Orlando Creative Engineering News Cast (1983)

The Orlando Creative Engineering News Cast is a 1983 news segment for an unknown Orlando, FL station that interviews and shows the processes of Creative Engineering Inc.

Transcript
The audio is narrated by an unknown newscaster, alongside interview answers from Aaron Fechter. Other members of Creative Engineering also briefly speak in the video. Aaron's speaking moments also cut with other random clips of him during filming, making the transcript harder to comprehend. Newscaster: There are people in this world who just don't seem to fit into the standard categories.

Aaron Fechter: Well, some people say I'm a puppeteer, and some people say I'm unemployed.

[Aaron and Jeff Howell Singing]

Really, what I am is an inventor.

[Cut to CEI Footage]

Okay, where's my hammer? I'll fix it.

Newscaster: But none of those labels seem to fit Aaron Fechter.

Aaron Fechter: Airplane model- see it's got aluminum foil on the inside, it's got my flying wings on the outside, I can also wear this in the rain. Aluminum foil makes it possible. Thank you.

Newscaster: At first glance, most people would find it incredible that anyone would take this man seriously. Let's face it, some of his activities appear a little bizarre to say the least. But make no mistake, although his approach to life and work may be a little unusual, his success at both is nothing short of phenomenal. At 28, he's responsible for employing well over 200 people, and his corporation's income tops 20 million dollars per year. With his research lab, studio, and factory located in Orlando, Florida, he's building his dreams so fast that the group of talented people he leads has to run just to keep up at times.

CEI Employee: He changes his mind a lot. [Laughs]

Newscaster: But run they do, and none seem to mind the pace. As a matter of fact, Aaron's business of building and programming audio animatronic shows, or Electronimation as he calls it, has grown dramatically since a rather bumpy beginning in 1976. Starting off with five thousand dollars borrowed from his father, Aaron constructed his first basic electronic character, and since that day his life just hasn't been the same.

Aaron Fechter: Luck is what got the ball rolling, okay? Luck found me the right people, so I got real lucky and found the right people, and those people got more people like them around. So, our team is sort of a unified... lucky team for that reason.

Newscaster: There's no doubt that luck had a lot to do with the success of Aaron's company, Creative Engineering, but the vision and persistence of its manager is what keeps the firm succeeding with new ideas and possibilities.

Aaron Fechter: The wave of the future is sitting here. Okay, let's go.

Newscaster: Exploring as many possibilities as he can seems to be what Aaron is about, from performing and mixing original music for his shows-

Aaron Fechter: Boy, we could do something with that. Check that section again.

Newscaster: -to inspecting computer-controlled time cards at the production plant.

Aaron Fechter: -paying the timecards. Okay now I remember when it first happened we still had-

Newscaster: Most of the hardware and entertainment packages made by Creative Engineering are used in Showbiz Pizza parlors, a chain of restaurants that are a combination of high-tech electronic amusement palaces and pretty good places for pizza. Aaron's style of entertainment seems at home in this casual setting, where having fun is the only requirement of the house.

Aaron Fechter: I am truly dedicated to the entertainment and Showbiz Pizza Place. When we turn out a new showtape and I go out there and watch people, I'm praying for their reactions. These people who are behind the show really hope they enjoy it. That's more than can be said for most bands, or any other pizza restaurant that's got animation, or- or most forms of entertainment. We are truly trying to please people.

Newscaster: After watching Aaron work, you can't help but notice a remarkable similarity between him and another man who shared the same enjoyment in creating new dreams, Walt Disney. As Aaron walks through his plan, he goes from person to person, chatting and checking on pet projects, always charged with enthusiasm. That spirit shows in his employees.

CEI Employee: Everybody's input. There's a lot of people here with a lot of good input, a lot of creative people here.

CEI Employee: Can't complain about a minute of it. It's a lot of hard work, a lot of challenges, a lot of visiting into the realm of the unknown, and uh-

Newscaster: And into the realm of the unknown is exactly where Mr. Fechter likes to go as often as possible. Innovation and risk-taking are some of the tools that make his ideas and dreams work. When you can catch him, Aaron's father, Mel Fechter, can tell you as much about what makes his son tick as anyone.

Mel Fechter: Aaron is a very versatile person. He has no mental blocks that I've discovered. He's willing to undertake any problem in any field of endeavor, music, electronics, mechanics, and it's the blend of these that are the essence of his stability.

Newscaster: Because of the scope of his accomplishments and the direct and energetic methods with which he handles problems, the term "genius" has been applied to Aaron by some, although he flatly rejects that description.

Aaron Fechter: Everybody that knows me knows I'm not a genius, and they know that the geniuses are, you know, helping me. But basically, I just manage. No one is a genius. What I do is I sort of run around between the areas and ask that the projects we've okayed as a group be developed, and watch the development of those projects. When we run into a real problem area or a snag that wasn't anticipated in our brainstorming session, then it's my job to identify the snag and get everybody together and come up with a new approach.

Newscaster: Whatever approach he and his team take, they always head forward. And judging from what they've accomplished so far, you might think Aaron would be running thin on ideas.

[Cut from narration to interview]

What are your plans for the future? Do you have any dreams left?

Aaron Fechter: You know, I'd love to get involved in energy. We've got to get energy research that uses the biggest source of energy in the world, the sun, which brought us all our energy in the first place. I really wish I had time to work on that and home computers, computer networks that really work for real people, not just computer enthusiasts.

Newscaster: So what we have here is a person to whom work is really a form of entertainment and fun, one of those rare individuals who can look into next month or next year and see a line of open opportunities. And as for the future of his work-

Aaron Fechter: I was not only hoping it would develop into what it is, I was hoping it'd be much further than it is. You know, so it's great that it's here, but I haven't really looked back and said, "My goodness gracious, how far we've come," for very long at a time because I realized how long the road is in front of us.

Newscaster: That road may be long, but Aaron Fechter seems to have a pretty good road map to follow.