About | Sandy Cannon-Brown
Founder and President, VideoTakes, Inc.
Adjunct Professor, School of Communication, American University
scbrown@videotakes.com
703.276.7078
Sandy Cannon-Brown is president and founder of VideoTakes, Inc., and an award-winning writer, producer, and director of programs that educate, inspire and enlighten.
Sandy has received several awards for her personal achievements. Her peers in the International Television Association (ITVA) honored her with Special Achievement Awards for Directing non-professional talent, Script Writing and Directing. Women in Film & Video honored her with its highest honor, the Woman of Vision award, for a "career that successfully combines the spirits of public service, journalistic integrity and artistic expression."
In addition to Sandy's personal recognition, VideoTakes has earned many top awards in international competition for films she wrote, produced and directed. These programs address health, energy, the environment, and human rights. Most recently, VideoTakes received a 2007 Peer Award from ITVA for a film about the American Prairie Reserve and a 2007 CINE Award for a TV PSA, Save Rainforests/Save Lives. Both films were featured, along with others produced by VideoTakes, in the 2006 DC Environmental Film Festival. Two new films produced by VideoTakes, American Prairie Reserve and Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives were recently featured in the 2008 DC Environmental Film Festival.
Sandy launched VideoTakes, Inc. in 1985 as the logical extension of a career that included journalism, public relations and theatre. She was a reporter for U.S. News & World Report and the Associated Press, a columnist for the Austin American-Statesman, a news anchor for KTBC (CBS) in Austin, TX, and assignment editor for WJLA (ABC) in Washington, DC. She also was a senior account executive with Burson-Marsteller.
Sandy also is an adjunct professor and an associate director of the Center for Environmental Filmmaking at American University. Students in her Environmental and Wildlife Production course produce a program that airs on Maryland Public Television (MPT) during Chesapeake Bay Week.
Sandy is a member of Women In Film and Video, where she served as a board member and co-director of Women Make Movies, a week-long festival honoring films by women; a former committee chair with ITVA; and a member of several organizations dedicated to environmental conservation and stewardship.
Sandy earned her B.A. in Communication and M.A. in Film and Video from American University. She and her husband, Omer Brown, live in Washington, DC, and St. Michaels, MD, where they enjoy cruising - and helping to protect - the Chesapeake Bay.