Defining the American Dream

RETIREMENT HOMES THAT AGE IS NO BARRIER TO CREATING ART. HELLO, I'M JENNIFER CRAWFORD. THANK YOU FOR JOINING US. WE ARE NOW JUST DAYS AWAY FROM A SPECIAL DOCUMENTARY INVOLVING SOUTHWEST FLORIDA AND THE REST OF THE COUNTRY. IT EXPLORES WHAT PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE AMERICAN DREAM IN 2026. AS WE COUNT DOWN TO OUR COUNTRIES, 200 AND 50TH BIRTHDAY, THE DOCUMENTARY CALLED TOOK 2 YEARS TO FILM AND WE USED TOGETHER MORE THAN 1000 INTERVIEWS. ALL OF THEM UNSCRIPTED FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY. MARIGOLD PREMIERES ON LINE AT WGCU DOT ORG ON JUNE. 1ST AND THEN YOU CAN WATCH IT RIGHT HERE ON WGCU TV. COMING UP ON JUNE 14TH, IT'S CALLED A RAW PANORAMIC AND HOPEFUL PORTRAIT OF A COUNTRY AT A CROSSROADS. I HAD THE CHANCE TO SIT DOWN IN STUDIO WITH THE PERSON IN CHARGE OF PUTTING THIS ALL TOGETHER. JOINING ME NOW IS ADAM MASON WHO DIRECTED THE MAYOR AGO AND HE IS HERE IN STUDIO TO TELL US MORE ABOUT THIS FASCINATING STORY. THANKS FOR JOINING US TODAY IN STUDIO. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. CAN YOU GIVE US AN OVERVIEW OF WHAT THIS DOCUMENTARY IS ABOUT? >> YEAH, I MEAN. >> ON THE ONE HAND, IT WAS ABOUT ALSO GOING ALL OVER AMERICA. >> INTERVIEWING EVERYDAY AMERICANS ABOUT THEIR AMERICAN DREAM STORY. IT IS QUITE REMARKABLE HOW WE WERE ABLE TO JUST GO UP TO RANDOM PEOPLE IN THE STREET. YOU HAVE NO IDEA THAT WE WERE GONNA COMING TO THAT DAY AND JUST OFF THEM FOR THEIR AMERICAN DREAM STORY. >> AND THEY WERE RECEPTIVE. I MEAN, >> YOU KNOW, NOT EVERYONE, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE SAY, YOU IT MIGHT PRODUCE A FILM AND I WOULD JUST WALK UP TO AROUND PEOPLE AND SAY, DO YOU MIND GIVING US 5 MINUTES YOU TIME TO TALK ABOUT THE AMERICAN DREAM AND THE EFFECT IT'S HAD ON YOU AND YOU KNOW, THE MYRIAD OF THE STORIES THAT WE GO OUT, THAT WAS QUITE REMARKABLE. THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE WHO WOULD STOP CRYING WHILE THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT THEIR AMERICAN DREAM MALL THAT HAS JUST AS AMERICAN DREAM. YOU KNOW, TO GET EXTREMELY EVOCATIVE TOPIC FOR MOST AMERICANS. YOU KNOW, HOW DID YOU DECIDE WHAT MAKES THE CUT IT TO 90 MINUTE? >> DOCUMENTARY CALLED THE MAYOR AGO THAT WE ARE HEARING ON PBS ON JULY 4TH. WHAT MADE THE FINAL AT HOW DID YOU DETERMINE THAT? >> WELL, I MEAN, IT WAS A LOT OF BACK AND FORTH WITH ALL PRODUCE A DAVID MCCOURT AND HIS WIFE, JUDY MCCALL, ABOUT TRYING TO FIND A NARRATIVE STRUCTURE OUT THE TALKING HEADS. SO WHAT WE ENDED UP DOING WAS THAT DAVID HIMSELF WENT OUT AND KIND OF ANTHONY BOURDAIN STOWAWAY TO INTERVIEW EXPERTS THAT WE HAD, YOU KNOW, AN AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST WHO WAS TALKING ABOUT THE DEATH OF LOCAL JOURNALISM IN AMERICA. WE TALKED TO A POLITICIAN IN BOSTON. HE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE DEMISE OF LOCAL POLITICS AND WE WENT TO CARBONDALE, PENNSYLVANIA WHERE WE TALKED TO A WONDERFUL THE FEMALE MAN WHO TALKED ABOUT THE DISINTEGRATION OF COMMUNITY IN AMERICA. WE WENT AND MET WITH THE INVENTOR OF THE INTERNET, WHO TALKED ABOUT THE EFFECT SOCIAL MEDIA HAS HAD ON THE COMMUNITY PARTICULAR COMMUNITY AND THE WAY THE COMMUNITY SO MOVED ONLINE AND CONSEQUENTLY BECOME MOST DIVISIVE. SO THROUGH THAT WE FOUND A KIND OF A STRUCTURE AND THEN THE TALKING HEADS THAT WE DID WITH THE, YOU KNOW, 1000 PLUS, EVERYDAY AMERICANS PEOPLE WOULD JUST NOT TO TOUCH ON THESE DIFFERENT SUBJECTS. >> IS THERE ONE OR 2 PARTICULAR STORIES THAT TOUCHED YOU MORE DEEPLY OR HAVE MORE OF AN IMPRESSION ON YOU THAT YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE? I KNOW THERE'S MANY. I'M THE ONE OR 2. I MEAN, HONESTLY, LIKE. >> THE REMARKABLE THING FOR ME WAS THAT EVERYBODY HAD A STORY. YOU WOULD THINK, YOU KNOW, I DON'T PERSONALLY LIKE BEING FILMED. AND IF SOMEONE CAME UP WITH A CAMERA IN MY FACE, I'M NOT SURE THAT I WOULD BE ABLE TO BE AS ELOQUENT AS ONE OF THE PEOPLE THAT WE INTERVIEWED HIM YET. WASN'T A SINGLE PERSON WHO KIND OF FROZE ON CAMERA AND EVERYBODY HAD A STORY AND EVERYONE HAD A UNIQUE STORY AND LIKE I SAID, SO MANY PEOPLE WOULD START CRYING FROM THE EMOTION OF TALKING ABOUT THAT AMERICAN DREAM STORY. YOU KNOW, I'M FROM ENGLAND. I HAVE MY OWN AMERICAN DREAM STORY. I WAS TRYING TO MOVING TO AMERICA AND BEING AN AMERICAN THAN IT WAS A HUGE MOMENT FOR ME IN MY LIFE WHEN I BECAME AN AMERICAN CITIZEN, YOU KNOW, THAT WAS SOMETHING I'D ALWAYS ASPIRED TO. AND WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, LIKE EVERYONE IN THIS COUNTRY HAS THEIR OWN UNIQUE AMERICAN DREAM STORY. AND THAT'S WHAT'S SO POWERFUL ABOUT AMERICAN IN AMERICA IS AN IDEA MORE MOST ITEM THE COUNTRY TONIGHT IS SOMETHING BEHIND AMERICA IS EXTREMELY POWERFUL. AND THAT'S WHAT THE COUNTRY'S ABOUT. >> WHAT DO YOU HOPE VIEWERS WILL TAKE AWAY FROM IT ONCE THEY WATCH IT? >> I MEAN, THE MAIN THING I TOOK AWAY FROM IT IS IF YOU SPEND TOO MUCH TIME ON. ON X, WILL, YOU KNOW YOU ONLINE BASICALLY. YOU START TO THINK THAT THIS COUNTRY IS EXTREMELY DIVIDED AND EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN THAT WE TALKED TO EVERY SINGLE ONE WITHOUT DOUBT WITHOUT QUESTION BASICALLY WOULD SAY HOW THEY WANT TO SEE AMERICA COME BACK TOGETHER. SO THE DIVISION IT FEELS TO ME IS IT'S MANUFACTURED THEM IN A SENSE BECAUSE AMERICANS OVERRULE HAVE ABOUT MORNING COLEMAN AND, YOU KNOW, THEN YOU WOULD THINK, I GUESS FROM FROM THE OUTSIDE. AND SO THAT WAS AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL MESSAGE TO ME WAS JUST TO SEE HOW MUCH AMERICANS ACTUALLY HAVE IN COMMON >> DESPITE ALL THE DEVICES THAT WE SEE EVERYWHERE IN THE MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA. SO, YEAH, YEAH. I MEAN, POLITICALLY. >> SURE. ALL ABOUT, YOU KNOW, IT WAS IT WAS JUST QUITE BEAUTIFUL THING. JUST SEEING HOW AND ALSO HOW WELCOMING EVERYONE MOST TO US. YEAH. I MEAN, IF A STRANGER CAME UP TO SHOW, I WOULD HAVE THAT REACTION THAT THEY HAD TO WEARS EVERY SINGLE PERSON. THAT WAS JUST NOTHING OVER THE LOVELY TO US. AND THAT'S A SPEECH FOR TEAMS TO ME ABOUT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. >> AND I ASSUME THAT YOU INTERVIEW PEOPLE OF ALL AGES. I IMAGINE YOU HAVE A VERY MATURE AND AND SOME YOUNGER. YEAH, I KNOW IT'S A SHOW. YOU CAN ONLY BACKGROUND SAYING IT WAS AS BRIGHT AS BROAD A CAMPUS AS YOU CAN GET. >> REALLY. >> AND YOU ARE IN SOUTHWEST FLORIDA AGAIN. AND WHAT IS YOUR GOAL RIGHT NOW? THE TO RETURN TO THE FORT MYERS AREA? >> YOU KNOW, JUST CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS. SO WITH YOU KNOW WHAT WRAPPING UP FLORIDA, WE STARTED IN NEW YORK. WE MAY DO UP TO CONNECTICUT AND THEN WE CAME DOWN THROUGH BALTIMORE, PHILADELPHIA INTO SOUTH CAROLINA AT TENNESSEE AND THEN DOWN TO MIAMI. NOW WE'RE MAKING OUR WAY UP TO ALABAMA. AND THEN WE'RE GOING ALL THE WAY ACROSS TO ST. LOUIS AND KANSAS CITY DOING A BIG LAST YEAR. WE DID THAT PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE, THE WEST COAST AND NOW WAIT. MAKING OUR WAY ACROSS. >> YES, SO I ALSO UNDERSTAND YOU'RE WORKING ON ANOTHER PROJECT CALLED A MILLION VOICES. AND THAT IS SOMETHING THAT IS NOT PART OF THIS DOCUMENTARY. BUT TELL US ABOUT THAT PROJECT. >> YEAH, I MEAN, THE THE BIG TAKEAWAY FROM THE FROM AMERICA THAT JUST THIS APPROACH OF GOING UP TO EVERYDAY AMERICANS AND ALL SKIING AT THEIR OPINION WAS HUGELY REWARDING AND SAY WE'VE BASICALLY DEVOTES A WEBSITE. PEOPLE GOING TO WWW TO AD TO 50 LIKE AMERICAN DREAM TO 50 AND AND BASICALLY ACCESSES THE CAMERA ON THE IPAD ABOUT 2 PER PHONE AND PEOPLE CAN LEAVE THEIR OWN AMERICAN DREAM STORY. SO WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO IS GET A MILLION AMERICAN VOICES TALKING ABOUT THEIR AMERICAN DREAM STORIES. I'M IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF YEARS WITH SOMETHING LIKE THAT. AND SO BUT FOR LANAI DOING RIGHT NOW IS WE'RE TRAVELING ALL ACROSS AMERICA, KICKS OFF IN THAT BY TRYING TO GET 1000 FORCES IN 30 DAYS, WHICH WE MAY OR MAY NOT ACHIEVE >> THAT SAID, YEAH, THAT'S I THINK YOU WILL ACHIEVE THAT GOAL AND MORE AND THOSE VOICES WILL BE UNFILTERED AND AUTHENTIC, WHICH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THIS. THANK YOU. YEAH. THANK YOU FOR JOINING US TODAY. AND I WISH YOU MUCH LUCK IN YOUR TRAVELS. AND AS YOU WORK TOWARD COMPLETING THIS MISSION PROJECT, WHICH IS WHAT IT IS. THANK YOU SO MUCH. THANK YOU. ONCE AGAIN, HERE ARE DETAILS ON HOW TO CHECK OUT SINCE LATEST WORK. IT BEGINS STREAMING ON W G C DOT ORG ON JUNE. 1ST AND AIRS ON WJCT TV ON SUNDAY, JUNE 14TH AT 05:00PM. THEN THE DOCUMENTARY AIRS NATIONWIDE ON PBS STATIONS ON JULY 4TH, YOU CAN FIND DETAILS ABOUT THOSE AIR TIMES AT WGCU DOT ORG AND FOR AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AND MORE ON THE FILM, CHECK OUT AD TO 50