WHO SHE IS: Jorie Landfear, an in-house commercial producer with Bally Total Fitness since 2005.
Based out of Bally’s Cumberland corporate office near O’Hare, Landfear often travels into the city to film at Bally club locations. She works closely with Bally’s creative director and director of broadcast advertising.
HOW SHE VIEWS HER JOB: By filming commercials for Bally’s, “I’m promoting the importance of health and fitness,” she exudes.
PROS: “Pretty tight deadlines and budgets force me to be creative and resourceful?that’s the stuff that’s fun to me!”
CONS: “Administrative work.”
KEY TO SUCCESS: “It’s all about keeping in touch with people you’ve worked with. Never take anyone for granted. Utilize your resources. Maintain friendships.”
BACKSTORY: Landfear, who has a BFA from Butler University, wanted to be a dance major, “but after taking an elective class in telecommunications, I stuck with it.”
Back in Chicago she cut her teeth working in production as an assistant editor and tape room operator at the now-defunct Meacham Road Digital Studios. After nearly three years she moved onto a four year stint as an assistant editor and online editor at the also late Superior Street Post.
Her next job included some of her proudest experiences, working as an associate producer with Axelrod & Associates while David Axelrod was managing Sen. Barack Obama’s 2004 campaign.
She feels proud to have worked with Axelrod and his team?whom she considers “among the smartest people I’ve ever met”?for ten months. The Obama campaign was important to Landfear mainly because she “believes in Obama and how he’s uniting, rather than dividing our country and helping us move forward.”
Location scouting and other fascinating aspects of shooting during the campaign gave Landfear “such a different perspective” from the post side, with which she’d previously had experience, to the production side. She learned how to be resourceful.
BIG BREAKS: “The friends I’ve made along the way. It’s all about networking!”
WORDS OF WISDOM: “Don’t turn down any experience you can get. Someday you will draw on that experience and benefit from it.”
HER ULTIMATE GOAL: “To be a freelance producer within ten years?working on everything from corporate to documentary projects.”
A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION: “Other Chicago women in production over the past twenty years; indie filmmakers, post producers?”
Jorie Landfear can be reached at 773/380-3000; Email, jlandfear@ballyfitness.com.
