I know, I know, the title of this article is a little clickbait-y. When you read the title, you probably think about the Primetime Emmy® Awards — the ones given to the likes of Game of Thrones, Modern Family, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad and Veep (to name a few).

Humbly, I must admit we have not yet qualified for those Emmy® Awards. But the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) recognizes excellence in regional television and streaming markets. That’s where we come in!

Nominees for the Mid-America Regional Emmy® Awards were announced in early August. Earlier in the year, we had submitted two episodes of our Cool Careers video series: one in the Informational/Instructional category and the other in the Branded Content category. The series is produced for HirePaths and aims to show kids the many fun, in-demand careers waiting for them right here in Kansas. We are honored to have this series nominated for a Regional Emmy® Award. These episodes took plenty of blood, sweat and tears (OK, maybe not literally) to create, and we’d like to share more about them with you.

Episode 8: Wind Turbine Technician (Nominated in the Instructional/Informational category)

Once we decided to feature a wind turbine technician, HirePaths Founder Kristin Brighton was determined to get our team up into a wind turbine for this episode. She figured that it might be difficult to get a corporate attorney to sign off on a minor going up 200 feet into one of these structures but wondered if Cloud County Community College in Concordia could help. After contacting CCCC, we found out they have two training turbines on their campus that were only 60 feet tall. Kristin made contact with their department head, Michael “Kit” Thompson, and some days later, he told us what we all wanted to hear: Yes. The one caveat was that I and our host, Lance, had to go through some training first. Kit also connected us with Meridian Way Wind Farm, also in Concordia, to find one of their program’s alumni, Ethan, who agreed to be featured as this episode’s professional.

So, on the first day of production, Lance and I followed Kit’s instructions on how to climb their wind turbine safely. We were ready to strut the runway for a blue-collar fashion show in our helmets, gloves, boots and harnesses, although with this face, I’ll stick to being behind the camera. After about an hour, we were ready to climb.

Ethan climbed first with some of our camera equipment. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about a camera falling, but we secured everything we could to our bodies. Lance followed, then I climbed up last. Now, I’m not known for world-class strength, but the climb felt like no easy task! As I climbed, I remembered my training: grab the ladder rung with one hand, then the other. One step, second step. Always keep at least three points of contact on the ladder.

The hull of the turbine was no bigger than a compact car similar to those you’d see driving down a narrow Italian street. It also felt like being roasted in an oven (or at least how I imagine that feels). After we reached the top, I pulled out the camera to film and just let Ethan and Lance talk about the inner workings of the turbine. It was really amazing to be up there!

After we finished filming and climbed down safely, we went back to Meridian Way headquarters, where Ethan showed Lance around. And, more importantly, we got to cool down. That wrapped up our first — and most exciting — day of production.

Our second and final day of production presented plenty of thrilling shots, too, as well as challenges of wind noise, repairs on nearby turbines and the heat. We showed up at 8:00 a.m. with no time to lose. We ran through our first scene while battling wind noise, which was fitting since we were on a wind farm! We had to pivot our first location to find an area with reduced wind noise and used a different type of microphone to help battle the pesky breeze. We were also operating under a time crunch because the turbine where we were filming was about to be overrun by a maintenance team. Once we fought through the challenges of that scene, it felt like smooth sailing. We captured some epic footage of the turbines and the nearby substation. Our (former) video production assistant, Lane, used his new DJI Mavic 3 drone and captured the coolest footage of Ethan waving from the top of the 262-foot turbine. I’ll never forget this production experience because of the literal and figurative highs we experienced.

Episode 11: Pilot (Nominated in the Branded Content category)

We’re making a pilot episode? But it’s episode 11 — isn’t the pilot episode the first episode of the series? Uh, yes that’s correct. But this isn’t the pilot episode, it’s the episode about becoming a pilot.

Our second Emmy®-nominated episode involved Sam Finan, a pilot for Blue Beacon in Salina, Kansas. He graduated from Kansas State University Salina Aerospace and Technology Campus with his professional pilot degree. Kristin got his name from the K-State Salina marketing team, who also gave us the green light to film at their Stevens Flight Center and helped us arrange to take a flight in a Cessna plane for the episode.

Our kid host, Atticus, is in the Civil Air Patrol and wants to be a pilot when he gets older. He was a perfect fit to host this episode. With Top Gun: Maverick recently released in theaters, my creative juices were swirling as I envisioned a Top Gun-esque scene somewhere in the video. Oh boy, this episode was stacking up to be a fun production!

The production took place all in one day, with scenes at the K-State Salina Stevens Flight Center and at Blue Beacon’s hangar. We were on cloud nine to start the day, as the first step was capturing Atticus flying in the Cessna. K-State arranged for Johannes, a K-State student flight instructor, to pilot the plane (insurance required Sam had to stay on the ground). Our video production assistant, Kyle, got to film the experience from the back seat. We also attached a couple of action cameras to the plane to capture the landscape and Atticus’s reaction. But the first order of business was capturing some epic slow-mo shots of the guys getting ready and into the airplane — Top Gun-style!

Atticus, Johannes and Kyle flew around for about 30 minutes while the rest of the crew waited on the ground. The time really flew by! (I crack myself up.) After they landed, Atticus and Kyle were on a high after their flight. Honestly, I think that helped with filming the additional scenes, as everybody was excited about how well the flight demo turned out. And the excitement didn’t dive after the real flight because Atticus also got to use a gigantic airplane simulator at the flight center! Personally, I would have liked to use their giant screen to watch the new Top Gun. But hey, life isn’t always fair.

We then took our talents to the Blue Beacon hangar. We sat around for some time, waiting for Blue Beacon’s private jets to arrive from a day trip. While we waited, we got to see some cool fighter jets on the runway. I couldn’t help but wonder: Was Tom Cruise in town?

When the private jets arrived, we finished our last few scenes in which Atticus toured Blue Beacon’s jets. We took some fancy private plane photos and called it a wrap. Finally, we picked up some well-deserved milkshakes and took the highway listening to Danger Zone all the way back to Manhattan. Wow, I couldn’t have asked for a better production!

I am incredibly proud of the Cool Careers team and all participating individuals and organizations for the effort they expended in creating this series. I like to remind myself that Cool Careers is supposed to be a fun, engaging way for kids and their parents to learn about high-demand career opportunities right here in Kansas. Heck, I learn plenty of new things every episode. We are excited to continue! Check out the HirePaths website to watch past episodes, and keep your eyes peeled for more to come!

Winners of the Mid-America Regional Emmy® Awards will be announced Saturday, September 30.