Video Production Associates, a Morgan Communications Company, announced today they are putting the finishing touches on the PBS intended documentary, "A Mistress Called The Road." The one-hour documentary highlights the lives of three drivers. Byron Burgess a company driver, Billy Jones, lead driver and transportation coordinator for country music star Alan Jackson, and owner operator Ron Kelsey, who's truck has over two million miles on it and is still a "Best of Show" beauty contest winner, are featured in the program with others. The documentary is currently being reviewed for broadcast by PBS National.
The show's producer, M.D. Morgan, is a driver as well as an industry journalist. "There was so much ground I wanted to cover, but the main thing was to show drivers as people who loved and were dedicated to the work they do. I hope I've succeeded in doing that. The show isn't about the history or nuts and bolts of trucking, it is more about emotions and passions and people."
"It has been a long road to this point. There has been so much negative media directed at the public about truckers and I felt so strongly about an alternative viewpoint that I couldn't let go of the idea of producing a documentary focused on drivers as people."
"Because of their size, trucks can be scary for many people in cars, and I think the media has worked to play on those fears. I wanted the people who would never otherwise get the chance to ride in a truck or talk with truckers to see the work from a driver's perpective."
"One of the goals in producing this documentary was a national airing on PBS. When I got the show to the point where PBS likes to review programs for broadcast consideration, (that is basically done but not "locked") , I looked up and realized it had taken six years to arrive at that point and that one way or another "A Mistress Called The Road" had been the designer and director of my life."
"Few people know that PBS for the most part gets its programming for free. That includes the on air program advertising and all of the internal and external print media that goes with it. Aside from program production costs, shooting, editing, which are expensive no matter what format you use, the program "deliverable" costs are also very high. Because of that we needed corporate underwriting to get the program to PBS."
"Over the years as we looked for sponsors, we had a lot of doors slammed in our face. I was surprised at how many people told me I would never get this done and that no one really cared about drivers enough to support a documentary about them. Even during the times I feared they may be right, I was eager to prove them wrong and finally Shell Lubricants came on board, then Ford Light Truck, and Associates Commercial as primary sponsors, and OOIDA came in as an associate sponsor."
"This program exists because of their support and I am deeply appreciative of their help in making this show. No matter how important I felt it was to do this, I never would have completed it without them!"
"I've been very blessed in my life. I've had the opportunity to work every side of the fence from advertising, the film and music industries, to newspaper, magazine and trucking industry journalism, and around and about it all, driving trucks. I've had a lifelong passion for the road and trucks, and I very much wanted to convey a sense of that to people who knew nothing about it."
"Of all the work I have done, I am most proud of having been a driver. Some of the closest and longest lasting relationships I have are with other drivers and people in this industry. I honestly believe that one of the most difficult and most important of all jobs in this society, is that of driving a truck and delivering freight. We all know where we would be without it. We have a copyrighted phrase on a bumper sticker that reads, "Without trucks, we'd all be naked, hungry and homeless." I think that about sums it up."
"A Mistress Called the Road" will be available on home video, and soon in select truckstops, and is available from Video Production Associates by mail order. The cost is $20.00 delivered by Express Mail, shipping and handling included. Video Production Associates mailing address is: 4870 North Meixner Road, Prescott Valley, AZ 86314. Phone: 520-775-4657.
Morgan Communications is donating one dollar each on every retail sale of the video to The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's "Precious Cargo" fund, and to Trucker Buddy. "Reuniting children with their families as the National Center does, and the extraordinarily effective benefits of Gary King's Trucker Buddy program, are both endeavors I would like to see flourish and continue and are projects Morgan Communications is proud to support."
Contact: M.D. Morgan
Morgan Communications
Video Production Associates
http://www.primenet.com/~morgcom
The Big Road Website
Phone: 520-775-4657
Fax: 520-772-4270