Arts Grants 2003

To support Controlling Interest, a two-part documentary series, a fifteen minute educational video and an interactive website. The program's goal is to inspire audiences to examine how the relationships between corporate influence and democracy affect them both directly and indirectly and to revitalize populist, democratic government. Habitat Media will increase society's capacity to direct corporate activities so that they address the long-term interest of society. Controlling Interest will provide an overview, context and analysis of the intersections between corporations and governments both historic and modern, with a central focus on how this impacts ordinary citizens. Habitat Media will use an energetic, entertaining style that empowers the viewer; presents informative content and human stories; explores the on-going struggle to assure democratic and human rights; and broadly distributes the media. The total budget for two television documentaries, a short educational video and an associated website is $1,200,000. This request for $60,000 will cover the initial period of pre-production research and preliminary scripting. Producers at PBS have expressed interest in Controlling Interest, however other avenues are also being explored, including HBO, BBC (England) and CBC (Canada).