My Nephew Has Been Nominated For An Emmy!!

I've been sitting on this news (and some other news that I can't write about yet), and now it's time to announce it.

Remember my writing about my nephew Jacob? He is my eldest sister's youngest child. He works for Adrenaline Films as an Audio Technician. He is only 23 years old. If you go to Adrenaline's web site and go to the Production Team at the bottom of the page and scroll over, I think he's about the 10th one to the right. I have written on Dusty Pages about his working on the Survivor China crew, among other things.

Well, on Sunday May 31, The History Channel is going to premiere its Expedition Africa series with the Stanley and Livingstone story, at 10pm/9 central. Jacob was the Sound Supervisor on the crew. At the time he was 22, which made him the youngest sound supervisor EVER in the US. And he, personally, yes, he, Jacob F. Smith, has been nominated for an Emmy for the work he did on that show. Isn't that cool???

Jacob has always been interested in being a sound engineer. In middle school he set up his own sound studio and he worked with a local guy who did all the school plays, as well as weddings, concerts, etc. So by the time Jacob got out of high school he was already a pretty good audio engineer in his own right. He decided what company he wanted to work for after he got out of college (one he knew could actually TEACH him something) and then bombarded them with resumes, trying to get them to let him intern with them. He finally got a meeting with the president of the company, who told him that they were actually more interested in HIRING him than in having him intern there.

He hit the ground running, and they have kept him busy from the beginning. He has worked on several reality shows and a couple of movies among other things. When he went to work for them he was surprised that they didn't have a post-production studio. So he put together a presentation and pitched the idea to them. They now have a post-production studio.

He does have a very natural ear, an innate talent, for knowing what sounds right and how to get it. We are all very proud of him. Yes, I am a very proud aunt!!

What I'm still sitting on I have to continue to sit on. It may be on the DVD in the Behind the Scenes part. I won't know until I see the DVD. But I'll tell as soon as I can. I'm also going to see if I can do an interview with him when the time is right (read: when he can ethically talk about the project) for my blog and also for his mom's local paper. So if you watch the series and a question occurs to you, send it to me and I'll include it. I am looking forward to watching because I think it will be a fascinating series.

So please mark it on your calendars if you have The History Channel. In the meantime go to the link above and watch some of the trailers for the series. This is, or was to date at least, the largest production ever done by The History Channel. They have not hired a production company for the other series they're doing as part of their "Expedition" series (one of them is on Genghis Khan) yet, but I hope they hire Adrenaline to do those as well.

And if he wins the Emmy? I don't know if he's allowed to tell anyone one way or the other before the show airs in September. Probably not. But even if he doesn't win, what an honor to be nominated! And how great is that going to look on his resume!