Executive interviews and on-camera video
Journalist-led, TV-podcast presentation, for principals, project leads, and community partners.
New York City · Multimedia Studio
Video and storytelling for the people building New York.
Urban Version Media produces documentary video, executive interviews, live event and town hall production, and multi-platform social content for developers, campaigns, community organizations, cultural venues, and civic clients — from Brooklyn, across New York City.
Deliverables
What We Produce
Live event and town hall production
Multi-camera, audio, and hard-clock delivery. Emmy-Award-winning live-production experience on the team.
Community and resident storytelling
Field-reported features, testimonials, oral history, and cultural documentation, with original photography.
Documentary-style short-form video
Story-driven pieces for LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook, produced from our events and site visits.
Multi-platform social distribution
LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok. Captioned, scheduled, and native to each platform.
Documentary photography
Stills for press kits, reports, and social — shot on the same visit as the video.
For specialized needs like drone and aerial cinematography or bilingual production, we bring in licensed and native-speaker partners on a per-project basis.
Selected Work
Selected Work
Reporting
Housing, Wealth, and Who Gets to Stay in East New York
Transcript-grounded standalone package built from the Brooklyn Community Board 5 General Board meeting of June 24, 2026.
Reporting
Youth Strategies Division at 127 Pennsylvania Avenue
CB5 meeting reporting piece on plans to revitalize the Community Board 5 building as a youth hub.
Interview
AD54 Assembly District Interview Package
Research dossier, campaign-finance analysis, and on-camera TV-podcast interview format. Published on The East New York Times.
Coverage System
CB5 Committee Coverage System
Monthly calendars, pre-meeting alerts, plain-English agenda explainers, Instagram Story reminders, and post-meeting recaps across every CB5 committee.
Coverage
Juneteenth NYC 2026 Parade Coverage
Field-reported feature combining route observations, community details, performances, vendors, and original photography.
Communications
Political communications for elected-office clients
Message strategy, briefing materials, on-camera preparation, and narrative strategy for New York City and State officials.
About
About Ro Johnson
Ro Johnson is an Emmy Award-winning media professional and a co-founder of Urban Version Media. Her experience runs across documentary-style storytelling and live production — town hall specials and daily broadcasts delivered on every media platform.
Live production is a different discipline from documentary work, and Urban Version Media offers both because she has worked in both. A town hall has one take. A daily broadcast has a hard clock. That background is what lets the studio commit to an event date, a rundown, and a turnaround, and hold to it.
- Co-Founder, Urban Version Media
- Co-Publisher, The East New York Times
- Emmy Award-winning media professional
- Documentary-style storytelling and live production
- Town hall specials and daily broadcasts across every platform
About Deric Johnson
Deric Johnson is a Brooklyn-based multimedia journalist, video producer, and communications strategist. With Ro Johnson he is a co-founder of Urban Version Media and a co-publisher of The East New York Times, an independent hyperlocal newsroom covering East New York and the surrounding communities of Brooklyn Community Board 5.
Before journalism, Deric served 22 years with the New York Police Department. He holds an NYC press credential. His reporting lanes at The East New York Times include NYCHA PACT accountability, post-rezoning housing accountability in East New York, local-hiring investigations around major public projects, and political communications work with elected officials.
Through Urban Version Media, Deric produces documentary video, executive interviews, event coverage, and multi-platform social content for developers, campaigns, community organizations, cultural venues, and civic clients across New York City.
- Co-Founder, Urban Version Media
- Co-Publisher, The East New York Times
- 22-year veteran of public service (NYPD)
- NYC press credential holder
About Urban Version Media
Urban Version Media is a Brooklyn-based multimedia production studio. We produce documentary video, executive interviews, live event and town hall production, community and resident storytelling, documentary photography, and platform-native short-form and long-form deliverables for developers, campaigns, community organizations, cultural venues, and civic clients working in New York City.
Our work is built on a working journalist's craft, deep civic and community knowledge, and a multi-platform production workflow. One site visit typically produces six or more finished pieces across LinkedIn, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, YouTube long-form, Facebook, and a website blog post — each one captioned, scheduled, and optimized for its platform.
Urban Version Media is operated by Deric Johnson and Ro Johnson, who also co-publish The East New York Times, an editorially independent hyperlocal newsroom. Client work and journalism operate as separate businesses, on purpose and in writing.
Disclosure
A note on editorial independence
Urban Version Media and The East New York Times are operated by the same publishers, but they are separate businesses. Client work through Urban Version Media does not include, guarantee, or imply coverage — favorable, unfavorable, or otherwise — in The East New York Times or in any other outlet. When a client's work intersects a story The East New York Times is covering, we disclose the relationship in writing, add an editor's note to any ENYT story in which the client is a primary subject, and the assigned reporter recuses themselves from personally reporting or writing those stories. Clients get a journalist's craft, community knowledge, and production skill. They do not get access to a newsroom.
Visit The East New York Times →Contact
Work With Us
Retainer engagements, discovery audits, and event coverage. Reach out with a short description of your organization, your project, and what you'd like to make together.
Location
Brooklyn, NY
The East New York Times
www.eastnewyorktimes.com