing Chaotic Logistics) – a backstage powerhouse that brings order to the beautiful chaos of live production. Think of it as the superhero backstage manager who never sleeps, forgets, or needs coffee.
Logistics: Remember the frantic radio chatter at big shows with everyone screaming "WHERE IS THE NEXT PRESENTER?!" We silenced that noise by creating a genius text-based talent tracking system inspired by NYC's bus stops. Suddenly, celebrity whereabouts appeared on a master screen in real-time – no panic, just production magic.
Creative Development: What started with "Can you handle our schedules?" evolved into "Can you write this segment?" and eventually "Can you create this entire show from scratch?" As it turns out, when you nail the boring stuff, people trust you with the exciting stuff too.
When the World Stopped, We Reimagined
March 2020 hit like a record scratch at a dance party. "Within two weeks, every single show just canceled," Kevin recalls. "It went from full speed to zero overnight."
But here's where things get interesting. Instead of hitting pause, we hit remix.
Within a month, we were crafting intimate virtual house concerts for artists whose tours had vanished. We turned into Zoom sound specialists, figuring out how to make a jazz quartet sound decent through laptop speakers. For the Apollo Theater, what began as a virtual gala transformed into something profound when George Floyd's murder occurred a week before the event. Our team worked non-stop for four days to reimagine not just the format but the message – proving that even with performers "recording from their living rooms," genuine human connection transcends technology.
For Dova Dance, we wove remotely filmed performances into a narrative about family separation during lockdown. For the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, we created a digital adventure sending audiences through Zoom "portals" to discover performances within a virtual Victorian mansion. These weren't just pandemic band-aids – they were entirely new forms of creative expression born from necessity.
What's Cooking in Our Creative Kitchen
Today, we're more storytellers than stage managers, though we haven't forgotten our logistical roots. Current projects simmering in our creative cauldron include:
Bear Music Fest: Our boutique music festival nestled in nature celebrates discovery and connection over spectacle. It's the anti-Coachella – intimate, thoughtful, and focused on genuine musical moments rather than Instagram opportunities.
"She Came from the Bronx": This hip-hop love letter recently developed in Chicago celebrates 50 years of a movement that changed culture forever. It's not just a show – it's a sonic time machine with beats you can feel in your chest.
Audio Journeys: We're crafting original programming that explores influential albums as time capsules of culture, art, and politics – sonic archaeology that unearths how these works continue to resonate across generations.
The Next Movement
As we groove into our third decade, we're not interested in getting bigger – we're focused on getting deeper. For Bear Music Fest, that means sustainability and possibly an east coast sibling that maintains the intimate, discovery-focused approach we love.
Kevin's dream project reveals our soul: filming bands performing in every national park – a vision connecting music, nature, and storytelling that honors his father's legacy as a forest ranger. It embodies our belief that the most powerful entertainment illuminates what already exists rather than manufacturing artificial experiences.
Join Our Creative Conspiracy
Twenty years in, we're still guided by the same maverick spirit: say yes to fascinating challenges, create elegant solutions to messy problems, and remember that technology should enhance human connection, not replace it.
Whether you're looking to elevate your next event, develop original content that resonates, or simply connect with kindred creative spirits, we'd love to hear from you. Reach out and let's cook up something extraordinary together.
After all, in an industry obsessed with going big, sometimes the most distinctive perspective comes from standing just one foot tall.
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