Ahead of the Curve 2

Following up on the hugely successful Ahead of the Curve: Business Responds to Climate Change, SSF began production in December on a companion short film that will highlight the positive efforts being made by state governments around the country to address this pressing issue. Right off the bat, producer Rob Whittlesey and associate producer Julie Crawford got a reminder course in why we don’t call this problem ‘global warming.’ For five hours they sat in a packed plane waiting for clearance to take off from Boston’s snowy Logan International. This was a December storm to warm the cockles of any misguided climate change denier. In the end, with a final dose of de-icer at the head of the runway but no food in the galley, they were able to leave New England on their way to sunny Phoenix Arizona, where they had an appointment the next day with Arizona’s dynamic governor, Janet Napolitano.


Interview with Janet Napolitano, Governor of Arizona

Unfortunately, they were booked through Cleveland. Upon arrival they learned their connection to Phoenix had departed ‘on time’ many hours earlier. Worse, it was the last flight of the day to the southwest. Fortunately, there are many fine airport hotels to choose from in Cleveland and they found one that offers shuttles back to the airport even before the sun has risen. Their reward for that chilly ride was the news that the crack of dawn flight they’d been booked onto wasn’t actually going to leave at the crack of dawn. Seems the crew hadn’t yet had it’s required down time. Undaunted, our intrepid travelers, grande lattes in hand, soldiered on. By early afternoon, they had indeed arrived in Phoenix, where the kind folks at the governor’s office welcomed them with open arms. Eight hours and two interviews later, they were on a red eye home. Pretty glam life this filmmaking.

In the weeks since, Rob’s made a mad dash to California to interview Terry Tamminen and then flew on to wintry Minnesota, where, joined by Julie, he interviewed Govenor Tim Pawlenty and the charming mayor of Minnetonka Jan Callison.


Interview with Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota


Interview with Jan Callison, mayor of Minnetonka

Upcoming trips to Maryland and Florida loom, after which it’ll be time to hunker down in the editing room, safe hopefully from the vagaries of winter weather.