Click here to learn more about Election Day and view clips of the movie.
Q: The film was shot in one day. How did you make this happen?
A: Shooting a film in fourteen different far-flung locations across the United States was an incredible challenge. We spent several weeks coordinating various crews around the country and had to be extremely organized about our prep for the film, since we only had the one day to shoot, and if it didn’t work on that one day, then we weren’t going to have a film. Maggie Bowman and Dallas Brennan Rexer, the producers, along with Christina King, our Associate Producer, worked for weeks to match a film crew with each story and location. We made a big effort to hire cinematographers, sound people, and producers who had worked in the cinéma vérité style before so that the film would have a consistent look, despite the multiple locations and multiple shooters.
Q: How did you select these particular stories?
A: We were choosing from among dozens of recommendations for storylines and characters. We sent e-mail blasts to friends and colleagues all over the country and asked them for local characters and events that pertained to Election Day in some way—even if very peripherally. For example, one person referred us to an organic farming family in a beautiful section of rural Wisconsin who make and sell pizza to the surrounding community to take home and eat while they watch the election returns. And I thought, now that’s a great detail of American life that could add a lot visually to the film! We also specifically sought out some stories to address issues that we were particularly interested in, such as felon disenfranchisement. And we were looking for a lively variety of ideas—not just politically, but geographically, temperamentally, ethnically, dramatically, etc. We didn’t know what footage we were going to get so we had to cast a net far and wide and then just hope.
Q: What were some of the obstacles you encountered while filming?
