Renaissance Center receives 11 Midsouth Emmy nominations

The Funeral Man tabbed in 6 categories

Release Date: 11/24/2003. Expired: 12/24/2003

The Renaissance Center’s Multimedia Department received 11 nominations in eight categories for the 18th annual Midsouth Regional Emmy Awards. Nominations were announced Wednesday at BMI headquarters in Nashville.

The Funeral Man, a short film written, directed and produced by David VanHooser of the center’s Multimedia Department, received six nominations while Tennessee’s Wild Side, an outdoor adventure magazine show produced by the center, got three nods. Also receiving nominations were the center’s concert video of Three Dog Night Live with the Tennessee Symphony and the concert/documentary The Last Wolf Fest about the final fan club concert by Steppenwolf.

The Renaissance Center received double nominations in three categories. The Funeral Man and Three Dog Night Live with the Tennessee Symphony are both nominated in the Entertainment Program category. Videographers Craig Anderson and Barry Cross are both nominated in the Camera/Non-News category for their work on The Funeral Man and Tennessee’s Wild Side, respectively. VanHooser is nominated in the Writer/Non-News category for The Funeral Man along with Jay Korff, a guide for Tennessee’s Wild Side who previously won an Emmy for his work on the show.

Anderson, studio manager for the Multimedia Department, is the lone nominee in the Lighting/Location category for his work on The Funeral Man.

The awards will be presented Jan. 24 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort. There were 726 entries from 76 television stations, production companies and agencies in Tennessee, North Carolina and northern Alabama. Of those entries, 226 nominations were made in 58 categories.

The Renaissance Center’s nominations are:
Best Entertainment Program:
The Funeral Man, David VanHooser (writer, director and producer) and Doug Jackson (executive producer);
Three Dog Night Live with the Tennessee Symphony, Doug Jackson (executive producer), Steve Hall (producer), Ken Tucker (production manager) and Sandra Harris (director);
Special Event/Post Production:
The Last Wolf Fest, Steve Hall (producer), Mike Hays and Ken Tucker (post production);
Best Informational/Instructional Program:
Tennessee’s Wild Side, Hummingbird Fest - Mike Hays (videographer), Lindsay Ferrier (reporter);
Camera/Non-News:
The Funeral Man, Craig Anderson;
Tennessee’s Wild Side, Barry Cross;
Director/Non-News:
The Funeral Man, David VanHooser;
Lighting/Location:
The Funeral Man, Craig Anderson;
Music/Instrumental:
The Funeral Man, Harvey Earls;
Writer/Non-News:
The Funeral Man, David VanHooser;
Tennessee’s Wild Side, Jay Korff.

“We are extremely proud of the recognition these nominations represent for our small production facility,” said Steve Hall, senior director of the Multimedia Department. “We are pleased to be included with some of the best television work produced in the region in the past year even though The Renaissance Center’s primary mission is not as a television production company. What we do in the Multimedia Department is just a small part of the educational and entertainment components of this facility, so these multiple nominations are a testament to the quality of our work.”

The Funeral Man is a dramatization based on local stories of a real man who was known in the area for attending funerals and comforting the bereaved even if he didn’t know them. The narrative production was shot completely in Dickson and Humphreys counties and features several local citizens as well as professional actors from Nashville. It was written, directed and produced by VanHooser, an award-winning producer for the Multimedia Department who has produced several short films and also has won an award for a science fiction screenplay from the Sundance Film Festival.

Nominations for The Funeral Man are in the Entertainment Program, Camera, Director, Lighting, Music and Writer categories.

Now in its fifth season on PBS stations across the state, Tennessee’s Wild Side is a family outdoor adventure show produced by The Renaissance Center with funding from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. The show has previously won regional Emmy awards for writing and Best Magazine Program.

Nominations for Tennessee’s Wild Side this year are Best Informational/Instructional Program for a segment called Hummingbird Fest for videographer Mike Hays and guide Lindsay Ferrier; for Camera work for Barry Cross; and for writing for guide Jay Korff.

Three Dog Night Live with the Tennessee Symphony is a video concert made during two June 2000 performances at The Renaissance Center by the legendary rock group with a 42-piece symphony. The concerts were the group’s first public performance with a symphony after recording a new CD featuring many of their greatest hits performed with the London Symphony Orchestra. The video includes the live performances as well as interviews with Three Dog Night original members Danny Hutton and Cory Wells.

The Last Wolf Fest is a documentary produced by The Renaissance Center about the annual fan club concert hosted by legendary rock group Steppenwolf. Middle Tennessee resident John Kay, founder of Steppenwolf, decided that the June 2002 Wolf Fest would be the final fan club show and The Renaissance Center’s crew was on hand at Nashville Shores to videotape the event. The resulting video includes performances from the concert featuring past and present members of Steppenwolf as well as interviews with Kay, group members and fans who traveled from all parts of the globe to participate.

The Renaissance Center is also currently working on producing a video of a concert Kay performed at the center last year featuring some of his solo blues work.

Since it opened in 1999, The Renaissance Center’s Multimedia Department has received 20 nominations and won seven Midsouth Regional Emmy Awards.

Founded in 1957, The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), best known for the internationally recognized Emmy Award, is a non-profit, professional organization dedicated to improving the quality of television at all levels. NATAS strives to raise industry standards, encourages those new to the profession, and provides a forum for the exchange of ideas on industry problems and concerns.

The Nashville/Midsouth Region, founded in 1984, encompasses the states of North Carolina (except Asheville) and Tennessee, and the television market of Huntsville, Ala.