Trip to RadioLand

Click to Listen to our interview

As a documentary filmmaker, I have a not-so-secret crush on radio. Especially with the advent of podcasting, I have become an avid listener to The Moth, Good Food, Snap Judgement, and any of the This American Life Graduate Academy (Startup, Planet Money, Mystery Show, Serial, etc). I highly recommend giving them a listen --they are both entertaining and perspective-changing, and given me more empathy and understanding. (Now that we have a dog I have even started listening to dog training podcasts (I know, ridiculous).

As a consumer, it's great to keep up with the news while cooking dinner or lose myself in great storytelling while going for a run. But I also fantasize about how much simpler production would be --no worrying about lighting, exposure, focus, tripods white balance, resolution, frame rate, shutter speed, lenses, etc etc. Far easier to protect confidentiality, which is a concern for The Long Rescue. And as Ira Glass says, there is an intimacy with the story when you experience it inside your head, rather than on a screen.

So that is why I was so excited to be interviewed on a radio show featuring all kinds of people who are working hard to end human trafficking, Abolition Radio. Hosted by Vanessa Scott and Benita Hopkins, the show has addressed issues as wide as Entrepreneurship and Human Trafficking Activism, Trauma Informed Care, and Labor Trafficking Policy & Law. The show is an incredible resource for the anti-trafficking community. I felt honored that The Long Rescue would be added to that list.

Abolition Radio's host Vanessa Scott, preparing to go on air.

I was also nervous as heck. Public speaking terrifies me, (so of course I would go into filmmaking and modern dance) and I was afraid I would turn into a stuttery, tongue-tied, asking-for-retakes mess.

But guess what! In radio, or at least this show, there are no retakes. Vanessa and Benita talked to me, and we recorded the conversation. The End. Any flubs and stumbles just became part of the show. Unlike the documentary's 75 minutes that will take me years to produce, the radio show's 45 minutes took, wait for it, 45 minutes.

Vanessa and Benita are powerhouses. Vanessa founded Love Never Fails, a nonprofit that provides education, outreach, rescue and shelter services for people who have survived or are at risk of trafficking. In a region that has way more people in need than services, their organization provides invaluable resources to our community. And on top of that, they are really great on the radio. 


So check out the podcast, including episode 36, featuring The Long Rescue! And check out Love Never Fails --it's a great way to get involved with local anti-trafficking efforts. 

Vanessa Scott, Jennifer Huang, Benita Hopkins after 45 minutes of recording.