Interview with Maria Keckan and Neil McCormick, 2020 August 10
Part of collection: Cinecraft oral histories (2021-206)
Dates
- Creation: 2020 August 10
Biographical Note
Neil McCormick (1953-) and his spouse Maria Keckan (1949-) are the current owners of Cinecraft Productions. McCormick began working at Cinecraft when they company began to produce video in 1977. Keckan was a producer for a medical education firm which often used Cinecraft's services. They purchased Cinecraft shortly after getting married in 1984. They led the Cinecraft transition to digital production and e-learning and training programs. Cinecraft's e-learning business grew from being local, to national, to international. As of their interview in the summer of 2020 they still owned the company.
Scope and Contents
In this interview Keckan and McCormick talk about their careers pre-Cinecraft, their early time at Cinecraft and the changes that have happened in the film production industry since they purchased the company in 1984. Before coming to Cinecraft, Keckan worked as a producer making medical education films. McCormick joined Cinecraft in 1977 after attending graduate school at CUNY. He has always been interested in filmmaking. McCormick talks about evolving film production technology from joining the company in 1977. Both Keckan and McCormick talk about the challenges of buying the company and upgrading the existing equipment. Their troubles were financial and personal as existing employees were wary of the new management. McCormick provides a start to finish descriptions of some of the productions he worked on including Where the River Enters the Sea and Sohio Today and Tomorrow. They talk about some of Cinecraft's more recent developments, and how production has changed since the 1980s. McCormick explains that Cinecraft had always specialized in sound and producing high quality sound recordings to accompany their films. McCormick explains how the work Cinecraft does has become less segmented as one person can do multiple jobs, and that company employs more people now than it did in 1984. Both Keckan and McCormick talk about the importance of e-learning to Cinecraft's current work. Keckan explains the her son, Dan, is responsible for driving the growth of e-learning to the point of where it has become Cinecraft's largest source of business. McCormick offers his thoughts on digital media and the importance of non-destructive editing allowing for multiple lossless cuts. Keckan talks about some of Cinecraft's work with non-profit organizations. Keckan and McCormick talk about their philosophy of running a business and working with clients as the company hits 80 years in operation. They talk about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted work at Cinecraft. They talk about their future hopes for the company, and how Keckan's son and his business partner have expanded the company from local, to national, and then international.
Physical Description
1 WAV file. TRT 02:07:40.
Extent
From the Collection: 8 digital_files
From the Collection: 5.10 Gigabytes
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Additional Description
Access Restrictions
No restrictions on access; this collection is open for research.
Related Names
Creator
- From the Collection: Spohn, Benjamin (staff) (Interviewer, Person)
- From the Collection: Schneider, Robert A. (Interviewee, Person)
- From the Collection: Haviland, Jim (James R.) (Interviewee, Person)
- From the Collection: McCormick, Neil (Interviewee, Person)
- From the Collection: Culley, John (Interviewee, Person)
- From the Collection: Keckan, Maria (Interviewee, Person)
- From the Collection: Schneider, Nancy (Interviewee, Person)
- From the Collection: Haviland, Robert E., 1914-2003 (Interviewee, Person)
- From the Collection: Culley, Paul (Interviewee, Person)
- From the Collection: Hagley Museum and Library. Library. Oral History Project Office (Organization)
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Audiovisual Collections Repository