Deadline: an executive summary...

an executive summary...

following the broadcast of Deadline, Kirsten's friend sent this email:

executive summary : that was very good . congratulations

blow by blow :

i am watching Deadline

( when i proposed that you and i get
together before this weekend i
was spacing and didn't
realize that the 30th is today

i have a remarkable ability to
not know where i am in a
calendar )

had to scramble to get access to a TV
am very glad that i was able to

but am watching it alone
so instead of conversing during it

i started jotting down thoughts

am sending them along in case
they are of use to you

a focus group of one /

it feels nicely structured, crisp

and it looks
good /

commercial break where they define
Furman was great , made things
very clear

all the interstitial stuff by the dateline
guy before and after commercials
helped,

it also seamlessly sutured the
documentary to the voice of
Dateline. i think that that probably
helped mainstream america to
not concentrate on the doc
makers as lefty radicals
and just evaluate the
content on its own
merits /

who wrote the script for the
Dateline reporter?

i like the
letterboxing

btw - the car
insurance commercials were also letterboxed ,
but with blue instead of black /

it was very exciting to see your work
in a nation wide venue

great to here your and katie's names mentioned as
filmmakers

8:48

the GEICO kung-fu fighting commercial was funny

this isn't going to be an hour long edit is it?

[ i am going back through this mail
i checked out the deadline site and read
the NYT
article, so i got a lot of my
questions answered

i don't have access to MSNBC i would
like to hear what people have to say ]

there ain't enough time to fit in some of the really
good stuff from the rough cut i saw

oh, there she is
cornelia!
the woman newspaper journalist

i love her

she was great

they just showed an email address for viewer feedback

do you all have resources ($) to do follow-up

i think of the Fahrenheit 911 web
site and press packages and briefing documents to support facts in
the doc

will NBC end up doing some of that,
that is, screen calls and email from
unhappy viewers

[ again, nevermind . i saw your site ]

the cut on "not by the needle, but by the key"

that was good

that wasn't in rough cut

8:57

oh good

cabana is still in

did you swap in NBC news footage
for other footage that you used
in version shown at Sundance?

[ this question answered by end credits ]

"americans don't have the right to
ask prison workers to execute
innocent people. even by
accident'

that is great

cornelia - "he freaked out"

great
the doc is a very nicely constructed story

wow

9:08 PM

statement about "what if the country
had acknowledged legacy of slavery in
early 70's"

that is pretty damn impressive
that this dialog is even happening
on a national stage

congratulations
/

ooh
you got george bush up in there commenting on
capital punishment

that is most excellent

you are my hero

9:21 PM commercial break

they announce that next segment is on
"torture in name of justice"

you so hit the sweet spot my friend

i dare not hope,

but i would really like to see issues in your
doc get picked up in broad public discourse

given Abu Ghraib this might help folks
make a connection 'tween
abuse in domestic penal system and as
tool in anti-terrorism craziness

9:51 PM

i totally forgot about Emit Till's mom
and the other victims for reconciliation

oh my

and the byrd
guy

this is some serious s***

you done very good

9:56 PM

that was a story that needed to be told

what an incredibly gripping story
i mean,
besides the fact that it's something that
needs to be on the civic agenda,

just narratively
it has the elements of a great story -
life and death at stake
colorful characters
time pressure and climax

woo

ryan talking about racism

i am giddy

( stone phillips wrapping up)

huh,
nobel peace prize nomination
i didn't know that

i kind of like the idea of Ryan commuting the
sentences to distract people from his
scandal

it's kind of dark but also somehow encouraging -

i found something hopeful in the idea of a
old fashioned local politics kind of politician,
without lofty goals [ either revolutionary or reactionary]
arriving at the smart humane solution just by
stumbling along

if he did it to distract the populace
so be it

it reminds me of the hotel manager in
We Regret To Inform...
the story about the Rwandan civil war

from what i remember
[ i only heard the This
American Life version ]

from what i remember there was a hotel
manager who didn't have grand moral
schemes about how things should be
and how to go about making the
world a good place,
he just schemed his way along one
scheme at a time trying to keep
people from being slaughtered

oh
msnbc will have a dialog...

i can't get that here

unfortunate/

so,

the issues raised by the doc are important

but that was also just plane old great
storytelling y'all did /

in closing ,

and to reiterate:

exciting
congratulations
i am happy for you and the people of this great
nation, the united states that the doc got on air

i really hope that we (the body politic) pick
up the ball and run with it

i suppose i should do something

i will write my governor

that's the least i can do /

talk to you soon

ro b

Posted by katherine at 02:46 PM