When Bob Hercules and his two partners started Media Process Group (MPG), in July, 1985 in a small Wicker Park loft, they took part-time teaching jobs at Columbia College to support the new venture.
Recalls owner/partner Keith Walker, “They started with a small industrial camera that cost around $5,000 and as they jokingly said, ?a little Radio Shack equipment here and there.'”
During those past 25 years, producer/director Hercules and DP Walker, have traveled to Africa with Obama and Oprah, filmed in more than 20 different countries and produced and/or edited for 40 prominent companies.
They have won more than 20 film festival awards, including a Gold Hugo, Special Jury Prize at 2006 Slamdance and two Midwest Emmys and produced 13 independent films that have been shown on TV, including PBS, Discovery Channel, IFC and TLC.
Hercules, in retrospect, feels very fortunate to have been involved in a business “where I lived my dreams.” he says. “I made films I wanted to make on my own terms, worked with so many creative people and feel we had an impact on people with the films we’ve made.”
“It’s incredible to do the vast types of documentaries and broadcast work that enable us to have a small peek into how other people live their lives throughout the world,” says Walker, who was a student in one of Hercules’ Columbia classes and joined the fledgling company as an intern in 1987.
