CEDAR FALLS - Not long ago, Scott Smith was living in Florida and working for Ligonier Ministries, producing the radio program "Renewing Your Mind," and doing freelance video work on the side.

Now he is his own boss in a one-room, one-person office on the Spinutech building's second floor, producing a Web video cooking show for Blue Bunny Ice Cream, or most of the video content for Beam Central Vacuum Systems' Web site.

River Run Productions, Smith's company at 201 Washington St., is actually a spin-off of Spinutech. The idea is, Spinutech designs clients' Web sites; Smith produces the video for them.

It is the wave of the future, Smith and Marc Reifenrath - one of three partners at Spinutech - agree, and the reason for the partnership between the two businesses.

"I think the biggest thing for us is we understand or are trying to recognize there is going to be more and more video on Web sites, and we're trying to establish ourselves as a front-runner, as a leader, trying to pave the way," Reifenrath said.

"Our opinion is pretty much every Web site that we're putting out there, we are recommending that it have video. We recognize that at this point, that's not feasible for all companies to do," Reifenrath said. "A couple of years from now, it should be that way."

Now, about 25 percent to 30 percent of the Web sites Spinutech designs include video.

Smith moved from Florida to the Cedar Valley a couple of years ago. He had been traveling to the area to visit his stepdaughter, and the area grew on him. "I basically decided, 'Man, I could live here,'" Smith said.

Smith had been looking to make a change in his life

"After 9/11, like a lot of people, I started thinking, 'Man, I gotta do something different,'" Smith said. "I had just turned 40, 9/11 had happened."

So he moved to Cedar Falls, doing business as Scott B. Smith Productions.

He met Reifenrath, and the two talked about how best to join forces. They worked together as separate companies - Spinutech and Smith as Scott B. Smith Productions - for about a year-and-a-half, Reifenrath said. When Spinutech moved into its building in downtown Cedar Falls, Reifenrath offered Smith space in it. That was in November 2005.

River Run Productions was born on Jan. 1, 2007, Reifenrath said. Reifenrath and the other partners at Spinutech have an interest in River Run.

"I think it's a win-win deal for both of us," Smith said. "I realized that if I was going to live here, I was going to need more of a client base.

"They're (Spinutech) going to benefit from having my experience and my client base for what they're going to do in the future."

"Then, in '06, it just seemed to explode, this whole thing about video on the Web," Smith said.

The name River Run emerged after weeks of Smith and the creative staff at Spinutech searching for a name. When the name came to him, it just seemed to fit.

"We're from here, the Cedar River only flows two blocks away from us, but it eventually flows into a larger body of water," Smith said. The interconnectivity of waters seemed a perfect metaphor for the way the Internet connects Cedar Falls to the rest of the world.

"We've kind of joked that we should say we're conveniently located between New York and San Francisco," Smith said.

Travel is certainly a possibility in Smith's job.

"One of the clients we're talking to has an international branch, and we're talking about doing shooting in Barcelona (Spain) or Norway," Smith said. "Clients, if they have international needs, are going to want to see that you have international experience shooting."

Recently, Smith went on a 10-day video shoot on the Amazon River for a ministry, one of the clients he had before joining forces with Spinutech. The ministry wanted to tell the story of missionaries in the area, and hired Smith for the job.

Shooting in the Amazon was not what people might expect.

"When you go to the Amazon, your fantasy is a lot different than the reality," Smith said. "You're expecting 'Heart of Darkness,' but the reality - and I say this as a Florida kid - is it's more like the jungle cruise. … You don't see a lot of animals.

"I've seen more wildlife in George Wyth Park."

It's no accident that much of Smith's past work has been for faith-based organizations. After he graduated from film school, Smith went to a Billy Graham crusade "for the experience.

"And I think there was some kind of spiritual awakening," Smith said. "Christianity is where I landed, and that just led me" to ministries.

The fact that he also does nonreligious inspired work for other businesses makes him more credible to the ministries he works with, Smith said.

Reifenrath said Spinutech is "a little ahead of the curve," establishing a partnership with River Run Productions and offering in-house video production services to its clients. That's where they want to stay - ahead of the curve.

"TV and Web will just continue to mesh more and more," Reifenrath said.

Contact Jeff Wilford at (319) 291-1423 or jeff.wilford@wcfcourier.com.