For more details on our products and services, please feel free to visit us at: puppy in training, assistance dog, ptsd dog, hearing dog, mobility dog.

1. Growing Up Guide Pup - From Idea to
Reality
Amie andI have learnedsomuchoverthe lastseveral years. We have matureda lotas puppy
raisers,aswell aslearnedanawful lotaboutthe videobusiness. Moreover,whatitisgoingto take
to make GrowingUp Guide Pupviable longterm. Still inthe interumof progress,Ifeltthe needto
write a newblogonGrowingUp Guide Pupas itsbeenseveral months. Asof how we got to where
we are today. I hope ourfans enjoyandthanksto all foryour continuedsupport.
Back in 2009, I was creatinghow-tovideosreleasedundermymoniker“ChappyShowcase”which
were videosaboutlowbudgetfilmmaking. AlthoughIreleasedall kindsof videosindifferent
genres,the how-tofilmmakingseemedtoresonate more thananyothertypesof videosI
made. The economyhadcollapsed,videocreatorshadnomoney,andlow budgetfilmmaking
spoke tothat. ConsistentlyIfoundgoodfeedbackandpeople offeringtopayme to make my “$30
Steadicam”forthem;namedaftera how-tovideoof the same subject. I was not interestedindoing
this,butfoundit a pleasantexperience togetsomuch feedback. Itwasamazingmakinga video
renditionof arecycleddesignIhadlearnedaboutnearly7 yearsearlierbackinthe dial modemdays
of the internet. Thissinglevideogot me more seriousaboutdoingmore althoughIhadalreadyput
out a fewdozenvideosscatteredoverafew months.
For more detailson our products and services,please feel free tovisitus at: puppyin training,
assistance dog, ptsd dog, hearing dog, mobilitydog.
For more details,please visitus at: http://www.growingupguidepup.org/
Aftera fewyearsof freelancingasacinematographer/editor,aswell asproducinganexhausting
amountof weddingvideoswithmyproductioncompany,Iwasdeeplyaffectedbythe crashof my
videobusinessinlate 2007. I lostnearlyall myclients,howevertookthe opportunitytolookfor
otheravenuestodo video. Irecentlyhadreadaboutsiteslike Youtube,Metacafe,Revver,and

2. Crackle inVideomakerMagazine. I had reallywantedtotell myownstories,notworkforother
people,butthisideawaskindof a dream. What had seeminglybeengoodasa videographer,no
longerexistedinaflashso whatdidI have to lose? Up to that pointYoutube andother“user
generatedsites”hadonlybeenaroundformonthsnotyears. These sitesseemedtohave astigma
of onlycontainingcrappyvideosfromamateurs. Irememberthe sentimentthatrespectable
filmmakersdidn’tdothatsort of thing. No one I knew inthe videobusinesswasmakingvideosand
puttingthemupfor free onthese unique sites,IthoughtI mightas well putup a few Ihad created
since theyhadscreenedandthendied. Iput “Nervesof Steel”and“InCase of Emergency”up. Two
filmsIhad screenedatsome smallerfilmfestivals.
Afterfiguringouta dozen“usergenerated”sitesorso,I instantlylovedthe factthatthere was
immediate feedbackandfulfillmentfromanaudience. Before Ihadtofinda place to screena film
and itcouldtake monthsif notyearsto finda festival. Bythe time thathappened,Imayhardly
rememberwhyi made the filminthe firstplace. What an amazingthingthis“usergeneratedonline
distribution”wasforproducers. I uploadedthe same videostoall the sitesandwasable compare
the viewsandreactions. NotonlydidI learnaboutwhatvideoswere mostpopular,Ialsolearned
the value of workingwiththe rightdistributionpartners. One weekinthe summerof 2008 I had the
opportunitytofilmStreamingMediaWestattheirannual conference whichtookplace inSilicon
Valley. Thisconference puttogetherbyDan Rayburnfeaturedone panel aboutanew thingcalleda
webseries. Showcreatorswithtitillatingnew brandsincludedRocketbook,andPolitical Lunch
spoke aboutwhattheywere doing. The marketfor suchan ideawas reallyimmature,butthe
opportunitywasgoodaccordingto them. The webserieswasto be the nextbigthingintheir
estimation. The internetwasthe wildwestwherethere were norulestospeakof. Notechnical
specifications,noclose captioning,noformatrestrictions,andthe listwentonandon. A video
creator coulddo whatevertheywantedandtonsof siteslike Youtubewouldhostthe videosforfree
too. Thisseemedtobe a no brainerforme to experimentwithmore.
I thoughmore and more about producingawebseriesin2008 aftera yearof distributingvideosall
overthe internet. My documentary“Nervesof Steel”featuredonCrackel fornearlyayear,then
ChappyShowcase becameapartnerproducerwithMetacafe. ShortlyafterthatYoutube accepted
my applicationtobe a “producerpartner”as well. These eventsreallygotmyhookedintothe
possibilitiesof whatawebseriesmaypresent. Especiallynow thati hadlearnedthe value of
intellectual propertyandmoneyworkingforyouandnotthe otherwayaround. I feltawebseries
was a betterideabecause itwasserial orepisodicinnature. Thissortof distributionapproachcould
be a betterwayto buildanaudience. Iexperiencedthatmyvideoswere oftenone-off andnotserial
evenif some of themwere gettingpretty goodhits. The one-off videoswere notseemingly
connectedfromone uploadtoanother. Perhapsthisgave myviewersnoreasontonecessarily
checkback in andwatch newvideos. One weekImayputup a Samoan musicvideofroma guywho
had notpayedme (so thiswasmy way at some sortof monetization) forthe work. AnotherweekI
may putup a grease monkeyvideoof atime lapse car repairI did. Yet anothertime Iwouldrelease
a parody I made withmybrotheryearsearlier;shotonanalogvideo. AlthoughIdidfindmany
wouldsimplybinge view mycontentall atonce fora dayor two,a serial show maybringpeople
back by the nature of the release andcontinual storyforward. Thiscouldgoon formonths,or
maybe evenyears. More and more people (on Youtube especially) were startingtoputout a web
seriesof some sort. Some releasinganew episodeonce amonth,or once a week,orevensome did
it once a day.

3. Some yearsbefore all of this,mywife andI startedraisingguide dogsforthe blindin2002. Overthe
followingdecade we reallystartedtoenjoyitandcouldn’tbelieve how fulfillingitwastohelpother
people. “Couldwe make awebseriesaboutthisguide dogstuff?” We became goodfriendswith
the visuallyimpairedpartnerwhoreceivedourfirstguide pupMacklin. Hergenuine appreciation
and abilitytoraise herlevel of productivityinlifewassoapparentthatit justsmackedme inthe
face. “This isa whole newnarrative worldIhave hardlyseenintvormovies”Ithought. Aftera few
daysof talkingaboutit,my wife Amie andIdecidedtogive ita shotand make a webseries. Atleast
we figuredwe wouldtryputtingouta videoonce a weekfora little while.
GrowingUp Guide Pupwas to be the name of the series. We reallydidn’t have muchof a planas we
decidedtoexperimentandremove conventionalproductionbureaucracysowe couldmove
quickly. We hada newpuppyarrivingshortly. Twodaysafterthe idea,Ialreadyhad camcorderin
handand was filmingcause apuppyhadbecome available. That firstepisode we decidedtodesign
a format that eventhe visuallyimpairedcouldenjoythroughcolorfuldescription. Atfirstwe
focusedonstory,not productionvalue. We filmedwithacell phone forthe firsttime sowe could
getfootage inthe grocerystore withoutahassle. We focusedonspontaneityanddecidedtokeep
the amountof oversightandcostto a minimum. Myinkindequipmentfrommyvideobusiness
wouldbe fine tomake the series,andmyprioronline distributionexperience withChappyShowcase
made me comfortable enoughtomove forwardwithaonce a weekvideoreleaseapproach. We
releasedavideoeveryweekasournewpuppyRicki matured. Episode afterepisode we couldn’t
believehowfunthe processwasforus. We alsogot more feedbackandappreciationthanwe had
anticipated. We startedhearingfrompeople wholivedinotherpartsof the US, and evenother
countries. The service dogschool we were workingwithatthe time caughtwindof whatwe were
doingand startingpromotingourvideosandwritingblogssogetmore PRfor themselves. The next
thingwe knew,ourserieswasnotan experimentanymore. itseemedtobe workingasa moving
storypiece andthe puppyappeal wasundeniable.
Our serieswasacceptedinthe NewMediaFilmFestivalin2010 while we were still filmingthe first
seasonaboutRicki. Thiswas about8 monthsafterwe had started. It wasamazinghow fastthings
workwiththe internet. Before we knewit,we hadmade arelationshipwithNylabone dogtoysand
didour firstcontestgiveaway. Afterayear,we hadseveral thousandloyal fansaswe continuedto
make the seriesandgrowour core followersof doglovers,puppyraisers,service dogpeople,and
the visuallyimpaired. Eventuallythis landedusaninvitationtoscreenourseriesatthe firstand still
largestwebseriesfestival inthe world. Itscalledthe LAWebFestandwasfoundedbyMichael
Ajakwe Jr. It renderedawardsformanythings,butmostimportantly“OutstandingNon-Fiction
Series”twoyearsina row in2011 and 2012. In 2013, we alsoreceivedanawardat CreaTV Awards
inSiliconValleyfor “OutstandingCreaTiVeAwardFeature Winner”. Afterwe finishedour2nd
seasonwithourdog Pilaf,we decidedtostopforawhile and focuson our eldeststatesdog. Our
careerchangedguide dogpup namedEli hadcancer and we wantedto focuson hislastmonths. He
recentlypassedjustshyof his10th birthday,whichwastough,butgave us a lotof time to
reflect. We hadfor the firsttime experiencedthe entire life-cycle. One of our guide dogpuppies
had beenwithusfromthe beginningall the waytothe end. This wasthe last part neededtogive us
complete perspective.
It is2014, and we are nowreadyto getseriouswithGrowingUp Guide Puponce again. Older,wiser,
more experienced,andfull of arenewedpassionforstorytellingmywife andIare excitedaboutthe

4. endlessopportunitiesGrowingUpGuide Puppresents. In2013 we spentsix mothsandhired
consultationtobuild abusinessplanforGrowingUpGuide Pupwhichwouldallow usto create a
sustainable brand. We alsohave done a lotof researchabout non-profitformationaswell as
makingita opportunityforinvestors. Bothare possibilitesandwe willrule nothing outasneither
has takenhold. We are nowpreparedafteryearsof homeworkandstudyto implementatv show
additiontoour alreadyestablishedwebseriesprogramandmove bothforwardtogether. Growing
Up Guide Pupis readyto go fromwebseriestobeyond!
For more detailson our products and services,please feel free tovisitus at: puppyin training,
assistance dog, ptsd dog, hearing dog, mobilitydog.