This American Life Open Call
Dear Educator,
My name is Mary Ann Casavant, and I am the Coordinating Producer for a documentary program on Showtime called This American Life. Right now we're working on a television episode that will profile the lives of seven different Americans, of all ages, named John Smith. We're hoping that one of the John Smiths in our story will be a student, and Education World has kindly agreed to help us find him.
We want to assure you that this letter is not a hoax or a joke. We’re putting together a real documentary focusing on real people -- not celebrities or pundits. Everyone in the story will be a John Smith who lives somewhere in the U.S., from Texas to Ohio, Florida to Oregon. The youngest John Smith will be an infant, and the oldest (so far) is a 79-year-old man. Each profile will focus on the things that matter most to that particular John Smith, and the various joys and struggles that are part of his life. We'd like everyone in the story to be named John Smith because we want the stories to feel universal. We want to talk to you and the other John Smiths about the experiences we share -- the things we all go through but rarely get a chance to talk about in-depth.
For our teenage John Smith, we're looking for someone who doesn't mind talking about himself a little, and who would be comfortable sharing a bit of his life with our audience.
So you can get a sense of who we are, here’s a little background: This American Life is a documentary series airing on Showtime this spring. The series, which was nominated for three Emmys last year, is a spin-off of a public radio program (information about the radio show available at http://www.thislife.org) that has won most of the major journalism awards in the country, including the Peabody. You can find out more about our TV shows online at:
http://www.sho.com/site/thisamericanlife/home.do
We would also be happy to provide complimentary DVDs if you cannot access these links. We are a small crew, and we pride ourselves on the respect we pay the people we film. If anyone ever asks us to turn off the camera, we always do. Our process is casual, and usually feels like spending a day or two getting to know someone new.
We know it’s unusual to get a letter from a stranger asking you to ask a student to be on television, but we hope you'll consider talking to us. American is a huge, diverse country, and sometimes we don't even know what our neighbors are doing, let alone whether someone two states away is facing some of the same struggles and joys we are. We want to start seeing who is out there.
If you're interested in hearing more about this -- even if you just have questions but aren't sure you want to participate -- please contact us at johnsmith@thisamericanlife.org or 800-463-4505.