Friday, February 12, 2010

Seeking a Poly Family for High Profile TV Program

I was recently contacted by Jessica Bennett, the author of the July 2009 Newsweek polyamory article, who is now working with several dynamic, veteran TV women to produce a TV documentary on the subject.  The details of the family she seeks and all other project information she has to share is below. 

Jessica has proven herself to be a trustworthy ally to the polyamory movement by writing a high profile article that treated the subject fairly.  That said, everyone is cautioned to think carefully about becoming involved if there are potential child custody risks or employment implications by being outed.  We hope you will make a rational assessment and decide for yourself to participate if you think it in your and our movement's best interests, but we don't want anyone to suffer negative consequences. 

With that said, here is Jessica's letter - please feel free to contact me for referral to people who can offer training in dealing with the media and prepare you so you'll enjoy the experience and maximize the benefit to the community of your participation. 

Hi there-

I'm the author of the Newsweek feature on polyamory, in search of a poly family to profile for a documentary television program presently in development. We're seeking families with 3+ partners, between the ages of late 20s-50s, who are committed to the lifestyle (ie not just "experimenting") and may be able to help debunk the stereotype of the poly community as an outlier. We are very open, but the biggest requirement is that the group must be willing to talk openly about their relationship, and is comfortable putting themselves out there for what could potentially be a very large audience. Location is flexible, though families living in Seattle or the East Coast would be a plus. There would be compensation for the project, depending on the commitment (ie whether the program ends up being a single segment or a documentary television series). We would film on location at your home/city.

About me: I'm an award-winning journalist for Newsweek, originally from Seattle, covering cultural trends, women and sexuality. My co-producer is Jennifer Molina, an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker with more than a decade of experience--at the Sundance Channel, the United Nations, Newsweek and elsewhere. (Jenn produced the two videos that were featured with the Newsweek article.) Together, we are working with a New York-based production company called Myriad Entertainment, which is run by Veronique Bernard and Lisa Zeff, two industry vets (and generally wonderful women) who are highly regarded in the field and have decades of experience funding and producing documentaries. Myriad has an abundance of contacts in the field, with the goal being to produce the project for a major television network.

If you're interested, we'd love to hear about you and your family. Please feel free to contact me directly, at jessben@gmail.com, and you can check out my portfolio and reel at www.jessbennett.net. Jennifer Molina's reel can be accessed at www.rinkdproductions.com and the Newsweek story, if you haven't seen it, is viewable at http://www.newsweek.com/id/209164. Please note that this project is not affiliated with Newsweek in any way.

Jessica Bennett

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