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End of the Year Post- GPP’s 2012

December 21, 2012/in Green Product Placement blog /by Beth

As the year draws to a close, we see that either the Mayans were wrong, or somehow the modern interpretation was a bit off, but since you’re reading this, we’re going to assume that we’re all still here.

Looking back on this year, 2012, Green Product Placement’s first full year of business, we’re pretty proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish. Before we start looking back to the beginning of the year to now, we’re going to bring you up to date on what we’ve been up to since we last posted in the GPP blog.

We did our drawing for the free tickets to the Film Biz Recycling “Lights, Camera, Auction” event. Congrats to the winner, Ben!

Just before the event, Hurricane Sandy blew onto the east coast, flooding coastal towns, lower Manhattan, parts of Brooklyn like Red Hook and the Far Rockaways, and left many without power, including Beth of GPP. Days before their annual fundraising event, our friends at Film Biz Recycling became first responders, redistributing needed supplies donated by citizens and productions. Beth and Lisa did their own collection of donated goods from various departments on Netflix’s “House of Cards” (season 1 was just wrapping at the time) and from Lisa’s neighborhood of Mayfield, in Baltimore.

We managed to cram 2 hampers full of supplies in Beth’s Prius and drove it all up to Brooklyn, for FBR to redistribute, where needed. Check out this video we made of our trip up “the turnpike”:

Then, the next evening it was off to the big party! Check out Lisa and Beth looking tres glamorous in these photos (courtesy FBR ) and video (courtesy FBR and Canal Creatures) :

After that, it was back to Baltimore, where we wrapped up work on Season 1 of Netflix’s “House of Cards” and started work (and placements!) on Season 2 of HBO’s “Veep”. We also got some additional placement opportunities for a specific episode of “Blue Bloods”, “Walk of Shame”, a new comedy feature for Lakeshore Entertainment, starring Elizabeth Banks, along with placements for a specific episode of the very popular tv show, “Parenthood”.

We also are happy to announce that in addition to our office in New York at Green Spaces, we also now have a local office to work from in Baltimore. We’re in the vibrant and hip neighborhood of Hampden, full of restaurants, shops and small businesses. In fact, we’ve been told that the small businesses are close to 80% women owned! Add GPP to that list. :-)

To kick off our new office, we held a holiday open house the day of the Mayor’s Christmas parade, which marches right down “The Avenue” (aka 36^th Street.) 36^th Street featured prominently in John Waters’ cult classic “Pecker”.

View pictures from our open house here: Open House Holiday Office-Warming Party

The best thing, well one of the best things from that day was seeing a dog, in a fez, riding a magic carpet go-cart. In our minds, there’s not much cooler than that!

So, then, one more trip up to NYC to visit a few more production offices- new ones to bring sample swag bags to, and ones we’ve working with already, to spread a bit of Holiday Cheer, and now we’re wrapping up all of the end of year things any company needs to do, including sending out our Holiday E-Card.

With that, we look back on all we’ve been able to accomplish this past year- from placing our brands in over 23 studio and independent films and network television programs, to meeting with and becoming connected with studio branded entertainment execs, to meeting so many new, cool, production people, getting some fabulous international press, speaking at FBR’s first annual production Eco-Expo, at Portland, Oregon’s Better Living Home Show, at Green Spaces, meeting uber cool green celebs Ed Begley, Jr. and Darryl Hannah, and bringing all of our wonderful brands into the Green Product Placement family.

We can’t wait for all of the placements to come in 2013, and to bring even more wonderful natural, green, sustainable, socially enterprising, and local entrepreneurial companies into our Green Product Placement family of brands and in front of the camera, building “good” brand awareness, where they belong!

Best wishes to all for a Happy, Joyous Holiday Season and for a Healthy, Prosperous New Year!

All our best,

Beth and Lisa
Green Product Placement

Expo East, Green Festival DC and Film Biz Recycling Auction Ticket Giveaway!

October 6, 2012/in Green Product Placement blog /by Beth

Photo: Courtesy Caren Baginski of New Hope Media

We’ve kept uber busy since our return from Toronto, first with Natural Products Expo East here in our main home Baltimore (our other home of course being New York City where we have our co-working space). It was great to hang out with some of our lovely clients, and connect with new and old friends- and we hope bring some more brands into our GPP family!

We hosted a little get together “off-campus” the night before the show floor opened. Check out some pictures from this event and on the show floor, here: in our Facebook Page Gallery. We also attended the semi-annual Women In Naturals event and made a photo feature in New Hope Media:

Check us out in slide #2

Then, 3 days after Expo, Beth spoke at #IM48 Idea Mensch Baltimore. Beth was interviewed for IdeaMensch back in late spring and then featured in a “26 Entrepreneurs Helping our Environment” feature this summer (see links on our press page).

Photo courtesy Kevin Bruce on twitter: @kevinbruce

That weekend was Green Festival DC where we got to again connect with friends, prospect possible new clients, and eat some yummy vegan food and taste some lovely organic wines.

Beth and Lisa go for laughs at the Susty Party booth.

Beth and Lisa at Green Festival

Now we’re working on placements for a new Lionsgate film shooting in Atlanta and working on the last two episodes, season one, of “House of Cards” for Netflix.

AND we’re so looking forward to next month’s Film Biz Auction Party on November 9th, that we’re giving away two free tickets!!

Film Biz Recycling’s annual Auction Party!

Enter to win 2 free tickets to the Eco-Production Event of the Year!

Green Product Placement has two free tickets (worth $80) to give away to this event.

Drawing will be held October 27^th and video from drawing will be uploaded and announced on our Facebook Page.

To enter: Please email your name to Beth(at)greenproductplacement.com by October 24^th. Put “FBR Auction Entry” in the subject line of the email.

All names will go into a hat and one name will be chosen at random.

(As FBR is a wonderful not for profit, and the party promises to be extra-supa fun, we’d encourage purchase of tickets anyway if you really intend on coming and then bringing two friends along if you should happen to win.)

Cheers,

Beth and Lisa

GPP- Keepin’ Up The Momentum

September 14, 2012/in Green Product Placement blog /by Beth

Beth and Lisa catch a flick at TIFF.

After our whirlwind tour of the Atlanta production scene in July, August saw us making our way around to New York Production offices. As a result of old and new connections at some of these, we secured placement for our clients in: “The Good Wife”, “Gossip Girl”, “Blue Bloods” “Law and Order: SVU” and a new sitcom “Next Caller”. We left our bags of goodies with numerous other production people all around town, including at Martin Scorsese’s newest, 80’s period film “The Wolf of Wall Street”, whose production office happened to be conveniently right down the street from our New York office, co-working space at Green Spaces New York.

The evening after we hit the last of the production offices had us getting together with friend and Project Runway contestant, Buffi Jashanmal, and heading over to Film Biz Recycling for their vendor and consultant appreciation party. Great as always to see friends and introduce new ones. As a result of our introduction, Buffi will be teaching a sewing class at FBR and making great use of their fab sewing room on premises.

FBR’s yummy thank you cake!

Then it was more production work and preparing for a trip across the border to Canada and visits to Toronto area production offices. We were already placing in a new film, a remake of “Robocop”, but now we’ve secured placements for our brands in a new Netflix series, “Hemlock Grove” along with new tv series “Beauty and the Beast” and an indie film “Empire of Dirt”. Lisa ran into numerous production friends as we went in and out of production offices, and it was exciting being able to tell them all about Green Product Placement, what we’ve been doing, and getting GPP on their radar for future productions as well.

What time is it where they’re makin’ movies (and tv)?

While we were in Toronto, we got to enjoy a little of TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) excitement by checking out a wonderful period, silent film by a Spanish director, Pablo Berger, “Blancanieves” or “Snow White” in Spanish. The film retold the Snow White fairy tale with Snow as the daughter of a famous bullfighter who ends up a bullfighter herself in 1920’s Spain, by way of a travelling circus like troupe of “little people” bullfighters… well, you have to see it- beautiful film, trust us! Anyway, as the credits roll, we see that a couple of well-known cosmetic companies had sponsored the film. There were enough female close-ups showing mascara-ed eyes and lipsticked lips that this type of relationship would make a lot of sense.

We look forward to the day that we can assist in getting wonderful films like that one made by facilitating relationships between good companies and talented film makers, in addition to providing wonderful looking good products for placement as set dressing and props.

Green Product Placement Moving Right Along!

July 31, 2012/in Green Product Placement blog /by Beth

The GPP “mobile” makes a brief stop in Gaffney, SC on its way to the production hub of the south, Atlanta.

Since we’ve last posted on this blog, we’ve been very busy!

We spent the latter part of the spring and so far this summer working as set dressers (as a start up, we’re keeping one foot in the production freelancers camp and the rest of us in Green Product Placement world- this keeps us connected to those that would place our products and get the word out about us AND helps us with our own personal expenses.) As our friend the leadman told us- “We’re the company that will not only place your products, we’ll literally place your products!”. ;-)

In addition to the production work, we’ve also been growing our business, with an eager and happy heart. We’ve begun to have productions contact us on their own, including TNT’s “Leverage”, Indies “The Go Getters” and “Goodbye World” (the latter starring uber green and hot Adrian Grenier who starred in “Entourage” and with a producer friend, started green lifetsyle site SHFT.com), a co-production for the BBC and HBO starring Oscar winner Hilary Swank and Oscar nominee Brenda Blethyn, “Mary and Martha”, and a new film for 20th Century Fox starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, together for the first time since “Wedding Crashers” crashed box ofice records.

It was placement in the latter that prompted a visit to new production capitol of the south, Atlanta. Lisa and Beth rented a Prius, packed it full of sample product gift bags and hit the road!

GPP sample product gift bags bound for the ATL!

We drove 1700 miles down to Atlanta, all around Atlanta visiting production offices, and back on $125 worth of gas!

( By the way, Beth of GPP needed a new used car, and upon her return, purchased a used Prius.)

Just before our GPP road trip, Beth gave her talk “Making Green Normal: Green Product Marketing in Mainstream Entertainment Media” at our lovely New York City co-working space, Green Spaces New York.

Our wonderful intern, Stephanie, put together this great video showing more excerpts from Beth’s talk (other excerpts available on the GPP blog post preceeding this one, here ).

Back in May, GPP was very honored to attend and be on the panel for Film Biz Recycling’s Production Eco-Expo.

Check out this fabulous video, produced by fellow panel members, Canal Creatures, that highlights the event:

Film Biz Recycling Eco Expo 2012 from Canal Creatures on Vimeo.

Beth and Lisa of GPP and the panel of Film Biz Recycling’s production Eco-Expo. (photo courtesy Film Biz Recycling)

Film Biz Recycling is a non-profit Brookyn, NY based organization that diverts media waste from commercials, tv shows, movies and live events to appropriate charities. The best of the best ends up for sale or rent at their prop shop. We were joined by representatives from other sustainable production companies and organizations like Eco-Set Consulting, Rock and Wrap it Up , Canal Creatures, Sip N Go, Sunbeam Rentals, LeNoble Lumber, Soda Stream, Earth Angel Catering, Vokashi, and Susty Party Supplies. The event was sponsored by Lenoble Lumber and Brooklyn Brewery and Green Product Placement was able to provide 2 raffle prize gift baskets filled with great GPP products AND plenty of Pirate Booty for all the guests, courtesy our clients, Pirate Brands.

GPP’s awesome raffle prize sample gift baskets

We’ve added some additional great press links, including an interview with Beth on Idea Mensch.com. Be sure to keep checking out our new press coverage on our Press Page, and all of our goings on found on our Facebook Page.

We’re gearing up for the late summer/early autumn production push (many films and as well episodic television series begin pre-production and then shooting around this time), and are excited about placing our brands in many, many more great shows!

Looking Ahead to a Year Full of Promise- 2012

December 20, 2011/0 Comments/in Green Product Placement blog /by Jansen

Beth and Lisa celebrate life by wearing hats!

As 2011 draws to a close, we look reflectively back on all we have accomplished and endured in the past year and look hopefully towards next year- 2012. Although scholars are divided as to what the world has in store for 2012- the main concern being the end of the Mayan calendar, many other theories abound as well– among astronomers, alien watchers, New Agers, Native Americans, Christians, etc. as to what will really happen at the close of next year.

One recurring theme is that it’s not the “end” at all, but really a new beginning, a turning point in the history of the mankind and the world when things begin to change for the better. Here at GPP, we prefer to lean our beliefs towards this hopeful outlook on the future. So that said, here’s what’s been going on with us:

After some initial pilot placements in an upcoming new tv series for HBO, “Veep”, starring Julia Louis Dreyfus, we look forward to placing our clients in several tv shows at the start of the new year. Beth and Lisa did a trip to the NYC studios in Long Island City, Manhattan and Brooklyn to deliver some seasonal cheer in the form of gift baskets highlighting some of the products we had just had the pleasure of placing in “Veep”.

Baskets of green and local product goodness for NYC productions.

Basket of green goodness for "The Good Wife"

As Beth knew the decorator for “The Good Wife” from many moons ago (coincidentally also named Beth!) , when GPP Beth was a dresser and shop’s keeper on the movie “For Richer or Poorer”- TGW Beth was the decorator, both Beths had been in touch and TGW Beth was very excited about and supportive of our company. “The Good Wife” shoots at Broadway Stages , which is the world’s first solar paneled sound stage, and the day we arrived, “The Good Wife” told us they had won an EPA award for green production. Yay for “The Good Wife” and we’re so glad you like our products! TGW Beth also has gained international attention for the decoration of their lovely sets. You can follow her on twitter @goodwifesetdec.

Over two days, Beth and Lisa delivered our baskets of cheer to multiple productions.

Beth at Silvercup Studios

Lisa at SVU

We were very happy to be able to meet the decorator for “Gossip Girl”- a very nice woman named Christina who was also the decorator on “Sex in the City”! She also loved our stuff and was immediately thinking of a place to dress in the Damn Good Doormat that was part of her basket.

We also paid a visit to our friends at the eco-media pioneering Film Biz Recycling and Prop Shop. We finally got a chance to meet founder and president Eva Radke in person and found her to be a soul sister of the first order! She’s someone who spent years as a film and commercial art department worker bee just like us and decided it was time someone did something to reduce the waste created by such a usually wasteful business.
What Film Biz has done over the past 4 years is phenomenal. There should be an organization like theirs in every production city. GPP and Film Biz fully support each other’s efforts and hopefully have forged what will be a long and mutually beneficial friendship.
We also paid a visit to Sustainable NYC which won Green America’s People’s Choice Best Eco Business Award this year. Some fun and interesting stuff in there- and you bet we’ll be contacting some of those companies represented in the store! And of course- off to the Christmas Market at Union Square where more local, green, entrepreneurial products were seen- and some holiday shopping done as well!

Then- we were to get our own holiday gift in the form of a wonderful interview with Beth of GPP published on New Hope Media 360’s website. This is the organization that publishes “Natural Food Merchandiser” and organizes both ExpoEast and ExpoWest, the two largest natural products expos in North America.
The next day our friend Jeff calls us- he’s decorating VH1’s “Single Ladies” in Atlanta and wants to know what we can get him for the show! So- we’re starting 2012 with the promise of placements in 4+ major network shows and more coming our way as well once all of the holiday season dust settles.
Lastly, we send out best of holiday wishes to you all- thank you for your interest in our company.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM GREEN PRODUCT PLACEMENT!

GPP in NYC

October 29, 2011/0 Comments/in Green Product Placement blog /by Beth

Beth and Lisa of Green Product Placement made our first steps toward setting up shop in New York City this past week.

We met with various production contacts, one of whom was the inspiration for starting GPP. (hint: read Beth’s bio in the “About Us” section of this website). We checked out Green Spaces, a wonderful co working space in Manhattan that acts as an incubator for entrepreneurial green companies. We even connected with a new client and a new potential client who operate out of the space!

We attended a lovely cocktail party there, where we ran into our new friend Alix, from Green America’s Green Festivals. Marissa, one of the visionary eco-preneurs who started Green Spaces was lovely, friendly and warm and we can’t wait to get to know her better!

We met with current and future clients and perused “made locally, buy local” shop by brooklyn. Brooklyn is a major hub in the “made locally, buy local” movement and we salute owner Maia’s efforts to showcase some of these fine local brands. We also paid a visit to the Film Biz Prop Shop run by the innovative and pioneering not-for-profit Film Biz Recycling.org, which recycles “waste” from film, tv and print shoots- typically items that aren’t “waste” after all, but would have been headed for a dumpster and landfill anyway. This way, these building materials and flats and furniture and props and set dressing can be reused on multiple shoots, saving money, time, resources and the environment. Green Product Placement tips our hats to the wonderful people at Film Biz!

It was an action packed few days…. and we did all this whilst orchestrating some pilot placements in a major network television program that will be debuting soon! (stay tuned- more on this later….)

Green Product Placement is off and running- please check back on our blog and Facebook page to keep track on our progress!

GPP Attends Green America Luncheon: “Serving Up Solutions”

October 20, 2011/0 Comments/in Green Product Placement blog /by Beth

Lisa and Beth attended a luncheon in DC hosted by venerable green advocate organization, Green America. Food was local and delicious and we met some great new green business people and ecopreneurs.

We look forward to more events hosted by Green America and plan to be listed in their Green Pages next year. A very worthy cause and also the hosts of the well established Green Festivals in North America.

Shouts out to Amy and Alix, our new friends at Green America!