Animation Graphics by Richard Zampella at Transmultimedia

Transmultimedia Entertainment produces rehearsal video for July 2015 wedding on Long Island.
See more at www.trans-multimedia.com

Zampella & Company Re-Designs the NY Soup Exchange

The New York Soup Exchange recently contracted with the restaurant design firm Zampella & Company to complete the re-design of the interior of the flagship store located in Garden City, NY.

About the NY Soup Exchange

Driven by a passion to serve the world's best soup, Ken Kaplan discovered his true calling in 1998 when he opened his Garden City Restaurant, The NY Soup Exchange. Since then, they have been consistently voted the best soup on Long Island by Channel 12, NY Newsday and the Long Island Press Association.

About Zampella & Company

Richard Zampella has worked & consulted to major hotel companies, such as the Plaza & Starwood Hotel Corporation, to esteeemed restaurant groups like Smith & Wollensky, Fireman Restaurant Group and Joe Baum, to legendary restaurants such as the Rainbow Room, Le Cirque and the Oyster Bar at Grand Central, to family venues such as J.A. Heneghans & Skipperdee’s Cream Shop.

Richard Zampella: Multimedia Producer

Richard Zampella is Managing Partner of Transmultimedia, Inc. A New York City based creative services company. Over a span of the last decade, he has produced a number of special feature documentaries for Warner Home Video, Lionsgate Entertainment and Paramount Pictures.

Zampella launched his independent production company offering a variety of multimedia production services, from short web videos to feature length documentary production.

Zampella most recent projects include digital remastering of Margaret Meade’s New Guinea Journal that was written, directed and produced by Craig Gilbert who created the PBS series; An American Family.

Zampella is currently in production with Elmore Leonard: the Dickens of Detroit. Central to the project about this celebrated American author, is more than half-an-hour of never-before-seen interview footage with Leonard in which he analyzes and discusses how he started, why he wrote what he did and how he arrived at his lean, terse minimalist style of writing.

Learn more at: www.richardzampella.nyc

'Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen'' review by pad.operaphile@

Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen
Now Available on DVD -- Buy on Amazon

Writer /Director John Mulholland can hold his head high for every aspect of this MASSIVE documentary about 2 of the greatest men of the 20th century, namely Gary Cooper and Ernest Hemingway, the world's biggest actor/movie star and the world's most imitated author. They might have had nothing in common when first they met in at Sun Valley, 1940, but they became the best of buddies and eventual cronies. This step back in time truly reveals a plethora of riches that are absorbed with the greatest of pleasure by the viewer. The intensity of youth with its thrilling fame, that mid life period of some trouble, a return to greatness in older age, these two lives parallel one another on the grandest of scales. One gets to know the men individually and as a dynamic duo, friends who cared for each other as brothers. As the bad times came, it seemed to come for both as Coop and Hemingway both died in 1961 only 7 weeks apart. There is over abundant material available to produce one hell of a great motion picture such as HEMINGWAY and GELLHORN which starred Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman, as his 3rd wife. Neither men were perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but we come to care for them big time, warts and all. Expect anything from this documentary that tries to leave out NOTHING!
10/10

From Cinema Clock Edmonton

Official Website: http://www.cooperhemingway.com

Written & directed by John Mulholland

Produced by Richard Zampella

In Memoriam: John MacDonald Jr. | Kindness is an Underrated Virtue

In Memoriam: John D. MacDonald

Kindness is an Underrated Virtue

It has been said that kindness is an underrated virtue and that true kindness is often "infused with quiet wisdom, supported by courage, and threaded with balance.” The dictionary defines kindness as "the virtue of showing love" and the qualities of having a sympathetic, affectionate, warmhearted and considerate nature. Any virtue can be considered as the power to accomplish good, often in the face of obstacles and at the cost of sacrifice. Virtues enable us to establish and nurture life-long relationships with others and ourselves.

I will forever remember John D. MacDonald as a virtuous and kind man.

Seldom in life do you meet someone who is as genuine as John D. MacDonald was. A man of conviction, he was a silent and selfless servant to the community of Point Lookout, NY. In his lifetime, he made countless contributions to the the citizenry of his beloved community. He gave generously of his experience and knowledge to those around him and never failed to come to the assistance of those in need. I first spoke in depth with him when the Point Lookout Chamber of Commerce honored him in 2013 when the organization recognized him as Citizen of the Year.

From that time forward, it was not unusual for him to visit my shop on Lido Boulevard. We would sit and he would tell me stories of Point Lookout’s past and his memories of the Snack Shack that he owned on Lido Boulevard prior to enlisting in WWII. He was proud of his service in the Army Air Corp when he was stationed in India at the age of 18. When he returned, he passed the Snack Shack onto his brother and followed his father into the plumbing business.

It was also not unusual for me to knock on his door with a fresh batch of recently baked cupcakes from my store. I will always remember how his face would light up when he would lay his eyes on those sweet confections. John MacDonald had a sweet tooth.

John MacDonald came to Point Lookout with his family in 1929 from Salem, Massachusetts at the age of nine. At that time, there were approximately 43 families that lived in town year round. The full time resident were all engaged in local commerce. They were the contractors and builder that built this town.

John D. MacDonald Plumbing had it's start with the "building boom" that occurred on Inwood Ave around 1935. Glenn Little, the local builder began building a series of 1 story brick homes that line Inwood Ave today. You could purchase one for $3,000. If you wanted an extra lot to go along with it, that would set you back an additional $500. This building boom, solidified the family business. For $240 per house, John D. MacDonald Plumbing installed the complete plumbing system.

John told me how he cut the rumble seat off the back of the chassis of his Model A Ford & retrofitted it as a improvised pickup truck and that he used to take that Model A out on the ice of Reynolds Channel when it froze over in the winter. He told me stories about Tom Dyer who was the first Postmaster in Point Lookout and how he had been appointed by Teddy Roosevelt as a reward for his loyalty when they both Charged up San Juan Hill together in 1898.

John D. MacDonald, in addition to being a successful entrepreneur and businessmen has been a quiet servant of this community for many years. He was also a two time chief of the Point Lookout Volunteer Fire Company Inc.

John D. MacDonald erected the first public Christmas Tree in town on Lido Boulevard. He got into a lot of trouble he when he shorted out the family fuse box as a result. He would later go on to organize the decoration of holiday lights on Lido Blvd each year with the local electrician.

John D. MacDonald, helped form the first boy scout troop in Point Lookout along with Ludwig Meier. At the time Point Lookout was all sand and no trees. Troop 525, which met at the firehouse planted the trees that adorn town so they could all attend the International Boy Scout Jamboree that was held in Switzerland that year. If you appreciate the shade during the summer around town: Remember John D. MacDonald.

He served for 17 years as the chairman of the Zoning Committee of the Civic Association & served for 20 years on it's Board of Directors. His tenure saw the elimination of two family housing which has maintained the character of the community to this day. He hung the first halyard on the top of the Coast Guard Station Flag Pole. He erected Point Lookout's first ice skating rink.

In the 60's he served as a republican committeeman responsible for numerous legislative changes to protect the community including spearheading the purchase of the Vest Park Property that is adjacent to Aggie's Market.

It is with a heavy heart that I bid my final farewell to John D. MacDonald. I liked very much having him as a friend. I will miss our conversations. He will be sorely missed by those that knew him as he enriched the lives of all that came into contact with him. He earned the most profound trust, respect and gratitude from his fellow citizens. He was a person that made the world a better place to live in for the last 94 years.

Richard Zampella
June 6, 2015

Richard Zampella: YEXT Certified Partner

Richard Zampella of Transmultimedia, Inc. completes YEXT Certified Partner training curriculum and is designated a YEXT Certified Partner as of April 15, 2015.

Craig Gilbert: The Father of Reality Television

In 1971, Craig Gilbert Chronicled the Daily Lives of One American Family… He Made Television History. 

NEW YORK, NY -- May 2, 2015 -- Transmultimedia Entertainment Announces New Documentary

Craig Gilbert, the creator of “An American Family,” the PBS series that documented the Loud family of Santa Barbara for seven months in 1971 and was a premonition of reality TV, has lived in a one-bedroom apartment on Jane Street for twenty-one years. He has the same patrician hair and beard that he had when he appeared on “The Dick Cavett Show,” thirty-eight years ago, sitting uncomfortably alongside Pat and Bill Loud. On the show, he defended himself against charges that he had exploited the family and betrayed their trust.

Gilbert talked about a dinner he’d had with James Gandolfini, who was doing research for his role as Craig Gilbert in “Cinema Verite,” HBO’s 2011 docudrama about the making of “An American Family.” Gandolfini had asked about an old rumor that Gilbert and Pat Loud had had an affair during the filming.

“I told him no in twenty ways,” Gilbert said.

James Gandolfini played Craig Gilbert, the man who was behind the cameras for “An American Family.” He said: “I’ve gone to lunch with Craig a few times in NYC. He’s a wonderful man, smart, honest incredibly intelligent.  Old fashioned way about  him, graduated from Harvard.  He was an  ambulance driver in World War 2- he’s old school.  I enjoy him immensely I love the guy. This experience really hurt him.  I think he was so astounded that the Loud family got so   destroyed and he got so destroyed by people.  They went after the Loud family so viciously.  All they were really were regular people and their family was not that much different than anybody elses.  He was just trying to document it and they went after both of them so viciously that he said the hell with this.”

Gandolfini says Gilbert didn’t realize what impact he would have on the Louds, the film world, or culture in general.  “He tried to do something that nobody else had ever done.  It ended up this exceptional thing.  Then they threw out all the rest of the footage, hours and hours they threw it all out-and he was incredibly  hurt by all of it."

I’m really pleased that they all seem to be ok with all of it. He’s more fascinating in person. He’s a bit of an eccentricbut a great guy.  He tells me what an asshole I am every time he sees me.  "You’re an asshole Jim, you’re an idiot.  I say you’re absolutely right and I laugh-he’s a charming man."

Filmmakers John Mulholland & Richard Zampella are currently in pre-production on a documentary that explores the life of Craig Gilbert.