New Podcast: Factual America
A new podcast is born
You may have remembered that a few weeks ago I mentioned Alamo Pictures?
It is my new venture to bring some great US based documentaries to the widest audience possible. We’re talking feature length documentaries appearing at movie theatres and film festivals, on Netflix and television. This idea has grown out of some of the work we were doing at Mt. Bonnell Media. There we produced films and podcasts for clients. It was not just great fun also a testing ground for could be done.
And, now, what could be done has been born with a name: Alamo Pictures.
We have some exciting projects at various stages of development already. Obviously I cannot say too much at this point. But soon our “all singing all dancing” Alamo website will have all the details and information you’re ever going to need. And no one will be able to say Alamo Pictures lacks ambition. The people we are working with are BAFTA and Emmy awards winners. The stories they want to tell are relevant, intriguing and emotionally charged. We are taking this genre by storm.
Just last week, in a studio in Kings Cross London, an area synonymous with urban regeneration, the first podcast of Alamo Pictures was recorded at a sound studio. The podcast is called Factual America.
Factual America uses documentary films to explore the themes that make America unique. Each week a guest chooses a film. Then in the studio they discuss it. The guests will include leading documentary filmmakers as well experts on US culture, history, politics and society – and some more enthusiastic then “expert” – it will be quite a mix.
The host of the show is Matthew Sherwood. He was born and raised in the great state of Texas. He came to the UK in 2001, and is now permanently resident here. He has worked in journalism at, among other publications, The Economist. He has a wealth of experience writing for publications, interviewing world leaders, and chairing conferences. Formally he spent his time helping diverse audiences understand the global trends impacting upon their lives. These communication gifts will now be at the disposal of the Factual America audience.
On the first show we had the former host of the podcast: Move Your Business to the United States, Kevin Turley. Turley’s choice was Salesman. Filmed in 1967, eventually it was released in 1969. Salesman is now deemed a classic. It is also something similar to what Alamo Pictures wants to do. For that film is a study in how a documentary can be made and what it can say about the human condition.
The film’s creators were the legendary brothers: Albert and David Maysles. They crafted a film about the American Dream. Shot in the poor parts of Boston and Florida it makes for sobering viewing as it shows the struggles of ordinary people. As well as the lot of salesmen, and travelling ones at that, who hawk Bibles from door-to-door with their sales pitch always the same. Sometimes they sell, sometimes they don’t.
Watching the movie today it is interesting to see how much the ordinary lives of America have changed. The world that the film depicts and the work of the men at its centre are now all long since gone. As Turley pointed out in the podcast this was not so much the world pre-internet as a world pre –colour television – that is a long time ago if in reality only 50 years.
It is clear Turley and Sherwood had a blast chatting about Salesman. You can watch the video that recorded the recording of the podcast. I’m glad they did record this. Because you see the fun the pair had and that is some of the fun we are hoping to have week after week on Factual America. This is what we are looking to create: an audio product that is as fun to listen to as it is informative.
The producer of Factual America is Emmett Glynn. Known to many in the broadcast world, Emmett is the producer of Move Your Business to the United States. He is at the helm of this latest podcast too. This audio adventure is slated t be taped in London and across the UK and Europe. Expect some fun on location “shoots”. Also expect an eclectic group of guests. From academics to film fans, from documentarians to journalists, from people on the inside of the movie industry to those standing on the outside wanting to find the door to enter- they are all gong to be featured in the months and years ahead. We will have some surprise guests too: big names talking about their favourite US documentary. And that is one long and rich tradition. Whether it be Salesman or Grey Gardens, whether it is Ken Burns or Michael Moore, Capturing the Friedmans or Lake of Fire we will be there discussing and arguing over the good points and the significance of each film chosen by our guests. We will also have an interactive website and a real presence in all social media platforms.
I predict, like Move Your Business to the United States, we are going to have a hit on our hands.
You see we may love films at Alamo Pictures but we haven’t stopped loving what Mt. Bonnell did so well – making podcasts.
By producing this latest podcast we are placing AP filmmaking in an historical continuum. We are part of a tradition that stretches back 100 years, maybe more. We are starting out on a journey that we hope is going to last a hundred years, maybe more.
Anyone who wants to be part of this forthcoming adventure be they directors or investors, distributors or researchers, we would like to hear from you. Alamo Pictures is if anything a “big tent” both in terms of inclusivity and in terms of opportunities. We want to help make documentaries even more relevant than they already are today.
So watch this space as you stock up on the popcorn in anticipation of forthcoming attractions from Alamo Pictures …
