A BALANCED MEAL OF...FATHERHOOD - From Associate Producer Tracy Russell

"Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste..." Actually, I am a woman of taste...and debt. The debt part, well, that's for another blog (the single mother's in debt support group blog, maybe.) But the taste part, that's relevent here. I have had the good fortune to become involved with this tasty project- at once innovative (the salad of microgreens,) challenging (the raw oyster appetizer,) substancial (the pot roast entree,) and comfortingly sweet (the chocolate pudding dessert.) My name is Tracy Russell and I am working with Dana on Evolution of Dad, as an associate producer.

Since Dana last wrote, shortly after Father's Day, we are cooking! The Father's Day Video on YouTube peaked at over 368,000 viewings! One of the many contacts resulting from the Father's Day Video posting is Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, a freelance writer for Time Magazine, who called Dana last week and interviewed him for a proposed article about fatherhood. Check out her blog bite about our project at http://time-blog.com/work_in_progress/
for the date of 6/26/07. This week a local publication printed an interview with Dana that really goes into some nice detail about his motivation behind the project. Check out the article at http://www.hudsonreporter.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18535926&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_id=523592&rfi=6 .

I am beginning to carve into the daunting task of finding sponsers to help support the filmmaking process. If anyone has ideas of specific companies who may be inclined to want to align themselves with a positive film project about fatherhood- let me know.

Hungry for more updates about this project? Sit down with me tomorrow for another juicy morsel...

Happy YouTube!

I posted the Father’s Day videos about a week before the big day and the hits were a mild trickle at best. I would excitedly come upon an occasional email sent to my account that a comment had been left. By day 5 the main video had reached just under 500 hits and I was happily resigned to the fact that my viral marketing idea had kind of flopped on its face. Oh well. It had seemed to be a good idea when it struck me in the shower six weeks earlier. At the very least all the people involved could share the video with their dads and I could do the same with mine.

And then Father’s Day arrived. Strangely, I tossed and turned that night, literally imagining a flood of email comments in my inbox. I did expect that there would be a little more activity and if the hits broke a thousand I’d be all smiles, but the dream seemed like a ridiculous exaggeration.

Wrong.

Upon opening my computer yesterday morning I encountered what can only be described as an email deluge. I tried to keep up with it but realized fairly quickly that it was going to be near impossible. Like someone reaching to close the valve on an overflowing toilet I changed the YouTube settings to halt sending me notices.

The views counter seemed to freeze at 22,554 and I left for Father’s Day dinner feeling vindicated, yet expecting that would be it. Then, two hours later, my ever-faithful associate producer, Tracy, called to share that the views were now around 68,000 and we were at the #1 spot on the YouTube.com homepage.

I'm still a little dizzy with excitement even as things are starting to subside. The video as of this writing has about 144,00 hits. The comments I've received have been so touching and heartfelt.

Making this film -- no -- making films in general is ultimately about connecting with people in a heart-to-heart manner and to do so with this many people is incredibly uplifting for me. So, if you watched the videos and shared a comment on YouTube, I thank you. This has been a very special 24 hours for me personally, soaking in people's reactions and their outpouring of feeling. God bless YouTube for allowing a small video like the one I posted to be shared by so many so quickly. What an amazing site.

Just in time for Father's Day...

It’s been an incredibly intense six weeks since I last wrote in. In mid-May a small film crew and I went around New York City and filmed near to 150 people, talking about their dads. The purpose for this endeavor was to make a short Father’s Day Video. The result was amazing. The candor that some people spoke about their relationships with their dads was incredibly moving. We were also amazed at how many people were happy to be on film until they learned that they would be talking about their dads; and how some people spoke about their dads with incredible anger. The experience really drove home how important the father/son/daughter bond is and the extent to which so many suffer due to their lack of it. It is just confirmation about the importance of a film about involved dads.

I want to thank all the people who generously agreed to be in the video as well as Tracy, Pat, Angelica and Brittany, who schlepped around the city with me, working extremely hard. You guys are the best!

I hope you enjoy the Father’s Day video, which is now posted on the main page, and, if it speaks to you, please share it with those you care about….

Lastly, please check out the 'clips' section to meet one of our amazing dad subjects!

Until next time…