Now, with almost three weeks under my belt at Ark, I feel it appropriate to give everyone a sort of lay of the land as to how a documentary film company like this one operates:
Right now, Ark is working on three different projects, each in various stages of production: Faces of America, a four-hour journey into the genealogies and family stories of a dozen celebrities, from Yo-Yo Ma and Meryl Streep to Stephen Colbert and Eva Longoria; My Lai, an investigation into the 1968 My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War; and Digital Nation, a PBS FRONTLINE production on film and the Web about how the Internet and digital media are drastically changing the world around us. The first two pay particular attention to the past — scouring archives, imbibing historical films and images, and featuring interviews with the descendants of some pretty interesting historical figures — while the third keeps a watchful eye on the future, showing how everything from military technology to AIM is shaping life in the digital age. Pretty appropriate that you’re reading this on a blog, isn’t it?
As far as Faces goes, for the twelve celebrities we’re working with, there are four production teams, each responsible for four of the celebrities (some quick math will tell you that those numbers don’t add up. One team is responsible for the film overall and the sequences with the host.) The teams do the research and hunt down sources to interview about each of the celebrities and their “extended” families (which sometimes stretch back several centuries), before rounding up all of their footage and setting to work in crafting each little vignette into a piece of the larger work. Things are still in the research phase right now, with everyone scouring archives and Googling bizarre items like “Sebastian Batali Yakima Washington land grant.” It’s a bit slow right now, but with a color-coded calender on the wall by my desk, I can only imagine things will get more exciting as the teams venture out to Texas, Montana, China, and beyond. Kind of like the Rockbridge Report, but you’re reimbursed for airfare, meals, and you don’t have to take any other classes.
The more you know.
W&L New York Internship Program 
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