The Back Story

Posted by Suzanne Blais on 28 September 2009 | 0 Comments

Making A Different Kind of Television

It's amazing-- I still can't believe Episode One took just 30 minutes to watch on television; it took almost two years to create. I hope you enjoyed it--and remember there are eight more! Most of the questions people have asked are about the families. Is it real? Are they really like that? It's common knowledge that there isn't much 'real' about reality tv these days. There are written scripts and 'characters' are set up, there are story editors and line producers who make sure that you-- the audience-- are getting all the juicy bits that they are convinced you want to see. So, let me start this blog by saying.... Yep. It's real. Really, truly real. Now, because we didn't have a Hollywood-sized budget (oh, dear, far from it) we did occasionally have them re-ask a question, or walk back into the room once, or twice. But where it counts, what you see is what you get, baby. Carrie is that quick and witty, Todd has got that sly sense of humor (and is a whiz on the home camera, too), Jaelyn is really that warm and funny, and Mark is that sweet. You'll see more of them, and more of the kids, too, as the show goes on.

It took us over a year just to find the Edisons and the Falcones. The whole show started from an idea I had about how to do an educationally-themed tv show in a different way; a way that would be fun and help viewers forget they were learning anything. The learning thing would just be an interesting addition. But we couldn't seem to find the right families, and things were starting to look grim. We had so many folks who offered to be our guinea pigs-- but we had a specific kind of family in mind. Families who were, frankly, like mine. Interested in going green, but didn't know where or how to start. Luckily, we got some generous help on the casting side-- Shenandoah, you know who you are-- and even though we were horribly underfunded I knew that if we didn't move, we'd lose our window of opportunity for making the whole thing happen. So, I jumped. Miles Electric Vehicles/MC Electric Vehicles (Jim Johnson of MCEV in Seattle is a visionary) came on board with the awesome grand prize, which helped encourage the families to open their doors to our cameras. Anitra Accetturo, Joy Monjure and Dick McKinley of the City of Bellingham thought the approach had merit and supported us, Kristina Daheim of Built Green of Whatcom County was an amazing help, Mark Asmundson and Laura Curley of the Northwest Clean Air Agency made sure we actually had the funding to edit everything we shot, and Ellen Barton of everybody Bike was also key in helping us make it all happen. These were the folks who put their money on the line. And on top of those folks we had lots of generous help from Barron Heating (thank you, Wes Diskin and John Barron), from Don Dawson at Sullivan Plumbing and from Robert Stockmann at Pinnacle Inspections-- these guys comprised the tech team that helped both families understand how to do what they needed to do. We also had tons of help from lots of other folks who provided prizes to help keep the families motivated-- TOTO USA, Fairhaven Bike and Mountain Sports (or are they Ski?), Necky Kayak, Heating Green and Lehmann's Appliances, to name just a few. And really, that's just the tip of the production iceberg.

If this show works for you, if you laugh a little bit and learn a little bit, too, please see it for what it is--- my love letter to Bellingham, to the Edisons, to the Falcones, and to those organizations and people who paid more than lip service to their values by spending their money and time and who believed in this project enough to throw their lot in with me based only on my vision. If it's entertaining to watch, please thank them, and believe me, it takes a village to produce good television.

Suzanne