The Script Doctor

Vital info; but commercials undercut context, time to think, to feel, and experience #Rachel Maddow

Feb 08

Jan 17

Jan 09

Not as compelling or as fresh as Frontline’s DROPOUT NATION last fall, THE EDUCATION OF MICHELLE RHEE raises more questions than it answers. Once again, it proves how hard it is to join the issues in reporting on education when the answers have more to do with the general health of the children being educated and the management of a bureaucracy than with teaching. Alexander Russo’s comments on the PR “coincidences” surrounding the Frontline documentary are intriguing and worth pursuing. Knowing that this is a compilation of PBS NewsHour reports somewhat explains its limitations. Had I known that and hadn’t seen the press on Rhee’s new venture I might not have watched. I got the attitude, the personality, the controversy, but overall I wanted to learn more.

Jan 04

Getting attention, finding money and finding your audience is a challenge for today’s documentary filmmaker. I didn’t see “Until They Are Home”, but I know how important reviews and awards are and have to admire Barber’s strategies. This year-end story from the NYT has stayed with me:

A Documentary Maker Puts Money on an Oscar Ad

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Steven C. Barber, a filmmaker, was looking at a used Lexus to replace his 2001 Chevy when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its lists of Oscar-eligible scores and songs this month. The music from his documentary, “Until They Are Home,” made both.

So who needs a Lexus? Mr. Barber, who operates from a rent-controlled apartment here, bought a full-page “for your consideration” ad in Variety instead.

The ad, said Mr. Barber, who spoke by telephone last week, cost him a little less than its standard price of $13,500. As with almost everything related to his movies, he haggled — but at least he didn’t ask Variety for a contribution.

“I ask everyone for money,” said Mr. Barber, who describes himself as a salesman by nature. In fact, he makes a living by selling advertising when he isn’t pursuing his passion for documentary films, and especially those about repatriating the remains of American military personnel who died abroad.

Oct 25

No right to vote in the U. S. Constitution

Watching ELECTORAL DYSFUNCTION stirred me to ask why isn’t there a public discussion to limit the time spent on political campaigns, why isn’t everyone automatically registered, why don’t we have a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday voting holiday period, why don’t we have an independent commission to administer the elections, and why do we waste millions on negative advertising instead of requiring television stations to present positive policy positions of the candidates and parties?

Maybe if teachers show this documentary in grade school and high school social studies classes, a new generation will take up these issues.

As one child says when confronted with a demonstration of how the Electoral College works, “It’s not fair!”