Inside Thirteen blogger: Andrew Yamato, Outreach Producer, Life After Broadcast

There was an op-ed column in the New York Times a few weeks ago about a recent survey of American teenagers in which 20% didn’t know who the United States had fought against in World War II. One quarter couldn’t even identify Adolf Hitler.

Statistics like these are partly why Thirteen commissioned Brooklyn-based Reel Works Teen Filmmaking to produce a half-hour documentary about World War II as part of our outreach effort for Ken Burns’ THE WAR. The completed film, titled Over Here, had its premiere screening on Monday, May 5th at Thirteen.

For this project, Reel Works co-founders John and Stephanie Williams assembled local high school filmmakers Derek Garcia, Zachary Lennon-Simon, Rebecca Kaplan, Niaz Mosharraf, Isaac Shrem, and Melinda Tenenzapf to work under the supervision of filmmaker and Reel Works mentor Maria Gambale. This “Team Thirteen” met with Thirteen staff last August to brainstorm fresh approaches to the well-worn subject of World War II, eventually choosing to focus on the homefront as experienced by New Yorkers who had themselves been teenagers at the time.

Team Thirteen then went on to conduct extensive interviews with over a dozen subjects, weaving their candid recollections into a refreshing portrait of a “greatest generation” as diverse and opinionated as their city itself. Punctuated with eclectic stock footage and poignantly scored by composer Barney McCall, Over Here stands not only as a document of what happened over sixty years ago, but as an inspiring example of the direct and vital connection that can still be made between the wartime generation and the young people inheriting the world they helped save.

That connection was movingly evident as both filmmakers and subjects spoke of each other with deep respect and affection during the Q&A panel discussion which followed Monday’s screening. For myself and the other Thirteen staff present, it was a great opportunity to see the impact of our outreach efforts on such a personal level, and we’re looking forward to future collaborations with Reel Works.

You can watch Over Here on Thirteen’s NEW YORK WAR STORIES website.

It will also soon be downloadable from iTunesU—Apple’s collection of free educational podcasts.

There aren’t too many people on the planet that I can say I’d be honored just to pass in a lobby, but that’s exactly how I feel about author and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel. We just ran into each other downstairs, and I got to exchange a few words with a great man. He was here shooting an interview to coincide with our broadcast of Visions of Israel.

When I asked the crew how the shoot had gone, they could not have been more complimentary. One of our staffers told me that “when Elie Wiesel shakes your hand, it’s a handshake you’re going to remember for the rest of your life.” I couldn’t agree more.

Visions of Israel will premiere on May 14th, 2008.

Inside Thirteen Blogger: Debra Falk, Communications

Last week, The New York Times ran a feature on Thirteen’s own SECRETS OF THE DEAD, a series I have publicized for the majority of its eight seasons. After seeing the piece, someone came up to me and commented how great it was that the Times’ story happened, and asked me if I knew they were running it…so here’s a behind-the-scenes look into that process.

For this particular story, it went down like this: weeks prior to broadcast, my colleague Donald Lee and I determined which media outlets would receive materials about the upcoming SECRETS premiere shows. Screeners and releases were duplicated and sent, then we start leaving messages in inboxes and voicemails. When the moons align, we chat with a real, live person. “Did you get the screener? Do you need more info? We have producers and experts to interview…interested?”

We always try to hit everyone we think might be interested at the New York Times, from the Arts & Entertainment editor to the TV Decoder blogger–you never know who is going to bite on the story.

The “pitch” suggests packaging all the new episodes into a bigger story about the series and brags how successful the series has been over the years, and says that if you haven’t dug into SECRETS in a while, you should talk to its executive producer, Jared Lipworth. The response? Nothing. For weeks. We try again. Still no response.

I start getting a little nauseous at the prospect of no news = no coverage. Then about a week before the premiere broadcast, I get a call from the Culture Desk writer. Seems that the A&E editor I’ve been barraging wants her to do a round-up story on the new season, and wants to talk with Jared and representatives from all four episodes. I do an endzone dance in my cube. I high-five Donald. I call producer Jared (I think he did a dance, too). Then I realize that I have to round up all the shows’ experts, none of whom I’ve spoken with to date–and who are scattered around the world–to do interviews starting immediately. We have just a few days to make this story happen.

So I start off with the Aztec Massacre expert in the U.K.; I think I have her office number, so I call to leave a message. After all, it’s 11:30 p.m. there. And..it’s her home number–she picks up. Not the way I’d hoped to make her acquaintance, but she’s good-natured about it, and excited about talking with the Times about her work. I’m not going to make the same mistake twice, so the rest of the calls wait for morning. It takes a couple of days to track down researchers that are in Crete for “Sinking Atlantis” (and Crete seems to be riddled with spotty reception), Jerusalem for “Escape From Auschwitz”, (and I’m trying to reach him over Passover, no less) and Seattle for “Doping For Gold” (I talk to him while he sits in the Boston Airport waiting for a plane). Meanwhile, Donald is hustling the photos through internet channels to the Times photo desk.

The day before the story runs, we’re on-call for last minute fact-checking. I drag my Blackberry everywhere–including the ladies room–just in case they need anything. I contact our research and Viewer Services department for more information. I re-send releases and transcripts and synopses to the writer.

That night, I throw pennies into a fountain and salt over my shoulder, wishing for the story to become real (because despite all this legwork, if big news breaks in the 11th hour, our story can get bumped). I hope that it says what we want it to say, and sleep very little.

The next morning, I spring out of bed and log on to the Times, and there it is. The story that just “happened”. After another endzone dance, it’s on to making the next one “happen.”

Thirteen Blogger: Kellie Specter, Director of Communications

I walked out of the office the other night and I noticed that Neal was listening to an ipod. I thought it was great that our CEO owns an ipod and I became very curious about it. I wondered… “What is Neal listening to?”

Before I came to Thirteen I worked in commercial radio and in the record business, so I’m a bit of a music junkie. I also studied psychology in college, thinking I’d someday be a psychoanalyst (believe me, all those classes have served me well in life!). But on this particular evening, both of my interests came together and I wondered not only what Neal was listening to, but what it said about him. I suppose because he’s the new leader here at Thirteen, a lot of us are curious about him.

So, I emailed Neal and asked him if he would send me 5 songs from his ipod (he graciously sent me the last 5 single plays). Then I rolled up my sleeves and did some research. It turns out that in 2002, scientists at the University of Texas at Austin did the first comprehensive study of the link between music preferences and personality traits. It’s a long but fascinating paper.

So…what is in Neal’s ipod and what does it say about him? Well, here are his 5 songs:

*Summer Wind by Frank Sinatra
*Heat Wave by Linda Ronstadt
*American in Paris, Seiji Ozawa conducting
*1234 by Feist
*Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley

Based on data collected from 3,500 people, the study identified four music preference categories:

Reflective and Complex
Intense and Rebellious
Upbeat and Conventional
Energetic and Rhythmic

This sampling of Neal’s music choices seems to indicate that he is in the Reflective and Complex category. According to a synopsis of the category,

“People with high scores on the Reflective and Complex music-preference dimension tend to be open to new experiences, creative, intellectual, and enjoy trying new things…wisdom, diversity, and fine arts are all important to them. When it comes to lifestyle, high scorers tend to be sophisticated…and after a hard day of work, if they’re not listening to music or reading a book, they enjoy documentary films, independent, classic, or foreign films.”

Classic and independent films? Fine Arts? Trying new things? Well, it would be simplistic to conclude that Reel 13, SundayArts and the other creative new projects that Neal is spearheading here at Thirteen are directly influenced by listening to Frank Sinatra, but it’s certainly interesting to think about.

As for the suspenders? I’m sure there’s a study out there somewhere…

Thirteen blogger: The Thirteenth (Vickie Karp, Director of Creative Services)

Hundreds of years ago, way, way before television, Basho and other poets wrote renga–the syllabic group-blog of its day. An ancient Japanese poetry form better known as a shared poem, the renga is an ongoing conversation in verse, in which each poet adds a few lines and passes it on. Not quite like any conversation you or I have ever had, you count the syllables per line–fives and sevens–with slight variations allowed if your accountant knows how to phrase it to the IRS.

Now, in honor of National Poetry Month, PBS, and viewers like you, the Thirteenth launches “Television–A Renga.” After all, dear reader, it’s not about the tote bag. Our renga on television continues virtually forever, so do send me one if you like. I’ll read as many as I can without getting depressed, and select a few for appearance in The Thirteenth over the coming months. Or a nameless intern will take a break from writing his or her screenplay, read some, and help post them. Don’t be afraid to be serious or really good. It happens. But do keep it to a few lines of fives and sevens on Thirteen, public television, and television in general.

I’m still hoping to hear from Indrek Tart in Siberia, who once sent me a fan letter in Russian Cyrillic. At least I think it was a fan letter. Indrek, if you see this, please send your contribution to the television renga asap.

Television: A Renga — Help Desk

According to Jonah Lehrer, author of “Proust Was a Neuroscientist,” your brains and your feelings are vitally connected, so not to worry if you get a little emotional. Even Mussolini wrote a romance novel. Dorothy Parker, in her review, merely said “You Duce, you!”

The Jews of New York makes a complete five-syllable line. Pledge, tote bag, Jews of New York makes a strikingly dull seven. Great Performances. Five. Long live Sunday Arts. Five. Cable and network pale by comparison? Too many syllables.

But if all three million of you decide to use these suggestions, the renga will get a little repetitive. How about your favorite sea creature from Nature or your fictional account of how Charlie Rose got his black eye? Oh, wait, I see the prescient Garrison Keillor has captured that moment in time without even reading my directions, so make that a sea creature and hurry.

We also have David Lehman, famous editor of The Best American Poetry series and author of dozens of books including the just-released Poetry Forum (and excellent blog!). We have our own Hugh Siegel who can watch Sesame Street in both English and Spanish, the magnificent Isaiah Sheffer, whom you know from Selected Shorts on NPR and who is Artistic Director at Symphony Space in NYC, and the redoubtable Roy Blount, Jr., of NPR’s Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, and author of more than 20 books.

And Fran Richey, author of the beautiful and just-released poetry book, The Warrior: A Mother’s Story of a Son At War wrote some perfect lines about the Hudson River and then went on book tour before I could tell her there are no television sets, at least not any working television sets, in the Hudson River. So she’ll turn up later with some lines on tv. I’ve asked Thirteen’s program guide illustrator and New Yorker cartoonist Arnie Levin to contribute, but he’s tired after drawing last month’s suspenders for Neal Shapiro.

Free Advice–writing about Jane Austen does not make you Jane Austen, but feel the fear and do it anyway. Have I forgotten anything? Oh yes, here’s the poem …

Television Renga – The World Premiere

(1)

Charlie Rose appeared
One night with a big shiner
And did not explain

Who or what hit him
Thinking this too trivial
For public TV

And allowed women
To think him heroic but
In fact he fell down.

– Garrison Keillor, April 2008

(2)

The Foresight Saga

With foresight I fell in love
with Fleur before she blossomed;

a masterpiece of
Susan Hampshire’s blonde good looks
on television.

-David Lehman, April 2008

(3)

March of the Penguins, good flick,
But how do penguins do it?

“Nature” is brutal
But sometimes also cozy
With kangaroo love

The movie failed to show this.
As television would have.

- Isaiah Sheffer, April 2008

(4)

Two Haiku for Talking Heads

In the races, race
And gender are introduced:
“Hi, Color.” “Hi, Sex.”

Meanwhile pundits, aides,
Ads and candidates are all
Running together.

- Roy Blount, Jr., April 2008

(5)

Let us revisit
Days we spent at Brideshead with
Jerems Irony.

Let’s clap, too, for John Gielgud,
Who always made me feel good.

– David Lehman, April 2008

(6)

Elmo, well, you know,
like Cookie you are to me
Just lookie. You see?

You’re just a Sésamo,
and it’s all the things you know:
letras y números.

Get me off this couch,
big star that you are, Oscar.
You’re really not a . . ..

No place is as neat.
It’s my way or the calle,
when I’m on that street.

– Hugh Siegel, April 2008

(7)

I ask you to pause
And think about your channels
And your destiny.

Meaning. Structure. Poise.
Can’t we all use more of them …
And yes, a tote bag?

– T.T., April 2008

Come back May 13th, when The Thirteenth returns with more of the renga, Arnie Levin’s illustration for the perfect public tv dinner, an exclusive interview with Proust entitled “What Proust Would Have Said About Public Television, Had He Lived.” And Martin Low, so glad you liked the suspenders.

Thirteen blogger: Irene Tejaratchi, Nature producer

The variety of mating behaviors found in nature are plentiful, and it’d be foolhardy to think there’s one sure-shot way to succeed in the seduction game–what works for one species may not work for another. Actually, the behaviors of the cast of characters in Nature’s “What Females Want and Males Will Do” are so varied and dazzling they might distract viewers from some of the subtler themes in the show. So I thought I’d point out a couple of my observations here:

Last year, while “What Females Want and Males Will Do” was in still in production, news broke out about groundbreaking research being conducted by biologist Patricia Brennan on the sexual anatomy/behavior of certain duck species. Naturally Brennan had to be featured in the show! Without giving much away (tune in on Sunday for the racy details), I will say that Brennan decided, instead of focusing solely on male duck anatomy as other researchers had previously done, she was going to research the females’. The results have led to an unprecedented, fascinating understanding of how some female duck species may be involved in the mating process.

What intrigues me about this particular segment of “What Females Want and What Males Will Do” is not only the research but the more subtle notion that scientific research is not always exhaustive, and can be limited by the predilections of researchers. It took Brennan to come along and research the neglected half of a very complicated equation.

Thirteen blogger: Neal Shapiro, President

It may be cloudy outside but in the hallway of Thirteen, I just ran into a ray of sunshine.

How’s that for a transition to Janice Huff, meteorologist for WNBC and NBC Weekend Today?

 

I’ve known her for years and off camera she’s as nice as you’d imagine she is. We caught up in audioroom B, where she was recording her lines for Stormy Gale, a character in Cyberchase. Stormy is a weatherborg from cybersite Gollywood… she’s got flashy lightning bolt earrings and, instead of having legs, she floats around on a cloud.

 

 

Stormy appears in two special weather-themed shows that will hit the air a year from now, in April 2009. In one of her first programs, Stormy helps the CyberSquad (and viewers like you) use math to figure out when fog forms. (If you’re wondering “Where’s the math in fog?” I’ll tell you. It’s in the measurement you do to keep track of air temperature and humidity, and it’s in the reasoning you do to predict when fog will form.)

 

Like many of the other well-known personalities who do voiceover work for this program, Janice loves how much Cyberchase empowers young people–especially girls–to be more confident in math. (Christopher Lloyd [Hacker] and Gilbert Gottfried [Digit] star in the series, and other guest voices have included Tony Hawk, Jane Curtin, Al Roker, Philip Bosco, Jasmine Guy, Bebe Neuwirth and Danica McKellar.)

When Janice was younger, before she knew a cold front from a cumulonimbus cloud, she loved the theater. I listened as she recorded her lines, and it’s clear she channels her early theatrical passion.

What’s the difference between a forecast and her work on Cyber-
chase? “When you do the weather, you just get one shot at it,” she said. “When I do Cyberchase, I can do it until I get it perfectly.”

Oh…and one more difference. Weather forecasts come and go, but Cyberchase will live on…on the air, online and in children’s imaginations.

Thirteen blogger: PJ Hanley, producer Religion and Ethics

“Never discuss politics or religion.”

That’s the conventional wisdom, right? Well, what happens when discussing politics and religion is practically the first sentence of your job description?

Meet the staff of Thirteen/WNET­ D.C., where we produce episodes of “Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly” more frequently than a lot of Americans attend church, where sentences beginning with “The Pope, the Dalai Lama, and George W. Bush,” don’t typically end with a punchline. Where asking someone about their most deeply-held beliefs is not only commonplace, but expected. And I don’t think a single one of us has been thrown out of a dinner party for doing so.

Being based in the nation’s capital, where political races command more attention than the local sports teams, we can’t avoid the intersection of our beat with politics. In 2008, that means following as closely as we can what the candidates are doing to reach out to people of faith, and how they practice their own faith on the campaign trail. Without having reporters and cameramen embedded in each campaign, we do our best to keep up and sometimes end up frustrated. Campaign workers (when they call back) will tell us their candidate doesn’t know where he/she is attending church this weekend ­ and we find out–after the fact–that they did indeed worship in an obvious location right downtown.

Other times, we get a tip from someone who knows us because we are the only TV outlet that covers their issues. They understand that we need access ­in advance­ to get our story right. Most importantly, we get these calls because the tipster recognizes that we WILL get the story right–we generally have figured out how to discuss religion without offending anybody.

As for politics, we’ve always known that Barack Obama is not a Muslim, that Hillary Clinton grew up Methodist, and that John McCain has challenges with the Religious Right. But if anyone hears where any of the candidates will be attending church this Sunday, please let us know.

–PJ Hanley

Thirteen blogger: Emily Lee, Coordinator, Thirteen’s Music Services

As the coordinator for Thirteen’s Music Services department, I am excited to give you a behind the scenes peek at how the music part of production works.

At Thirteen, we have a three-person team dedicated to providing music support to all the programs produced here. I am in charge of preparing music cue sheets (logs of all the music that is in each program), researching publishers and record companies for identification and clearance, and selecting sound effects.

In public television, we face interesting challenges that do not always arise in commercial television–smaller budgets probably being our biggest hurdle. The Music Services department is unique to our station. The commercial world tends to have various people working on a project-by-project basis, whereas we have a whole department servicing the clearance, selection and research needs of most projects produced at Thirteen.

Let’s begin!

So you’re sitting there on your couch watching the latest episode of NOW. You’re probably absorbed by the election coverage, or amazed by the profile of a courageous whistleblower, or discussing the failing economy with your loved-one sitting beside you. But what you’re probably not doing is paying attention to the music.

And that’s exactly what the Thirteen music department is hoping.

A lot goes into scoring a program ­ matching the right tone for the picture, making sure the piece starts and ends correctly, pulling the correct sound effects for the image on the screen ­ but if it is all done well, you should never even notice it’s there. It should blend right into the background, providing support and propel the program forward, while not rearing its head and taking much of the spotlight.

For example, take the opening from the show, Curious:

If you play the beginning of the clip without sound and then compare it with the sound up, you can definitely see the difference. The lighthearted music sets a tone and helps to segue one image to the next. But when you watch the segment, your mind shouldn’t separate the music from the image. This music was specially composed for the program.

In the music library, we deal with three different types of music. We may use commercially released music that anyone can buy in a store or online. We may turn to our production music library. Here we have music that is composed and primarily licensed for use on TV, film, radio, etc., but is not commercially available. Or, we will have music composed specifically for a program. We also have a large sound effects library.

In addition to our music resources, the head of the music department has been at Thirteen since before PBS was created! But that’s another story.

Stay tuned for more Behind the Scenes: Music posts, where I’ll try and get into these things more specifically, I’ll give you a peek inside what it takes to put music in a show, and you can get to know the people behind the music at Thirteen.

Thirteen blogger: Patti Jette Hanley, Producer Religion & Ethics

Happy Easter – again.

This is our 11th Easter at Religion & Ethics, and every year we find ourselves looking for new angles to cover this most important holiday for Christians. We’ve done the “straight” story: what Easter is and why it is so significant. We’ve covered it from the context of the war in Iraq, the Hurricane Katrina devastation, conflicts in Northern Ireland and the Middle East.

When you look at all these different segments, the theme that ties them together through the years becomes obvious: hope. The story of the Resurrection is the story of ultimate triumph, the defeat of death itself. For Christians, it’s the story of the impossible becoming real. That story provides hope for countless Christians in desperate situations worldwide. It is what they draw upon for strength. I guess that’s what faith is supposed to do, isn’t it?

One of the most evocative images of Easter for me is the Orthodox icon that represents the resurrection, often called the “Harrowing of Hell”. Jesus is front and center, stamping on the crossed doors of hell, with an image of a vanquished Satan cowering underneath. Jesus grasps the wrist of a woman on one side, a man on the other, pulling them out of their tombs – they represent Adam and Eve. The icon just seems to emit power and reassurance that good will triumph over evil, that we can prevail over our difficulties. That we can have hope.

It’s a story that doesn’t seem to get old.

P.J. Hanley

Image courtesy of Jim Forest