Crossing Continents to Prove Persistent Productions Possible

For just about as long as I have known Meghan Shea and Michael Rogers, I’ve been following their worldwide travels and simultaneously trying not become enraged with travel jealousy. This is especially difficult when I hear they are in some exotic, far off location, while I am (seemingly) locked into my 9-to-5 existence to support myself, leaving me filled with wonderment about how they make it all happen and still make a living. The answer is that they made their work encompass this element of travel, all in the pursuance of a career path they love as documentary filmmakers. In order to do that, they created their own business, Persistent Productions. I got a chance to talk with Meghan this week to finally learn about the nuts and bolts of running a documentary film company.

Having just themselves at the core of their company comes with benefits and detractions. To potential clients, their company boasts affordability and mobility, something that has come in handy with projects that have them crossing the globe as the project demands. That quality has also been the hardest hurdle to overcome. Meghan says, “You have to want that type of lifestyle. You can’t see a year out…you break from a continuous paycheck and only get paid at the end [of a project]." And as great as living in various locations across the US, Europe and Asia on a project basis is, it means picking up and starting over in a new location when needed, sometimes in places where it isn’t as simple to look up short-term housing options on Craigslist to find a new home.

But all in all, this fluid enterprise has been working, and has been proven viable with their most recent project, Shooting for Democracy. Although they have successfully completed films previously, this particular project had timeliness to consider, continents to cross, and funding to make it all happen. The film focuses on youth’s reaction to democracy, not only the experiences of Brooklyn and suburban Massachusetts students during the 2008 US presidential election, but also those of Bhutanese high schoolers during their country’s first ever democratic election. These students also filmed segments as well, by being participants in an educational program called The Emerging Lens, which puts video cameras in their hands. With all these facets in place, Persistent Productions had to be just that in order to make the production of the film possible.

By relocating to Singapore (where Mike was raised) prior to the Bhutan shoot, the pair found themselves situated in a supportive environment for a project like theirs. As Singapore is trying to position itself as the media hub of South-East Asia, they found a wealth of applicable grant opportunities, proving “that the market [there] was accessible, even for a young company,” says Meghan. They also found fiscal sponsorship through Documentary Educational Resources, a nonprofit that “produces, distributes and promotes quality ethnographic, documentary, and non-fiction films from around the world.” Between these various resources, as well as from individual donations, the pair found funding to get their project up and running, and have since found funding for US portion of the film, and the completion of it.

Even though Meghan and Mike have to monitor the “constant evolution” of their company by seeking out their next film ahead of time, be it a passion project or a decently paying client-based one, they also have to see their current project through in its final step: distribution. Not only has this film been their first real run at producing, it also is their foray in navigating the film festival circuit. Through this process, they aim to further the outreach of the film, and hopefully the profitability of it as well. Overall, their goal “is to get as many people to see the film, and hopefully make some money,” says Meghan. "If either of those happen, then you’re doing well.”

As a first step in that direction, the film has been submitted to the Brooklyn International Film Festival, with the acceptance notifications sent out in the spring. In the meantime, view a trailer of Shooting Democracy on The Emerging Lens Initiative website, and read more about the company and its other projects on Persistent Production’s website.

Photography courtesy of Scott A. Woodward