Zero Point Zero’s Chris Collins on the Evolution of the Travelogue at Skift Forum

Chris Collins, co-founder of Zero Point Zero Production, spoke today at the Skift Global Forum.

Collins is a co-founder and principal at Zero Point Zero Production, better known as travel and culinary personality Anthony Bourdain’s production company. He served as executive producer on the Emmy-winning series Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. He’s also produced other content for Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, PBS, History Channel, and Bravo.

Collins’ talk “The Evolution of the Travelogue, 1950’s and Into the Future” explored how storytelling surrounding travel has changed and will evolve. Here are four things we learned:

• Collins and Zero Point Zero approach travel television from a personal and intimate perspective, instead of an academic and detached viewpoint.
• Collins pitched his first show with Anthony Bourdain, A Cook’s Tour, as a man’s quest to have the perfect meal.
• At first, Bourdain was a “deer caught in the headlights.” The chaos created at the beginning of the partnership between Bourdain and Collins created authenticity. “We can highlight any number of things, but it’s someone’s point of view on a place that viewers are willing to listen to and be entertained by,” said Collins.
• The people in a place make it what it is. “We succeed and fail based on that,” said Collins. “It is a testament to the location and people we work with that are so integral in telling a story of a place.”

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And thanks to all the sponsors that made Skift Global Forum 2015 possible: Adobe, Amadeus, American Express, Boxever, Big Bus Tours, CendyneOne, Cheapoair, Criteo, Gogo, HelloGbye, Hornblower Cruises, MasterCard, Mindtree, National Geographic, NewsCred, Sabre, SiteMinder, Travel Channel, TurkeyHome, Uber, Underline, Virtuoso, and Yahoo.