DOCUMENTARY FILM AND TELEVISION

Documentaries are not art. They are not journalism. At their best, they are both, and something else besides: they are nonfiction movies.

Like other movies, many documentaries present characters, conflict, rising action, something at stake, questions and tension and themes and arcs and complexity and resolution. Unlike other movies, they do so while remaining true to the actual, factual subject at hand. The story must be discovered and truthfully shaped, rather than imposed, invented, or heightened for dramatic purpose by the storyteller.  

Just as the the best of creative nonfiction in print (Mailer, Didion, McPhee, McCullough) stands apart from other forms of fact-based print storytelling (tabloids, tell-alls, news reporting, etc.), so the best of creative nonfiction on screen stands apart from its counterparts in so-called "reality" programming.

Or at least that's the goal....

Bad Blood: A Cautionary Tale. (PBS and theatrical release planned 2010-11), feature-length documentary produced by Necessary Films, New York.  Consultant, writer.

Arkansas: A Bright Future (visitor center, 2008), 10-minute documentary and ancillary video material produced by Peace River Studios for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.  Permanent installation, AGFC visitor center in Little Rock. Writer.

Wired to Win: Surviving the Tour de France (theatrical, 2005), 40-minute IMAX documentary produced by Partners Health Care System with funding from the National Science Foundation and Ortho-McNeil Neurologics. Script consultant, revised final structure and script for release.

Forgotten Ellis Island (2005), 60-minute documentary produced by Boston Film/Video Productions. Wrote script and fundraising materials awarded $425,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. (A different version of this project aired on PBS in 2009.)

45 Words: The Story of the First Amendment (museum, 2004), 40-minute documentary produced by the Freedom Forum Newseum for permanent installation in the Newseum theater.  Writer and senior producer during development.  

Primary Source Investigator: American History, 12e. (digital textbook, 2004), three short documentaries (Witchcraft Crisis of 1692; Votes for Women; Daughters of Liberty) for McGraw-Hill, produced by Historicus, Inc., Durham, NH . Writer.

This Far By Faith: African-American Spiritual Journeys (PBS 2003), six-hour prime-time series produced by Blackside, Inc. Developed approach and wrote original program treatments and fundraising materials that attracted more than $4 million in production funds. Series writer, development.

Miss America: A Documentary Film (PBS American Experience 2002), feature-length documentary produced by Orchard Films and Clio, Inc. Wrote script and consulted on fundraising materials that attracted $700,000 in support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and additional support from American Experience; credited as program development.

School: The Story of American Public Education (PBS 2001). Four-hour series produced by Stone Lantern Films and KCET-TV. Writer; also, co-author, companion book.

Hopes on the Horizon (PBS 2001), two-hour special on the rise of pro-democracy movements in six African nations in the 1990s, produced by Blackside, Inc. Writer.

Fear No More: Stop Violence Against Women (Lifetime 2001), special produced by Maysles Films, New York, and hosted by the actress Brooke Shields. Writer.

Lalee’s Kin: The Legacy of Cotton (HBO 2001, limited theatrical release), Academy Award-nominated feature documentary by Maysles Films about poverty and education in the Mississippi Delta. Writer, interstitial materials; also wrote promotional materials.

I’ll Make Me a World: A Century of African-American Arts (PBS 1999), a six-hour, prime time series produced by Blackside, Inc. Developed approach and wrote original program treatments and fundraising materials that attracted more than $4 million in production funds; supervised series content and writing and wrote three of the six films. Series writer, also episode writer.

100 Years of Women (Lifetime 1999), special by Maysles Films about six women at or near their 100^th year of life. Hosted by the actress Camryn Manheim. Writer.

Life by the Numbers (PBS 1998), seven-part series on mathematics produced by WQED-TV, Pittsburgh.  Wrote preliminary treatment for the first hour, Seeing is Believing.

Liberty! The American Revolution (PBS 1997), six-hour prime-time series produced by Twin Cities Public Television in association with Middlemarch Films, New York. Consulting writer.

A. Philip Randolph: For Jobs and Freedom (PBS 1996), feature-length documentary produced by Dante Films. Revised final script for broadcast; consulting writer.

America’s War On Poverty (PBS 1996), five-hour prime-time series.  Co-wrote two films, Given a Chance and In Service to America, and consulted on a third. Consulting producer, writer.

 Out of the Past (PBS 1993), eight-part series on archeology and anthropology, produced by Cambridge Studios, Allston, Ma. With WQED-TVand the Pennsylvania State University. Consulting series producer and producer/director/writer of Signs and Symbols.

Eyes on the Prize (PBS 1990), second season of this 14-hour, prime time series. Producer, director, and writer of Two Societies and Ain’t Gonna Shuffle No More. Ain’t Gonna Shuffle won national Emmys for both writing and editing.

The Ring of Truth (PBS 1988), six-part series on astrophysics produced by Public Broadcasting Associates, featuring MIT Professor Emeritus Philip Morrison. Co-producer of two films, Mapping and Change.

Clients (partial list)

Blackside, Inc., Boston, Ma.

Boston Film and Video Productions, Brookline, Ma.

Cambridge Studios, Allston, Ma.

Clio Inc., New York, NY

Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership, Silver Spring, Md.

Freedom Forum Newseum, Arlington, Va.

Historicus, Inc., Durham, NH

Maysles Films, Inc., New York, NY

Necessary Films, New York, NY

Partners HealthCare, Boston, Ma.

Peace River Studios, Cambridge, Ma.

Public Broadcasting Associates, Allston and Cambridge, Ma.

Roundtable, Inc., Waltham, Ma.

Stone Lantern Films, New York, NY

Susan Froemke Productions. New York, NY

TPT, St. Paul, Mn.

WETA, Washington, D.C.

WGBH, Boston, MA

WQED, Pittsburgh, Pa.