After graduating from USC with a Masters in Broadcast Journalism, a professor gave my resume to a colleague who was looking for an associate producer. I interned for Behind the Music for the previous summer and did a lot of production assistant work, so I was thrilled to be moving up to AP. I gave the producer a call and she told me more about the subject: the history of evil and Satan. Hmmm. To be totally honest, I was a little taken aback. I knew I would be immersing myself 110% in the topic and wasn't sure if I wanted to eat breathe and sleep the devil. I was grateful for the opportunity, but I didn't know if this was the right show for me. I mulled it over for a day and decided to go for it despite my concerns.
I met up with the producer Kathleen Phalen the next day. What a gift I was given to have worked with her. She was witty, organized, creative, kind and incredibly smart. The show would delve into the origins of evil and the historical and biblical significance of Satan so this was no world's cutest puppy documentary. Kathleen was like a walking world history textbook and rattled off the Satanic time line the documentary would focus on.
I worked from home and my job entailed tracking down photos and footage, assist with arranging interviews and then help Kathleen with anything else she needed. The pictures and footage part posed a unique challenge given that while the devil was very photogenic, I couldn't just call up one of the photo houses ask for Lucifer. Instead, I immersed myself the art of Blake, Bosch, Delacroix, Bruegel and Goya. Before long, I had a three-inch ring notebook with hundreds and hundreds of demonic images.
The interview list ranged from religious scholars to a local satanist and his coven. We spent the next weekend conducting interviews and filming the groups satanic rituals. I don't know what I was expecting - perhaps something that the media had created, but they were simply a nice group of twenty-somethings who practiced Satanism and were all going to Disneyland the following day. While their beliefs were not for me, the experience reminded me of a valuable lesson to always keep an open mind. Honestly, this was the exact reason I chose documentary - to expand my world view to other ideas, cultures and beliefs and to tell compelling stories.
While my roommate was working at a prestigious law firm and spent 14 hours behind a desk, my days were quite unconventional. Some days I would spend the afternoon at the local occult bookshop researching or another creating a giant pentagram for an interview backdrop. On one occasion, Kathleen called to ask me to track down some goats and a snake for pick up shots for editorial. The following weekend we headed to a farm in Malibu where we shot footage of a very ornery goat head butting the camera. We found the snake at the Venice Boardwalk. I held the camera while Kathleen coaxed the 10 foot beauty towards me. My deathly fear of snakes overcame me at one point and we all had a laugh when I dropped the camera screaming. All in a days work.
The final product was a fascinating investigation of the history and current take on evil. Kathleen gave me some "Sin Away" bubble bath as a good-bye gift. When I took the job, I had no idea what I was in for. I almost let fear hold me back from the experience, but I decided to take the risk and it paid tenfold in experience and friendship with a great mentor.
