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About
What is Lumberjills?
Lumberjills is the first TV series to follow the women of U.S. professional timber sports. We are creating a 10-episode series that follows a number of select athletes from all over the country. They are working women, mothers and sisters who all share the same dream: to be crowned the 2019 Women’s Division champion at the Stihl Timbersports competition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 27. The first step in the project will be to cover that competition, interview those Lumberjills about their journey to Milwaukee in 2019, and make a pilot episode that will best represent the rest of the series.
Who are we?
Tina Meeks and Josh Green have teamed up for a second time to make this project work. We met while taking a Documentary course at Berkeley City College (BCC) where we created the short documentary, Small Victories. You can see that film and others made at BCC at www.joshgreenfilms.com.
Tina has studied multimedia and documentary productions and is particularly drawn to street art. For fun she produces short films, coordinates community events, and performs at open mics. When Josh pitched the project to Tina, she was enthusiastic about the chance to help tell these women's stories, and she signed on as Associate Producer.
Josh Green is a writer, editor and marketing professional who has 25 years of experience creating journalistic pieces, short films and marketing material. He's also a professor of political science and has taught at various Bay Area universities. Josh is passionate about storytelling, art and changing the world through media. He loves dogs (especially Golden Retrievers and French Bulldogs), electric cars and anything tech.
We are both passionate about helping people tell their stories, especially people whose voice isn't heard in mainstream media. The Lumberjills receive less exposure, less attention and less TV air time than their male counterparts. This show will change all that.
What was our inspiration?
Josh first saw the Lumberjills during the 2017 championship (the first one Stihl organized for women) on ESPN. He realized that these athletes were doing this for the love of the sport, sacrificing a lot to get on stage even while keeping themselves and their families afloat in "real life." Their grit and determination inspired him to begin thinking about how to make this project a reality.
After contacting the first women's champion, Kendall Kunelius, to discuss the idea, it became clear that the Lumberjill community would fully back us and do whatever it takes to make sure the show is successful.
Our inspiration comes from the athletes themselves. The Lumberjills are "regular" women doing extraordinary things -- which makes them extraordinary people with stories worth telling!
Why is it important that we tell this story right now?
Women around the world want to be heard, especially in those areas where they are ignored or marginalized. That might mean getting equal pay for equal work, or fighting against cultures of sexual assault in the military or on campus. But gender inequity is also apparent in the sports world. If you want to imagine how Lumberjills could open up a discussion about gender equity in sports, listen to what Notre Dame women's basketball coach Muffet McGraw said recently about her decision to hire only female coaches:
"We don't have enough female role models. We don't have enough visible women leaders. We don't have enough women in power. Girls are socialized to know when they come out, gender roles are already set. Men run the world. ...
"When you look at men's basketball and 99 percent of the jobs go to men, why shouldn't 100 or 99 percent of the jobs in women's basketball go to women? Maybe it's because we only have 10 percent women athletic directors in Division 1. People hire people who look like them. And that's the problem."
What do you plan to do, and who will you work with to get it done?
For a year we have laid the groundwork and accomplished lots of pre-production work for the July 2019 shoot in Milwaukee. We have completed Skype-recorded pre-interviews with eight Lumberjills (most of whom we hope will qualify for the July competition).
We have already signed up Vicente Franco to be our Director of Photography (DP). He has worked on multiple Oscar-nominated films, including the feature Daughter of Danang (2002) that won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and was nominated for an Oscar. We couldn't be more pleased that he has judged this project to be worthy of his attention and skills. We will also be hiring a professional sound recordist to work with Vicente. At the competition we'll be capturing action but also talking in-depth with the competitors about what they and their families have gone through to reach Milwaukee this year.
You can find more about Vicente's work at his Web site, www.francoproductions.com.
What do you plan to use the money for?
We want to be completely transparent about where all of the money raised will go, so we have included our full budget below. If you ever have any questions about where the money will be spent, please just get in touch and we will be happy to explain.
No producer or any person working on the set in July (except our DP) is taking a salary or payment for the many hours they have put in to the shoot so that every dollar raised can go into production costs. Josh will be paying for his own flight and room and board in Milwaukee.
The schedule includes a travel day for the contracted professionals (July 26) and two full shoot days of at least 10 hours each (July 27 and 28).
Budget
Our revised budget pares everything down to the minimum possible budget while still maintaining a professional level of shooting for our pilot episode.
Contribution levels
We are recommending the same levels that were listed in the original Kickstarter: $10, $25, $50, $100, $200, $500, and $1,000 for a co-producer credit. But of course pledge any amount that works for you.
What is Lumberjills?
Lumberjills is the first TV series to follow the women of U.S. professional timber sports. We are creating a 10-episode series that follows a number of select athletes from all over the country. They are working women, mothers and sisters who all share the same dream: to be crowned the 2019 Women’s Division champion at the Stihl Timbersports competition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 27. The first step in the project will be to cover that competition, interview those Lumberjills about their journey to Milwaukee in 2019, and make a pilot episode that will best represent the rest of the series.
Who are we?
Tina Meeks and Josh Green have teamed up for a second time to make this project work. We met while taking a Documentary course at Berkeley City College (BCC) where we created the short documentary, Small Victories. You can see that film and others made at BCC at www.joshgreenfilms.com.
Tina has studied multimedia and documentary productions and is particularly drawn to street art. For fun she produces short films, coordinates community events, and performs at open mics. When Josh pitched the project to Tina, she was enthusiastic about the chance to help tell these women's stories, and she signed on as Associate Producer.
Josh Green is a writer, editor and marketing professional who has 25 years of experience creating journalistic pieces, short films and marketing material. He's also a professor of political science and has taught at various Bay Area universities. Josh is passionate about storytelling, art and changing the world through media. He loves dogs (especially Golden Retrievers and French Bulldogs), electric cars and anything tech.
We are both passionate about helping people tell their stories, especially people whose voice isn't heard in mainstream media. The Lumberjills receive less exposure, less attention and less TV air time than their male counterparts. This show will change all that.
What was our inspiration?
Josh first saw the Lumberjills during the 2017 championship (the first one Stihl organized for women) on ESPN. He realized that these athletes were doing this for the love of the sport, sacrificing a lot to get on stage even while keeping themselves and their families afloat in "real life." Their grit and determination inspired him to begin thinking about how to make this project a reality.
After contacting the first women's champion, Kendall Kunelius, to discuss the idea, it became clear that the Lumberjill community would fully back us and do whatever it takes to make sure the show is successful.
Our inspiration comes from the athletes themselves. The Lumberjills are "regular" women doing extraordinary things -- which makes them extraordinary people with stories worth telling!
Why is it important that we tell this story right now?
Women around the world want to be heard, especially in those areas where they are ignored or marginalized. That might mean getting equal pay for equal work, or fighting against cultures of sexual assault in the military or on campus. But gender inequity is also apparent in the sports world. If you want to imagine how Lumberjills could open up a discussion about gender equity in sports, listen to what Notre Dame women's basketball coach Muffet McGraw said recently about her decision to hire only female coaches:
"We don't have enough female role models. We don't have enough visible women leaders. We don't have enough women in power. Girls are socialized to know when they come out, gender roles are already set. Men run the world. ...
"When you look at men's basketball and 99 percent of the jobs go to men, why shouldn't 100 or 99 percent of the jobs in women's basketball go to women? Maybe it's because we only have 10 percent women athletic directors in Division 1. People hire people who look like them. And that's the problem."
What do you plan to do, and who will you work with to get it done?
For a year we have laid the groundwork and accomplished lots of pre-production work for the July 2019 shoot in Milwaukee. We have completed Skype-recorded pre-interviews with eight Lumberjills (most of whom we hope will qualify for the July competition).
We have already signed up Vicente Franco to be our Director of Photography (DP). He has worked on multiple Oscar-nominated films, including the feature Daughter of Danang (2002) that won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and was nominated for an Oscar. We couldn't be more pleased that he has judged this project to be worthy of his attention and skills. We will also be hiring a professional sound recordist to work with Vicente. At the competition we'll be capturing action but also talking in-depth with the competitors about what they and their families have gone through to reach Milwaukee this year.
You can find more about Vicente's work at his Web site, www.francoproductions.com.
What do you plan to use the money for?
We want to be completely transparent about where all of the money raised will go, so we have included our full budget below. If you ever have any questions about where the money will be spent, please just get in touch and we will be happy to explain.
No producer or any person working on the set in July (except our DP) is taking a salary or payment for the many hours they have put in to the shoot so that every dollar raised can go into production costs. Josh will be paying for his own flight and room and board in Milwaukee.
The schedule includes a travel day for the contracted professionals (July 26) and two full shoot days of at least 10 hours each (July 27 and 28).
Budget
Our revised budget pares everything down to the minimum possible budget while still maintaining a professional level of shooting for our pilot episode.
Contribution levels
We are recommending the same levels that were listed in the original Kickstarter: $10, $25, $50, $100, $200, $500, and $1,000 for a co-producer credit. But of course pledge any amount that works for you.
Organizer
Josh Green
Organizer
El Cerrito, CA