John R Buonpane
Director/Producer/Media Consultant
John R Buonpane has been a successful, creative “wizard” for more than two and a half decades. Now, as an independent producer and creator of The Wizard Company LLC in Central Florida, John continues to produce award winning content, among them, a recruitment video for Florida Hospital which won a Bronze Telly Award and “Keeping Families Healthy”, for Yachter Family Chiropractic which also won a Bronze Telly Award.

He produced a public service announcement for Sunrise ARC titled "The Hands that Touch Our Hearts" to promote volunteer awareness and investment contributions. The commercial, shot on location, features SunriseArc’s developmentally disabled day training clients at work.  The commercial has become a useful tool for SunriseArc’s fundraising staff.   It aired over 1,000 times on Comcast from March through June 2003 and is still currently airing. The commercial has catapulted the organization’s name recognition throughout Lake County, Florida. John is committed to helping nonprofit organizations maximize their exposure through broadcast media.

John developed and produced a commercial campaign to help launch the new Florida Hospital - Waterman Cancer Institute, “Many Faces of Cancer, One Center for Hope”, which includes a series of commercials, currently airing on cable television through which collateral print materials were created. And most recently, produced a recruitment video that has been utilized worldwide to recruit nurses and doctors to Central Florida.

Another commercial, which is currently airing on the Outdoor Channel's "Rusty Faulk Outdoors", was produced for Monroe Tufline, a manufacturer of agriculture equipment since 1958. It was produced to market Tufline's new line of ATV implements for hunters, titled "Tuff Toys for Tuff Boys".

Serving as the ongoing consultant and producer for a broadband internet project with world-renowned dermatologist, Dr. Bernard Ackerman, John created the main feature for www. derm101.com ,interactive distance-learning video lectures. The project was developed for Ardor Scribendi in NYC, for which John has commissioned web flash production work for Yard Media in Orlando.

One of his favorite video projects, for Atlantic Health System in New Jersey, the award winning Director's challenge was to create a fictionalized version of real ER situations submitted by employees of AHS. Unlike most training videos, "Patients' Needs Come First" is a seamless dramatic presentation without interruption. The 25-minute training video and leaders guide involved some 26 cast members; a mix of hospital employees and professional actors. The attention to detail and the quality of the production won accolades from the philanthropic foundations who funded the project.

John a three time EMMY nominee and six time Telly award winner, among others, has collaborated on various programs - from documentary to medical and fashion for prestigious venues, including the following:

• National Geographic Explorer
• "48 Hours" and "West 57th" (CBS)
• "In Search of History" (The History Channel)
• Paramount Pictures
• Hearst Entertainment

And, NBC Promotions, HBO, MTV, Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, ESPN, Planet Hollywood, Bertolli USA, Time Warner Cable, Brighthouse Networks, Innovation Salon Spa, Mitek Surgical Products, The Hospital for Joint Diseases, Edelman PR Worldwide, Ardor Scribendi, JDF International, Florida Hospital – Waterman, Yachter Family Chiropractic, Kids News, Sunrise ARC and the March of Dimes.

John began his career in 1978 as a director, videographer and editor for WEVU-TV an ABC affiliate in southwest Florida. In addition to working on documentaries and special series, he created a weekly high school football program, which was a favorite with Florida sports fans.

In 1983, he landed a job at WABC-TV in NYC, where he built an impressive reputation for himself as an editor and cameraman. His outstanding work on the highly rated Eyewitness News led him to New York Style. Here, his hard work and superior skills as an editor paid off and he received two EMMY nominations. While working on the highly acclaimed show, West 57th from its inception in 1986 at CBS-TV, John earned a third EMMY nomination.

In 1987, John embarked on a new endeavor - to develop a video production company that was unique and distinctive from "the crowd”. He created BVE Productions, a referral based business that instilled a personal obligation to quality and excellence.

BVE prospered for 15 years due to the high standards continuously set for all productions and captured an extensive, distinguished and wide range of diverse clientele for which John won numerous Awards of excellence. For example, the Jewish Home & Hospital for Aged, in conjunction with BVE Productions, won four TELLY awards and an ACE award while competing against major league companies like Sony and Time Warner. BVE Productions also picked up five VISION Awards and a National Mature Media Award for excellence in Marketing/Sales videos to Broadcast/Commercial categories.

John produced and directed the media presentations for the launches of some of the nation's leading entertainment venues. Among them: Planet Hollywood, Official All Star Cafe and Motown Cafe. For the launch of the first Official All Star Cafe in Times Square, New York, he put together a crack team of 28 creative technicians for the live, all star star studded event, which was seen live on the jumbo-tron in Times Square and beamed across the nation via satellite. The event featured partners Joe Montana, Ken Griffey, Junior, Andre Agassi and many more.

As the backbone of Burt Wolf's cooking shows, What’s Cooking, Let’s Eat and Eating Well, John traveled the world as his Director/DP, creating new ideas and concepts for his on-location television programs. In 1994, American Signature Cosmetics recruited BVE to devise an original concept for an infomercial to promote their make-up collection, hosted by Rhonda Shear of USA Cable Networks Up All Night. Shear's comedy style, John's Directing and a creative staff, made the perfect combination for a successful production that won a VISION award.

As you can see, his slogan "From Fashion to Brain Surgery...and then some" is not just magic. He is currently in development with Orlando partners on projects for local television. It is his goal to bring more national television and web production to the Central Florida area.