Joseph Finneran

Creative Director, Founder

Joseph Finneran is a broadcast and special event producer based in Washington, DC. He supervises concept development, design and production of entertainment and communications events as well as multi-camera broadcast and technical production of national and international televised specials. He has experience in a broad range of digital production environments, as well as multi-format distribution, display and systems integration.

Finneran recently completed work as supervising producer of broadcast operations for the Mexican Bicentenary, including more than 12 hours of live broadcast events from Mexico City. The project, shot entirely in HD, combined four network production partners and over 70 cameras integrated over a five-kilometer site. Finneran was responsible for conceiving and managing the overall production plan, from facility integration and production scheduling down to lens selection and individual camera placement. He personally produced coverage of the main Grito Celebration in the Zocalo. He was also responsible for negotiations with all local network partners as well as the national and local government, and for facilitating top-tier unilateral press. The production won multiple Telly awards.

Other recent broadcast events and campaigns include the “Born HIV-Free” campaign with French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and a high-profile identity campaign featuring Madame Bruni-Sarkozy, Bono, Bill Gates, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Kofi Annan, both for the Global Fund in Geneva. He also recently produced “A Celebration of Country Music at the White House” from the East Room of the White House for Great American Country Television in Nashville, featuring Brad Paisley, Alison Krauss and Charlie Pride. Finneran also serves annually in multiple production roles for the perennial DC events the “National Memorial Day Concert” and “A Capitol Fourth,” both for PBS.

Finneran also conceived and produced the launch of “Access to Life” for The Global Fund and Magnum Photos. This initiative is part of a major international campaign presenting the dramatic achievements of TGFs’ HIV treatment efforts in countries around the world. The launch complemented the opening of a major photography exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC. Its collection of intimate patient stories won multiple Telly awards.

In 2008 Finneran produced the Philadelphia Phillies’ World Series Victory Celebration for Executive Producer ESM Productions, with an audience of over 2.5 million people. He supervised all technical production for the five-mile parade as well as event staging and production of the Citizens Bank Park ceremonies. In the same year Finneran produced several major live satellite and streaming events for the Hillary Clinton for President campaign, including a live interactive town hall from New York. The event connected the candidate to 22 states via 2-way satellite, creating the largest national broadcast and Internet town hall event of its scale to date, with a combined audience of more than 1.25 million participants.

He has produced the annual Progressive Party for the Center for American Progress (CAP) in Washington, DC for six consecutive years, as well as the Gala for the American Council of Young Political Leaders, in its fourth consecutive year. In addition, Finneran guided CAP’s development of video communications as part of an ongoing consulting relationship. Finneran was also responsible for the technical and media production of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell’s 2007 Inaugural Events and the “Governor’s Outdoor Conference” a multi-day, policy conference for the Governor. Finneran was also responsible for the production of the MLK Memorial Fundraising Gala at the Kennedy Center in Washington. In 2005/2006 he re-designed and produced the National Memorial Day Concert website for PBS.org, an interactive complement to one of their most popular broadcasts. He was also responsible for production of the MTV Rock The Vote Awards in Washington, DC.

In previous election cycles Finneran was in charge of a variety of event production work as well as the design, production and distribution of spot and print advertisements. Among his many event projects during the 2004 cycle, he co-produced “Election Night 2004” in Boston. Additionally, he was responsible for the integrated media production (satellite, streaming and digital stills) of the two-day official launch of the “John Kerry for President” Campaign and co-production of the DNC Unity Dinner.

His other political experience includes concept and implementation of the content creation, management and distribution system that served all digital content produced at the 2000 Democratic National Convention. Prior to that, Finneran designed and produced the videowall displays for the 1992 and 1996 Democratic Conventions, and produced and edited the opening segment to the 1993 Presidential Inaugural Gala broadcast on CBS.

Finneran’s work is complemented by a range of major broadcast and corporate productions, for a diverse list of clients including NBC, The WB Network, Oracle, Computer Associates, Mazda, Toyota, the NFL, and the Grammy Awards. He has also designed and produced multiple permanent installations and interactive media projects. These include a site-wide media system for “Universal CityWalk Hollywood”, including an extensive video branding package. He has also designed and produced major exhibits and attractions for the California Science Center, Copia – The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, Disneyland, and Paramount Parks. In addition, he has led a variety of media and technology concept studies for commercial architects and developers. Each project included the development of unique solutions for capturing, serving, distributing and displaying dynamic commercial or educational content, while creating individualized interactive audience experiences.

Joseph Finneran is a graduate of the School of Cinema-Television Production at the University of Southern California, and is a director member of the Director’s Guild of America.

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