A Thankful Update

And an Amazing Sound Bite from David Simon (Creator of HBO's The Wire)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We’re about four-and-a-half months into post-production for “A Banner Year,” and everything is coming together! We’re really excited about how the documentary is forming and can’t wait to get it out into the world. I found an amazing soundbite from my interview with HBO Wire Creator (and former Baltimore journalist) David Simon, but first…

Emily Sullivan types away in a crowd as she rushes to finish her Election Day story.

I have a lot to be thankful for:

• Annette Porter and the Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund for accepting “A Banner Year” into the Editor-in-Residence pilot program and funding the editing process.

• Adam Evans, my editor, for being able to see my vision and make it his own, being a great story development partner and an amazing voice of reason.

• My production crew, Alex Glass, Alanna Delfino, Mike Schuh, Krishnan Vasudeven, Ethan Cannistra, and Sinunu Bah, for the incredible help getting shots I couldn’t get.

• Keniera Wagstaff, our production assistant and co-producer. She just graduated and needs a job, so hire her!

• Our Saul Zaentz mentors, Paul Crompton and Richard Henkin, for the fantastic advice.

• Gene Deems for all of his support (emotionally and financially) and brainstorming!

• Emily Sullivan, Julie Scharper and Jessica Calefeti for letting me invade their personal lives with a camera in addition to their work lives.

• Kimi Yoshino, Bob Cohn, Imtiaz Patel, and Stuart Bainum for allowing me to film in the Banner.

• Everyone at the news organization for putting up with my cameras for more than a year.

• My bosses at Merrill, Dean Rafael Lorente, Associate Dean Alex Pyles and Former Dean Lucy Dalglish for giving me the space and support to work on this.

• And of course, thanks to my wife Elisha (and kid) for putting up with my schedule on this. I appreciate every time I’ve called you last minute to switch up our schedules because a shoot has gone longer than I planned.

• Anyone who’s helped contribute financially to this documentary: I couldn’t have done it without you.

Investigative team counting trucks with hazardous materials driving through the Baltimore Tunnel

We’re in a great place right now, but we’re still raising money for post-production. We are applying for grants for hiring a composer, color grading, sound mixing and distribution. If you’d like to contribute, you can do so through our fiscal sponsor (a 501(c)3), Film Independent:

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed so far! A very special thanks to Gene Deems and David Lauricella.

Kaitlin Newman shooting pics at Preakness

I’ve been going back through our sit-down interviews and I found an amazing sound bite. It may not make it into the final documentary, but it’s too good not to share:

Thank you for subscribing, reading, and contributing to my film. Happy Thanksgiving and have a happy holiday season!