NOTES FROM LOCKDOWN by Kirk Wolfinger
Lisa and I returned to Maine from a trip to DC around February 13th. Since then we have barely left our home, let alone the state of Maine! We hope everyone is playing it safe and being careful for your sake as well as for others. Despite being locked down we have not been locked out... Our shelter in place order came just as we were more than half way through production on season 2 of "America’s Hidden Stories” for the Smithsonian Network and we had just begun production on "The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle” special for History. Obviously we were forced to suspend all travel/production but were able to carry on in other ways: During our lockdown we’ve managed to put the finishing touches on "The Ship That Changed the World” (PBS/NOVA) and continue the edit of at least one episode of "America’s Hidden Stories."
More importantly, we have been hard at work on research and development. We just secured a greenlight from CuriosityStream for “Doug to the Rescue”, a series of short films about Doug Thron who uses hi-tech drone systems to locate and rescue animals, wild and domestic, in the aftermath of natural disasters. We discovered him in the Bahamas rescuing dogs in the aftermath of hurricane Dorian. Doug is a great character as well as a terrific human being! His mission is selfless and heroic; it’ll make you cry. Curiosity agreed. We also have a number of pitches that are getting serious attention at various networks: a premium natural history series about rewilding, a true crime anthology series based in our National Parks, and several historical docu-drama series/specials. We have also been busy developing ideas for a season 3 of "America’s Hidden Stories”and have a terrific line-up of truly timely, revelatory and little known chapters in American History.
During this time, the ‘Wolf Pack’ has managed to remain productive and stay together virtually (but physically apart.) Lisa and I are so incredibly proud of the team, working from home, producing results, moving us forward even when so much of the rest of the world seems stuck in neutral. Soon, we do need to get back in the field and back into the office because in the film business, there is only so much work you can do from home. We are currently prepping our first shoot since the lockdown up here in Maine. We have carefully worked out an extensive safety protocol to keep everyone safe and are feeling confident we can pull this off. We are all living a new normal and need to figure out how to navigate it safely while still producing quality programing.
-Kirk Wolfinger