UUP’s story will soon have a national audience.
And a celebrity to go with it.
In America, a national production company that specializes in short-form productions for public and commercial television, worked with UUP over the last seven months to script and shoot a program that showcases the union’s history, achievements and vision for the future.
There are three versions of the production: a one-minute commercial ad, a five-minute educational documentary for public TV—hosted by Tony and Golden Globe-winning actor James Earl Jones—and a longer six-minute UUP profile that can be viewed on UUP’s website. Click on the photo above to watch the full-length profile.
The one-minute commercial will air nationally on Fox Business News on Nov. 19 or 20; the airdate and time are still tentative. That broadcast will reach more than 86 million homes nationwide.
Between Nov. 16 and Nov. 30, viewers across the country can see the one-minute spot during prime time (6 p.m.-11:45 p.m.) on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, Family Channel, TLC, Discovery Channel and other popular cable outlets.
The ad will air in more than 60 television markets, including Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston, San Francisco/Oakland, Houston, Detroit and Miami. The ad will also be broadcast in Atlanta, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Memphis, New Orleans, San Diego, St. Louis and even tiny Rapid City, S.D.; Albany is the only New York area where the ad will air.
Starting Nov. 23, the five-minute educational documentary will begin airing on on PBS stations across the country. The program will be broadcast on nearly 200 PBS stations; it will air throughout 2015 and 2016. The version with Jones can only be seen on PBS stations.
“UUP is the largest higher education union in America and it’s time for America to see and share in the incredible work that we do for our students, for SUNY, for the American labor movement and for our members,” said UUP President Fred Kowal, above, center.
The productions feature interviews with Kowal, statewide VP for Professionals Philippe Abraham, Cheryl Hamilton, director of the Education Opportunity Program at Stony Brook University; and Lynda Perdomo-Ayala, administrator in the department of pharmacological sciences in Stony Brook’s School of Medicine.
A film crew shot the day-long production at Stony Brook University and Stony Brook Health Science Center in June. Photos of several SUNY campuses also appear in the segments, including Oswego State, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Upstate Medical University and SUNY Canton.
“This is incredibly exciting for UUP,” Kowal said. “The good work that we do for SUNY students, SUNY and our members will be shared with a national audience.”