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Meet Walter

At the heart of everything I do is storytelling. Technology changes, distribution platforms change, trends change on a daily basis, and if you are constantly pivoting and chasing the trends, your message might be getting lost in the clutter.

But good, consistent storytelling always wins.

Effective storytelling, content creation, team leadership, and business strategy are at the core of a viable creative marketing plan for a business for its sustainable and continuous growth. What gets me excited day in and day out is the opportunity to work with great people in a congenial environment, nurturing high-quality, high-integrity relationships that drive the business forward with transparency and trust.

My experience includes creative operations, creative communications, marketing and storytelling, team management, omni-channel strategy & marketing, filmmaking and more. I’ve served in critical, hands-on, and high-impact roles over the course of my career. These roles provided an opportunity to build and lead teams and initiatives that further organizational goals.

I am described as a people-focused & empathetic leader, a master mentor, and results-driven with an eye on the big picture, someone who takes ownership and build a confident team with a winning culture.

What do I contribute to the bottom line of each employer? Cross-functional partnerships and stakeholder buy-in through a focus on economic and financial benefits for each initiative.

I have a natural talent to pull together the right team and infrastructure for the conversational selling of great products, producing amazing stories, ideas, and solutions. Whether that be filmmaking, digital storytelling or marketing and sales. Because I can do everyone's job, I operate with an understanding of the challenges and needs for each team member ensuring they have the right mix of encouragement and tools to exceed all expectations.

These are some ways I have contributed to creative and marketing successes:

• Creative Leadership from strategy to final delivery of branded storytelling for internal and external audiences increasing brand awareness and engagement by up to 2400% across all distribution channels.

• Development and expansion of in-house brand agencies, including full facility design, to deliver video-centric branded storytelling for internal and external audiences increasing creative output exponentially.

• Execution of a Content Marketing “Flywheel” strategy with equal emphasis on top of funnel discovery and post-sale retention/referral resulting in increased repeat sales while dramatically growing brand recognition across social, digital, and advertising channels.

• Execution of unique influencer and brand/industry collaborations to introduce your brand and story to new audiences and new markets, driving growth and revenue through minimal marketing cost outlay.

• Video production storytelling and oversight for small and large projects including "Good Eats" for Food Network, “This American Land” for PBS. Producer and Executive Producer for two global health feature documentaries featuring The Carter Center (President Carter) encompassing four years of production with teams across 3 continents.

• Expanded the inbound marketing channels and requests through the development and execution of original digital video series, social media campaigns, and streaming content that resulted in tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue.

• Development of efficient processes and workflows resulting in dramatic increases of content output with storylines that engage and capture new audiences from efficient content teams. 

• Leading video production teams both in-studio and global production environments through all phases from pre-production to filming to post. I've led teams from 1 to 100 across multiple continents for theatrical & broadcast releases to Instagram and TikTok campaigns.

• Empathetic leadership and mentorship for my teams to ensure personal and professional growth resulting in a creative and marketing team that overachieves on all projects. We win and grow as a team.

Notable Past Projects Include:
Post Supervisor, Editor, Animator for “Good Eats with Alton Brown”
Developed post-production processes and workflow for Seasons 9-12 of “Good Eats”, 66 episodes, to the Food Network.
Executive Producer/Producer “Foul Water Fiery Serpent” PBS
Producer “Dark Forest, Black Fly” PBS
Co-creator, Producer “Science Nation” National Science Foundation

Most know Walter for his four seasons of work with Alton Brown on "Good Eats."   Walter re-invigorated the look of the series through the introduction of original animations.  He also helped guide the transition of the series into high-definition production.  A Featured Speaker and Trainer, Walter presents on current production techniques and technologies in the film and video industry.  He is also contributing author to Lynda.com, a James Beard Media Award Judge and a longtime contributor and author for CreativeCOW.net.  Always 'paying it forward' in the media creation industry, Walter co-founded the Atlanta Cutters Creative Professional User Group to help creative professionals network and knowledge share in the Atlanta area.

More recently he has been reinventing Content Marketing across multiple industries from CPG to healthcare to manufacturing with his “Flywheel” approach. Going beyond the outdated funnel, Walter’s unique Content Marketing Flywheel places almost equal emphasis on customer retention as it does discovery to conversion. Using strong storytelling at its core, Walter has built brand audiences by over 2400% across all social channels leaning heavily on organic channel growth which yields 3-5x the conversion rate of paid media with his customer journey focused strategy. Delivering consistent education, entertainment and engagement across all distribution channels and media, this organic focused brand building also increases the conversion rate of paid media.

Key Experience Areas: Creative & Marketing Agency Leadership; Content Marketing Strategy; Marketing Strategies; Social Media; Creative Strategy & Implementation; Branding; Original Content Development & Execution; Communications; Live Experiential Events; Creative Services and Production Studio Management;  Video Production; Project Management including Function Point and Workfront; Operations & Hiring; Change Agent; Facility and Workflow design

Key Technical Experience:  Senior Producer, Director, Writer, Video Editor, Colorist, Animator, Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, 4k/UHD/HD Workflows, DSLR and Professional Cameras, Showbiz Budgeting, NAS / SAN Design and Implementation, Digital Asset Management, Studio and Facility design.

Key Culinary Experience: Italian-family trained chef; Fresh Pasta; Pizza on the Grill; Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes; Mixologist. 

Download my Resume here or read it on the Resume page. 

PERSONAL

Ok, let's break from the 'professional speak' for a moment.  I am my mother's son.  Meaning you can drop in unannounced, just give me 20 minutes and I'll have a meal ready for you.  Food, friends and laughter are my passion away from production.  Always a foodie, I launched WheresWalter.tv in 2017 bringing together my love to food and travel.  You can also follow my adventures on Instagram and IGTV.  When it's time to get away you'll most likely find us on a cruise ship or some culinary adventure.   I proudly served on the Board of Directors for Pilots-N-Paws, one of the largest animal rescue groups in the US and my own rescue, Molly The Wonder Dog, is never far from my side.   A fun tidbit, I batted .704, threw a perfect game and had a Dodger scout check me out in my final year of playing baseball at 16.  Why did I stop playing?  Well that's a story better told than written. 

BISCARDI ENTERPRISES gold diamond

So many of you know me as "Biscardi Creative Media" because I had that company name for almost 20 years. My father was an amazing inspirational speaker who operated under the name Biscardi Enterprises.  His logo was a series of grey boxes that turned to the right with the last box rising and forming a gold diamond to symbolize excellence.  For this new chapter of my life, I'm paying homage to dad and the inspiration he still gives me today.  I'm always looking to change and disrupt the status quo.