Producer / Director: David L. Brown
David L. Brown is an Emmy Award-winning San Francisco documentary filmmaker who has produced, written and directed over 80 productions and 12 broadcast documentaries on social, nuclear, environmental, health, engineering, technology, peace and justice issues. His documentaries have received over 80 international awards, include three Emmy Awards, and have been broadcast on PBS and in fifteen countries.
Recent work includes The Bridge So Far: A Suspense Story, a comedic 56-minute documentary on the troubled 16-year history of the new east span of the S.F.-Oakland Bay Bridge that received two Emmy Awards (Best Documentary and Best Graphics and Animation in a Program) and aired on PBS; Of Wind and Waves: The Life of Woody Brown; an hour-long profile of legendary 94-year-old surfer, Woody Brown (Emmy nomination for Best Documentary, Inspiration Award at Mountainfilm in Telluride) that aired on PBS; Amazing: The Rebuilding of the MacArthur Maze, a half-hour film on the fiery collapse and speedy rebuilding of Oakland’s MacArthr Maze (Emmy nomination for Best Graphics and Animation) that aired on PBS; Seniors for Peace, a 26-minute portrait of a group of articulate and passionate senior peace activists (average age 85) which aired on national PBS; and Surfing for Life, an inspirational one hour documentary on older surfers as models of healthy aging. It screened theatrically in 40 cities, was broadcast on over 140 PBS stations, won 15 international awards (including the Golden Maile for Best Documentary at the Hawai’i International Film Festival), and was profiled in The New York Times Magazine, Parade Magazine, on National Public Radio and ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. The San Francisco Chronicle called it “a treasure, perhaps the most intelligent treatment of surfing ever captured on film.”
Brown produced several films on nuclear and environmental issues culminating in Bound by the Wind, a moving documentary on the global legacy of nuclear weapons testing and the plight of the world’s “downwinders.” It won 20 international awards and has been broadcast on PBS and in 14 countries. The Boston Globe called it “far and away the best film on the nuclear legacy.”
Brown teaches Documentary Filmmaking at City College of San Francisco, Digital Filmmaking at UC Berkeley Extension and Documentary Filmmaking at S.F. Film Society. His current projects in production include a feature-length documentary on survivors of traumatic brain injury (www.GoingtheDistance.info) and a feature-length documentary on 65-year-old drummer, Barbara Borden, entited Keeper of the Beat (www.kobmovie.com). His web site is www.DLBfilms.com.
Executive Producer
Robert Howard is the founder of Epic Way Sports, a firm dedicated to enlisting action sports and action sports programs to improve and sustain both mental and physical health. Epic Way Sports develops and distributes an array of instructional and inspirational print and video content through its various subsidiaries (SkiSkills, BikeSkills, SurfSkills) as well as through Internet broadcasting. The company’s EWS division manages various sports events including The Lake Tahoe Crossing. Epic Way Sports’ central mission is to find ways to encourage people to be more active, and remain active throughout their lives.
Co-Editors
Tal Skloot has edited Emmy Award-winning documentaries and feature films. His credits include Orion Pictures, LucasFilm Ltd., Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, PBS, Frontline, Pulse Films, Zala Films and David L. Brown Productions. His work has appeared on PBS, NBC, ABC, CBS and in numerous national and international film festivals. Recent projects include the documentaries Hard Problems (PBS 2009), Freeway Philharmonic (PBS 2008), Miya of the Quiet Strength (2008) and The Bridge So Far (2007, a multiple Emmy Award-winner). He has worked as an editor on a number of David’s documentaries, including The Bridge So Far, Of Wind and Waves, A Span In Time and Seniors for Peace. Tal recently produced, directed and edited the documentary Freeway Philharmonic, which was broadcast nationally on PBS. Tal is a graduate of the American Film Institute and is a faculty member of the Diablo Valley College film and broadcast arts department.
Steven Baigel is a documentary filmmaker and editor who has worked closely with David L. Brown for over 25 years. Steven was a cameraman, sound recordist and editor on A Question of Power, David’s 1986 documentary on nuclear power, and has worked as an editor and cameraman on a number of David’s documentaries, including The Bridge So Far, Of Wind and Waves, Seniors for Peace, Surfing for Life, Bound by the Wind and Digital Democracy Comes of Age. Steven most recently co-produced, photographed and edited the documentary Freeway Philharmonic, which was broadcast nationally on PBS. Steven’s other documentary credits include being the producer, director, editor, cameraman and/or sound recordist on a wide range of films covering topics such as Tibetan culture and exiles, Western and Indian classical music, domestic and international environmental issues, peace, nuclear disarmament, weapons in space, progressive political movements and social activism. Steven’s web site is www.stevenbaigel.com.
Co-writer
Stephen Most is an author, playwright and documentary scriptwriter. Among the films he has written are Oil on Ice, an hour-long documentary about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; The Greatest Good, a history of the U.S. Forest Service; A Land Between Rivers, a documentary history of central California; and The Bridge So Far, which won a Best Documentary Emmy. Wonders of Nature, written by Stephen as part of the Great Wonders of the World series, also won an Emmy for Best Special Non-Fiction Program. The film Promises, on which he worked as a consulting writer and researcher, won Emmys for both Best Documentary and Outstanding Background Analysis and Research. Berkeley in the Sixties, which Stephen co-wrote, is one of four films he has worked on that has received an Academy Award nomination.
As a playwright, Stephen is the author of Medicine Show, Raven’s Seed, Watershed and A Free Country. In addition, he has written plays for and with the Organic Theatre, the San Francisco Mime Troupe and the Dell’Arte Players Company. His book River of Renewal: Myth and History in the Klamath Basin was published in 2006 by the University of Washington Press.
Consulting producer/writer
Laurie Coyle, directed, wrote and produced Orozco: Man of Fire, which aired in 2007 on the PBS primetime series AMERICAN MASTERS and was nominated best television documentary by the Alma Awards and the Imagen Awards. Rick Tejada-Flores was her co-producer. She is currently writing and directing Adios Amor — The Search for Maria Moreno. Her writing credits include KQED’s Both Sides Now (in development) and The Bonesetter’s Daughter, the Making of the Opera; Jeff Adachi’s The Slanted Screen; Avon Kirkland’s Life of Booker T. Washington; Lourdes Portillos’ Columbus on Trial; and Patchworks Films’ Speaking in Tongues. Other writing clients include the Center for Asian American Media, Latino Public Broadcasting, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Ellen Bruno, Franco Dolgin Productions and New Images Productions. Coyle associate produced the PBS primetime specials Cesar Chavez and The Farmworkers’ Struggle and The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It, as well as the American Masters special Ralph Ellison: An American Journey.