Sometimes you work really hard on something and know you’ve done a great job and it ends there. No accolades. No tickertape parades down Main Street, sometimes not even a “Thanks, that was really awesome.” It happens.
Other times, you work your tail off and put your heart, soul, blood sweat and tears into a project and it consumes you. Instead of weeks, it takes months. Instead of months, it takes years. It becomes you. You eat, sleep and breathe the work and at times it seems as though it might never end. And it’s wonderful. And horrible. Yet more wonderful than anything else.
That’s what happened to the T2 + Back Alley Films team and “The Next American Dream” documentary, which made its debut earlier this year on KCPT-TV, the Kansas City, Missouri PBS affiliate. In fact, back in February of this year, my very first blog post ever was about this project and how documentaries fuel my creative passion in an insane way.
This film was a co-production of T2 + Back Alley Films and documentarians, Aimee Larrabee and John Altman of Inland Sea Productions. More than 8.9 million viewers nationwide have viewed the film on PBS and since it was made available by the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) to its members last November. And the rest of the story ….
We. Won. An. Emmy.
Wow! What an indescribable feeling and something that all of us who worked on the documentary regularly pull out and revel in, all over again.
For those of you who’ve not seen “The Next American Dream,” the documentary focuses on Kansas City’s efforts to revitalize its downtown and explore the renewed demand for walkable urbanism in American Cities following the cultural shift to drivable suburban living personified following WWII. Big words for people moving out of cities and flocking to suburbs during one part in American history, and then the renewed interest in returning to urban areas and living in cities again.
The project couldn’t have happened without our fearless leader Teri Rogers, T2 + Back Alley Films’ CEO and the film’s executive producer, and her commitment to the undertaking and dedication to making it happen. In a recent press interview, she described the opportunity as “a unique and incredible opportunity, given Kansas City’s accelerated timeline to revitalize, to not only explore something that is currently a national topic, but to document and record the whole process – from start to finish – right in our own backyard. And what an honor for our city.”
Also along on our seven-year journey was the Kansas City Area Development Council. KCADC used it as a powerful marketing tool to upgrade our city’s image. The film has since been used as a teaching tool for architects, urban planners and city leaders across the nation. And without KCPT, our film’s national presenting station, it wouldn’t have aired in major cities like L.A., Chicago, Miami and Boston.
Me, I’m still dancing to the song: We Won An Emmmmy, We Won an Emmmmy.
I never tire of it. Nor do any of the very talented people who were a part of the making of “The Next American Dream.” And even though it’s great to do really awesome work that may or may not get any recognition, it’s super duper beyond the light fantastic to win an Emmy. Woo hooooooo.
And so, we share our joy with you. In this blog post. And we thank you for reading it – and allowing us, just for a moment or two, to smile and dance and revel in not only a job well done, but something that we manage to nab some pretty amazing recognition for. And man, does it feel great.
If you’ve not yet had the chance to see “The Next American Dream,” we hope that sometime you will. We promise you’ll enjoy it.
