This blog post is in support of Women and Girls Lead initiative, a public media initiative to educate and connect citizens worldwide in support of issues facing women and girls. Join Engage Wisconsin as we hear from Wisconsin women in media, who share their own stories on issues facing women and girls today. And check out upcoming WPT programs that feature women front and center – like Independent Lens film Lioness and, now streaming online, the 5-part series Women, War and Peace.

by Nicole Docta

One of the great things about documentary is that you can create change. Documentary filmmaking is not just about entertaining people. Documentaries bring light and depth to issues that most news organizations can’t. Often times, the film is only the start of the entire project. Outreach and engagement campaigns often accompany the release of a film and continue long after. With the digital age, there are many more resources and avenues available to reach your audience. All movies, bands, companies, and their mothers have a Facebook page. You might not be able to have a 100 city festival run or have the funds to print DVDs but a successful outreach and engagement campaign can widen your audience while doing some good for the world.

Perhaps one of the most successful outreach and engagement campaigns is Invisible Children more widely known as Kony 2012. The Kony 2012 video went viral with almost 88 million views on YouTube in a month, is all over the news, and has gained celebrity support. Filmmaker Jason Russell made this film to draw attention to the atrocities happening in Africa and has called the world to action. The video pages have links to the Kony 2012 website. The website has a clear mission and steps for taking action. There is even a free kit for individuals to help raise more awareness. All the tools and information needed are just a click away. They are using the masses to get their message out. What they are asking isn’t expensive nor does it take much effort. The campaign has already succeeded in getting America to send 100 elite Special Operations troops to Africa to search for Joseph Kony, according to a New York Times article on April 29, 2012. This is why crowd-sourcing is becoming popular.

Kickstarter campaigns are not new but they are gaining more popularity. Artists, activists, inventors, and farmers are just some of the types of people asking for your help. I recently helped fund the distribution for the documentary Somewhere Between. It is a great film that should reach a wider audience. Not only do you gain another audience on Kickstarter, but you can tap them as a resource. I can’t physically make DVDs for this film but I can give $35. I now feel as though I’m part of a movement to raise awareness about adoptees (being a Korean adoptee myself).

If Russell had just released Kony 2012 to festivals or on TV, would he have gotten this much response? All statistics point to “no”. Would the folks from Somewhere Between have gotten $80,000 from a grant to make DVDs? If they could find a grant that supports distribution, maybe. Would that granting organization have given them $20,420 more than they asked for (the amount they raised over their goal on Kickstarter)? Definitely not!

As a filmmaker, you need to be more inventive to reach the widest audience. I’m a co-producer on As Goes Janesville, which will be finished in a few months. We followed individuals and families from the Janesville, WI, community to see how they reinvent their lives and the local economy after their GM plant closed leaving thousands out of work. We already have a social media presence on Facebook and Twitter and are planning an outreach and engagement campaign. Kickstarter will help fund our campaign. We’re designing a website that will have tools for people to host a screening and create change in their communities. We will try to have screenings in manufacturing towns across the nation so we can not only share our film but also share what we observed working in Janesville.  We won’t use the typical venues but instead we well screen the film at town libraries, tech schools, and businesses. Local officials, business entrepreneurs, and workers will be invited to a public summit after the screening to discuss the common goal of reviving the community and getting people back to work.

There are only so many film festivals and less people are watching TV. It is getting harder and harder to reach an audience, so you need to think outside the screen.

Nicole Docta, formerly Nicole Brown, has co-produced and co-directed a number of documentaries. Nicole writes: I’m a Wisconsin girl at heart. I spent most of my childhood in Oshkosh and went to college at UW-Milwaukee, where I received my BFA in Film. I made mostly documentaries for my student projects and am able to continue to tell stories about real people in my professional career. I’ve worked on feature and commercial sets but for my own work, I hope to show people things they never would have encountered on their own and show more depth in familiar things. Although I’m relatively new to the filmmaking world, I’ve learned a lot about the industry and have had success in the national festival circuit and airing pieces on Wisconsin Public Television. I produced and edited Chosen Towns: The Story of Jews in Wisconsin’s Small Communities (2007), I co directed, shot, and edited A King In Milwaukee (2009). I’m currently co-producing As Goes Janesville which is funded by the MacArthur Foundation, The Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund, The Lubar Family Foundation,and ITVS and will air nationally on PBS in Oct. 2012.

The opinions expressed by Engage Wisconsin bloggers and by those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Wisconsin Public Television (WPT). WPT is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by bloggers. WPT is not responsible for any offense caused inadvertently through interpretation of grammar, punctuation, or language. WPT reserves the right to remove, alter, change or vary the WPT blogs or comments at any time without notice. WPT shall endeavor to provide constant, uninterrupted access to the blogs, but do not guarantee to do so and accept no responsibility or liability for any interruption or delay.

by Nicole Docta

The term “finding your own voice” means two different things to me. As an artist, you need to find your own way to express yourself that is unique from others.  It’s difficult to express yourself in documentary because you need to mostly be true to your subject. How can I best represent the person and how would they want me to tell their story? How can I entertain while also informing my audience? How can I inspire change and not alienate anyone who doesn’t share my opinion? It is a familiar juggling act for all documentary filmmakers. The not so common way to think of finding your voice is to summon the courage to speak up.

I don’t think I’ve found my own voice yet. I haven’t made a film of my own since college. The problem for me is that I can’t convince myself to sit at my computer to edit a personal project after a full day in front of a computer at work. I can film all day long but when it comes to editing my own pieces, I’ve only gotten as far as daydreaming scenes. I have filmed several times for a short doc that would be aimed toward film festival audiences. It has been 3 months, and I haven’t looked at any footage. It’s not that I changed my mind about making the film. I think it supports what little voice I’ve come up with. I enjoy making people laugh and showing them things they wouldn’t have encountered elsewhere. The problem is another voice in my head, which says, “I need to live an active lifestyle to be healthy. Forty plus hours a week in front of a computer at work is more than enough, and I shouldn’t put myself through more of that.” I have obviously not found a happy medium but maybe publicly announcing my shortcomings will motivate me.

I found my other voice by answering a call for collaboration. Being new to the industry, I started out as a silent working drone. I would complete tasks exactly how I was told and not say a word if I thought otherwise because “this is not my project” and “more experienced people know best.” There were a few procedures or workflows I thought could be improved and one day, I made some suggestions. They were accepted and that only led to more suggestions to my boss’s pleasure and pain. I later learned that my speaking up wasn’t looked at as insubordination but it made me a valuable member of a team. I was also encouraged to voice my opinion as a collaborator on various projects. I’m at the point where I’m comfortable voicing my concerns or opposition without fearing retribution. It took me a little while to figure out how to voice my opinion well and in a non-abrasive manner, but I’m now cc’d on everything whether I like it or not.

While I haven’t been working on my own projects, it is very satisfying to see pieces of myself in other people’s work. Someday, people will enjoy having worked on mine.

Nicole Docta, formerly Nicole Brown, has co-produced and co-directed a number of documentaries. Nicole writes: I’m a Wisconsin girl at heart. I spent most of my childhood in Oshkosh and went to college at UW-Milwaukee, where I received my BFA in Film. I made mostly documentaries for my student projects and am able to continue to tell stories about real people in my professional career. I’ve worked on feature and commercial sets but for my own work, I hope to show people things they never would have encountered on their own and show more depth in familiar things. Although I’m relatively new to the filmmaking world, I’ve learned a lot about the industry and have had success in the national festival circuit and airing pieces on Wisconsin Public Television. I produced and edited Chosen Towns: The Story of Jews in Wisconsin’s Small Communities (2007), I co directed, shot, and edited A King In Milwaukee (2009). I’m currently co-producing As Goes Janesville which is funded by the MacArthur Foundation, The Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund, The Lubar Family Foundation,and ITVS and will air nationally on PBS in Oct. 2012.

The opinions expressed by Engage Wisconsin bloggers and by those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Wisconsin Public Television (WPT). WPT is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by bloggers. WPT is not responsible for any offense caused inadvertently through interpretation of grammar, punctuation, or language. WPT reserves the right to remove, alter, change or vary the WPT blogs or comments at any time without notice. WPT shall endeavor to provide constant, uninterrupted access to the blogs, but do not guarantee to do so and accept no responsibility or liability for any interruption or delay.

by Frances Perkins

Northtown Productions

All the passion, the responsibility, the geekiness in the world can only get you so far in the world of film and media.  It takes connections, collaborations and networking to get where you want to go. Never underestimate the power of outreach.

It’s not a lesson you learn right away, unless someone tells you. But the people you meet and work with along the road of your career are as important as the work you do. Actually, they are more important; you update your reel, you update your resume, the work comes and goes, but the people stay. I have been extremely fortunate, collaborating with terrific people who are also gifted professionals, but it was something I wish I had started doing earlier.

The creative side of filmmaking and media production often has us looking inward at our own ideas. Young artists often make the mistake of thinking they can do it all on their own; write it, shoot it, cut it, show it. But, it always takes help.  Whether it’s the friend you cajole into acting for you, the parent who drives you, the neighbor who lets you use their house…creativity in media requires collaboration. Even in this technologically infused age of inexpensive cameras and YouTube, it is a rare video that is completely executed in a vacuum. The TV shows and feature films we enjoy and aspire to create employ hundreds of people. It’s like the military; there is a chain of command, a protocol of action, and hierarchy of authority even though the end result is a creative product.

Internships and working for free are the two key elements for a young artist, the beginning of the networking journey. You can’t expect to be hired without any experience, even if you have the most creative work on earth to showcase. Those internships and freebie jobs are the ones that build relationships that will lead to paid work. Professionals want to know that someone vouches for you, someone is pulling for you, and the fact you were willing to work for free is a large part of it. Most pros have been in your shoes and are willing to help you as long as you work hard.

Then, once you are in the working world, keeping professional relations with everyone you interact with is crucial. It won’t always be easy, and at times you’ll act unprofessionally and regret it for a long time. My incidents are few but painful, worn like battle scars that continue to influence me. But, on the whole, acting professionally and keeping in touch with many people I’ve worked with has always helped me over the years. From jobs to references to assistance with resources, the depth of your contact list will be a major factor in how well you move forward in your career.

And that networking needs to reach beyond the borders of your career and into your personal life. Giving of yourself and your time in areas you care about should also be part of your outreach. Philanthropy and community involvement, being a citizen participating in the world you live in, all these impact your circle of contacts and enrich your work.

Every truly successful person I know embraces this mantra of outreach and networking, both professionally and personally. It is part of their chemistry, a part of who they are, and an important aspect of their success. Don’t narrow the field based on your position in the food chain at this point. I continue to connect with former students and former teachers, former employers and former employees, each connection as rewarding as the next. So write those thank you notes, send a periodic email, continue to connect in any way you can with the people in your career. We are all better off for the networking, since the outreach has value in both directions.

Producer Frances Yount Perkins is a native of Southern California. She received her B.A. in Film Studies and Cultural Anthropology at the University of California-Santa Barbara. She received her M.F.A. in Film Production from New York University, where she also met her future husband and collaborator, Troy Perkins. She currently teaches as an Assistant Professor in Communication & Theatre Arts at University of Wisconsin Fox Valley, and teaches online Humanities courses for University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. As a freelancer, she has produced commercials, on-air promos and animated videos in New York. Frances served as a founding partner of Mindpool Productions in Milwaukee, and as a freelance writer/producer for WISN-TV, the Hearst-Argyle ABC affiliate station in Milwaukee. Recently, Frances produced award-winning short films for Troy, Tractor For Sale (2006), Brothers (2008), Birthday Girl (2010) and Billfold (2010). Frances wrote and directed the short films Summertime’s Calling Me (1998) Test Day (2009) and Take & Bake (2010). She is currently writing Let Go, her first feature screenplay.

The opinions expressed by EngageWisconsin bloggers and by those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Wisconsin Public Television (WPT). WPT is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by bloggers. WPT is not responsible for any offense caused inadvertently through interpretation of grammar, punctuation, or language. WPT reserves the right to remove, alter, change or vary the WPT blogs or comments at any time without notice. WPT shall endeavor to provide constant, uninterrupted access to the blogs, but do not guarantee to do so and accept no responsibility or liability for any interruption or delay.

by Frances Perkins

Northtown Productions

Looking over my last two blog postings, I noticed a rather serious trend. Passion.  Responsibility. Now I’d rather discuss another key element to the media profession, one that isn’t quite as somber but is crucial nevertheless: geekiness.

8mm Movies. Credit: SteveR- , Flickr Creative Commons.

Yes, I’m a self-proclaimed film geek. I’ve heard you are a geek until you get paid, and then you are a professional. But “professional” does little to explain the sheer joy and excitement I get from working in this field. And, as you’ve been reading in other posts, this field is extremely hard work. We wouldn’t do it if we didn’t love it, and love it in a crazy, goofy way that can only be described as geekiness. I see a gorgeous shot in a film, and I “oooh” out loud. I work with an editor on a video, and when a cut works particularly well, we high five our success. I rush to identify an actor’s voice in a commercial, beating out my film-maker husband about half the time. We are proud, us geeks, and wear our geekiness like a badge of honor.

It started early. My first memory of seeing any movie was on TV, the 1936 version of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn. I remember a sleepover for my one of my birthdays; I chose Death on the Nile and East of Eden as our movie rentals. I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark six times in the theater when I was twelve, paying only once and sneaking in each time afterwards. A blank VHS tape in my Christmas stocking was immediately used to record Singin’ in the Rain, viewed so many times I still know every toe tap by heart. A high school boyfriend chose to watch Teen Wolf when I wanted Rear Window, dooming that relationship then and there.

Don’t think that being a geek is a limiting thing. Actually, it gives me depth in more areas than I realized. Filmmaking is an art form, one closely aligned with many others. Expressing our values and culture through art is one of the things that makes us human. Films are also an entertaining, commercial enterprise, but they reflect what we think, what we feel, what we value. They are important cultural artifacts, historical investigations and compelling narratives. This extends my geekiness to culture, history, storytelling in any form, and the fine arts.

Credit: macaroni1945, Flickr Creative Commons.

The fact that film is also a technical medium expands my geekiness into the digital realm, including all manner of device, delivery method or latest technology.  This keeps me abreast of new trends and fads, both important not only in our culture but the global economy. So much business includes advertising, marketing through media to achieve goals – I’ve yet to meet a person in business who has not dealt with video in the workplace. It all includes messages through audio and visuals, which brings it all back around to film at the core.

That extension of my geekiness means I can talk to anyone, on any level, at any time. Everyone has seen a movie, watched a TV show, checked out the latest viral video, listened to music, used a computer or other device that plays media. That gives me a connection to anyone I meet, one that’s enjoyable to talk about. My productions allow me to work with people in medicine, politics, engineering, education, farming, business, technology, aviation, and the list goes on. It feeds my curiosity about people and the world in a way that enriches my personal and professional life.

I do what I love, and I love what I do, which touches almost every aspect of life. I can’t think of another career that allows that kind of complete experience. But that’s probably because I’m too much of a geek to see beyond my own geekiness.

Producer Frances Yount Perkins is a native of Southern California. She received her B.A. in Film Studies and Cultural Anthropology at the University of California-Santa Barbara. She received her M.F.A. in Film Production from New York University, where she also met her future husband and collaborator, Troy Perkins. She currently teaches as an Assistant Professor in Communication & Theatre Arts at University of Wisconsin Fox Valley, and teaches online Humanities courses for University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. As a freelancer, she has produced commercials, on-air promos and animated videos in New York. Frances served as a founding partner of Mindpool Productions in Milwaukee, and as a freelance writer/producer for WISN-TV, the Hearst-Argyle ABC affiliate station in Milwaukee. Recently, Frances produced award-winning short films for Troy, Tractor For Sale (2006), Brothers (2008), Birthday Girl (2010) and Billfold (2010). Frances wrote and directed the short films Summertime’s Calling Me (1998) Test Day (2009) and Take & Bake (2010). She is currently writing Let Go, her first feature screenplay.

The opinions expressed by EngageWisconsin bloggers and by those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Wisconsin Public Television (WPT). WPT is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by bloggers. WPT is not responsible for any offense caused inadvertently through interpretation of grammar, punctuation, or language. WPT reserves the right to remove, alter, change or vary the WPT blogs or comments at any time without notice. WPT shall endeavor to provide constant, uninterrupted access to the blogs, but do not guarantee to do so and accept no responsibility or liability for any interruption or delay.

by Nicole Docta

Why aren’t there more women in film? In my last post, I wondered aloud whether it is because women are less interested or because they are discouraged since they’d be in the minority. Is it the physicality of some roles? Big cameras, big lights, heavy sandbags. We might be perceived as not being capable of doing certain work but you need to prove yourself.

While the Brewers were headed for the playoffs, I took a freelance job where I was the only female in a 7 person crew. My main job was to monitor a camera taking stop motion footage of the setting sun behind the stadium. I taped a green square around myself and the camera and guarded it from the thousands of Brewers fans heading in to watch the game. For 3 hours, I warded off distracted children, obnoxious drunks, and people who would jump in front of the camera. Sounds fun, right? It was actually. Most people were intrigued and would politely ask what was going on. Some would tease me by purposefully stepping into the box and running away or joke about whether they ever let me out of the box (only if I behaved). It is interesting to see how people react when a camera is around. You also have more chances to find a date because women crew always get hit on more than men be it by other crew members or by Brewers fans.

Nicole Docta & Brad Lichtenstein, 371 Productions. Photo credit: Kaleigh Atkinson

Another part of my job was to haul sandbags from one end of the stadium to another. The other guy doing it, a former football player, didn’t have a problem while I sort of struggled with the weight. I was sweating like nothing else but I held my own and didn’t complain. I didn’t ask for help either, nor was I offered any. I took this as a sign of respect. I felt as though the rest of the crew saw me as an equal being able to do the same task as this other guy (or they just didn’t want to carry the sandbags…). In all seriousness, if someone would have asked me if I wanted help, I would have refused. If I want to be an equal in the business, I need to be able to perform at the level of my peers.

Sometimes, it is better to be a woman in the film industry. I found that people are more willing to open up to women and we are given access to more intimate moments. In my current film, As Goes Janesville, one of our characters, Cindy, finds a lump in her breast. She had to schedule an ultrasound, which we wanted to film. This was a major turning point in Cindy’s life and in the film because her healthcare was about to run out. She was very hesitant to allow us to film because her chest would be exposed to the camera. I promised Cindy the utmost discretion and I, not my male director, was allowed to film her exam.

She was understandably nervous for the ultrasound but I think my presence helped take her mind off the seriousness of the event. “Nicole, now I’m trusting you here. No boob shots!” Afterword, we watched the footage together so she could make sure she wasn’t exposed. It was remarkable for her to step way out of her comfort zone and allow me to film. It was a great honor and made me realize how far my relationship with Cindy had come from the beginning of filming.

Documentary filmmaking is mostly about relationships. You build a rapport with the people you want to film so they will show you a window into their lives. I genuinely care for Cindy and consider her a friend – I even invited her to my wedding! You won’t get along so well with everyone but it was my relationship with Cindy as much as my gender that got me access. Being a woman in the industry definitely has its benefits but just being a woman won’t cut it. You also need to be a competent and caring worker.

Nicole Docta, formerly Nicole Brown, has co-produced and co-directed a number of documentaries. Nicole writes: I’m a Wisconsin girl at heart. I spent most of my childhood in Oshkosh and went to college at UW-Milwaukee, where I received my BFA in Film. I made mostly documentaries for my student projects and am able to continue to tell stories about real people in my professional career. I’ve worked on feature and commercial sets but for my own work, I hope to show people things they never would have encountered on their own and show more depth in familiar things. Although I’m relatively new to the filmmaking world, I’ve learned a lot about the industry and have had success in the national festival circuit and airing pieces on Wisconsin Public Television. I produced and edited Chosen Towns: The Story of Jews in Wisconsin’s Small Communities (2007), I co directed, shot, and edited A King In Milwaukee (2009). I’m currently co-producing As Goes Janesville which is funded by the MacArthur Foundation, The Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund, The Lubar Family Foundation,and ITVS and will air nationally on PBS in Oct. 2012.

The opinions expressed by EngageWisconsin bloggers and by those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Wisconsin Public Television (WPT). WPT is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by bloggers. WPT is not responsible for any offense caused inadvertently through interpretation of grammar, punctuation, or language. WPT reserves the right to remove, alter, change or vary the WPT blogs or comments at any time without notice. WPT shall endeavor to provide constant, uninterrupted access to the blogs, but do not guarantee to do so and accept no responsibility or liability for any interruption or delay.

by Frances Perkins

I had to break the bad news.

“There’s a blizzard. A state of emergency has been declared throughout New Jersey. So the make-up artist is stuck in New York.”

“So?” said the director, looking not at all worried.

“So, that means we can’t do the fight scene. We won’t have the fight make-up,” I warned.

“So, figure it out,” he said, flatly.

“Figure it out?” I said, incredulous.

“You’re the producer. We have to shoot that fight scene, with fight make-up. Figure it out.” He stood up, and walked away.

My classmate from NYU wasn’t trying to be a jerk; he was stating the obvious. I was the producer of his short film, a major setback had just occurred, and it was up to me to figure it out.

During a blizzard. On an island off the New Jersey coast. No access to the mainland. And it was my first time producing a film.

I was also the driver, the cook, the housekeeper, and now I was the make-up artist. In a film where a man was beaten to death. Yikes.

Photo credit: Benjamin Hollis, Flickr.

I was learning the hard way that, as the producer, the buck stops with you. You’d think the ultimate responsibility would lie with the director, that it’s his/her vision being articulated into the medium of film. But that’s not true. The producer is the one who has to say yes as often as possible, no as rarely as possible, and has to keep the production rolling forward at all costs, whether there is a blizzard or not.

Responsibility wasn’t the reason I was pursuing a career of film making. But it was what I was able to do. I was capable, organized, communicative and clear. That spells “producer,” and I was asked by three different classmates to produce short films over four months (including directing a short of my own). I remember asking the Chair of the film program if I should do it or not, and he replied, “How would I know what you can handle? Ask your mother.”

It was flattering to be asked – to be trusted – with the responsibility of others’ creative pursuits. I said yes, and that was it: my road to being a producer was underway without even knowing it. I continued to produce for classmates, even got my first paying production job as a Production Coordinator solely on the basis of my student producing experience. Production Coordinator, Production Manager, Line Producer…the road was clear and I followed it. “Frances is working a lot – call her, she might hire you,” was something I started to hear. Classmates who were developing feature films with known professionals still needed to pay their bills, and they’d gladly day play as a Production Assistant for me on a commercial, a broadcast promotion or other professional gig.

Getting paid and having a career straight out of school was a huge thing for me, and it came with a lot of responsibility. I wouldn’t sleep the night before a shoot, worrying about the 4 a.m. alarm clock, the 5 a.m. pick-up of vehicles, the constant running and lists and management of someone else’s money.

And I made plenty of mistakes. I learned the hard way about how to set up time in a post production facility (“Are you booking or buying?”); forgot to make calls that affected others (“He missed out on a great opportunity because of you!” said an irate mother of a child actor); bypassed the chain of command to tell an Executive something he didn’t need to know (“WHAT did you say to him?!?”); and the list goes on.

Responsibility is sometimes a scary word, one connected with fear or worry or weight that we don’t want to acknowledge. But it was a pivotal word for me, one that set me on a path, taught me to learn from mistakes, and even allowed me to save the day with my first ever fake bruises and Karo syrup blood.

Producer Frances Yount Perkins is a native of Southern California. She received her B.A. in Film Studies and Cultural Anthropology at the University of California-Santa Barbara. She received her M.F.A. in Film Production from New York University, where she also met her future husband and collaborator, Troy Perkins. She currently teaches as an Assistant Professor in Communication & Theatre Arts at University of Wisconsin Fox Valley, and teaches online Humanities courses for University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. As a freelancer, she has produced commercials, on-air promos and animated videos in New York. Frances served as a founding partner of Mindpool Productions in Milwaukee, and as a freelance writer/producer for WISN-TV, the Hearst-Argyle ABC affiliate station in Milwaukee. Recently, Frances produced award-winning short films for Troy, Tractor For Sale (2006), Brothers (2008), Birthday Girl (2010) and Billfold (2010). Frances wrote and directed the short films Summertime’s Calling Me (1998) Test Day (2009) and Take & Bake (2010). She is currently writing Let Go, her first feature screenplay.

The opinions expressed by EngageWisconsin bloggers and by those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Wisconsin Public Television (WPT). WPT is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by bloggers. WPT is not responsible for any offense caused inadvertently through interpretation of grammar, punctuation, or language. WPT reserves the right to remove, alter, change or vary the WPT blogs or comments at any time without notice. WPT shall endeavor to provide constant, uninterrupted access to the blogs, but do not guarantee to do so and accept no responsibility or liability for any interruption or delay.

This blog post is part of our new series, Perspectives on Food Insecurity in Wisconsin, in support of the Sesame Street program Growing Hope Against Hunger, and WPT programs Wisconsin Foodie (airing Thursdays at 7 p.m.) and Wisconsin Gardener (airing Thursdays at 6 p.m.).

Sesame Street Food for Thought: Eating Well on a Budget is a bilingual, multimedia program designed to help support families who have children between the ages of 2 and 8 and are coping with uncertain or limited access to affordable and nutritious food. Contact WPT to request a free Food for Thought tool kit with tips, strategies, and tools to help families with limited resources eat healthy.

Got a story or a tip for eating well on a budget? Share it here.

by Cara Ladd

It is hard not to adopt some sort of food obsession, living in a place like Madison. The foodie culture is rich, the restaurants aplenty, and the unrivaled opportunity to get fresh ingredients at farmers’ markets makes the national spotlight. Especially in the city’s downtown area, there is food just about everywhere you turn. As one of the many college students populating the isthmus, I can confidently say that food is constantly on the mind of the typical twenty-something. Whether it’s where to grab late-night eats or study snacks, or what new experimental dish to try to make in your cozy apartment kitchen, food is omnipresent in our lives. For some, food is less of a luxury and more of a chore, with grocery shopping on a budget a challenge that often leads to compromised diets. But one thing most college students don’t realize, particularly in a place like Madison, is that where there is an abundance of food, especially local and organic, there may also be a food desert nearby.

The term “food desert” has been used to describe the south side of Madison in years past, an area that is just outside the reach of the University’s downtown bubble, but an area that is still a prevalent part of the city. “Food desert” essentially describes a region where the availability of food is difficult for most people to attain geographically and/or economically. For inhabitants of South Madison, a fresh market might not be right down the street, or they may not have the means to get to one for good, healthy food options. It’s hard for many, especially students, to recognize that such a region exists just in our backyard, especially with attractions like the popular Dane County Farmer’s Market flaunting an abundance of cheesy bread and fresh produce.

Nevertheless, there are individuals working to change the food system. The growing South Madison Farmer’s Market, started twelve years ago by Robert Pierce in collaboration with people from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has made great strides in increasing accessibility and affordability of local, healthy food in the “food desert”, with farmers accepting food stamps in order to provide equal eating opportunity for people of all income levels. On the University side, a South Madison project was started through the student organization, Slow Food UW, by a former member and graduate, Aly Miller. Not that long ago, Aly established connections to South Madison through UW advisor Margaret Nellis, and with Robert’s help, pioneered the project that would allow students to work in an area that needed it the most.

One of the offshoots of Aly’s brainchild has been Slow Food’s connection to the Boys and Girls Clubs on Taft Street and Allied Drive. From cooking nights with the teens, started in spring 2011 by fellow South Madison leader Shelbi Jentz, to the gardens that were planted on site just this past season, Slow Food students have become weekly regulars at both locations, and are working hard towards teaching the teens about local food.

This past semester, we started off the year by reinstating the cooking nights every Wednesday at the Boys and Girls Club on Allied. The purpose of these mini-workshops is to expose teens to cooking a healthy meal using local ingredients, and of course the reward is dinner in the end, so long as they participate in the preparation. Often the greatest challenge is coming up with a variety of meals that the kids will be willing to try. They are teenagers, after all. Surprisingly enough, a lot of the students are rather skilled at cooking. It’s just a matter of convincing them that it is an enjoyable and self-fulfilling task in the long run, especially when they are willing to try something new.

Our first cooking night, we wanted to come up with a fun dish that the kids would love with a few creative twists thrown into it. Our solution: pizza. But this wasn’t going to be Pizza Hut style. As a team, we decided to teach the kids how to make pizza from scratch and let them toss in their own toppings. We included everything from broccoli to hot peppers, zucchini to spinach, and topped it all off with mozzarella cheese. We were able to source almost all of the ingredients from the Wednesday farmer’s market on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, and we even used some of the tomatoes from the garden on site. Doesn’t get much more local than that!

Even though the teens made comments here and there about the nontraditional appearance of the pizza in comparison to generic kinds, every single one wolfed down their slice. If anything is to be learned from these cooking nights, it’s that food education takes lots of practice and patience. I would like to think that some of the students consider making these dishes on their own at home, but I know this is not necessarily the case. Nonetheless, what the cooking nights can teach us more than anything is the necessity of persistent engagement with other students in South Madison. Even if these students still prefer Pizza Hut to the homemade version, if they just become more aware of how to cook with healthy ingredients and where they can get such ingredients, then we will have succeeded in making steps toward eradicating this food desert.

Cara Ladd is a junior at University of Wisconsin-Madison majoring in Spanish and Environmental Studies. She works closely with Slow Food-UW and was part of a team that received a Wisconsin Idea Undergraduate Fellowship for the 2011-2012 school year to do work in South Madison. Cara concentrates most of her work at the new charter school, Badger Rock Middle School.

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by Nicole Docta

I’m relatively new to the filmmaking world but have worked on a wide variety of projects. I was an Additional Production Assistant on Public Enemies when it was in Oshkosh, Milwaukee, and Chicago. On some days, there were 150 extras on set with another 50 crew. I found that out because when we had to work through lunch, the other PAs and I had to pack and deliver that many lunches to set. Basically, I was glorified crowd control, but I was able to learn how crazy a film set can be and how much even the lowest person on the totem pole can contribute.

I “saved” one of the actors from getting hit by an old-timey car in a narrow crosswalk coming off set. I also learned humility when the actor didn’t hear me or understand why I was pushing him and proceeded to scold me. He gave me a big hug whenever I’d see him on set later but his initial reaction made me remember there are some big egos out there. But don’t let me sour your impression of the industry. Most people are really great and willing to help you as you’re starting your career, which I learned on other commercial sets and getting immersed in the Milwaukee community.

My other credits include producing and editing a documentary called Chosen Towns: The Story of Jews in Wisconsin’s Small Communities and co-directing, producing, shooting, and editing A King In Milwaukee, both of which aired on Wisconsin Public Television. A King In Milwaukee also enjoyed a short festival run screening around the country. Besides the festivals in Wisconsin, I attended the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana and the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Festivals are great places to make connections and gain knowledge about the industry in general and within specific communities. How were you funded? What camera did you use? I have a friend you should collaborate with! You also get to see films that aren’t going to be shown on TV, Netflix or in the theatre chains. Even if you’re not able to screen at the festival, you can benefit from forums, workshops, and Q&As.

You can act locally and reach out globally. A King In Milwaukee is about the creator of Duplex Planet, David Greenberger, who talks with people with memory loss and develops a periodical, a CD, and a blues-funk concert out of those conversations. We learned about David’s creative process and the art of conversing with someone who has some form of memory loss. I told a story about David’s time in Milwaukee but anyone can relate to the message and use his techniques anywhere they have an aging loved one.

At the Hot Springs festival, I met 9 other women directors including a student filmmaker from the Czech Republic. Maybe it is the independent doc world that is more welcoming to women? I felt and was treated like a respected colleague among friends that varied from first-film-struggling-artists to seasoned veterans making a living off their personal work. It was fun and inspiring to hear how other people got started in the industry and to realize that most are going through the same struggles.

I mentioned I met many women at the festivals but I met twice as many men. The industry is without a question male dominated. I’m not sure why there aren’t more women in the industry. I noticed in school there weren’t as many women film students. It made me wonder: are women less interested in the industry or are they discouraged to join because they would be in the minority?

With any work, you need to pull your own weight (sometimes in the form of sand bags) but don’t step away from a challenge before you try. Some tasks are easier if you’re a woman, which I’ll be talking about in my next post!

Nicole Docta, formerly Nicole Brown, has co-produced and co-directed a number of documentaries. Nicole writes: I’m a Wisconsin girl at heart. I spent most of my childhood in Oshkosh and went to college at UW-Milwaukee, where I received my BFA in Film. I made mostly documentaries for my student projects and am able to continue to tell stories about real people in my professional career. I’ve worked on feature and commercial sets but for my own work, I hope to show people things they never would have encountered on their own and show more depth in familiar things. Although I’m relatively new to the filmmaking world, I’ve learned a lot about the industry and have had success in the national festival circuit and airing pieces on Wisconsin Public Television. I produced and edited Chosen Towns: The Story of Jews in Wisconsin’s Small Communities (2007), I co directed, shot, and edited A King In Milwaukee (2009). I’m currently co-producing As Goes Janesville which is funded by the MacArthur Foundation, The Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund, The Lubar Family Foundation,and ITVS and will air nationally on PBS in Oct. 2012.

The opinions expressed by EngageWisconsin bloggers and by those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Wisconsin Public Television (WPT). WPT is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by bloggers. WPT is not responsible for any offense caused inadvertently through interpretation of grammar, punctuation, or language. WPT reserves the right to remove, alter, change or vary the WPT blogs or comments at any time without notice. WPT shall endeavor to provide constant, uninterrupted access to the blogs, but do not guarantee to do so and accept no responsibility or liability for any interruption or delay.

This blog post is part of our new series, Perspectives on Food Insecurity in Wisconsin, in support of the Sesame Street program Growing Hope Against Hunger, and WPT programs Wisconsin Foodie (airing Thursdays at 7 p.m.) and Wisconsin Gardener (airing Thursdays at 6 p.m.).

Sesame Street Food for Thought: Eating Well on a Budget is a bilingual, multimedia program designed to help support families who have children between the ages of 2 and 8 and are coping with uncertain or limited access to affordable and nutritious food. Contact WPT to request a free Food for Thought tool kit with tips, strategies, and tools to help families with limited resources eat healthy.

Got a story or a tip for eating well on a budget? Share it here.

by Aly Miller

I once read an article that boasted that Madison has the most restaurants per capita in the US. Whether or not this claim holds true is a debate for statisticians, but something we can be assured of is that our Isthmus is bustling with locally owned restaurants and steeped in flavor. Our culinary culture, like our politics, might be described as “progressive,” – featuring made-from-scratch and locally sourced fare.

As an employee in our thriving restaurant industry, I take pride in serving such meals, “Forward” in every sense. Farm-fresh, locally sourced food moves us toward the more localized, fair and cooperative economic and social relationships that I envision for our food system.

Photo credit: Rick, Flickr.

The journey from stovetop to table, and from table to dish pit, however, can reek of injustices that overpower the smell of the slow-roasting pig. Encounters between servers and eaters, routines of scraping leftovers into the trash, moments of injuring oneself on the job, and the rituals of tipping and ‘tipping out,’ all indicate the uneven relationships of power between workers and consumers.

The most volatile divisions, however, exist between workers, where divisions between the front of the house and the back of the house can silently boil over. Only 20 percent of all available jobs in the restaurant industry offering a living wage, and most of them are found in the front of the house in fine dining establishments. Intense competition for these jobs keeps servers with the desirable table manners, appearance, language skills, and work experience at an advantage. Across all segments of the industry, workers of color report lower median wages and higher rates of employment law violations than their white co-workers. When the front and the back of the house are divided along class and race-based lines, the potential for solidarity within this workforce fades. The restaurant industry, “divided against itself,” cannot stand.

No one wants this division to continue, but when eating out is such a regular part of our culture (16 million Americans ate out on Thanksgiving day), the demands for fair working conditions get muffled by profit-minded managers and conscientious consumers alike. Where can Madison’s progressive, labor-rights-concerned citizens turn when deciding where to eat?

On December 1, the Restaurant Opportunities Center United, the only restaurant group organizing for workers rights, released their first National Diners’ Guide. Here, you can find out how America’s most popular fine-dining restaurants treat their employees. The guide ranks restaurants on workplace conditions, wages, benefits, and opportunity for promotion.

Slow Food USA founder, Josh Viertel, says, “No matter how good the food, how local the ingredients, no one wants to support
 a restaurant that takes advantage of its workers.” If going out to eat is a part of your life, you can make a systemic difference by supporting restaurants that pay workers fairly, provide them benefits, and allow sick days. When poverty wages (as low as $2.13 per hour), and benefits are ignored, an unfair and unhealthy labor model persists. Even if these costs aren’t printed on the bill, we all pay for it in health care costs, social assistance programs, and public health dangers.

Now is the time to expand our definition of “ethical eating” to include not only the farmers and the land, but also the processors, cooks, dishwashers, and servers behind it. Check out the Diners Guide, and share it with your friends and local policy makers – does your favorite restaurant make the cut?

Aly Miller is a recent graduate from UW-Madison who studied geography and organized partnerships between Slow Food-UW, Growing Power, and the South Madison Farmers Market. She continues to support Madison’s local food system as a youth educator for farming and nutrition, as a caterer in Madison’s restaurant industry, and as a member of Madison Community Cooperative.

The opinions expressed by EngageWisconsin bloggers and by those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Wisconsin Public Television (WPT). WPT is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by bloggers. WPT is not responsible for any offense caused inadvertently through interpretation of grammar, punctuation, or language. WPT reserves the right to remove, alter, change or vary the WPT blogs or comments at any time without notice. WPT shall endeavor to provide constant, uninterrupted access to the blogs, but do not guarantee to do so and accept no responsibility or liability for any interruption or delay.