ORIGIN STORY
For special assignments, in my corporate identity of TNM, I help friends, professional associates and agencies overcome strategic obstacles and client dilemmas with my arsenal of smart questions, original thinking, and compelling solutions.
HAILING FROM CHICAGO,
I began my career in entertainment media directly out of college, creating a voiceover talent division at Nouvelle Talent, a boutique talent agency in Chicago. I worked directly with the Chicago theater community at the esteemed Geddes Agency, supplementing the wages of renowned Steppenwolf Theater and Goodman Theater actors with earnings from national radio and television spots produced with ad agencies including J. Walter Thompson, Ogilvy & Mather, and DDB Needham.
In the nascent days of the internet economy I served as online content producer for Seattle-based internet startups Point.com and Aptimus, designing content features and nurturing their web publications’ editorial voices. I moved on to producing websites, interactive marketing projects, and e-commerce web publications at Microsoft and Seattle-based ad agency Cole & Weber/Red Cell; later in San Francisco at Organic, Publicis Modem, Phenemonon and Lynda.com (LinkedIn), and Walmart.com.
My foray into documentary producing, Drew Emery’s Inlaws & Outlaws, held the vision of humanizing the heavily-politicized issue of marriage equality. The 2005 film become an official selection at festivals across the nation including IFP Market, Seattle International Film Festival, DeadCenter Film Festival, Palm Springs Film Festival, and True/False West Film Festival, garnering several jury and audience awards.
As content strategy emerged as a recognized discipline -- and the value of story became undebatable as the cacophony of multi-platform messaging in the attention economy escalated-- all these facets of my professional background coalesced. Narrative + Process + Impact.
I currently reside in Seattle, and serve as a committee chair for the Northwest chapter of the Producers Guild of America.
Tamalar?
Well, originally, it was the appelation for dad's motorboat (U.S.S. Tamalar) and a vending machine service (Tamalar Vending Co.). And later pool tables and swimming pools. Very versatile.
A business name* simply conceived and comprising the names of Phillip Schlessinger’s two kids, Tammy and Larry, it was what one might call Identity Branding -1.0. And the only interactivity in the picture was the 15 cents needed to put into the slot for the Clark Bar. The only social networking took place on the small deck of the modest boat motoring along the Fox River north of Chicago.**
Tamalar was a one-man operation, with collaborators coming on board from time to time to help get the job done right, and aiding and abetting the opportunity for a better-than-average day.
But isn’t all of media, when it comes down to it, simple pleasures? Posting a status update on Facebook, watching a how-to podcast, a viral comedy clip on YouTube, a video montage of family pictures. Entertainment isn’t reinvented, it’s just reinterpreted for each new generation.
Tamalar New Media is utterly familiar and creatively foward-thinking. Tamalar won’t “recreate entertainment one pixel at a time” or claim some kind of jargony 3.0 experience. It will take old school principles of tried and true processes, open communication, due diligence, production unobstructed by ego; and it will filter them through a savvy understanding of the ideas and assets needed to cut through a cluttered cultural landscape.
And just as it represents a diverse range of services, it will be backed by a basic (but relentless) desire to bring more simple pleasures to the world. Just like Philip did.
* Indian-sounding a bit? My sister Tammy later wed Niraj Nijhawan, physician and healthcare industry thought leader ( www.mmkills.com) Interesting, no? Discuss.
** Two years in a seventies childhood, with Paul McCartney & Wings’ “Silly Love Songs” and the best of Heart providing the audio ambience – until Dad thought it too expensive to store the boat in the off-season. (Then afternoons on Fox River and Lake got replaced by watching shows on the Fox Network -- cultimating in a college internship stint in the programming dept of the Fox affiliate in Philadelphia.) The story continues to the left.