Hoop Dreams — the award-winning 1994 documentary following high school basketball players working to reach their dreams of playing in the NBA — put TPT on the map as a producer of national content for primetime viewers of PBS. Since then, the National Productions team has overseen numerous celebrated projects, including Slavery by Another Name (2012), Going to War (2018), When Whales Walked (2019), and The Dictator’s Playbook (2019). The team is composed of Rosenfeld, Fritz Bergmann (Senior Managing Director of National Productions), Abby Gordon (Director of Content Development), Elaine Powell (Sr. Manager of Station Relations), Erin Anzalone (Line Producer), and Syd Stratman (Associate Producer). “A national production often starts with a seed of an idea from our team or an outside producer,” explains Gordon. “We then research the topic and create a format for a show and present it to PBS. Once they sign on, our team gets to work hiring outside production companies if needed, creating budgets, and figuring out how exactly the show is going to come together. Over the
course of a season, we oversee everything from approving stories in episodes, watching edited cuts, organizing community outreach and creating educational programing.” The team is currently working to secure funding to increase TPT’s ability to produce national productions and expand its legacy of creating acclaimed national programming. Simultaneously, they are filming season two of America Outdoors and planning for season two of the America Outdoors companion YouTube series, Understory . Season two of America Outdoors will reflect the geographic diversity of the country by filming across multiple regions and ecosystems, from coastlines to mountains, wetlands, and rivers. You can catch up on season one of the series and watch many of our national productions with PBS Passport using the PBS app. To support America Outdoors or TPT’s production of national projects, please reach out to our Development Department at 651-229-1410 or development@tpt.org .
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