Five Years, Baby!!

So, five years is a long time, right? The world changes from minute to minute–so FIVE years–a lot happens and changes in that time. Well, five years ago T2 in partnership with Inland Sea Productions and the Kansas City Area Development Council started work on the “The Next American Dream”–a documentary on the revitalization of downtowns all across the nation. Kansas City was a natural fit for the documentary for a number of reasons. First, and most obvious – we live here! Duh!! Why would we shoot a doc on another city’s revitalization? We don’t live there and couldn’t watch the progress. Additionally, some folks had told KC officials that we were doing the rebuild the right way…and apparently doing it ahead of schedule. So…. off we went. Camera in hand. Again…and again….and again….and again….for like–4 years. It was like Groundhog Day, only we knew that we would ALWAYS have six more weeks of shooting and interviews.

Then, before we knew it, years 4 and 5 were upon us. We were in post and knocking out really fantastic story. T2 editor, Cara Myers, is a champ. Plugging away day after day–digging through literally YEARS of footage and interviews. Writers Aimee Larrabee and Larry Garrett helped to keep Cara sane while she was in the editorial suite. I have to admit, I often wondered if they drugged her….oops, I digress. T2 graphics, headed up by Michael Ong, brought the color and elevated entertainment value with the motion graphics. I loved being in meetings with Michael discussing the graphic look for the doc. I finally understood that when an artist would show Michael an idea he had for the documentary graphics–the sometimes response from Michael being “Interesting.”—actually means: “Whoa Nelley, that is kinda ugly and why don’t you give it one more shot.” Michael knew the look and feel of this documentary from day one. He stayed true to his vision–and we are all grateful for that amazing vision!

Premiere time. We finished the doc and it was time for the premiere–Oct. 7, 2009 at the new Power and Light AMC theater. We were all excited…but nervous that all of the folks were going to be looking at our newborn baby for the first time. Would they think its cute? They did and it has been a success ever since. Yes, it has been shown in over 40% of the United States and 32% of the top 50 markets–yes, all that is true. Now for the mushy stuff– it being shown in all of the markets in the world won’t touch the immense pride, joy and pure satisfaction I have for being apart of this documentary. A true labor of love. For me, it truly was a dream come true. I am looking for the next doc for us to sink our T2 teeth into–but nothing will match the passion of our first– “The Next American Dream.”