CPB’s big America at a Crossroads initiative funded 20 independently produced documentaries on aspects of the post-9/11 world, at a cost not wildly above the predicted $20 million. [This list tracks the 21 grants to producers and the resulting 20 broadcasts. See also Current’s related 2009 article and timeline.]
The funding
Costs of the project’s major phases:
$2,520,724 — for R&D on proposals from 36 producing teams, the first cut in the grantmaking process,
+ 12, 629,507 — for production of the final 20 selected projects, and
+ 5,644,158 — for WETA’s work as “Crossroads entry station” including packaging and promotion of the series and outreach efforts. = $20,794,389 — total cost
Here’s a boxscore counting the productions. Number of documentaries for which CPB announced funding in 2006 for its America at a Crossroads project
20
Additional commissioned in 2006
(The Muslim Americans)
+1
Total productions announced for funding
21
MINUS Not completed (Invasion)
-1
Total completed and broadcast
20
Total distributed to public TV by PBS
19
Distributed by Oregon Public Broadcasting/NETA, Fox News Channel and other outlets
1
Total distributed
20
The films
The first 11 Crossroads films premiered on PBS in April 2007 as a packaged series:
April 15, 2007
Jihad: The Men and Ideas Behind Al Qaeda, originally Holy War
April 16
Warriors and Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
April 17
Gangs of Iraq and The Case for War: In Defense of Freedom
April 18
Europe’s 9/11, originally Spain’s 9/11, and The Muslim Americans
April 19
Faith Without Fear, originally The Trouble with Islam, and
Struggle for the Soul of Islam: Inside Indonesia
April 20
Security versus Liberty: The Other War and The Brotherhood, originally The Terror Dilemma
Nine more docs aired later on PBS, listed by broadcast date:
June 11, 2007
Kansas to Kandahar: Citizen Soldiers at War, originally Citizen Soldiers
Aug.