Unique insights and actionable ideas from The Darnell Works Agency’s daily quest for greatness.
Dr. King once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’”
Each year, Americans across the country answer that question by coming together on the King Holiday to serve their neighbors and communities. To learn more, please visit https://www.nationalservice.gov/mlkday.
What is the magic that allows us to connect across any span of time, distance or imagination to experience the lives and lessons of others? Of course, it’s what we simply call the story. For me personally, some of the most riveting and impactful storytelling of my lifetime has been courtesy of filmmaker Ken Burns. Like legions of other Americans and fans of quality historical entertainment all around the world, Mr. Burns’ epic works have reached me thanks to television and the internet. And while his past projects have helped shape my world view and my aims for living, beyond his work, he is mostly a mystery to me. For all of these reasons, I’m very thankful to the filmmakers Tom Mason and Sarah Klein of Redglass Pictures who created the powerful short film embedded here… to offer us all more insights into Ken Burns himself and his unique perspective on story.
“We live in a rational world where absolutely we’re certain that one and one equals two, and it does,” Burns says in the short film, “Ken Burns: On Story.” “But the things that matter most to us, some people call it love, some people call it God, some people call it reason, is that other thing where the whole is greater than the some of its parts, and that’s the three.”
Read moreSarah Klein, Tom Mason and Redglass Pictures: Thanks for the documentary
Once again this year, the pre-Sundance buzz is headline news worldwide, with The Daily Telegraph asking if, at age 30, the renowned festival still has its edge. There and in widespread coverage, the latest news from filmmaker Steve James leads the way. Steve’s new Kartemquin Films feature documentary “Life Itself” executive produced by Martin Scorsese will have its world premiere at this year’s festival, and he will also be honored during a 20th anniversary Sundance screening set for “Hoop Dreams,” his very first film, which is also one of history’s highest-grossing and most-acclaimed documentaries. Steve continues breaking new ground as a director and I am definitely a huge fan. I also have much love, respect and admiration for Loretta “LJ” Jeneski of Nonfiction Unlimited, the LA-based commercial production company that has represented Steve and many of the planet’s best documentary filmmakers for commercial and creative assignments since 1995.
My family and I have made our way north and west toward Yellowstone National Park, traveling through many beautiful lands that we know have changed in profound ways over the past two hundred years. In truth, many of our thoughts have been with the continent’s native people and the maelstrom of circumstances that arrived with … Read moreAmerica’s national parks, part 2
Cyclone Nargis hit Burma on May 3, 2008, dramatically increasing the suffering of more than 55 million people already living under the unjust rule of a notorious military government. News of the peaceful 2007 protests of hundreds of thousands of Burmese citizens reached the world over the internet, inciting executives from MTV and Ogilvy and Mather into action. Together, these groups enrolled many key players in creating, distributing and promoting a poignant, dramatic short film, targeted to MTV viewers and influential passionistas worldwide, all to urge the global community to support the people of Burma and donate to relief efforts.
Read moreCause Marketing Case Study: MTV Networks International’s “Burma Viral”
