Very Exciting PBS Possibility!

Dear Friend,

You may have seen Jean Strauss' latest film, "For the Life of Me," at a conference or film festival or at the home of a friend sometime in 2009 or '10. I did and reviewed it here.  If you haven't seen it, you can purchase it for just $19.95 here.

Jean shares very exciting news below and an invitation to participate in making this marvelous film available to countless numbers of people who have not yet had an opportunity to see it. I hope you will read and respond quickly, as you are able to.

From Jean: "Some good news - when I returned home from Annette's memorial, there was an email from NETA ( The National Educational Telecommunications Association, which is a professional association that serves public television licensees and educational entities in all 50 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.) They have selected "For the Life of Me" (which they have re-titled: ADOPTED: For the Life of Me) as a film to promote to PBS stations for November, National Adoption Month. What this means is that they will provide an uplink in late October to all PBS affiliates (there are 200) who can record the uplink and use the film in their programming. A station might choose to screen it in November, or at any time thereafter. What's nice is that they suggested I get a station relations professional to help with the placement - friends say this means they feel the film is important and deserves a boost to get it on the air, and in a decent time slot.

This doesn't mean that the film is going to get the kind of time slot that a POV or Independent Lens selection will get. But it does mean we're going to have the film broadcast on some (not all) national PBS stations, and that we can try to use those broadcasts to raise awareness in those communities. The problem is funding getting it on the air. Fortunately, PBS covers the $4000 for the music licensing, but hiring a station relations professional and a tracking firm (so we know which stations have chosen it in advance), in addition to having the film upconverted to HD and close captioned, is going to cost me in excess of $5500 (which I don't have). I know I know - I thought getting it onto the air would mean that some of the costs of making the film in the first place would get reimbursed, but I'm at the bottom of the broadcast foodchain, where there is no such funding. All that said, I view this as a significant opportunity - but I sure wish it didn't cost me/us money to get the film on the air... Any thoughts on how I can raise some funds fast? NETA and the station relations folks need me to decide on this by August 16th..."

Pam Hasagawa offers:
I would like to offer 5x7 portraits of Annette Baran and Ken Watson to anyone making a donation to this effort of $50 or more, and 4x6s of the same portrait to those making a donation up to $49.99. Jean will keep me updated so the photographs will be sent within two weeks of receipt of your donation.

I offer:
An autographed copy of The Stork Market (including shipping) to anyone who donates $100 or more.

The deadline for Jean is above, so if you are able to contribute, please send your check made out to:

Silver Tandem Productions
2300 Glenna Goodacre Blvd. #4314 (or #4325 for checks mailed after August 15)
Lubbock, TX 79401

Please write: "PR/FTLOM" on the memo line.

or you may contribute online through Jean's web site, www.jeanstrauss.com

Just click on the PayPal "Donation" button on the opening page.

It won't take many of us to make this happen - the important thing will be using the film's broadcast to help communities understand why the need for adoption reform is so critical...

Many thanks for any of you who feel you can chip in!