This fall has been devoted mainly to archival work – sourcing, mastering and clearing all the film and photos we begged, borrowed and... It’s thanks to a second grant from Patricia and Edwin Matthews of the Gould Family Foundation that we’re able to do this important work. I brought on a pro, Lynn Adler, who has done three big archival films: The Summer of Love; The Most Dangerous Man in America (about Daniel Ellsberg); and Connie Fields’ epic about the anti-apartheid movement worldwide, Have You Heard From Johannesburg? Alyssa Martin also came back and the three of us have been working for three months tracking down archival footage from everywhere. Our biggest, most crucial sources agreed to license or give us their material -- a huge relief. Then we started in on the $60-a-second crowd and ran into roadblocks. In one case, not only did they want $60 per second but they insisted we get permission from the original source, which would have cost another $60 per second – if we could get them to deal with us, often an impossibility in the case of local television stations. As a way around all this we explored fair use, consulted a lawyer who, to our surprise, said most of the archival film qualifies. That was great news. But it left us with the problem of mastering: how do you duplicate masters without licensing and paying for it first?

Kim Aubry of ZAP came to our rescue. He has been experimenting with a black box called Dark Energy, which was invented for special effects but turns out to be excellent for converting video to high-def 24p. We did a trial run with a DVD of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and it looked great. So we’ve found a way to fair use the big commercial archives and little television stations that no longer have their footage. Over the end of the year we’ll be doing as much mastering as possible, so we can go into the final editing assured that archival footage is in hand. I enjoy archival work even if it’s a million details to doggedly pursue. These months have been a welcome break from the demands of directing and writing and fundraising, and set us up to finish the film well.

Edwin Matthews, who founded Friends of the Earth in Europe and knows Amory Lovins, asked if we’d like to interview him and offered to pay for it. What a favor! It took a few months of follow-up, but finally we were on our way to Rocky Mountain Institute. Amory is a legend in my mind – I’m surprised more people don’t know of him – but I’d seen enough interviews with him to worry about getting shtick or something canned. We connected around my father, who was an architect doing and teaching solar design when Amory was in high school in Amherst, MA – I had no idea, but Amory recalled him. We ran into trouble over putting Amory in Act 3 with the radical ecology crowd – I certainly understood why he didn’t want to be associated with them, but it sure messed up my plans. I had no choice but to honor his request. The interview went very well – he’s smart and witty, passionate and profound, gave us a great blend of stories and ideas, history and visions of the future. I’m amazed that his optimism is intact after thirty years being so far out in front. But he thinks we’re just getting to the good part. What a blessing to have him in the film!

Oh, I'm so happy to report that we had two successful screenings last week.  Both were well attended (the rooms were dark, hence the lack of photographic evidence this time around) and people had a lot of things to say at the end!

We are proud of the progress of the rough-cut.  It was very gratifying to watch the film with an audience and see what people responded to and what they didn't.  (Special shout-out to Martin Litton!!)  We have worked long and hard on this cut, no one more than Mark.  He was pleased, as he should be, with the film.  There are still some major hurdles to cross, a beginning and an ending to say the least.  The first four acts have had two go-rounds, whereas the fifth act only has one pass as of yet.  This was apparent to the audience, and it was indeed important for us to be able to get the feedback that we did!  So thanks to all that came, supported and offered opinions!

Here are some excerpts from some of my favorite comments:

David says: "you have a problem with the last act being totally depressing.  And I assume you'll be adding the oil-spill, another very depressing tale.  I'm sure you agree that you don't want a depressing, demoralizing,  hopeless, "we're really totally fucked" ending."

These images really bring home the recent disaster in the Gulf Coast.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/disaster_unfolds_slowly_in_the.html