The Making Of...
A Friend Indeed - The Bill Sackter Story

In the early 1970s the youthful Barry Morrow met an older man in Minneapolis who was friendly but very disheveled in appearance, someone who could have been easily overlooked as a 'bum'. His name was Bill Sackter, and he and Barry, and his wife Beverly became fast friends. Barry had been dabbling in video and film production at the time, and began chronicling Bill's life with whatever camera equipment he could get his hands on.

He found a man who was abandoned in the state institution for nearly his entire life - 44 years to be exact - for mild mental retardation, and never saw his family again. Bill said, 'I was there so long, I didn't even know I was there'. Barry took the unprecedented step of becoming Bill's legal guardian so Bill wouldn't be sent back to the institution, and he brought Bill down to Iowa City, to live with Barry's wife Bev and newborn son Clay.

 

(Bill and Mickey Rooney on the set of Bill: On His Own)

Nearly 25 years since his passing, after being deeply immersed in all the original footage, photograph, articles, memorabilia, etc. that have been locked up in storage until now, I have taken over where Barry left off to complete the real life documentary of Bill Sackter.

What I have come to know is an amazing person, a story rich in content, and a wide variety of human emotion with scenes ranging from highly upbeat and incredibly funny to deeply serious and powerfully inspirational. But most of all, I've gotten to know who the real Bill is, and have the privilege to bring this story and actual real-life footage of Bill to a worldwide audience.

Over the past 7 years, I have met and interviewed all the main people in Bill's life, and have learned amazing true stories about Bill, compiling the hours of footage along with an extensive 35 page written outline of every minute detail relevant to Bill's life. Along the way, I have met many people in the fundraising and production process, and have been working closely with Tom Walz and the Extend the Dream Foundation to get the documentary underway.

Beginning with nearly 50 hours of great source material, I have edited the production down to a 90 minute feature length documentary that has been described as "inspirational" and "an emotional rollercoaster" in private screenings, and many people said it brought them to tears.

After I completed a fairly detailed edit, there was a private "Sneak Preview" screening for contributors in August 2007, and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive, even with temp music and temp narration.

In late August, I travelled with Composer Peter Bloesch to Seattle to record the full orchestral music score with Seattle Music. Peter's contribution to the emotion of the documentary is quite outstanding, and we were fortunate to work together since the beginning to make the music an integral element in the storytelling process. Then I recorded the final narration with professional theater actress Sally Wingert, who brought an incredible amount of richness to the narration.

After 7 years in production, the documentary had its World Premiere at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City (Bill's home town) on June 7, 2008. With a crowd of nearly 1200 people, the screening was a big success, and the documentary received a standing ovation.

It has since gone on to be voted the "#1 Audience Favorite" at five festivals already, and was screened at The Arc's National Convention in Albuquerque in November 2008.

I then finished producing the Public Screening Version of the DVD in April 2009, and following that I assembled a vast number of DVD extras, deleted scenes, video and audio clips, director's commentary, and more to be included along with the full documentary in the Deluxe Edition DVD (for Home Use) which I completed in May 2009.

All the added footage on the Deluxe Edition DVD gives even more depth to the documentary experience. But you just can't beat the emotional experience of seeing "A Friend Indeed" in a packed theater on the Big Screen as well!

I hope you get a chance to see the documentary either in public screenings, on television, or on DVD. The best way to keep updated about the documentary is to sign up for the Bill Documentary Email List. You may also join our new Facebook Fan Site for A Friend Indeed.

Take care and I hope you see "A Friend Indeed - The Bill Sackter Story" very soon!

All the best,

Lane Wyrick, Director/Editor

A Friend Indeed - The Bill Sackter Story

P.S. After you've seen the documentary, please send your reviews and comments about it to Reviews@BillSackter.com