Chicago/Midwest chapter of National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences recognizes Chicago boutique’s promo for Sunda featuring Billy Dec for Outstanding Achievement

November 9, 2009 —  The Chicago/Midwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences recently awarded the Bridges-produced “Journey to Sunda” with a Midwest Emmy this past Saturday in the category of Outstanding Achievement for Entertainment Programs - Advanced Media Arts/ Entertainment Program or Program Segment.  The award recognizes Chicago entrepreneur and restaurateur Billy Dec for his performance in “Journey to Sunda”.  Dec is also the CEO and founder of Rockit Ranch Productions, which co-produced the piece (with partners Brad Young and Arturo Gomez).

The Bridges team worked with Dec, along with producer and writer Tom Hodges and Bridges associate creative Philip Jones, to develop the script and concept for the two-minute viral piece. The story details Dec and his Rockit Ranch Productions partners Gomez and Young as they traveled throughout the Japan, China and the Southeast Asian Island region finding inspiration for the yet un-named restaurant while documenting the cuisine and culture of their visits through photography.  On one of many trips Dec discovered the perfect name for Rockit Ranch’s latest restaurant, which was Sunda. This story, combined with the compilation of imagery, resulted in a photo book entitled “Journey to Sunda”, which served as the inspiration for the viral video piece of the same name, produced by Bridges.

“Bridges took the story off the pages and out of our memories and presented it in a totally new life form, one which was easy to communicate to our audience in a fresh, lively way,” says Dec.  “The video felt interactive and was entertaining, which are qualities that we like our restaurant projects to convey as well.”