RE: AQUARIUM HOBBY FILM! YOUR HELP NEEDED URGENTLY! (fwd)

[Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>]

Hi.  Generally I despise Ted and his giant list of aquarium people that he
spamvertises ads for his conventions (this is like the 6th mail I've
gotten in 24 hours from him).  Nonetheless, I am passing this on.  Maybe
it's useful.  I dunno.

  - Erik

-- 
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 13:03:04 -0400
From: "Coletti, Ted  [OBI]" <TColetti@obius.jnj.com>
Subject: RE: AQUARIUM HOBBY FILM! YOUR HELP NEEDED URGENTLY!

To clarify, "Tropical Jewels" is a $500,000 film. The Producers are $50,000
short. Not millions. My mistake.

Which makes this even more close to possibility! Let's try to make this
happen! Thanks for your help!

Ted  COletti
908-704-5447
tmisty@nac.net

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Coletti, Ted  [OBI] 
> Sent: Friday, June 30, 2000 12:33 PM
> Subject:      AQUARIUM HOBBY FILM! YOUR HELP NEEDED URGENTLY!
> 
> Dear fellow freshwater fish and plant fans:
> 
> No, I'm not promoting an event this time. Instead I'm writing to you today
> about one of the most exciting happenings for our beloved hobby in my
> lifetime that could potentially bring the freshwater aquarium hobby and
> the club scene to a new "Golden Age" of popularity.
> 
> I was recently contacted by a Documentary Producer, David Brown. His
> company is attempting to produce a documentary film to be shown all over
> the world, on the Freshwater Aquarium Hobby. The PBS series, "Nature," has
> agreed to air the film, and agreements are being worked out with the UK,
> Germany, and Japan.  This will not be some cheapo video: it will be shot
> on Digitial and Super-16MM film with a half-million-dollar budget! The
> outline of the film is at the end of this email. David wants the world to
> know that freshwater fish and plants are just as exciting and colorful  as
> marine specimens!
> 
> Most importantly, it will feature the ORGANIZED HOBBY, including the ACA
> Convention, fish rooms, current specialty trends, etc. I will be
> consulting on the project in these areas and will make sure our organized
> hobby finally gets the national recognition it has long deserved. We all
> know how most fish keepers are not even aware of the club scene so this
> will be a great boom for us! 
> 
> THE DILEMMA: The Producers are about $50 thousand short of the needed $500
> thousand budget and time is running out quickly. Because of PBS
> guidelines, they cannot accept the donations from any of the aquarium
> manufacturers (don't ya love public television?).  They are looking for
> PBS donations from non-consumer or non-profit organizations. If any of you
> have any leads or suggestions, please reply or call me at 908-704-5447.
> Major contributors should receive voice-over credit at the end of the
> film.
> 
> If they cannot get the needed funding in time, the project is dead in the
> water (pardon the pun). In fact, they are close to giving up so expediency
> is critical. The potential effect this film could have on our hobby is
> unmeasureable. All our clubs will benefit. All of us will too. 
> 
> Thanks in advance for your support.
> 
> yours in friendship & fish,
> 
> Ted Coletti
> 908-704-5447
> tmisty@nac.net
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
> 
> TROPICAL JEWELS
> A One Hour Documentary Film
> © 1999, Passage Productions, Inc.
> Reg. Writers Guild of America, #749586
> 
> 
> For millions of avid collectors, the tropical fish found in aquariums
> around the world provide a wealth of beauty and a genuine link to life in
> the
> natural world.  Most of the these fish lived in quiet anonymity until the
> early 20th century, when exploration in Africa, Asia and South America
> introduced hundreds of exotic new species to the world. Their brilliant
> colors, diverse shapes and unusual behaviors began an international
> passion
> to collect these "living jewels".  Today, the popularity of tropical fish
> has created a multi-billion dollar industry and raised serious questions
> about the conservation of the these extraordinary animals and their native
> environments.  
> 
> TROPICAL JEWELS will tell the story of our evolving relationship with the
> dazzling array of tropical fish found worldwide.  Understanding the
> natural
> history of these fish "characters" is not only intriguing, but also
> essential to keeping healthy fish. Each animal has a distinctive color,
> shape and behavior tailored for survival in habitats as diverse as
> Africa¹s crystalline Lake Tanganyika or the free running rivers and
> stagnant pools of
> the Amazon Basin. 
>    
> Only through protection of tropical habitat, non-destructive harvesting
> and state-of-the-art farming methods can our rewarding relationship with
> tropical fish be sustained.
> 
> TROPICAL JEWELS unfolds in the following scenes:
> ... In Brazil we see the capture of wild fish and how technology has
> carried them far beyond their native waters with 2nd generation Amazon
> explorer and exporter, ADOLF SCHWARTZ;
> ... Koi fish enthusiasts explain the 2500 year history of fish
> domestication in Asia and how a mutant carp began a craze to keep fish as
> pets;
> ... In New Jersey at  ACA 2001, collectors explain their passion for fish
> and how aquariums are a window to the natural world;
> ... Aquarium designer TAKASHI AMANO creates "living art" in remarkable
> tanks inspired by the waterscapes of Africa, Asia and South America;
> ... "Tropical Fish Hobbyist" magazine editor MARY SWEENEY demonstrates the
> intricacies of keeping finicky fish and introduces fish as "healers";
> ... In a large aquarium store, we see the scope of the fish trade and
> stories of fish threatened by their own popularity - salt water species
> unable to
> adapt to life in aquariums and in Bangkok, Siamese Fighting fish battling
> to the death for cash and entertainment;
> ... In Florida, biologist CRAIG WATSON introduces high tech solutions for
> supplying tropical fish, including the development of "artificial"
> species;
> ... On the Rio Negro River, ADOLF SCHWARTZ discovers a new species and
> comments on ways to ensure a future for wild tropical fish.
> 
> Producers of Tropical Jewels
> 
> David Owen Brown has worked worldwide as a researcher, diver,
> photographer, videographer and producer.  He holds degrees from Cornell
> University and the Brooks Institute of Photography.  Brown conducted whale
> research  in the lower Gulf of Maine, deep-sea research in the Sargasso
> Sea and participated in filming expeditions with The Cousteau Society
> vessels Calypso and Alcyone from 1984-91.  Brown's award-winning
> photographs  have appeared in numerous exhibits and publications,
> including imagery for the Smithsonian's "Ocean Planet" display.  His
> videography has aired on NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, the Discovery Channel, Fox
> cable and  National Geographic television.  He has authored over twenty
> articles, as well as two children's books, and served as a consultant for
> National Geographic's book, "The World's Wild Shores." He is on the Board
> of Directors for the Channel Islands Foundation, and the Board of Advisors
> for the American Oceans Campaign.  Brown has also lectured at over four
> hundred universities, trade associations and conventions throughout the
> United States and Canada, as well as aboard the vessels of six different
> cruise fleets.  In 1991, Brown founded Passage Productions, a documentary
> film company and stock house.  He conceived and built the first live
> interactive underwater audio/video system for the cruise industry, and
> Passage teams under Brown's direction continue to create documentary film
> and live programming worldwide. Passage produced the first live broadcast
> from underwater onto the Internet in 1997, and Passage Productions remains
> on the cutting-edge of live interactive programming around the globe.
> 
> For over twenty-five years, Sandy Ostertag has produced and directed a
> wide variety of award winning natural history, environmental and social
> documentary films. From her first independent film Woman Is, winner of a
> Gold Medal at the Atlanta International Film Festival, to her National
> Emmy
> and ACE Award-nominated programs in Cousteau's Rediscovery of the World
> series, Sandy has consistently won acclaim for tackling complex topics.
> Her work has been featured in most major television documentary markets,
> including PBS (Nature & Nova), BBC, TBS, and the Discovery Channel. The
> Photographic Vision, a twenty-part series that she produced and directed,
> was nominated for an Emmy and Best of Festival/I.F.P.A., and awarded a
> C.I.N.E. Golden Eagle and a I.F.P.A. Gold Cindy. She was a producer for
> the BBC/Reader's Digest three part series, America's Wilderness nominated
> for an ACE Award, and most recently, the very successful PBS/NATURE
> special, John Denver Let This Be A Voice, broadcast in December of 1998.
> Sandy received a BA in Still Photography and Film at Southern Illinois
> University and a MFA in Film and Television at Carnegie-Mellon University.
> She is currently a member of the Directors Guild of America and the
> Writers Guild of America.
>