Bill Ryan/The Gazette “We look for great stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” says Russell Hodge.

More News

Takoma Park police aim to catch fleeing thieves

State chamber: Income tax hike will unfairly hurt Montgomery

Push for Shady Grove arena refueled

Montgomery County executive: Rapid Transit Vehicle system will be built

PSC weighs whether utility customers can reject smart meters

When Russell Hodge was young, his actor father gave him some advice that turned out to be valuable when the young Hodge became a man: “Be the person who hires the talent. Don’t be the talent.”

Hodge, 50, has taken that advice to heart, as he has created an award-winning video production company whose current big project is “The Truth about Money with Ric Edelman,” a financial advice series that airs on 185 TV stations and has been broadcast almost 6,000 times.

“We look for great stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” Hodge said of his Frederick company, 3 Roads Communications. “What sets us apart from other production companies is that we can produce very good content but also can get it on the air.”

3 Roads has won numerous awards, including an Emmy and Telly awards — the video production industry’s equivalent of the Emmys — leading to a favorable reputation among public TV stations.

“[Hodge’s] expertise and reputation in the industry has gone a long way toward putting Frederick on the map as a location for obtaining quality work in the TV and radio field,” said Laurie M. Boyer, director of the Frederick County Office of Economic Development. “We applaud his success.”

Hodge always has focused on controlling the content of his programming, something he said he learned while working on “The McLaughlin Group” for CNBC in the ’80s. 3 Roads selects its stories, determines its editorial angles and interviews the subjects.

3 Roads has started its second season of the Edelman show. A best-selling author and 25-year veteran of the financial industry, Edelman uses the show to educate viewers about personal finance. He does so by bringing in guests such as former AOL executive and current Washington, D.C., professional sports team owner Ted Leonsis and tackling unusual topics such as predatory lending around military bases and the financial component of dealing with domestic abuse.

“The goal is to deliver financial information and advice to consumers in a format they don't normally have available to them, to be objective and thorough and in the viewers’ best interest, and to do so in an entertaining manner,” Edelman said. “It’s easy to scare people, but that’s not very helpful. My goal is to empower people.”

Edelman had originally envisioned the project as one in which 3 Roads would simply videotape and broadcast his seminars. But Hodge — whom Edelman met through a mutual acquaintance from Hodge’s days in radio — realized that such a format would not effectively transfer to TV.

“[Hodge] has been doing this for a long time. He understands how to stage a set and an audience for maximum effectiveness for the video screen,” Edelman said. “He’s very good at creating a smooth program that contains a lot of features and transitions and keeps the viewer engaged.”

The new season’s programs will be provided to purchasing stations in April to be broadcast at their leisure, Hodge said.

Although much of the taping is done at a studio at Howard University, Hodge plans for more outside shots this season, he said. One idea involves sending someone out to purchase an expensive sports car to show viewers that the same financial planning is needed regardless of a car’s cost.

Hodge runs the company with his fiancée, Cynthia Scott-Johnson, whom he met in the late 1990s while producing “Legends of Airpower,” a public television documentary about American aviators. The two later met up again and Scott-Johnson became co-owner of 3 Roads in 2007 when Hodge accepted a position created for him with Voice of America.

“We’re storytellers that harken back to our theater background,” Scott-Johnson said. “Television is all about having good stories and knowing how to tell it.”

3 Roads also has worked on programs such as “For the Love of Their Brother,” the story of a family celebrating the heroism of a New York City firefighter who died while driving through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to reach the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001, and “Frontiers of Medicine” about medical technology. “Frontiers” has been aired in 30 countries.

TV production is among the industries growing through the slow recovery, generating more than $31.2 billion in 2010, up 3.6 percent from 2009, and employing 61,856 people, according to research firm IbisWorld.

Another project at 3 Roads tells the story of four brothers named Frieder who owned a cigarette manufacturing facility in the Philippines and used their connections to help 1,200 Jews escape during the Holocaust. German industrialist Oskar Schindler is known for rescuing 1,100 Jews.

Peggy Ellis, a granddaughter of the brothers and a co-producer of the program, lauded Hodge for his ability to slowly draw stories out of a 103-year-old survivor and even uncover memories other relatives had never told anyone.

“He has the ability to engage and get details that make stories come to life,” Ellis said. “I think [3 Roads is] an exciting production company since they combine all the technical expertise of the day with a passion for the story, plus an interest that drives the research.”

Ellis has known Hodge since she worked with him on the 1992 re-election campaign of President George H.W. Bush.

Hodge began his career in New York, where he interned with Broadway producers until he secured a job producing for WNBC Radio and TV. He later went on to work on political programming such as “Off the Record,” a Fox TV mix of pop culture and politics, and “Politically Incorrect” on Comedy Central.

After “Off the Record” was axed because of financial woes, Hodge decided to take his then-wife and two babies and set out on his own with 3 Roads in 1993. Although his background was in politics, Hodge said he got tired of the cynicism and wanted to do something else with his own company. He started 3 Roads with a portable phone in an upstairs bedroom of his home and his first major purchase was a fax machine, he said, before he got his big break with “Frontiers of Medicine.”

3 Roads employs 12 people and numerous freelancers. The company has just moved into a new 3,600-square-foot space in downtown Frederick that formerly housed an art studio. It also has broken into the field of strategic communications, using media for promotional purposes, especially with businesses.

Hodge said 3 Roads has been lucky to be one of the few production companies to remain standing for so long, despite the cost of production and changing business models.

“We’re not sure where it all ends up,” he said.

lrobbins@gazette.net

RUSSELL HODGE

Age: 50.

Position: Executive producer and founder, 3 Roads Communications, a video production company in Frederick.

Previous position: Director of television, Voice of America.

Education: Bachelor’s in arts and adminstration, City University of New York.

Residence: Frederick.

Family: Fiancée, Cynthia Scott-Johnson; five children.

Organizations: Vice chairman, Young American Broadcasters; guest host, “NewsBeat” on Radio America; speaker, Harvard Business School and American University School of Communication.

Awards: Emmy, Cable ACE, Telly, Aurora, Addy, Communicator, Aegis.

Hobbies: Gardening, as he ran a landscaping business when he was younger. He also uses his landscaping skills improve production shots.