The staff and personalities of BTown TV includes, from left, Mitch McCutchen, Barry Phillips, Brad Smith and Cameron Smith. BTOWN TV is teaming up with the Star Group to provide video content. (Brian Porter / Crowley Star)
BTown TV is the brain child of Burleson residents Brad and Cameron Smith, who have created a TV, film and commercial productions company to serve the local area with hopes for expanding the enterprise regionally, if not nationally.
The television and Web production side of the company will be known as BTown TV. The pair also has formed RetroFuture Studios to produce films.
“This collaborative relationship will preserve the independence of both our companies,” Star Group Media publisher Robb Krecklow said. “However, it will permit each of us to bring our respective strengths to bear on providing news, information and advertising services to residents and businesses in the area.”
Star Group Media has been expanding its coverage capabilities by updating its websites to include multimedia programming, creating a digital replica of its newspapers for the Internet, adding mobile features for smart phone and tablet users, and creating new publications, Krecklow said.
“We're exclusively focused on local content, and our goal is to provide that news and advertising the way local residents want to get it – whether by traditional print, websites, mobile devices, or periodicals,” Krecklow said.
Under the new collaborative arrangment, BTown TV will create and produce video content and video advertising for Star Group Media, which in turn will sell video advertising for its websites and provide marketing promotion for BTown TV.
“One major purpose of this venture is to have both of these entities enhance each other, both lending one another opportunities for exposure they otherwise would not have,” said Brad Smith, executive producer for BTown and the father of Cameron Smith.
Brand Smith is a visual artist who has illustrated for the Dallas Observer, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and Fort Worth Weekly. He is one of the most prolific and recognized muralists in the Southwest, whose work has been commissioned by collectors, television commercial producers, theatres, Hilton hotels and many restaurants nationwide.
Cameron Smith, who serves as camera and creative director, is a young filmmaker and artist. He has worked extensively in the music video arena. He currently is directing, filming and editing a short film with actor Joseph Gordon Levitt, of “3rd Rock from the Sun” and “Inception” fame.
Joining the father-son team in the venture are Barry Phillips, a two-time national Emmy Award winner from Burleson, who will serve as host and supervising producer, and Mitch McCutcheon, who takes on the roles of director and editor.
Phillips earned his Emmy Awards for work as art director on the PBS television series, “Wishbone,” which also won a Peabody Award and National Television Critics Choice Award. Texas Christian University named him one of the school's 25 outstanding “Mover and Shaker” alumni nominees.
McCutcheon, who has worked in a variety of television production roles, holds a BFA degree in film production from the University of North Texas. He was producer on the feature film, The Fifth.
“The BTown TV crew is looking forward to an exciting, innovative opportunity to work with Star Group Media to create a new look at news, our community and the people that make up our area,” Phillips said.
Residents can view some the collaborative enterprises early work on the video section of www.burlesonstar.net and at www.BTownTV.com.
For a more comprehensive story on the new partnership and a more complete background on BTown TV, see the Crowley Star website at www.crowleystar.net and BTown TV.
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