David Hurdon

In 1996 I used a computer for something other than Solitaire for the first time. Within three years I was a certified Geek, swapping cards, building systems from parts, creating web sites, offering web video, selling how-to programming as web video and offering my services on a part time basis, both in computer maintenance and in video program creation for individuals and businesses. I learned how to compress video in various formats, offering files on CD and later DVD as well as on the web. I did this, incidentally, nights and weekends while holding an executive position in the Ontario wine industry, where I spent nearly twenty of my 31 years in the corporate world.

I moved into digital video in 2001 because I believed that it held the promise of allowing many more people to mix their creative muscle with life experience and come up with programming that others would want to watch. I wanted to be one of them. I won't pretend I foresaw video on cellular telephones but I knew the multi-channel universe and the broadband Internet would create demand previously unimagined, and I wanted to create some of that new content, I wanted to tell stories that walked and talked. Initially I realized other people's visions, and soon concluded that I didn't want to become the proprietor of a video services business. In the summer of 2004 I interested a resort owner in creating a series of promotional videos for mini-CD and the web. The resulting segments were imaginative, entertaining and successful in creating interest in the property. In the early summer of 2005, nearly a year out of work after taking a buy out package, I decided the time had come to put up or shut up. Many times since I have second-guessed that decision. It's hard work, it can be lonely, it only happens if you make it happen. There is no one asking why you're late, or any other questions for that matter. It's you, your story (the one you know is there and are trying really hard to find) and another morning. I'm positive now that it helps to be ignorant of the fact that what you're trying to do can't be done. By the time you find that out you've finished something and sold it. Or at least that's the plan.

Contact: dhurdon*rogers.com [change * to @]

Web site: The Content Shop