Current’s annual survey of productions in the works for public TV

Pipeline 2015, Current’s latest preview of television productions in the works for future seasons on public TV, details more than 101 shows to be offered for broadcast by various distributors through 2019.

The annual survey provides a snapshot of high-profile presentations coming from PBS signature series, independent producers and public TV stations. New lifestyle programs, including cooking shows and travelogues focused on food and folk art, are among the upcoming offers from American Public Television.

Robert Cringely makes his return to PBS primetime next fall with a miniseries that takes him inside American startup companies. Henry Louis Gates, a frequent contributor to PBS, has three series in the works — including an exploration of the great civilizations of Africa — with new production partners at WETA in Washington, D.C.

Several series explore African-American themes: Bridging the Divide, a documentary revisiting the election of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, the first African-American mayor to be elected in a major U.S. city with a majority white population; Through a Lens Darkly, documenting the work of pioneering African-American photographers; and America Revisited, a film trilogy examining movements and institutions that profoundly shaped African-American history and life.

Multiple projects revisit wars in Vietnam and Korea or explore the Cold War. Among programs looking at contemporary life, several take up health care. Films backed by the Independent Television Services includes several exploring LGBT issues, including Out in the Night, a documentary about four lesbians who fought back against a man who harassed and attacked them in the street.

The list highlights productions planned as primetime, weekly or pledge-drive broadcasts for January 2015 and later. With the exception of two 30-minute standalone specials from Louisiana Public Broadcasting, each runs one hour or longer, or is packaged as a series. Episodes of continuing series that run 60 minutes or shorter are omitted from this survey.

Our thanks to producers and their distributors, who supplied most of the information.

Abbreviations: APT, American Public Television, Boston; ITVS, Independent Television Service, San Francisco; NETA, National Educational Telecommunications Association, Columbia, S.C.; NEA, National Endowment for the Arts; NEH, National Endowment for the Humanities; NSF, National Science Foundation; and PBS, Public Broadcasting Service. In production credits, “EP” means executive producer.

Also check out our addendum for late-breaking updates.

Winter ’15

August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand

A production of WQED Multimedia and Thirteen Productions LLC’s American Masters for WNET. Length: 1 x 90. Status: complete. Director/producer: Sam Pollard. Writer: Stephen Stept. Director, planning and strategy, for AM: Lesley Norman. Series producer for AM: Julie Sacks. Executive in charge: Stephen Segaller. EPs: Darryl Ford Williams, Susan Lacy. Contact: Junko Tsunashima, [email protected], 212-560-8079. ♦ Captures legacy of man some call “America’s Shakespeare,” with film and theater luminaries and a host of others sharing their stories of the career and life-changing experience of bringing Wilson’s voice to the stage.

Big Movie Classics: Legends of Flight

Producing organization: K2 Communications. Distributor: Janson Media. Length: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Budget: $10,000,000. Major funders: Boeing Corporation, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Producer/director: Stephen Low. Contact: Stephen Janson, [email protected], 845-359-8488. ♦ Film originally produced for IMAX museum theaters lets viewers experience the challenges, struggles and triumphs of building a once-in-a-generation, entirely new airplane from the ground up.

Building Wonders (w.t.)

Producing organizations: WGBH/Nova. Length: 3 x 60. Status: production. Senior EP: Paula Apsell. Contact: Lisa Leombruni, [email protected], 617-300-4312. ♦ With the help of hands-on experiments, programs investigate three engineering mysteries of the ancient world: Turkey’s Hagia Sophia, Jordan’s Lost City of Petra and Rome’s Colosseum.

Daniel O’Donnell: The Best of Music and Memories

Producing organization and presenting station: Detroit Public Television. Distributor: APT. Length: 1 x 60 pledge event. Status: fundraising. Host/performer: Daniel O’Donnell. Contact: Aimee Gudme, [email protected], 248-305-3778. ♦ Pledge special culled from O’Donnell’s best television performances since 2002 presents his most beloved repertoire. Premiums include program DVDs, related merchandise.

Downton Abbey, Season 5

Producing organizations: A Carnival Films/Masterpiece Co-Production. Length: 9 x TBD. Status: postproduction. Major funders: Viking River Cruises, Ralph Lauren Corporation. EP for Masterpiece: Rebecca Eaton. Contact: Olivia Wong, [email protected], 617-300-5349. ♦ The Crawley family and its staff struggle with responsibilities and choices as they adjust to life in the Roaring ’20s. The Manners of Downton Abbey, a one-hour tutorial on the Edwardian-era etiquette of aristocrats and servants, airs in January 2015.

Edison

Producing organizations: American Experience/Sarah Colt Productions. Presenting station: WGBH. Length: 1 x 120. Status: complete. Major funder: NEH. Producer/director: Sarah Colt. Contact: Lauren Prestileo, [email protected], 617-300-5329. ♦ Biopic portrays Thomas Alva Edison, a man whose name was nearly synonymous with invention, as driven, intensely competitive and never more at home than when he was at work. Web: pbs.org/wgbh/amex/Edison

Effortless Healing with Dr. Joseph Mercola

Producing organization and distributor: Executive Program Services. Length: 1 x 60; 1 x 90 pledge event. Status: scripting. Producer: Ellyne Lonergan. Contact: Alan Foster, [email protected], 540-483-4767. ♦ A passionate advocate of natural medicine, Dr. Mercola will share information about “health foods” that may do more harm than good, how to shift from burning sugar to burning fat and how to exercise less but reap bigger benefits. Premiums include program DVD, companion book, related merchandise.

Escape Anxiety with Suzanne Jessee

Producing organization and presenting station: Detroit Public Television. Length: 1 x 60 pledge program; 1 x 90 pledge event. Status: preproduction. Producer: Lauren Smith Jurcak. EP: Jamie Westrick. Contact: Lauren Smith, [email protected], 248-305-3791. ♦ Suzanne Jessee, M.A., a clinical therapist and former anxiety sufferer, shares the eight steps to escape anxiety, complete with concrete strategies to help free your mind, body and spirit. Premiums include program DVD and CDs, companion book.

The Italian Americans

Producing organizations: WETA, Washington, D.C., and Ark Media in association with John Maggio Productions. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 2 x 120. Status: complete. Major funders: DelGrosso Foods, NEH, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Annenberg Foundation, CPB, PBS. EPs: Jeff Bieber, Dalton Delan. Writer/producer: John Maggio. Producers: Muriel Soenens. Narrator: Stanley Tucci. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Charts assimilation of Italian immigrants to the United States from the late 19th century to today — from “outsiders” viewed with suspicion and mistrust to some of the most prominent leaders of business, arts and politics.

John Paul II in America – Uniting a Continent

Producing organizations: Knights of Columbus. Distributor: Janson Media. Length: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Budget: $460,000. Narrator: Andy Garcia. Contact: Stephen Janson, [email protected], 845-359-8588. ♦ Explores indelible mark left on the American continent by St. John Paul II, including the fall of dictatorships in Chile, Haiti, Paraguay and Brazil; celebrations of World Youth Days visits to Brazil and Cuba; and his tireless defense of workers’ rights and indigenous peoples. Web:bit.ly/Janson-JohnPaul.

Little White Lie

Producing organizations: ITVS, OTB Productions LLC. Presented by Independent Lens. Length: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Major funders: Hartley Film Foundation, Tribeca Film Center. Producer/director: Lacey Schwartz. Co-director: James Adolphus, Producer: Mehret Madefro. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected]. ♦ After growing up in an upper-middle-class household with two loving Jewish parents, Lacey Schwartz discovers that the man she’s always assumed was her father is not her biological parent — and unlocks a powerful family secret. Web: itvs.org/films/little-white-lie.

Music From Northern Ireland with Eamonn McCrystal

Producing organizations: Detroit Public Television, BBC Northern Ireland. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: Detroit Public Television. Length: 1 x 60 pledge program, 1 x 90 pledge special. Status: postproduction. Major funders: BBC Northern Ireland, Hedgehog Records. Producer/talent/vocalist: Eamonn McCrystal. EP for DPTV: Jamie Westrick. Producer for DPTV: Lauren Smith Jurcak. Producer for BBC: Helen Thompson. EP/talent manager: Elizabeth Travis. Director: John Northover. Music producer: Nigel Wright. Contact: Lauren Smith, [email protected], 248-305-3791. ♦ Concert celebrating music from Northern Ireland shot in Belfast’s Grand Opera House, headlined and hosted by Irish pop tenor Eamon McCrystal. Features guest-star performances by Brian Kennedy, Rachel Tucker, Keith and Kristyn Getty, and more. Premiums include program DVD, event tickets, CDs.

Music Gone Public

Producing organization: Peter Berkow Productions. Distributor: NETA. Presenting station: KVIE, Sacramento, Calif. Length: 10 x 60. Status: complete. Producers: Peter Berkow, Mike Hoopingarner. Contact: Brad Fay, [email protected], 541-200-2865. ♦ Series presents world beat, blues, jazz and alt-country-bluegrass concerts curated by Peter Berkow, producer of Sierra Center Stage and Tommy Emmanuel specials. Web: musicgonepublic.com.

A Path Appears

Producing organizations: ITVS, Show of Force. Presented by Independent Lens. Length: 2 x 90, 1 x 60. Status: complete. Producer: Maro Chermayeff. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Team responsible for groundbreaking Half the Sky travels to Colombia, Haiti, Kenya, and the U.S. to uncover harshest forms of gender-based oppression and human rights violations, and solutions being implemented to combat them. Web: itvs.org/films/path-appears.

Through a Lens Darkly

Producing organizations: ITVS, NBPC, Through a Lens Darkly LLC. Presented by Independent Lens. Length: 1 x 90. Status: complete. Major funders: The Fledgling Fund, The Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, Sundance Doc Fund. Producer/director: Thomas Allen Harris. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Documents how pioneering African-American photographers have used technology and artistry to trace the spiritual transformation of African-Americans from slavery to economic mobility and social stability, and how these photographers helped their communities reclaim self-worth and humanity. Web: itvs.org/films/through-a-lens-darkly.

Unbreakable: A Story of Hope and Healing in Haiti

Producing organizations: Knights of Columbus and EVTV Productions. Distributor: Janson Media. Length: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $475,000. Major funders: Knights of Columbus. Narrator: Bruce Greenwood. Contact: Stephen Janson, [email protected], 845-359-8588. ♦ Against incredible odds, a small group of victims of the January 2010 magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti became emboldened to defy entrenched Haitian stereotypes against the disabled and form Team Zaryen, an amputee soccer team that has transformed victims into beacons of hope.

Spring ’15

Alive! In America’s Delta

Producing organization: Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Distributor: NETA. Length: 3 x 30. Status: complete. Budget: $180,000. Major funders: Artificial Reef Trust Fund, Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Producers: Al Godoy, Liz Barnes. Videographer/editor: Rex Fortenberry. Contact: Bob Neese, [email protected], 225-767-4274. ♦ Series examines efforts to restore Lousiana’s whooping crane, black bear and alligator populations, all three members of  the endangered species list. Web: bit.ly/LPB-Alive.

Annabel Langbein: The Free Range Cook

Producing organization: Annabel Langbein Media LTD. Distributor: APT. Length: 13 x 30. Status: complete. EP/host: Annabel Langbein. Consulting producer: Bernard Macleod. Contact: Tom Davison, [email protected], 617-338-4455, ext. 160. ♦ Against breathtaking backdrop of New Zealand’s Southern Alps, Langbein shares secrets of her free-range cooking style and shows how to prepare simple but delicious meals to share with family and friends.

A Celebration of Peace Through Music

Producing organizations: Produced by Pax Per Musicam Foundation, in association with WETA. Distributor: APT. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 1 x 120. Status: production. Major funders: Tom and Gayle Benson, Alfred H. Moses and Fern Schad, Chandler and Paul Tagliabue, Hariri Foundation. Creator/conductor/EP/host/writer: Sir Gilbert Levine. EPs: Paul Tagliabue, Dalton Delan for WETA. Producers: Dennis O’Brien, Claudia Groh, Ayelet Heller. Director: Janos Darvas. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Concert celebrates canonizations of popes John Paul II and John XXIII in the spirit of Pope Francis and their shared commitment to world peace among people of all faiths.

Daniel O’Donnell: Music and Memories

Producing organization and presenting station: Detroit Public Television. Distributor: APT. Length: 13 x 30 pledge specials. Status: postproduction. Host: Daniel O’Donnell. Contact: Aimee Gudme, [email protected], 248-305-3778. ♦ In first series offered by O’Donnell, the singer journeys down memory lane recollecting career highlights and sharing music recorded throughout his career, including footage from past concert specials, promotional videos, and special-event appearances. In a unique twist, each episode ends with two-minute pledge appeal.

Faith in the Big House

Producing organizations: Interlock Media, Inc./Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Distributor: NETA. Presenting station: Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Length: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Budget: $250,000. Director: Jonathan Schwartz. LPB: Executives in Charge Jason Viso & Clay Fourrier. Contacts: Jonathan Schwartz, [email protected], (617) 577-0000 (studio), (617) 201-2728 (cell); or Jason Viso, [email protected]. ♦ Doc explores the formulas used by Christian missionaries to convert inmates in America’s prison systems. Can five misfits who join an evangelical revival on a Louisiana prison farm — a gang-banger, a self-styled theologian, a narcissistic rock guitarist, a twitchy jock and a former football phenom — find redemption? Ministry leaders include former Watergate defendant Charles Colson. Web: faithinthebighouse.com. (Read more about this film.)

Great American Seafood Cookoff VII

Producing organization: Louisiana Public Broadcasting Distributor: APT. Presenting station: Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Length: 1 x 30. Status: postproduction. Budget: $35,000. Major funder:  National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Producer: Gary Allen. Contact: Bob Neese, [email protected], 225-767-4274. ♦ Nineteen chefs from around the country compete by preparing their dish using seafood indigenous to their state. Web: greatamericanseafoodcookoff.com.

The Homestretch

Producing organizations: ITVS, Spargel Productions LLC, Kartemquin Educational Films LLC. Presented by Independent Lens. Length: 1 x 60.  Status: postproduction. Directors/producers: Anne de Mare, Kirsten Kelly. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ As part of CPB’s American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen initiative, three homeless teens brave Chicago winters, high school pressures and life on the streets to build a brighter future. Web: kartemquin.com/films/the-homestretch.

I’ll Have What Phil’s Having (w.t.)

Producing organizations: WGBH Educational Foundation with Zero Point Zero Production, Inc. Distributor: PBS. Length: 6 x 60. Status: production, postproduction. Budget: $2,150,000.  Major funder: PBS. EP/host: Phil Rosenthal. EP for WGBH: Laurie Donnelly. EPs for Zero Point Zero: Chris Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Craig Shepherd. EP: Richard Rosenthal. EP/director: John Bedolis. Contact: Anne Adams, [email protected], 617-300-3838; Laurie Donnelly, [email protected], 617-300-2688. ♦ Phil Rosenthal, the Emmy-Award winning creator of the TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, leads journeys around the globe to experience some of the best food in the best cities in the world. Web: bit.ly/ZPZ-Phil

Ken Burns Presents Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies

Producing organizations: A production of Florentine Films, Laura Ziskin Pictures and WETA, in association with Ark Media. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 3 x 120. Status: postproduction. Major funders: Genentech, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Siemens, David H. Koch, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Kovler Fund, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, American Association for Cancer Research, American Cancer Society, Stand Up To Cancer, CPB, PBS. EP/senior creative consultant/writer: Ken Burns. EPs for WETA: Dalton Delan, David Thompson. EPs for Laura Ziskin Pictures: Pamela Williams, Laura Ziskin. Director/writer: Barak Goodman. Writers: David Blistein, Geoffrey Ward. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ “Biography” of cancer, based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning book by Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, spans cancer’s first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the 20th century and cutting-edge research today. Web: thestoryofcancer.org.

Last Days in Vietnam

Producing organizations: American Experience/Moxie Firecracker Films. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WGBH. Length: 1 x 120. Status: complete. Major funder: Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. Producer/director: Rory Kennedy. Contact: Lauren Prestileo, Lauren [email protected], 617-300-5329. ♦ During chaotic final days of the Vietnam War, with North Vietnamese forces closing in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance quickly crumbled, an unlikely group of heroes emerged as Americans and South Vietnamese took matters into their own hands. Web: lastdaysinvietnam.com.

Limited Partnership

Producing organizations: ITVS, Tesseract Films, Treehouse Moving Images LLC. Presented by Independent Lens. Distributor: PBS. Length: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Producer/director: Thomas Miller. Co-producer: Karen Hori. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Decades before the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8, one gay couple — a Filipino-American and an Australian — fell in love and over the course of 40 years took on the U.S. government to fight for marriage and immigration equality. Web: itvs.org/films/limited-partnership.

Meet the Patels

Producing organizations: ITVS, CAAM, 4B Pictures. Presented by Independent Lens. Distributor: PBS. Length: 1 x 60. Status: complete. Major funders: Chicken & Egg Pictures, Hartley Film Foundation. Producer/director: Geeta Patel. Director: Ravi Patel. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ After he breaks up with his girlfriend, Ravi Patel — almost 30 and single — enters the semi-arranged marriage system in America. Web: itvs.org/films/meet-the-patels.

My Brother’s Bomber (w.t.)

Producing organizations: Tripoli Productions/Frontline. Presenting station: WGBH. Length: 1 x 90. Status: production. Producer/director: Ken Dornstein. Contact: Patrice Taddonio, [email protected], 617-300-5375. ♦ Part real-life spy thriller, part family drama, doc tells story of one man’s 25-year hunt for men who carried out terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, an attack that killed 189 Americans, including the filmmaker’s older brother, David.

Painting the Town with Eric Dowdle

Producing organization: Paint the Town LLC. Distributor: APT. Length: 13 x 30. Status: Budget: postproduction. Host: Eric Dowdle. EPs: Sam Wallace, Marty Patch. Contact: Tom Davison, [email protected], 617-338-4455, ext. 160. ♦ Travel series follows artist Eric Dowdle’s quest for the true “essence” in the people, culture and history of a place, which he then captures in one of his signature folk art paintings. Web: dowdlefolkart.com/tv.

Rx

Producing organization: David Grubin Productions. Presenting station: WTTW, Chicago. Length: 1 x 90. Status: production. Producer: David Grubin. Contact: Dan Soles, [email protected], 773-450-8104. ♦ Filmed in Alaska, Mississippi, San Francisco, Maine and Long Island, doc explores quiet revolution in medicine: cutting-edge practices that promise to transform the way we receive our medical care and at the same time lower costs.

Silent Crisis

Producing organizations: WGBH Educational Foundation & Larkin McPhee Productions, LLC. Distributor: PBS. Length: 1 x 60. Status: production. Budget: $500,000. Major funders: AARP, Pfizer. Writer/producer/director: Larkin McPhee. EP, lifestyles & special projects: Laurie Donnelly. Senior program producer, lifestyles & special projects: Anne Adams. Contact: Anne Adams, [email protected], 617-300-3838; Laurie Donnelly, [email protected], 617-300-2688. ♦ Building on success of the 2008 PBS film Caring for Your Parents, doc explores the many faces of caregiving in the U.S. by telling personal and dramatic stories of working caregivers dealing with the realities of an aging population.

Urban Conversion

Producing organization: 9 Ball Studios. Distributor: APT. Length: 7 x 30, 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. EP/host: Rodman Schley. Producer: Cayce Brown. Contact: Contact: Tom Davison, [email protected], 617-338-4455, ext. 160. ♦ To get on the same page as his wife, Gina, businessman Rodman Schley shares his common sense — and often humorous — perspective as he learns about the sustainability movement. Web: urbanconversion.com.

Window in the Waves: The Flower Garden Banks

Producing organizations: Synergy Productions/Louisiana Public Broadcasting Distributor: APT. Presenting station: Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Length: 1 x 30. Status: complete. Budget: $105,000. Major funders: Shell Oil Company, Apache Corporation, American Petroleum Institute, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, Total Foundation, Fling Charters. Producer/director: Todd Richard. LPB: Executives in charge Jason Viso and Clay Fourrier. Contact: Todd Richard, [email protected], 225-927-5430, or Jason Viso [email protected]. ♦ Doc tells story of how the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, located 110 miles off the Louisiana and Texas coast, was formed and why it is crucial to the environment. Web: bit.ly/LPB-Window.

Summer ’15

Bridging the Divide: Tom Bradley and the Politics of Race

Producing organization: Our L.A. Presenting station: PBS SoCaL. Length: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $800,000. Major funders: NEH, Cal Humanities, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Crowdfunding campaign planned. Producers/writer/director: Lyn Goldfarb. Producer/writer: Alison Sotomayor. Contact: Brenda Brkusic, [email protected], 714-241-4141; Michelle Merker, [email protected], 714-241-4142. ♦ Tells story of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, the first African-American mayor elected in a major U.S. city with an overwhelmingly white majority. Web: mayortombradley.com.

Music for Life: The Story of New Horizons

Producing organizations: WXXI Public Broadcasting/Eastman School of Music.  Presenting station: WXXI, Rochester, N.Y. Length: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. EP: Todd McCammon. Producer: Thomas Dooley. Contact: Todd McCammon, [email protected], 585-258-0241. ♦ Chronicles New Horizons International Music Association, founded in 1991 in Rochester, N.Y., which provides entry points for retired individuals interested in playing music.

Rochester – Tailor Made: The History of Rochester’s Garment Industry (w.t.)

Producing organization and presenting station: WXXI Public Broadcasting, Rochester, N.Y. Length: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. EP: Todd McCammon. Producer: Jimmy Day. Contact: Todd McCammon, [email protected], 585-258-0241. ♦ Showcases history of clothing industry in Rochester, N.Y., from contributions of immigrants to labor strikes to Hickey Freeman, one of the country’s oldest clothiers.

Fall ’15

American Epic

Producing organizations: BBC Arena; Lo-Max Films Ltd.; Wildwood Enterprises; Thirteen Productions LLC for WNET. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WNET. Length: 1 x 120; 3 x 60. Status: fundraising, postproduction. Major funder: PBS. Writer/director/producer: Bernard MacMahon. Writer/producers: Allison McGourt, Duke Erikson. Producers: Anthony Wall, Bill Holderman. EPs: T Bone Burnett, Robert Redford, Jack White. EP for BBC Arena: Anthony Wall. Executive in charge for WNET: Stephen Segaller. EP for Thirteen: Julie Anderson. Contact: Ben Phelps, [email protected], 212-560-3059. ♦ Four-night broadcast event relates untold stories about what happened when the ordinary people of America were given the opportunity to make records for the first time — changing the world, sparking a technological and cultural revolution in popular music and giving Americans of all races unprecedented creative freedom.

Antisemitism: The Devil That Never Dies

Producing organizations: Thirteen Productions LLC for WNET, Vigilance Productions Ltd. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WNET. Length: 1 x 120. Status: fundraising, preproduction. Executive in charge: Stephen Segaller. EP: Julie Anderson. Director: Martin Himel. Writer: Daniel Jonah Goldhagen. Contact: Ben Phelps, [email protected], 212-560-3059. ♦ Doc visually captures surge of anti-Semitism in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia through first-person interviews and hidden camera, bringing this threatening phenomenon to the American public through investigative video of anti-Semites in action.

Black Ballerina

Producing organization: Shirley Road Productions. Distributor: PBS. Length: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. Budget: $300,000. Major funder: NEA. Producer/director: Frances McElroy. Editor: Meg Sarachan. Outreach producer: Nadine Patterson. Content consultant: Joselli Deans. Contact: Frances McElroy, [email protected], 610-667-9348. ♦ Chronicles emotional stories about women told by women of different generations pursuing their dreams of ballet careers, with Joan Myers Brown, Delores Browne and Raven Wilkinson confronting racism and unequal opportunity, and three young black women pursuing careers as ballerinas in 2014.

Book du Jour

Producing organization: Altered Ego Entertainment. Distributor: APT. Length: 13 x 30. Status: production. EP/host: Frederic Colier. Contact: Tom Davison, [email protected], 617-338-4455, ext. 160. ♦ Three authors discuss a range of topics, from their most recent books and the themes they tackle in their writing to their overall sources of inspiration and the creative process. Web: bit.ly/AlteredEgo-Book.

Dream On

Producing organizations: Public Policy Productions. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WNET. Length: 1 x 120. Status: production. Major funders: Spunk Fund, Charles A. Frueauff Foundation, Silverweed Foundation, Odyssey Fund, Mitzvah Foundation,  Park Foundation, Alda Foundation. Producer/director: Roger Weisberg. EP: Julie Anderson. Executive in charge: Stephen Segaller. Contact: Ben Phelps, [email protected], 212-560-3059. ♦ Doc examines perilous state of the American Dream of perpetually improving socioeconomic mobility by retracing journey of Alexis de Tocqueville, who helped popularize the idea of the dream in his book Democracy in America.

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Season 3

A production of Inkwell Films and McGee Media, in association with WETA. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 10 x 60. Status: production. EP/writer/host: Henry Louis Gates Jr. EPs: Dyllan McGee, Peter Kunhardt. EPs for WETA: Dalton Delan, Anne Harrington. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Explores the heritage and ancestries of today’s leading entertainers, athletes, media personalities and others. Season 4 is scheduled for fall 2016. Web: pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots.

Four Senses with Christine Ha

Producing organization: Varner Productions Limited. Distributor: APT. Length: 13 x 30. Status: production. EP: Anne-Marie Varner. Contact: Tom Davison, [email protected], 617-338-4455, ext. 160. ♦ Cooking series geared towards the visually impaired, hosted by celebrity chefs Christine Ha (who is visually impaired) and Carl Heinrich, winner of Top Chef Canada, features a variety of delicious recipes, guest chefs and accessibility tips for success in the kitchen.

Jacques Pépin: Heart & Soul

Producing organization: KQED, San Francisco. Distributor: APT. Length: 26 x 30. Status: production. Major funders: KitchenAid, OXO, Vine Connections, Bertolli Olive Oil, Riedel Crystal. EP/chief content officer: Michael Isip. Series producer: Tina Salter. Director: Paul Swenson. Contact: Tina Salter, [email protected]. ♦ In the celebrity chef and cookbook author’s last series, Pépin teaches solid technique and delicious recipes as he visits local haunts with family and friends, and reflects on his 60 years in the kitchen.

Jazz Ambassadors

Producing organizations: Antelope, Normal Life Pictures, Thirteen Productions LLC for WNET. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WNET. Length: 1 x 90. Status: preproduction. Director: Hugo Berkeley. Producer: Mick Csáky. EP: Julie Anderson. Executive in charge: Stephen Segaller. Contact: Ben Phelps, [email protected], 212-560-3059. ♦ Documents U.S. State Department mid-1950s program that sent jazz legends to the USSR, Asia and Africa to celebrate U.S. diversity and culture, and help America win the Cold War. (More about this film.)

Making North America

Producing organizations: WGBH/Nova. Length: 3 x 60. Status: production. Senior EP: Paula Apsell. Contact: Lisa Leombruni, [email protected], 617-300-4312. ♦ A sweeping biography of North America, spanning close to 4 billion years and revealing the geological forces that gave rise to North America’s diverse landscape.

Murder of a President

Producing organizations: American Experience/Apograph Productions. Presenting station: WGBH. Length: 1 x120. Status: production. Major funders: NEH, CPB. Producer/director: Rob Rapley. Contact: Lauren Prestileo, [email protected], 617-300-5329. ♦ As President James Garfield fought for his life after being shot by a madman, the North and South came together to pray for his recovery; meanwhile inventor Alexander Graham Bell worked feverishly to invent a device that could locate the assassin’s bullet.

The Pilgrims

Producing organizations: Steeplechase Films, WETA, BBC, CTVC, American Experience. Presenting stations: WETA, WGBH. Length: 1 x 120. Status: production. Major funders: NEH, PBS, Lilly Endowment, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Rosalind P. Walter, Annenberg Foundation, 1772 Foundation. Director/writer: Ric Burns. EPs: Jeff Bieber, Dalton Delan for WETA. Contact: Lauren Prestileo, [email protected], 617-300-5329. ♦ Doc explores converging forces, circumstances, personalities and events that propelled a group of English men and women west across the Atlantic in 1620, and reveals individuals far different from those imagined.

Startup America

Producing organizations: NerdTV, Thirteen Productions LLC for WNET. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WNET. Length: 4 x 30. Status: production. Major funders: PBS, Salesforce.com. Host: Robert X. Cringely. Executive in charge: Stephen Segaller. EP: Julie Anderson. Contact: Ben Phelps, [email protected], 212-560-3059. ♦ In series about new businesses and the people who founded them, Robert X. Cringely plants himself in the middle of 12 companies spread over 20 states and nearly as many industries, hanging out with employees, finding out what they do, how successful they’ve been and what their strategies are.

Time for School

Producing organizations: Thirteen Productions LLC for WNET. Distributor: PBS.  Presenting station: WNET. Length: 1 x 90. Status: fundraising, production. Major funders: Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation, Rosalie Stahl. Executive in charge: Stephen Segaller. EP: Julie Anderson. Producers: Nina Chaudry, Pamela Hogan. Contact: Ben Phelps, [email protected], 212-560-3059. ♦ Fourth installment of longitudinal documentary series spotlighting stories of seven kids in seven countries who are fighting against the odds for a basic education, focusing on a critical turning point in their lives: their hoped-for high school graduation. Web: timeforschool.org.

Walt Disney

Producing organizations: American Experience/Sarah Colt Productions. Presenting station: WGBH. Length: 2 x 120. Status: production. Major funder: NEH. Producer: Sarah Colt. Contact: Lauren Prestileo, [email protected], 617-300-5329. ♦ Biography of commanding and polarizing figure who died in 1966, a year when 240 million people saw a Disney movie, 100 million tuned in weekly to a Disney TV program, 80 million bought Disney merchandise and close to 7 million visited Disneyland.

Sometime in ’15

American Ballet Theater (w.t.)

A co-production of Steeplechase Films, Inc. and Thirteen Productions LLC’s American Masters for WNET. Length: 1 x 90. Status: production. Director/writer: Ric Burns. EP for AM: Michael Kantor. Series producer: Julie Sacks. Supervising producer: Junko Tsunashima. Contact: Junko Tsunashima, [email protected], 212-560-8079. ♦ Film combines verité look at the contemporary ballet season with archivally rich explorations of ballet’s history and the physiology of dance itself.

Best Care Possible (w.t.)

Producing organizations: WETA and Creative Visions. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 1 x 120. Status: fundraising. Director: Lucy Walker. EPs: Jeff Bieber, Jacoba Atlas, Dalton Delan, Kathy Eldon. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Based on the book by Dr. Ira Byock, doc charts quest to transform care that patients receive through the end of life.

Grantchester

Producing organizations: A Lovely Day/Masterpiece co-production for ITV. Length: 6 x 60. Status: postproduction. Major funders: Viking River Cruises, Ralph Lauren Corporation. EP for Masterpiece: Rebecca Eaton. Contact: Olivia Wong, [email protected], 617-300-5349. ♦ James Norton (Belle) stars as Sidney Chambers, a young and charismatic vicar who turns amateur investigator when one of his parishioners in the hamlet of Grantchester dies under suspicious circumstances. Web: bit.ly/ITV-Grantchester.

Mr. Selfridge, Season 3

Producing organizations: A coproduction of ITV Studios and Masterpiece. Length: TBD. Status: production. Major funders: Viking River Cruises, Ralph Lauren Corporation. EP for Masterpiece: Rebecca Eaton. Contact: Olivia Wong, [email protected], 617-300-5349. ♦ Third season of series starring Jeremy Piven as the flamboyant American entrepreneur who founded the famous Selfridge’s department store picks up the story in 1919. Web: pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/programs/mr-selfridge.

The Mystery of Matter: Search for the Elements

Producing organizations: Moreno/Lyons Productions LLC. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: Oregon Public Broadcasting. Length: 3 x 60. Status: complete. Budget: $2 million. Major funders: NSF, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. EP/producer/writer/director: Stephen Lyons. Director: Muffie Meyer. Host: Michael Emerson. Contact: Stephen Lyons, [email protected], 617-789-3900. ♦ Tells human story behind the Periodic Table, with key discoveries in the history of chemistry re-enacted by Broadway actors portraying figures such as Lavoisier, Priestley, Curie, Mendeleev and Seaborg. Web: mystery-of-matter.blogspot.com.

The Sharps’ War: Two Who Defied the Nazis (w.t.)

A production of Journey To Freedom and WETA. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 1 x 120. Status: fundraising. EP: Ken Burns. Executive-in-charge for WETA: Dalton Delan. Project director: David Thompson. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Tells story of Unitarian minister Waitstill Sharp and his social worker wife, Martha, who left their home in Wellesley, Mass., to help Jews and anti-Nazi dissidents escape from Czechoslovakia and France. Web: twowhodared.com.

Wolf Hall

A Company Pictures and Playground co-production for BBC Two and Masterpiece in association with BBC Worldwide. Length: 7 x 60. Status: postproduction. Major funders: Viking River Cruises, Ralph Lauren Corporation EP for Masterpiece: Rebecca Eaton. Contact: Olivia Wong, [email protected], 617-300-5349. ♦ Internationally acclaimed actor Mark Rylance and Emmy-winner Damian Lewis (Homeland) star as Thomas Cromwell and King Henry VIII in adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Booker Prize–winning novels charting meteoric rise of Cromwell in Tudor court.

Winter ’16

America Revisited

Producing organizations: ITVS, Firelight Films Inc. Presented by Independent Lens. Length: Various. Status: Production. Producer/director: Stanley Nelson Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Multiyear project consists of three films that will expand and deepen understanding of African-American history, experience and life: The Black Panthers: Seize the Time (Feb. 2016); Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (TBD); and The Slave Trade: Creating a New World (TBD). Web: itvs.org/films/black-panthers. (Read more about The Black Panthers.)

From Black Power to the White House

A production of Inkwell Films and McGee Media, in association with WETA. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 4 x 60. Status: production. EP/writer/host: Henry Louis Gates Jr. EPs: Dyllan McGee, Peter Kunhardt. EPs for WETA: Dalton Delan, Anne Harrington. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Explores last five decades of African-American history, examining the forces and events that have shaped our nation, our culture and our society since the end of the Civil Rights Movement.

Spring ’16

Jackie Robinson (w.t.)

A co-production of Florentine Films and WETA. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 2 x 120. Status: production. Major funders: Bank of America, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Better Angels Society, CPB, PBS. Executive-in-charge for WETA: Dalton Delan. Project director: David Thompson. Producers/directors: Ken Burns, David McMahon, Sarah Burns. Writer: David McMahon. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Chronicles life and times of Jack Roosevelt Robinson, who in 1947 became the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball.

Sugarland

Producing organization: WGBH Educational Foundation. Distributor: PBS. Length: 3 x 60. Status: R&D. EPs: Judith Vecchione, Marie Nelson. Contact: Judith Vecchione, [email protected], 617-300-3789. ♦ Three-part series explores diabetes, a devastating crisis hiding in plain sight that despite new generations of drugs and new understandings continues to produce rising rates of illness and death.

Sometime in ’16

The American Revolution

Producing organizations: Lichtenstein Creative Media, Inc./Center for Independent Documentary, Distributor: PBS. Length: 1 x 86. Status: postproduction. Budget: $550,000. Crowdfunding campaign in progress. Major funders: Mass. Humanities, Kickstarter, RAGS Foundation, Mitchell Kertzman, Sridhar Tayur, Dan Beach, Jonathan Kraft Family, Jon and Jenny Steingart. Producer/director: Bill Lichtenstein. Associate producer: Jay Rooney. EPs: Rob Sennott, Sridhar Tayur. Contact: Bill Lichtenstein, [email protected], 917-635-2538. ♦ Producers of West 47th Street chronicle free-form radio station WBCN-FM and Boston’s other underground media, from 1968 to 1974, through the original sights, sounds and stories. Web: theamericanrevolution.fm.

Black Holes (w.t.)

Producing organizations: WGBH/Nova. Length: 2 x 60. Status: preproduction. Senior EP: Paula Apsell. Contact: Lisa Leombruni, [email protected], 617-300-4312. ♦ Investigates how supermassive black holes lurking at the center of almost every galaxy in the cosmos formed and grew.

East Lake (w.t.)

Producing organizations: Florentine Films and WETA. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. Producers/directors: Dave McMahon, Sarah Burns. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Examines transformation of Atlanta’s East Lake neighborhood.

The Future of the Great Lakes

Producing organizations: Western New York Public Broadcasting Association and Driftwood. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WNED, Buffalo, N.Y. Length: 3 x 60. Status: R&D. EP: John Grant. Contact: David Rotterman, [email protected], 716-845-7000. ♦ Three-part series by producers of The Klondike Gold Rush and Niagara Falls captures the importance of the Great Lakes by telling story of their past, present and future.

Human Miracle Species (w.t.)

Producing organizations: WGBH/Nova. Length: 3 x 60. Status: production. Senior EP: Paula Apsell. Contact: Lisa Leombruni, [email protected],617-300-4312. ♦ Anthropologist Niobe Thompson journeys back in time to explore how modern Homo sapiens have survived geological catastrophes, climatic change and disasters.

Joseph McCarthy (w.t.)

Produced and presented by WGBH/American Experience. Length: 1 x 120. Status: R&D. EP: Mark Samels. Contact: Lauren Prestileo, [email protected], 617-300-5329. ♦ Chronicles McCarthy’s rise from modest beginnings to tremendous power in the U.S. Senate, how his focus on anticommunism made him both popular with the public and influential in Congress, and how his investigations and his abusive conduct ultimately led to his downfall.

The Mine Wars

Producing organizations: American Experience/Film Posse. Presenting station: WGBH. Length: 1 x 120. Status: production. Producer: Randall MacLowry. Contact: Lauren Prestileo, [email protected], 617-300-5329. ♦ Documents how the 1920 West Virginia Mine Wars, the biggest civil insurrection in the nation’s history, provided a dramatic stage for the struggle over coal to leave the dark mine shafts and come to the surface.

Out in the Night

Producing organizations: ITVS, The Fire This Time LLC. Length: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. Major funders: Jerome Foundation, Sundance Institute, Sundance Doc Fund, Women in Film, Women Make Movies. Producer/director: Blair Dorosh-Walther. Producers: Giovanna Chesler, Yoruba Richen, Mridu Chandra. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ When gay African-American women friends defending themselves against a violent sexual assault in a seemingly gay-friendly New York City neighborhood are arrested for assault and attempted murder, a different kind of fight ensues in the courts and the media. Web: outinthenight.com.

River of Doubt

Producing organizations: American Experience/Sarah Colt Productions. Presenting station: WGBH. Length: 1 x 120. Status: preproduction. Major funder: NEH. Producer: Sarah Colt. Writer/director: Sharon Grimberg. Contact: Lauren Prestileo, [email protected], 617-300-5329. ♦ Based on best-seller by Candice Millard, doc recounts Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing and ill-advised journey down a wholly uncharted and wildly dangerous river in the heart of the Amazon.

Treasures of the Earth (w.t.)

Producing organizations: WGBH/Nova. Length: 3 x 60. Status: production. Senior EP: Paula Apsell. Contact: Lisa Leombruni, [email protected],617-300-4312. ♦ Explores how rare precious materials were forged in extraordinary circumstances — deep within the Earth, or even in exploding stars — and how their unique properties lead to ingenious innovations.

SOMETIME IN ’17

Africa: The Great Civilizations

A production of Inkwell Films and McGee Media, in association with WETA. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Length:  6 x 60. Status: R&D. Major funders: EP/writer/host: Henry Louis Gates Jr. EPs: Dyllan McGee, Peter Kunhardt. EPs for WETA: Dalton Delan, Anne Harrington. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Beginning with Africa’s ancient history as the cradle of mankind, Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s documentary series brings to life epic stories of both little-known and celebrated kingdoms and cultures.

Cold War Science (w.t.)

Producing organizations: WGBH/Nova. Length: 3 x 60. Status: R&D. Senior EP: Paula Apsell. Contact: Lisa Leombruni, [email protected], 617-300-4312. ♦ Documents how half-century global struggle produced one of the greatest scientific leaps forward in human history — not only weapons, but surprising advances like genetics, GPS and the Internet.

Deej

Producing organizations: ITVS, Rooy Media LLC. Length: 1 x 60. Status: production. Producer/director: Robert Rooy, Producer/writer: David James Savarese. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Tells the story of DJ Savarese (“Deej”), a gifted young writer and an advocate for nonspeaking autistics. Web: itvs.org/films/deej.

Flight (w.t.)

Producing organizations: WETA and Lion TV. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 4 x 60. Status: fundraising. EPs: Jeff Bieber, Nick Catliff, Dalton Delan. Series producer: John Maggio. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ From hot air balloons and dirigibles to F-18 flight jets and drones, film chronicles evolution of the airplane and its staggering impact on our lives from 1903 to the present.

The Korean War (w.t.)

Producing organizations: WETA and Center for Asian American Media in Association with Ark Media. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 4 x 60. Status: R&D. EPs: Jeff Bieber, Dalton Delan. Series producer: John Maggio. Writer: Ken Chowder. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Sheds new light on a geopolitical hot spot that, far from a “forgotten war,” was a turning point in world history that reverberates today.

The Reformation at 500

Producing organization: Boettcher+Trinklein Television. Distributor: PBS. Length: 1 x 120. Status: preproduction. Producer/director: Steven Boettcher. Writer/producer: Michael Trinklein. Contact: Michael Trinklein, [email protected], 262-323-1999. ♦ Examines continuing impact on modern politics, family life, civil rights and religious expression of one of the most significant events of the last millennium, the Protestant Reformation — which began 500 years ago on Oct. 31, 1517.

Vietnam: The War and The War Against the War (w.t.)

A co-production of Florentine Films and WETA. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 18 hours x TBD. Status: production. Executive-in-charge for WETA: Dalton Delan. Project director: David Thompson. Producers/directors: Ken Burns, Lynn Novick. Writer: Geoffrey Ward. Producer: Sarah Botstein. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Producers of The War examine history and meaning of the Vietnam War by exploring military, political, cultural, social and human dimensions of “the war of lost illusions.”

SOMETIME IN ’18

The Asian-Americans (w.t.)

Producing organizations: WETA, Center for Asian American Media and Pacific Islanders in Communication. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 6 x 60. Status: fundraising. EPs: Don Young, Stephen Gong, Jeff Bieber, Dalton Delan, Leanne Ferrer. Producers: Renee Tajima Pena, Grace Lee. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Chronicles unique and evolving identity, contributions and challenges experienced by Asian-Americans in the U.S. over the past 150 years.

College Behind Bars (w.t.)

Producing organizations: Skiff Mountain Films and WETA. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 1 x 120. Status: fundraising. EP: Ken Burns. EPs for WETA: Dalton Delan, David Thompson; Director/producer: Lynn Novick. Producer: Sarah Botstein. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Explores personal and intellectual transformation of incarcerated men and women in the Bard Prison Initiative, a highly successful prison education program in New York state.

Country Music (w.t.)

Producing organizations: A co-production of Florentine Films and WETA. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 7 x 120. Status: production. Major funders: Bank of America, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Annenberg Foundation, Better Angels Society, CPB, PBS. Executive-in-charge for WETA: Dalton Delan. Project director: David Thompson. Producer/director: Ken Burns. Producer/director/writer: Dayton Duncan. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Series chronicles uniquely American art form over the course of a century, from rural honky-tonks to Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry.

SOMETIME IN ’19

Ernest Hemingway (w.t.)

A co-production of Florentine Films and WETA. Distributor: PBS. Presenting station: WETA. Length: 1 x 120. Status: preproduction. Major funders: Bank of America, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Annenberg Foundation, Better Angels Society, CPB, PBS. Executive-in-charge for WETA: Dalton Delan. Project director: David Thompson. Producers/directors: Ken Burns, Lynn Novick. Writer: Geoffrey Ward. Producer: Sarah Botstein. Contact: Kate Kelly, [email protected], 703-998-2072. ♦ Two-part biographical film examines life and work of one of America’s greatest writers, a man who changed the course of literature.

To Be Determined

Becoming Helen Keller (w.t.)

A co-production of Straight Ahead Productions, WETA and Thirteen in association with WNET.ORG. Presented by American Masters. Length: 1 x 90. Status: production. Producer/director: Laurie Block. Writer: John Crowly. EPs: Michael Kantor for Thirteen; Dalton Delan for WETA. Contact: Junko Tsunashima, [email protected], 212-560-8079. ♦ Details how 7-year-old girl from The Miracle Worker continued to create herself for the next 80 years: her times, her struggles, her challenges and triumphs, her international celebrity and epic life story.

Command & Control

Producing organizations: American Experience/Robert Kenner Films, Inc. Presenting station: WGBH. Length: 1 x 120. Status: production. Producer/director: Robert Kenner. Contact: Lauren Prestileo, [email protected], 617-300-5329. ♦ Based on Eric Schlosser’s groundbreaking investigation, doc tells story of the long-hidden accidents, near misses, technological breakthroughs and extraordinary heroism connected to America’s nuclear weapons program.

Cooked

Producing organizations: ITVS, Kartemquin Educational Films, Judith A. Helfand Productions Inc. Distributor: PBS. Length: 1 x 90. Status: production. Major funders: The Fledgling Fund, Sundance Institute, Tides Foundation. Producer/director: Judith Helfand. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Examines repercussions from 1995 Chicago heat wave — the most traumatic in U.S. history — and its relationship with Chicago’s entrenched poverty, economic and social isolation, and racism. Web: itvs.org/films/cooked.

Delano Manongs

Producing organizations: ITVS, KVIE, CAAM, Media Factory. Presenting station: KVIE, Sacramento, Calif. Length: 1 x 30. Status: complete. Producers: Marissa Aroy, Niall McKay. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Tells story of Larry Itliong, the Filipino labor organizer who instigated the great Delano, Calif., grape strike of 1965, which resulted in the formation of the United Farmworkers of America but whose story has faded from popular memory. Web: itvs.org/films/delano-manongs.

East of Salinas

Producing organizations: ITVS, Latino Public Broadcasting. Length: 1 x 60. Status: production. Producer/directors: Laura Pacheco, Jackie Mow. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Details plight and lost opportunities of migrant children such as Mexico-born third-grader José Ansaldo, who was inspired by his teacher to imagine a life beyond the fields where his parents work. Web: itvs.org/films/east-of-salinas.

Farmer Veteran

Producing organizations: ITVS, Hissing Duck LLC. Length: 1 x 60. Status: production. Producers: Alix Blair, Jeremy M. Lange, D.L. Anderson. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Combat veteran who starts a farm to help cultivate a healthier life outside the Army is hampered by crippling PTSD as he and his wife nervously anticipate the birth of their first child. Web: itvs.org/films/farmer-veteran.

Freedom Fighters

Producing organizations: ITVS, Freedom Fighters Documentary LLC. Length: 1 x 60. Status: production. Major funder: MacArthur Foundation. Director: Jamie Meltzer. Producers: Kate McLean, David Alvarado. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Follows exonerated ex-prisoners who started detective agency to help free other wrongly incarcerated people as they rebuild their lives, investigate cases, support each other and campaign to fix the criminal justice system. Web: itvs.org/films/freedom-fighters.

In Football We Trust

Producing organizations: ITVS, PIC, IFWT Productions LLC, Idle Wild Films Inc. Distributor: PBS. Length: 1 x 60. Status: postproduction. Producer/co-director: Erika Cohn. Director: Tony Vainuku. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Reveals yet-untold story of the Polynesian football pipeline, from the Islands to Utah via the Mormon Church to the NFL. Web: itvs.org/films/in-football-we-trust.

Janis Joplin (w.t.)

Producing organizations: A Production of Janis Productions LLC and Thirteen Productions LLC’s American Masters. Length: 1 x 90 or 1 x 120. Status: preproduction. Producers: Alex Gibney, Amy Berg, Jeff Jampol. Co-producer: John McHugh. Director/writer: Amy Berg. Writer: Billy McMillin. Composer: Nick Cave. Voiceover: Catherine Keener. EP for AM: Michael Kantor. Series producer for AM: Julie Sacks. Contact: Junko Tsunashima, [email protected], 212-560-8079. ♦ Biopic of Joplin who with her bluesy, gravelly voice became a pioneer in the male-dominated music business, joining Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1966 and instantly becoming emblematic of the psychedelic generation.

Maya Angelou: The People’s Poet (w.t.)

A Production of The People’s Poet Media Group, LLC and Thirteen Productions LLC’s American Masters for WNET. Length: 1 x 90. Status: production. Co-directors: Robert Hercules, Rita Coburn Whack. EP for AM: Michael Kantor. Series producer: Julie Sacks. Supervising producer: Junko Tsunashima. Contact: Junko Tsunashima, [email protected], 212-560-8079. ♦ First doc on President’s Medal of Freedom winner and Pulitzer Prize nominee Angelou explores conditions and continents of her experience, education and erudition.

The Ovarian Psycos

Producing organizations: ITVS, Sylvia Frances Films. Length: 1 x 60. Status: production. Major funding: ITVS Diversity Development Fund, Kickstarter campaign, Pacific Pioneer Fund. Producers/directors: Kate Trumbull-LaValle, Joanna Sokolowski. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Profiles East Los Angeles–based Ovarian Psycos Cycle Brigade, a ferocious and unapologetic group of young women of color committed to collectively confronting racism and violence, and demanding and creating safe spaces for women. Web: itvs.org/films/ovarian-psycos.

Point and Shoot

Producing organizations: ITVS, American Documentary_/POV_, Marshall Curry Productions LLC. Distributor: PBS. Length: 1 x 90. Status: production. Director: Marshall Curry. Producer: Elizabeth Martin. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Tells story of Matthew VanDyke, who left his home in Baltimore to join rebels taking up arms against Gaddafi in Libya, was captured by government troops and spent six months in solitary confinement before escaping and returning to the front line. Web: matthewvandyke.com/films/point-and-shoot.

Real Boy

Producing organizations: ITVS, Shaleece Haas. Length: 1 x 60. Status: production. Major funder: Pacific Pioneer Fund. Director: Shaleece Haas. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Chronicles coming-of-age story of Bennett Gwizdalski, a transgender teenager with dreams of musical stardom, during the first two years of his transition from female to male. Web: itvs.org/films/real-boy.

Thank You For Playing

Producing organizations: ITVS, Kinematic Films LLC. Length: 1 x 30. Status: production. Producers/directors: Malika Zouhali-Worrall, David Osit. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Follows creation of a video game devised by indie developer to document his experiences raising a son with terminal cancer and to honor him while he is still alive. Web: itvs.org/films/thank-you-for-playing.

Tough Love

Producing organizations: ITVS, American Documentary/POV, EyeWang Pictures Inc. Distributor: PBS. Length: 1 x 90. Status: production. Major funders: Chicken & Egg Pictures, Jerome Foundation. Producer/director: Stephanie Wang-Breal, Producer: Carrie Weprin. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Focusing on cases within the U.S. child welfare system, doc chronicles two parents fighting to reunite with their children by attempting prove to the courts that they deserve a second chance to be parents and have a family. Web: itvs.org/films/tough-love.

Vidal v. Buckley (w.t.)

Producing organizations: ITVS, Sandbar LLC. Presented by Independent Lens. Length: 1 x 60. Status: production. Directors/producers: Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Documents ABC News’ hiring in 1968 of political commentators and controversialists Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley to debate live on air during convention coverage, which turned into 15 minutes a night of epic conversation and verbal bloodsport. Web: itvs.org/films/vidal-v-buckley.

Wind River

Producing organizations: ITVS, Vision Maker Media, Alpheus Media Inc. Length: 1 x 60. Status: production. EP: Beth Hames. Producer/director: Mat Hames. Co-producer: Jordan Dresser. Contact: Sreedevi Sripathy, [email protected], 415-356-8383. ♦ Tribal elder and Vietnam vet who hasn’t left Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation in over 40 years visits underground archives of Chicago’s Field Museum with two young Arapaho to explore ancestral objects kept in boxes for many years. Web: itvs.org/films/wind-river.