Monthly Archives: August 2011

Documentary Blog #35 – The nation’s capitol & major disappointment

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With our new money in hand, I set up our travel and trip to Washington, DC to interview people, conduct street interviews and start to get some answers.  I knew I had wanted to get to DC for quite some time.  There are a couple of reasons why I believed DC was essential to our overall story.  One, most national organizations like Meals on Wheels and Feeding America are headquartered in the area and, two, federal organizations like the USDA and the AoA (Administration on Aging) are located here.  I had hoped to interview as many organizations as I could while in town and had been working with the USDA and AoA for more than three months at this point to set up interviews.  I answered whatever questions they had, jumped through hoops and tried working with them as best as I could to get someone on camera to talk about this.  After all, a group like the AoA is working at the highest level in this country to help seniors.  I don’t see why they won’t want to be a part of this project.  So, I loaded up the gear and boarded my cross-continental flight from LA to DC and met my videographer there.

I landed in DC and took a taxi to my hotel, which was located in the heart of DC.  Once I checked into my hotel I went straight up to my room, took out my computer and decided to check my email to make certain nothing changed with my interviews and schedules.  15 minutes into checking my email I received a message from my contact at the AoA telling me they would not be able to meet with me!

I was floored, angry, disappointed and completely shocked.

Why would an organization working at the highest level for our seniors decline to go on camera?  What are they hiding from?  They new I am not making a “Michael Moore” type film (you would not believe how many people asked if that was my style when setting up interviews) and was trying to find answers.  What makes me angrier is that our current Obama Administration wanted to be known as the most open and transparent administration to date.  This didn’t seem very open or transparent to me!  Again, what are you hiding from?  What could make you NOT want to let America know about the problems facing seniors and how you are working to help or alleviate those matters?  I knew the USDA wouldn’t go on camera with us and Feeding America never returned any of our calls – those two were not on my list already.  I went to DC knowing I was going to interview Meals on Wheels, the National Council on Aging and the AoA but now one of the key components of my story decided not to go on camera.  That makes me mad, check that, really pissed off!

After about 20 minutes of fuming I started to calm down and remembered that this story is about the seniors and this is another one of those “Crossroads” you encounter while working on a project like this.  I decided to make lemonade out of lemons and would use that opportunity to explore more of DC, get as much B-Roll as possible and spend more time on my interviews with the NCOA and Meals on Wheels.  And, I am glad I decided to move forward once faced with the fork in the road because of the douche bag move from the AoA (OK, maybe I still not over it).  Because of their cancellation I was able to spend more time walking and wandering DC and was able to make more phone calls and set up additional interviews.  Because of this additional free time I was able to secure an interview with the AARP Foundation and their president, Jo Ann Jenkins as well as walk around DC looking at and shooting many of the monuments.

In fact, while walking through the FDR Memorial I stumbled upon the great quote (seen below) that has become the driving thought/quote/idea behind this documentary.  So, I think it’s important to take the lemons life gives you and try to make lemonade.  There’s something to be said about perseverance, optimism and fortitude.

This is the quote that I stumbled upon while walking around the memorial. This quote has become our driving motivation for this film.

Documentary Blog #34 – Street Interviews – Uninformed America

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I flew Kaleb from Indianapolis out to LA to spend four days with me here.  I wanted Kaleb to come here to get more B-Roll of Los Angeles and to get some street interviews for the film.  I though it would be important to hear what people on the street have to say about senior citizens, old people in general and the massive hunger issue taking place amongst the elderly in America.  I don’t think I was prepared for some of what was said.

If you have ever been to LA then you know Melrose Avenue is one of the greatest, most diverse streets in Los Angeles.  I absolutely love Melrose Avenue particularly the area between Highland and La Cienega Boulevard.  Some of the coolest, nicest and friendliest people live, work and play in this area.  A lot of people (primarily those who have never lived here or base their opinions from movies, television and gossip rags) think LA is vapid, shallow and judgmental.  Yes, some of those characteristics exist here especially the vapid and shallow adjectives.  But I know people in the Midwest who are just as vapid and shallow (if not more) than the people of LA.  But the one thing I will defend about LA is the criticism about being judgmental.  Sure the TV and Film industries are judgmental but the people working in those industries are subjecting themselves to that criticism.  However, most of the people in LA don’t care what a person wears, how they dress or what car they drive.  I think one of the biggest attractions of Los Angeles is that people don’t care about what you wear or how you look.  On the contrary, more people will pay attention to you based on how freaky you dress.  I like that.  If you live in LA and think people are looking at you and judging you based on what you wear or drive then that’s your own insecurity.  It’s this lack of judgment that prompted me to head to Melrose and conduct Street Interviews for the documentary.  I knew I would get honest responses from people.

Kaleb and I started conducting interviews on Melrose and got some great responses.  You can see some of them in the trailer for the film.  It’s amazing to see that I was not alone in my thoughts about seniors and hunger.  Actually, some of the people made me feel pretty bad about the way I was feeling.  I asked two questions of the people we interviewed on the streets.  The questions are as follows:

1) When I say senior citizens or old people, what’s the first thought that comes to mind?

2)What if I told you that six million seniors go hungry every day in America?

I wanted to get their initial response about seniors before I hit them with the staggering statistic regarding hunger.  Some of their first responses were outrageous, generic, shocking and sad.  But this is a reflection of what people are thinking about getting old in America.  One of my favorite responses came from a 23 year-old Hispanic man responding to my statement about six million seniors going hungry.  He said,

“That’s sad.  But if they’re not eating then it’s their fault.  There’s enough food in this country and we throw enough food away that they should be eating.  So if they’re not getting food than that’s their fault, man.”

It’s interesting hearing this response because, in part, he’s right.  We do produce enough food in this country for every person to eat yet people are going hungry.  He really brings up a good point.  Why is it that we live in a country that produces enough food for all but still people are struggling?  What are we doing wrong and how can we fix it?  The second part of his statement was completely uninformed.  People can’t get food and they are going hungry.  There’s no reason why our seniors should be struggling to survive in the wealthiest country in the world.

We also went to Santa Monica and shot on the beach and pier.  Then Kaleb wanted to get shots of LA traffic.  I then look at my watch and saw it was 5:00pm and immediately got him in the car and jumped on the 405 Freeway.  Driving from Santa Monica to Studio City took almost two hours to complete.  Needless to say, Kaleb never wanted to drive in LA traffic again.  Now, everything you have ever heard about LA traffic IS true.  Actually, it’s worse.

Documentary Blog #33 – I went down to the crossroads…

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BIG NEWS! – In late July/early August I received some information that Meals on Wheels Association of America (MOWAA) has agreed to contribute a significant amount of money to allow us to continue telling this story.  This couldn’t have come at a better time for us and to help tell the story since we were just standing still, letting grass grow under our feet , while trying to determine where we will go next and how we will negotiate our path.

Let me backtrack a little and tell you what was happening.  In making a film like this you inevitably come to the crossroads in your story, a place along the journey where you are faced with some tough decisions.  I say “inevitably” because anytime you embark on a journey of great discovery or with any soul-searching your path will lead you to a crossroad.  Heck, you may even come to several crossroads where many paths converge forcing you to make a decisions that will change your life or force you to retrace your steps back to that crossroad and choose a different path.  However, more times than not, the path you have chosen is the right path or the one you were meant to take and you follow that path until you come to another fork in the road and/or are facing more options.

As you can expect that happened with this film and us.  We had shot in Los Angeles, San Francisco/Marin County, Booneville and Orlando.  We could have ended our production here and tried to tell a story with what was already shot.  But I didn’t think this was enough to tell the story of the seniors we had encountered or, more importantly, the themes we had experienced along the journey.  So many other questions started to arise in my mind while making this film that I truly believed we had to find more information, travel to different locations and learn more about America and our seniors.  That way, we can tell a thorough and detailed story.  I just didn’t believe we would have been doing the best job we possibly could if we ended production then and there.  Our dilemma was whether to try and move forward and get more information of just end the story then and there knowing it was not complete.

That’s where the additional money from MOWAA comes in to play.  I cannot divulge how generous they were but I will say that it allows for travel to at least three other locations, hotel and airfare costs, hiring of videographers, and all the other costs that are associated with production.  It also allows for me to fly an editor out to LA to work on the trailer of this film.  As you can imagine this is HUGE and will allow this story to grow organically and not in a way that seems to have an abrupt ending  or no real direction for a solution.

I am so thankful to MOWAA for this contribution.  But, the best part of their contribution is this… During our talks, I stated that their contribution, while helpful and generous, will in NO WAY shape the overall direction, story or outcome of this film.  And, they agreed!  That is a classy move from a classy organization.  They donated to this production because they believe in the film and what the overall impact this story can have on America.

THANK YOU MOWAA!

Documentary Blog #32 – Official Name and Website

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http://www.leftoversmovie.com – TELL EVERYONE AND SHARE WITH FRIENDS! :)

Well if you’re here then you already know about the name of the project. After many hours of deliberations and conversations, the executive producers and I agreed upon a name for this film. As you know, the film is called “Leftovers.” Initially, the film was entitled “Stick a Fork In It,” but that name didn’t completely encompass the overall themes or thoughts about this project. In a situation like this it’s better to wait for all the information to come together and then name the project than to have to edit to a specific title. It’s more organic that way and is much less confining or constraining to a specific theme or title.

While traveling around the country we were just out to shoot and learn about what’s happening to our seniors and how big the issue of senior hunger is in America. But during that process we encountered some other themes like ageism and poverty and lack of opportunities that really shaped the direction of this film. Therefore, we decided upon the title of “Leftovers” to summarize the FOOD element of this plight and to highlight the way America treats its seniors – as people who are forgotten, set aside, left in the background or just completely thrown away.

Being honest, as I always am, I was not completely in love with this title from the very beginning but it has grown on me and I have come to love and appreciate this title. After all, it’s a title that says everything we have experienced and that’s more important in telling the story for all of America to see and experience. What’s happening to our seniors is frightening and should be a warning to what could be in store if nothing is remedied. So the website is now complete and you can see and learn all about our progress through the blogs, watch some videos, look at photos and connect with the great organizations who have helped to be a part of this journey.