POWERGRAMS

27 Some of Payne's Emmy collection. All along the Water Tower Looking out the windows of Emmy winner Will Payne's office, it's easy to see why Water Tower Films isn't in Atlanta or the Big Apple or Hollywood. His 2-minute walk from home each day, sometimes accompanied by his two dogs, is alongside Cahulga Lake and hundreds of trees that line the shore. How he gets any work done with such a view might be the real question. In 2008, Payne and his wife, Kari, le successful careers in Atlanta to start Water Tower in their hometown. He is the CEO and she the CFO. Both are, on paper, what some might refer to as "eggheads," but, in person, are warm, down to earth and laid-back. High school sweethearts, they found each other again aer atypical college excursions for Alabama students. He earned an athletic scholarship to Columbia University – "I was a bit of a 'Rudy'" – and she earned a chemistry degree at Vanderbilt and a master's at Georgia State. "The only time the coach would put me in was when the crowd would shout my name," he says. "I enjoyed it immensely. You can imagine a Heflin kid at 18 geing on a plane and moving to New York City." During his senior year at Columbia, Will bumped into former valedictorian Kari at a Cleburne County High School basketball game when both were home between college semesters. "The spark was still there; it turned out to be a three-hour conversation," and they kept in touch from then on, both moving to Atlanta for jobs before marriage. Payne says his "1 in a million opportunity" to study film in the Ivy League paid dividends as he worked his way into the industry, learning from the best at CNN and Time Warner before spending 12 years with TBS. "I learned a ton about the business, met a ton of great people and got a ton of great contacts," he says. "We couldn't wait to get out of Heflin, then we couldn't wait to get back," she says. "We wanted our kids to grow up here." Growing up, Will loved the downtown Heflin water tower, and that loy image was part of what led to the Paynes' company name. Technology made it possible for them to take the Green Acres approach and get back to country living. "I have access to tools that 15 or 20 years ago didn't exist for the home consumer," he says. "For some jobs I hire one person to help and then there are some where I hire 50. Whatever the job requires, I do. That's where Kari comes in. She handles the paperwork and is the biz whiz of the family." Will has amassed 30 Emmys. Water Tower Films' list of clients includes TNT, Habitat for Humanity, Turner Broadcasting, Sega, Make- A-Wish, Nickelodeon, PBS, The Weather Channel, CNN, the College Football Hall of Fame and Whirlpool. Payne says, tongue in cheek, the Travelocity gnome "was the best talent I've ever worked with. He liked every one of my decisions." The bulk of their work nowadays is in "industrial film" for companies that want to tell their employees an inspirational story. Their most recent recognizable public efforts include segments for Headline News and The Weather Channel and commercials for Coca- Cola. Business is so good they hardly have time to submit Emmy entries. Instead of driving an hour or more to and from work each day, the Paynes don't drive at all anymore. The grandparents of their children, Sam, 12 and Claire, 8, are always right down the road. Life is "prey darn good" back in their hometown. "To be in Alabama, to be local …" Will says wistfully, "I'll never say never but I have no desire to do Hollywood." Will and Kari Payne in Water Tower Films office near the shores of Cahulga Lake.

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