As a beginning film student at American University, I found myself writing most of my class assignments about Fell's Point.  Kraig had wanted to create a video about the community since moving here in 1993, although we initially had no idea how to approach the project.  After finishing a course in film financing, I made a critical decision – instead of spending months to find funding for the documentary, I would spend that time actually working on it.  As an audio-video production company, we already had the equipment.

One of our first steps was to consult with Ellen von Karajan, Executive Director of the Fell's Point Preservation Society.  Ellen began connecting us with community leaders and historians.  One of the first was photographer turned actor, Richard Kirstel brother-in-law of Ed Kane, Water Taxi founder and local “curmudgeon” who had helped Fell's Point recover after the “road battle.”  The day after Richard and I completed second interview with Ed, Richard unexpectedly appeared at our door to tell me that Ed had lost his battle with lung cancer earlier than expected.

Ed’s death impressed upon many the need to capture other details of Fell's Point’s history before they were forever lost.  The list of people to be interviewed grew as Ellen, Kraig and I all added names.  Although a few people were busy enough that getting time with them was a challenge, everyone was extremely helpful.  The only person on our list that did not respond to multiple requests was Barbara Mikulski.  The most challenging interview was our trip to Maine in the middle of a December blizzard to interview Steve Bunker and Sharon Bondroff.  At the end of the interview process, we presented Ellen with a 6” thick volume of 26 transcribed oral history interviews with searchable electronic Word copies and a DVD and of each interview!

In parallel with the interview process, I began building up a year-long video library of Fell's Point events and scenes.  These included:

• Public meeting regarding Recreation Pier, 4/26/03
• Street and water scenes (day & night), Shakespearian drama from ship, 6/14/03
• Oyster Festival, 9/27/03
• Fells Point Fun Festival – from a helicopter as well as on the ground, 10/5/03
• Schooner race start, ~10/16/03
• Halloween, 11/21/03
• “Roland Reed House” – historic house being rehabbed, 11/20/03
• Parade of Lighted Boats, ~12/6/03
• Polish Candle Light Christmas, 12/23/03
• PJ, Town Crier, Christmas Day, 12/25/03
• New Years Eve fireworks, 12/31/03
• Lightening over Baltimore Harbor from Bond Street Wharf, 5/7/04
• Street scenes, 5/11/04 and 6/4/04
• Fell's Point Maritime Museum, 6/3/04
• Neighborhood dialog about crime, 6/3/04

Putting together the documentary video was another huge challenge.  Initially, I worked with cuts from the transcribed interviews, arranging them into a conversation.  As the documentary took shape, I began to feel strongly that the people we interviewed should be the ones telling Fell's Point’s story.  There should be no outside narrator adding a layer of interpretation.  I wanted to present Fell's Point as it is with all its rough edges, disagreements and imperfections, not a glamorized travelogue version.

I originally planned for the documentary to be the length of a 1-hour PBS show, but initial drafts were much longer.  Even then, I found myself leaving out many, many interesting details and anecdotes.  The cuts became increasingly painful and eventually, as every tiny cut was accompanied by an increase in time for visuals, music and simple “breathing space,” I resigned myself to its current 1 hour 20 minute length. 

Visuals for the documentary were a major challenge.  In my Documentary class at American last summer, we learned that it is not unusual to spend $100,000 for the rights to photographs and other visuals.  Without funding, I needed to be creative.  I had initially hoped that they might be donated to the Preservation Society in return for our services.  This turned out not to be necessary – the few photos provided by individuals were gladly donated without compensation and the Preservation Society let me freely copy and use everything they could.  This wasn't nearly enough and the Maryland Historical Society indicated they would need to charge for visuals used in a “commercial” project like this.  Several things came to my aid – a friend turned me on to the Library of Congress online, which had many images not subject to copyright limitations, and the Fell's Point Maritime Museum allowed me to videotape as PR.  I also superimposed my collection of taped scenes over parts of the interviews.  Sometimes the scenes helped illustrate points being made, at other times they were merely parallel unrelated information, and sometimes I used sharp contrasts to make a point.

I turned in a version of the documentary as my thesis project at American University on May 8, just 3 days before the graduation ceremony.  At that point, I felt I was ready for feedback from others.  A mass email produced 16 volunteers.  7 of these volunteers took the time to provide very detailed feedback and a number of others gave helpful overall comments.  What was interesting was the diversity of reactions.  A scientist wanted more celebrities.  A visual artist commented only on the text.  A history professor took issue with facts I knew to be correct. 

As a result of the feedback, I moved much of the information about the community and its people to the front after a writer commented that she wanted to see and experience the place before launching into its history.  We staged the neighborhood crime discussion after a neighbor commented that the place didn't feel real.  I added information about the speakers and text to some of the visuals after a number of reviewers said they wanted more information and context.  I seriously thought about adding some of the comments about the speakers to capture more of the Fell's Point scrappiness. 

At this point, I was glad I had freedom and didn't have funders I needed to please.  I didn't take out the “Halloween visitor” even though several reviewers didn't’ like him – to me, this is an essential component of the real Fell's Point.  I also didn't take out the hurricane footage, which I had combined with comments by a developer and an executive about the need for Fell's Point to sacrifice a little for the greater good of Baltimore.  To me, this was a commentary on dealing with the deluge of requests, demands, information, and even attacks that is part of life here.