Bill Sackter News

Documentary Status - In brief:

Visit the NEW DOCUMENTARY BLOG

A brand new blog has been created on Blogger.com that is now the official blog for
the documentary. The change is to accomodate rapid updates of information about
the documentary now that it is officially complete and ready for festivals.

http://billsackter.blogspot.com

If you sign up for the Email List, you will automatically
receive the blog posts via email.

Archived Director's Blog - by Lane Wyrick:

Major Update - Bill Sackter Documentary - Oct. 1, 2007

Hi Everyone,

It's been a long time since I've posted an update on the Bill Sackter documentary, but I've been very, very busy with the editing and finalization process for the documentary.

I'm pleased to announce that after 6 years in production, "A Friend Indeed - The Bill Sackter Story" is finally complete!

The production is a feature-length (90 minute) documentary that really captures the character and emotion of the real Bill Sackter and those that knew him closely, and it has been described as a powerful and emotional roller coaster by people that have viewed it in private screenings.

Here's a quick summary of what has happened over the last couple of months:

1) The name of the documentary has changed to "A Friend Indeed - The Bill Sackter Story"

2) We had a highly successful invitation only private "Sneak Preview" screening at the Coralville Marriott for cast, crew, and contributors. While the documentary was still nearing completion, it definitely had the intended emotional impact, even with temporary music and narration.

3) In late August, I flew out to Seattle to be witness to the recording of Peter Bloesch's brilliant and emotional full orchestral music score, performed by the talented people of Seattle Music. They've created many award winning movie soundtracks, but many of the musicians told Peter that they were very impressed and moved by his composition. The main orchestra was 57 members, and I shot some behind-the-scenes footage of the recording session, which will be one extra feature on the DVD when it comes out.

4) One week later, I flew out to Los Angeles to spend a week with my brother and his family, and was able to show the documentary for the first time to the main people in the documentary, Barry, Bev, Clay, and Zoey Morrow. It was a wonderful time, and the Morrows, along with all the other people that knew Bill have all said that the documentary really brings to life the real Bill Sackter.

5) About two weeks ago, I re-recorded the narration with professional theater actress Sally Wingert. She has an incredible voice and really added warmth and caring to the narration. She was in Princeton for a theater performance, so I set up the recording at a facility in Princeton and I directed the session by phone from my studio here in Iowa City, and offered directing suggestions, although Sally didn't need much coaching - she really brought a level of professionality to the narration that blew me away and was perfect for the documentary! The recording session worked very smoothly and I received all the audio tracks the next day and cut it into the documentary. Both the narration and the orchestral music soundtrack add a great deal to the whole production!

6) My goal has always been to complete the documentary and submit it to the Sundance Film Festival competition as the first place for submission. Since about this time last year my goal has been set on making this year's Sundance deadline of September 28. So for the past few weeks and especially the past few days I have been turning on the midnight oil to get the documentary to be the best it can possibly be. I completed the editing process on September 27, and fortunately FedEx is reliable enough that I got it there on the exact deadline! There will be email notifications in early December for those that make it in the competition. I will also be submitting to other Top Tier festivals and will send updates about those as well.

My hope is to have a World Premiere at a top festival, and will send updates to everyone on this list as soon as I find out what happens with any of them.

For those of you who have contributed to the documentary, I owe a great debt of gratitude for helping the process along, and also thank you for your patience over the years. I think you will see that it was well worth the wait, because "A Friend Indeed - The Bill Sackter Story" will be a very memorable, moving, and inspiring documentary that will be enjoyable for people of all ages.

Take care and thanks again for your interest in the documentary!

All the best,

Lane Wyrick - Director/Editor
A Friend Indeed: The Bill Sackter Story
319-351-9379
email - Lane@BillSackter.com
website - http://www.BillSackter.com

CONTRIBUTION INFO:
If you would like to make a contribution to the documentary online, you may click the link at the bottom of the main website (www.BillSackter.com) that says "Help make this documentary a reality by making a contribution..." which will take you to the International Documentary Association website for online donations, or to go directly to the IDA donations page just
click here

Or if you would like to send in a check, please make it payable to "International Documentary Association", with "A Friend Indeed" in the memo section, and mail it to:

Bill Sackter Documentary
c/o Xap Interactive, Inc.
2529 Catskill Ct.
Iowa City, IA 52245

Your contribution is tax deductible (the International Documentary Association is a 501c(3) non-profit organization)

YOUR CREDIT LISTING
A contribution of $25 or more will be listed on the website credits and any printed programs that have full credit listings
A contribution of $1000 or more will be also listed in the actual documentary credits under the "Special Thanks To:" section in alphabetical order
And a contribution of $2500 or more will be listed in the actual documentary credits under the "Major Funding By" section, and will be listed in order of contribution amount

Please email Lane@BillSackter.com if you have any questions or would like more information about the documentary or contributions. - Lane

Bill Sackter Documentary ... The Beginnings - (Posted October 2006)

Hello, my name is Lane Wyrick, and I'm a documentary filmmaker from Iowa City. About 5 years ago I met with Academy Award Winning Screenwriter Barry Morrow (Rain Man) at the Los Angeles Premiere of my documentary The Nazi Drawings at the Directors Guild Theater to discuss with him a project he held dear to his heart. After viewing The Nazi Drawings documentary, he said to me that he wanted me to create a new feature length documentary project about a man named Bill Sackter, and that it was a project he had been hoping to see produced for over twenty years.

Barry Meets Bill Sackter

You see, in the early 1970s the youthful Barry 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 by his family in the state institution for nearly his entire life - 44 years to be exact - for mild mental retardation. 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 his wife and newborn son Clay.

A New Outlook

With the help of Barry and Tom Walz (Dir., Univ. of Iowa School of Social Work), a new coffee shop was formed, giving Bill a place of employment an socialization, and a venue for him to play his harmonica. It became affectionately known as 'Wild Bill's Coffee Shop'. Bill looked like a brand new man, and through his positive outlook on life, was gaining the attention of people around his new community.

Soon everyone in Iowa City knew of Bill. And after receiving the 'Handicapped Iowan of the Year' Award, and then being invited to the White House for further awards, people around the country knew of him as well.

A Documentary is Proposed

By this time Barry and others had taken hundreds of photos and hours of film and video footage of Bill, and Barry decided it was time to make a documentary about Bill. His proposal was greeted with enthusiasm and his documentary idea was instead turned into the now famous made-for-television movie 'Bill' starring Mickey Rooney (as Bill) and a young Dennis Quaid (as Barry). Ratings were through the roof when it premiered in Christmas of 1981, and it spawned a sequel 'Bill: On His Own' two years later, shortly after Bill passed away peacefully in his sleep.

But the original documentary never got made...

While 'based in fact', Mickey Rooney never meant to create a character that mimicked Bill, but rather wanted to portray a sympathetic view of a person with disability. The vibrant character of the real Bill Sackter was known to those around him, but the person who became a great hero for people with disabilities was largely unknown to the rest of the country.

Now, nearly 25 years since his passing, I have been immersed deeply in all the original footage, photograph, articles, memorabilia, etc. that have been locked up in storage until now. I have now taken over where Barry left off, and am deeply involved in creating the Bill Sackter Documentary. 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 to powerfully inspirational. But most of all, I've gotten to know who the real Bill is, and have the priviledge to bring this story and actual real-life footage of Bill to a worldwide audience.

Over the past 5 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.

Bill Sackter Documentary Nearing Completion

Now the documentary quickly coming together, with completion slated for mid-2007. At this point, I have cut down the documentary to 7 hours of really good useable material (the last edit pass was nearly 11 hours, which was cut down from about 50 hours of source material). Of course the final documentary will be 90 minutes, and is being prepared for theatrical release as well as broadcast and DVD (with tons of extra footage). I also plan to have new clips available online to share some of the great material with all of you on the web.

Please sign up for this blog to receive updates on the Bill Sackter Documentary. I won't be drowning you with information, because really the most important thing on my agenda is to work on the documentary! But I will let you know when major events happen, such as the rough cut completion, special interviews being filmed, music score recording, final edits, festivals, screenings, etc.

Thanks for your interest in the Bill Sackter Documentary, and if you would like to know more, have a question, or would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to the Documentary please email me at Lane@BillSackter.com.

Take care and have a great day!

-Lane Wyrick, Director/Editor

http://www.BillSackter.com - Official Website
http://www.MySpace.com/billsackter - MySpace Website
http://blog.MySpace.com/billsackter - MySpace Blog