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PBS Announces Six New MAKERS Documentaries to Air
June through September 2014
New series spotlights groundbreaking women in war, comedy, space, business, Hollywood and politics
PASADENA, CA; January 21, 2014 At the semi-annual Television Critics Association conference today PBS announced, in partnership with AOL, six new one-hour documentaries as part of the MAKERS: Women Who Make America initiative. Scheduled to premiere in June and August 2014, the documentaries feature untold stories from an extensive list of groundbreaking women in America. The films, directed and produced by the country's leading independent filmmakers, build on the multi-platform initiative founded by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Dyllan McGee, which launched in 2012. In addition to long-form documentaries, the project currently includes a growing collection of more than 200 original video interviews online at MAKERS.com, powered by AOL. The new series expands on the critically acclaimed three-hour PBS documentary MAKERS: Women Who Make America, which premiered in February 2013 and told the story of the American women's movement over the last half-century. More than 5.2 million viewers tuned into the 2013 MAKERS premiere, and the online videos garnered 58 million views to date.
On January 22, at the closing lunch session of the TCA conference, Kathy Griffin (standup comedian), Valerie Plame (former CIA agent), Peggy Whitson (NASA astronaut) and the producers of MAKERS will introduce television critics to the exciting upcoming series with a panel discussion.
Each of the new documentaries tackles a different sphere of influence, including business, war, space, Hollywood, politics and comedy. Each program will profile prominent women in the field some known, like comedians Chelsea Handler and Sarah Silverman, and some less known, like Eileen Collins, the first woman to command a spacecraft. These women tell the inspiring stories of their struggles, triumphs and contributions as they reshaped and ultimately transformed the landscape of their chosen vocation.
The goal of MAKERS is to be the largest collection of women's stories ever assembled, said MAKERS founder and executive producer Dyllan McGee. This new documentary series will show the different ways in which the women's movement made an impact across industries sometimes propelling change forward and sometimes creating new challenges to overcome. The stories are heart-warming, funny, and will entertain, educate and inspire.
We are proud to bring six new MAKERS documentaries to PBS audiences following the success of MAKERS: Women Who Make America in 2013. Series such as this one shine a light on the women who broke down barriers in vastly different areas to pave the way for others to achieve success in any field, said Beth Hoppe, chief programming executive and general manager of general audience programming for PBS. Harnessing the power of both the PBS and AOL platforms will ensure that these stories reach the broadest audience possible.
Since our beginnings in February 2012, its been a privilege for MAKERS.com to honor hundreds of groundbreaking women and their pioneering contributions that have helped shape the world, said Maureen Sullivan, president of AOL.com and Lifestyle Brands. In partnership with PBS, the next series of MAKERS will now reach a new and expanded audience and undoubtedly impact an entirely new generation of women, continuing our mission to honor and empower tomorrows innovative female leaders.
The MAKERS series is produced and directed by a team of the country's top independent filmmakers. McGee, founder and executive producer, is an acclaimed producer, known for her work on The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross (PBS), Emmy-award nominated Gloria: In Her Own Words (HBO), Emmy-award winning Teddy: In His Own Words (HBO), This Emotional Life (PBS) and Oprah's Roots (PBS). Senior producer Rachel Dretzin is co-founder of Ark Media, whose films have won the Peabody Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Grand Prize for Journalism, the Columbia DuPont Award and multiple Emmys. Dretzin has directed and produced many films for the PBS series FRONTLINE, including Football High, Growing Up Online and Merchants of Cool. She worked with McGee as senior producer on The African Americans, and has also produced for MSNBC's Edgewise, NPR's All Things Considered and New York Times Magazine online.
The full line-up of documentaries follows:
MAKERS: Women & War looks at American women's increasing participation in war from Vietnam to the present as nurses, soldiers, journalists, diplomats and spies. Among those featured are Linda Bray, the first woman to lead troops into battle, and Valerie Plame Wilson, whose career was sabotaged after she was outed as a high-level spy. Viewers hear from war correspondents Molly Moore, Clarissa Ward and Christiane Amanpour about life on the battlefield. The film shares the stories of military leaders who have broken through gender barriers, like General Angela Salinas, at her retirement the highest ranking woman serving in the USMC, and Vice Admiral Michelle Howard, the highest-ranking woman in the history of the U.S. Navy. Produced and directed by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing. The documentary is scheduled to air June 24, 2014.
MAKERS: Women & Space traces the history of women pioneers in the U.S. space program. Some, like aviators Wally Funk and Jerrie Cobb, passed the same grueling tests as male astronauts, only to be dismissed by NASA, the military, and even Lyndon Johnson, as a distraction. It wasn't until 1995 that Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot a spacecraft. The program includes interviews with Collins, as well as Sally Ride's classmates Shannon Lucid, Rhea Seddon and Kathryn Sullivan, and features Mae Jemison, the first woman of col
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