The Enigma of Public Schools - Questions

The Enigma of Public Schools - Questions

1. Is there a need for this project?

There is no question that this will be an important and groundbreaking documentary series. No film has attempted to tackle the issue of education on such a scale. There is a nationwide need to begin addressing the issue of schooling from a standpoint that challenges the norm rather than reaffirms it.

As a country, we are embarrassingly uninformed about the machinery that occupies fully one-half of our waking childhood and shapes us for the remainder of our lives. If we can get excited about an 18-hour series on Baseball, 10 hours on the Civil War and 20 hours on the Old West, there is certainly room in our collective psyche to consider the institution that shapes us throughout our youth. Yet without a context in which to examine American schooling, it is virtually impossible to understand the system we have created. Without such a context we are condemned to repeat our mistakes as we continually try to fix the symptoms rather than the causes of the problems.

Given our cultural habits, it is also clear that the video/television documentary format stands the best chance of engaging the largest portion of our population in an active debate.

2. Is a project of this scope doable at all?

It might be argued that the subject of education in America is so vast that no one can do justice to it in six hours. In addition, the social issues attendant upon this subject (family, workplace, prisons, the economy, social welfare, racism, industrial society, media addiction, and technology, to name a few) are all so enmeshed and intertwined with schooling that it is not possible to approach one without touching upon the others. The solution to these problems is approach and focus. By defining the subject through the prism of debate and by giving the viewer a healthy dose of historical context, we believe we will create a coherent path through the subject, allowing people to raise questions and form their own opinions. If we achieve that, no better work could be hoped for through the art of documentary filmmaking.

3. Audience and Distribution Profile

The general interest audience for this series is virtually the entire country. Recent surveys have confirmed that the number one issue on the minds of the electorate is "education." Every political candidate in the last presidential election year addressed this public concern by offering a major campaign platform devoted to education. There is no doubt that the discussion will continue long after the next election. Special interest audiences will include: the parents of 53 million schoolchildren, the children themselves, over 3 million schoolteachers, another 3 million school professionals, and the entire business community that serves these constituencies.

The track record of our production team assures access to a wide array of television markets. Both cable television and public television have repeatedly demonstrated their hunger for programming in this field. Multiple airings of an entire series are standard during the life of a distribution contract. Subsequent to television release dates, the series will be repackaged as a twelve-part video set with a companion book. The set will be marketed and distributed to target audiences.

4. Production Schedule/Budget

The series will be complete and ready to air eighteen months from the first day of principal photography. Total cost of project excluding promotion, video packaging, marketing, web-development, and launch: $5,000,000 for the entire 6-hour series. Detailed budget and production schedule are available upon request.

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