News Archive
Past the basketball hoop, beyond the vaulted ceiling and around the raw brick walls, Kevin Camoosa works in a cloistral cubby. He spins away from the state-of-the-art editing machines and flashes a got-it grin.
“Perfect timing,” he says to his boss, Nancy Walzog. “I just wrapped it up.”
It? “It’s a skew of everything we do,” Camoosa explains. “It’s the Tapestry demo reel.”
Walzog returns the grin. She’s the most relaxed no-nonsense gal around, possibly the most laid-back Type A personality in the film industry. There’s nothing about her that isn’t go-getter — and if you doubt that, take a gander at her Academy Award and her Emmy — yet her overachiever style isn’t about stress and tension and bombastic management: It’s about connecting with her employees, connecting with the subjects of her films, connecting with her community.
Nancy Walzog and Sea Bright? Perfect together.
Two years ago, Walzog brought her very accomplished production company from New York to the skinny borough that sits between a couple of rivers and an ocean. Tapestry International, which produces high-quality, documentary-style shows for cable and network television, now calls home a former warehouse/firehouse/boat-repair shop on Church Street in Sea Bright.
“There were horses and buggies here in the 1890s,” Walzog says from her neat and unpretentious second-floor office. “The space suits us just fine. We bought the house next door for overflow and we’re basically across from the ocean. It’s a nice lifestyle for us. It’s the kind of atmosphere I wanted to create — a great place to work.”
Most of Walzog’s 40-plus full-time employees relocated to the Shore. Already at home with her family in Middletown, the Tapestry president simply reversed and cut back on her ferry trips to New York. Clients, from New York, from L.A., from Washington, from everywhere, gladly come to her: With Tapestry celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2007 and thousands of hours of acclaimed programming under her belt, Nancy Walzog can focus on her subjects, which is what she’s always wanted to do.
Born and raised in Baltimore County, Maryland, Walzog journeyed to New York “at age 19, with a duffel bag.” She’d planned to do summer stock theater, but got hooked on production.
“My first break came when I got to hold the spit bucket for a sausage commercial,” Walzog says.
She moved up quickly in the film world. She made a “little art film for Bravo, back in the day, around 1986” and then laid the groundwork for Tapestry. It’s been nonstop since: Last weekend, a Christmas special Tapestry produced aired on Discovery, a “Civil War re-enactment that we filmed in Old Bedford Village in Pennsylvania. It had everything we needed. We told the story of how Christmas traditions came together during that era.”
Tapestry continues to produce “Assignment: Discovery,” its Emmy Award-winning daily show for kids airing on the Discovery channel. “We did 150 hours of programming for Discovery alone in 2006,” Walzog notes.
“King Gimp,” her short film that won an Academy Award in 2000, aired on HBO, at film festivals and in art theaters. She’s developing “a talent and personality-driven, service-oriented series” for the forthcoming Retirement Living channel, a new addition to the cable lineup. She’s also producing an eight-part series for Discovery on the greatest inventions. “We’re featuring Bill Nye, the Science Guy,” she says. It will air in the fall of 2007.
“It’s really about working a lot of ideas, then going around and finding homes for them. You never know when a great idea is going to find its niche. You have to have a lot of ideas all the time and just keep firing away.” Walzog pauses, then offers: “We’re going to be doing a fresh round of development.”
She balances the work and keeps an enviable cool by practicing martial arts. She both teaches and she uses her skills to benefit charities, frequently through the Ultimate Black Belt Test program. She participates in environmental endeavors with Clean Ocean Action, through clean-up projects under the Golden Gate Bridge, and with home-development efforts in rural Alabama. “We’ve built and rehabbed homes in Greensboro. This year, we’re building a community center.” Meanwhile, she offers weekend seminars in self-defense, aimed at helping people “turn fear into power.”
Back at production central, Kevin Camoosa plays his just-completed “montage of Tapestry’s greatest hits.”
“It’s our recent greatest hits,” Walzog emphasizes. She watches the two-minute drill, nods, then adds: “This represents us. We’re about the people stories.”
Those stories are helped along by offline editor Eve Hughes of Bradley Beach. “I put things together,” Hughes says. “I construct segments.”
Walzog sums it up: “Eve’s a great storyteller.”
Lindsey Norton of Middletown, home for the holidays and visiting her former co-workers at Tapestry, reminisces about the work she did for Walzog and heaves a sigh. That prompts Walzog to wax philosophical: “Lindsey was with us till the open road called her away.”
Valerie Smaltini, who came to Tapestry last May after long stints at the Food Network and PBS, now lives in Long Branch and loves not only the work, but her quick-skip “commute” up Ocean Avenue.
“I’m the production manager here, but we all pitch in with everything,” Smaltini says.
“Valerie marshals the troops,” Walzog notes.
All the while, Nancy Walzog marshals ideas into a legacy of film.
It’s Christmas in July at Tapestry International Productions. Bringing to life five Civil War Christmases in balmy July is no small feat.
A seasoned team of art directors pulled out all the stops during the two week location shoot at Historic Bedford Village in Pennsylvania. This included caking 19th century log cabin windows with beer and salt to create an iced-over effect. Fake snow blanketed the ground and roof, while wool-clad actors struggled to keep cool under hot lights, before crackling fireplaces.
“The night our special effects man donned a costume, put dry ice in his mouth, so we could shoot his “breath” as he blew on his hands pretending to be cold, I knew we were in new territory. Fortunately the ice didn’t stick to his mouth, a dangerous possibility. we got the shot and it made the cut!” remarked director Pamela Mason Wagner, no stranger to high-end history specials. Wagner’s reputation proceeded her on the set of Christmas and the Civil War, having recently completed the historical epic “Joan of Arc” for The Hallmark Channel.
“Lots of programming has been done about the Civil War,” adds Mason Wagner, “but we were the first to view the war through the lens of Christmas. Entire films have been made about Gettysburg – what more is there to say? But we found a new way to revisit that seminal battle: through they eyes of Thomas Nast, who was sent to illustrate the battle, missed it, and only saw the wounded limping away.”
Christmas and the Civil War traces the origins of Christmas traditions through the words and experiences of several historical figures including Louisa May Alcott and Harper’s illustrator Thomas Nast, considered by many to be the ‘father’ of the modern-day Santa Claus.
Christmas and the Civil War airs seasonally on The Discovery Channel and Discovery HD Theater.
For the past 10 years, Valerie Smaltini has been a fixture at the Food Network. From Master Control Supervisor to Senior Production Manager to Director of Scheduling and Production Management, Smaltini has played a major role in some of the networks most popular programs, including Emeril Live, 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray and Iron Chef.
“We’re excited about the experience Valerie brings to Tapestry,” remarks Nancy Walzog, President of Tapestry International Productions. “We’ve moved into the lifestyle programming arena, and Valerie will play a big part in this.”
Smaltini is taking the transition from big broadcaster to indie production company in stride. “I’m really excited about applying my experience here at Tapestry.” Valerie isn’t shy about how heading up Tapestry’s lifestyle division has changed her lifestyle. “I used to commute four hours a day, now I’m down to just 15 minutes.” Smaltini and her husband live just down the coast from Tapestry’s beachside headquarters.
Tapestry International’s new corporate headquarters has just been recognized by Monmouth County’s Historical Commission with a 2005 Historic Preservation Award. Presented at a ceremony held at the Commission’s offices in Freehold on June 6th, the award is designated for the ‘restorative and adaptive use of 3 Church Street.’
Nancy Walzog, Tapestry’s President and Founder, purchased the building in 2003 as the future site for the company. “I wouldn’t say it was in total disrepair,” Walzog says, “but the renovation and restoration process took nearly a year and cost several hundred thousand dollars.”
The century-old building has had many uses over the years including a garage, interior basketball court, hardware store, and loft-style apartment. Much of the building’s bones have been restored including recently pointed exposed brick, refinished wood floors and in the middle of the production bullpen, you can find an old wooden basketball hoop, circa 1920.
“We couldn’t be happier with the space,” Walzog comments. “It’s Tribeca on the Jersey Shore.”
SEA BRIGHT For someone who works within a short zoom-lens shot of both the Atlantic Ocean and the Shrewsbury River, Karen Carlson doesn’t get much chance to play hooky.
The beach may be beckoning, but summer is the busy season at Tapestry International, Ltd., the television production company Carlson works for as vice president. Networks need footage for the fall, so long summer days (and nights) are spent hunched over editing machines and working on other aspects of bringing a television show from an idea to the screen.
Still, it’s hard to beat the setting. “It’s so nice to walk out of the office at 8:30 at night, and there’s the ocean right there,” the Highlands resident said with a contented sigh. “It’s certainly better than stepping out of an office in Manhattan on a hot summer night.”
That’s just the kind of reaction Nancy Walzog was hoping for when she decided to move Tapestry, the company she founded in 1987, from its location in lower Manhattan to a century-old brick building on Church Street here. She supervises 35 workers, who put together a variety of programming, including children’s educational shows, real-life hospital dramas and tales of wildlife.
While it’s not the big city, life in a seaside resort is not like working in a suburban office park either, “It’s a little bit of Manhattan right here in Sea Bright,” Walzog said.
Tapestry moved into its new headquarters in October. It invested between $300,00 and $400,000 to renovate the interior of the building over the course of nine months, taking advantage of the brickwork and hardwood floors and adding features such as skylights and a circular staircase. The
building had served as a garage and a hardware store over the years. It was a private home before Walzog bought it.
She had not been deliberately looking to move her operation when the opportunity to buy the building came up, but the thought had been rumbling around her head for some time.
Walzog, 42, lived and worked in New York for years, but when she became a mother, she started longing for a life out of the city. About five years ago, she found it, buying a house in Middletown.
She took the ferry to commute to the tip of Manhattan and didn’t seriously start thinking about moving her company until Sept. 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center was attacked by terrorists.
“That was the seed (of our move),” she said.
Over the years, she had purchased properties as investments in Sea Bright. Through her contacts, she heard about the building on Church Street. At 9,000 square feet, it was a third larger than her New York facility, which was getting cramped.
Enough of her staff said they were willing to make the move, so she went ahead with her plans. Although she was worried that it might be difficult to find new hires outside the city, Walzog said she’s found a steady supply of people with television experience who live in the area and commute and are eager for an opportunity to stay closed to home. In addition, while some of her New York staff have moved to New Jersey, others continue to commute from the city.
She wasn’t worried about the effect leaving New York would have on business. Walzog said her years in the industry and Tapestry’s track record have helped keep production orders coming in. The company has annual revenue of about $8 million.
“We have a great machine here,” Walzog said. “When we have people come here and see the place, they’re just blown away.”
Walzog herself has been working in movies and television since she was a student at New York University, when she decided to give up visions of a medical career and study film instead. She was particularly intrigued by the nature of documentaries and their Walter Mitty-like experience of focusing on someone else’s life. “You get to experrience so many different worlds,” she said.
Tapestry started as a business created to help distribute an art-focused documentary Walzog and a partner had produced. It sold well, and Walzog started to work on distribution deals for other producers. After a few years, she started to get back into producing and distributing her own programs. She enjoyed the business side of film as well as the creative side, getting a master’s degree in business administration from Pace University.
Over the years Tapestry has produced a variety of programs. Walzog was executive producer of “King Gimp,” a documentary of an artist with cerebral palsy that won the Academy Award for documentary short subject. Last year, Tapestry won an Emmy for “Assignment Discovery,” a children’s education program on the Discovery Channel. Other current productions include “TLC Elementary,” another children’s educational program that airs on the Learning Channel, and “Critical Hour,” a medical documentary on Discovery Health.
The company also has been adding production capabilities, such as designing DVDs and working on video-on-demand projects.
Walzog is looking for venture capital money to help expand some aspects of the business, but she considers herself very selective, given that Tapestry is her creation.
“I know a lot of companies that worked with venture capital during the dot-com boom, and a lot of them aren’t around anymore,” she said.
Tapestry International is pleased to announce that Africa Today, an episode of Assignment Discovery, has recently scored a Cine Golden Eagle Award.
“We’re honored to be recognized,” said Nancy Walzog, president of Tapestry International and Executive Producer for Assignment Discovery. “We were particularly proud of this episode.”
Africa Today addresses contemporary issues in Africa. From the struggle to educate oneself in the midst of civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo to the AIDS epidemic, to shadowing an 11-year-old Ethiopian girl, Africa Today brings human faces to a continent in transition.
The 46th Annual Golden Eagle Film and Video Awards Gala was held at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1957, CINE identifies and encourages high quality non-theatrical film and video production.
Assignment Discovery airs weekday mornings on the Discovery Channel.
Hot on the heels of the success of Assignment Discovery, TLC has turned to Tapestry to produce 16 fresh episodes of its children’s series—TLC ELEMENTARY, set to air on the channel in fall of 2005. “Targeting a 5-10 year old demo will be a new challenge for Tapestry,” says the project’s producer Jean Meltzer, “but we’re excited about the foundations we’re building in the children’s television world.”
Bursting at the seams in its Manhattan location with a growing staff and expanding post production facility, prodco Tapestry International was faced with the task of finding more office space. “I looked at several spaces in the city, but nothing seemed to fit,” comments Walzog, “until I saw this old brick building on the Jersey shore.”
New Jersey? Could it be that after 17 years in Manhattan, Tapestry was ready to fly the Manhattan co-op and take to the ‘burbs? “It’s not the burbs, it’s the beach!” laughs Walzog. When principals of the company agreed to re-locate, Walzog purchased the building and construction began.
“We’ve customized the 9,000 square foot building for our needs, a turnkey production facility and office space to handle our current projects with room to grow.” Tapestry’s new office boasts 6 Avid® suites (including 3 Avid® Adrenaline™ systems), a sound recording room, a Pro Tools® audio room, graphics and online capabilities, not to mention a garden, workout room, and common area with full kitchen.
Sea Bright is 45 minutes from Manhattan, via high speed ferry. Tapestry is confident of its ability to coax clients and colleagues out of the metropolis with promises of white sands and seafood lunches.
After 15 years of fruitful collaboration yielding over 30 hours of original programming and an Academy Award®, Tapestry and University of Maryland’s Video Press are at it again, producing 12 hours of adrenaline-soaked Critical Hour for Discovery Health.
Shot at the University of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center, this is the real “ER”, where top doctors battle time and fate and where split-second decisions mean life or death for the patients.
Tapestry and Video Press have wrapped up production on the much anticipated epilogue to the blockbuster documentary King Gimp, titled “The King’s Miracle.” Capturing 12 years in life of Dan Keplinger, a young artist with Cerebral Palsy, King Gimp has touched and inspired hearts around the world since winning the Academy Award® for Best Short Subject Documentary in 1999.
Commissioned by Discovery Health, ‘The King’s Miracle’ picks up where King Gimp left off from Oscar® night, falling out of his chair and into the aisle in elation to his burgeoning career with gallery openings in New York City’s trendy art district. We see how the success of the documentary has affected this young man whose future is still very much stretched out before him.
Tapestry International and Discovery took top honors in the children’s category for Assignment Discovery at a gala ceremony in NYC. “We’ve all worked so hard to bring our vision of a fast-paced, hip kid’s show to the screen. It’s gratifying to be recognized by our peers” said series Executive Producer and Tapestry President Nancy Walzog.
As Tapestry heads into production on a second season of the acclaimed series, the approving nod from the Academy couldn’t have come at a better time: the next fifty episodes are sure to be even better.
Assignment Discovery airs weekdays on the Discovery Channel.
Tapestry International, together with the University of Maryland’s Video Press, is pleased to announce that an UPDATE to the Oscar® winning documentary KING GIMP will be released in February ‘04.
Capturing 12 years in the life of Dan Keplinger, a young man with Cerebral Palsy, KING GIMP has touched and inspired hearts around the world since winning the Academy Award® for Best Short Subject Documentary. Faced with the constant challenge of being accepted in mainstream society as a creative, intelligent and emotional human being, this film questions society’s perspective of the disabled through the intimate viewpoint of Dan Keplinger.
KING GIMP closed with Dan’s triumphant graduation from college, but in many ways, this was yet another beginning for Dan. KING GIMP, THE KING’S MIRACLE features the original documentary with 6 additional minutes. We see Dan on Oscar® night, falling out of his chair and into the aisle in elation! His career has prospered, from gallery openings in New York City’s trendy art district, Soho, to having his paintings featured at the UN. We see how the success of the documentary has affected this young man whose future is still very much stretched out before him. KING GIMP, THE KING’S MIRACLE reminds us of the incredible strength of the human spirit.
The biggest pop star icon of all time, Michael Jackson, is about to be brought down. His Neverland Ranch has been raided and arrest warrants have been issued. Will he end up in jail, flee the country, or be exonerated? This story will dominate the airwaves for the foreseeable future.
TAPESTRY INTERNATIONAL in association with PARCO INTERNATIONAL is pleased to offer immediate delivery (as of November 25th) on a NEW MICHAEL JACKSON documentary (1x60’). With exclusive footage of the surprise raid of Jackson’s Neverland Ranch and arrest footage, THE MICHAEL JACKSON STORY addresses the intense media frenzy, which has now been set off by this latest brush with the law. This doco also includes interviews with the Sheriff who has accused Jackson of child molestation and an interview with the reporter who broke the story.
“We’re pleased with the speed at which we are able to bring this documentary to market,” comments Tapestry Vice President, Karen Carlson. “This is an excellent example of how a well-positioned production company [Parco] with the right footage and a distribution company with an established client network can work together to close deals and deliver product in record speed. We delivered footage last night via satellite!”
TAPESTRY INTERNATIONAL is a leading distributor of factual entertainment, documentary, reality and lifestyle programming.
PARCO INTERNATIONAL is a major television production company, specializing in celebrity crime portraits. Parco’s weekly (39x60’) criminal biography series MUGSHOTS is one of COURT TV’S most successful strands.
"It’s like a true crime movie,” says John Parsons Peditto, the creator and executive producer of Court TV’s highly rated Mugshots series. “We look for the flesh and blood story behind the official black and white police mugshot.” Profiling the lives and crimes of criminal masterminds and celebrity thugs like Puff Daddy and suicide pilot Mohammed Atta, Mugshots is a treasure trove of fascinating character studies that gets to the heart of what makes a criminal a criminal. Tapestry International is pleased to be distributing new episodes of this compelling series. Profiles include: Osama Bin Laden, Mohammed Atta, Puff Daddy, Kennedy-cousin Michael Skakel, Vatican-swindling Martin Frankel, and French conman Chris Rocancourt.
Tapestry is delighted to announce its recent appointment as the exclusive producer of Assignment Discovery, a daily hour-long educational series for the Discovery Channel. Responsible for producing an output of 50+hours of educational programming per year, Tapestry brings a fresh vision to this well-established weekday morning strand, incorporating a younger, hipper style with kid-friendly narrators, graphics and original segments. “We want young, kid-accessible faces and voices contextualizing the educational material,” comments Nancy Walzog, Tapestry’s President. The new Assignment Discovery premieres September 2003.
Following on the success of MED SCHOOL, a five-part series for Discovery Health which features five med students through one academic year, Tapestry International Productions and The University of Maryland’s Video Press will produce a one-hour reunion special. MED SCHOOL, A REUNION will revisit the students and see where they are now, a year later. “Med School is really about transformation. Beyond the transformations we saw happen throughout the series, we wanted to check back in and see how these young people have blossomed into doctors,” shares executive producer Nancy Walzog.
Delivery is set for late fall. Tapestry will be offering MED SCHOOL and MED SCHOOL, A REUNION to international buyers at MIP.
Tapestry International announces the acquisition of this year’s Academy Award®-winning short subject documentary, Thoth. This unique portrait of one of New York’s most eccentric street performers will be right at home among Tapestry’s collection of Sundance, Oscar® and Emmy®-winning docs.
Thoth is screenwriter Sarah Kernochan’s (9 1/2 Weeks, What Lies Beneath) second Academy Award-winning documentary.
“I heard this music, which pulled me toward this sound, on a day when I was extremely stressed,” recalls Kernochan, “‘music that made me feel peaceful, so I grabbed one of his pamphlets and finally visited his website, at which point I realized his story would make a great movie.” Premiering this fall on HBO, Tapestry will offer this title to the international marketplace at MIP.
Taking advantage of New York City’s tremendous talent pool, Tapestry has just launched the TAP LAB, a five-person development team composed of some of New York’s hottest young writing talent. The TAP LAB is currently cooking up fresh and innovative concepts for the small screen.
“The energy created by this group is tremendous,” comments Tapestry President Nancy Walzog. “They’re coming up with many great ‘out-of-the-box’ concepts for our clients.”
The Secret World of Gardens (39x30’), Tapestry’s blue chip macro-photography series, is entering its third year of production with another 13 episodes on slate. Shot on film, this nature series magnifies the hidden microcosms of a typical backyard garden proving that you don’t have to go to the jungles of Madagascar to be dazzled by exotic mating rituals and ferocious insect appetites.
Toronto-based producer Susan Fleming and her team of innovative cinematographers have invented macro-lenses and utilized lightning fast film speeds for various insect flight segments. Cut playfully to a soundtrack of jazz greats like Billy Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, Fleming has brought newfound flair and fun to the classic genre of nature photography. Season III episodes include: Vines, A World of Entanglement, Fungi, and Life in a Veggie Patch.
