The ultimate roadtrip

When Kendra Willey graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in December 2007, she had no idea that less than two years later she would play a key role in the production of a documentary that would be broadcast nationwide.
   
Willey had planned to attend graduate school at Saint Louis University when she stumbled on a job listing for writing grant proposals for filmmaker Brandon Wade on Craigslist.com. Eventually, she found herself involved in writing the script for the documentary film “Paving the Way: The National Park-to-Park Highway,” which will broadcast on 223 PBS stations nationwide this May.
   
“Paving the Way” tells the story of twelve American tourists in the 1920s who traveled to all 12 existing National Parks. 
   
“The National Park-to-Park Highway tour is the story of an epic road trip, albeit a much more difficult one than most of us experience today,” Willey said. “The appeal of the documentary lies in that common experience that many Americans have and love, although the sense of adventure in a road trip set in 1920 is heightened (because of) the poor state of roads and the scarcity of convenient gas stations and mechanics back then.”
   
The documentary features some of the people who went on the trip.
   
“(The documentary featured) a 72-year-old woman named Stella Leviston who had already driven across most of the country and a pathfinder for AAA named Anton Westgard who drove so much that he wore out 18 cars in his 17 year career,” said Willey.
   
Last fall, “Paving the Way” was shown at an American Public Television documentary film festival where it received a warm reception.  PBS representatives from across the U.S. voted to have it shown on local stations in the spring. 
   
“The final tally of votes assured us that our film would air on 223 stations nationwide,” said Willey. “All of the feedback we received indicated that it was the telling of a unique story, the spectacular footage of the National Parks, the engaging musical score and the abundance of archival materials that made the film both attractive and interesting.”
   
Willey said her experiences at UNI were invaluable to her part in “Paving the Way”.
   
“The UNI history department has a strong emphasis in American history and the analytical training I received even in my European history classes helped me a great deal in research and interpretation,” she said.
   
“Working at the UNI Writing Center, I was also exposed to a variety of different kinds of writing, as well as the rigorous training of the program itself.  Although I was never involved in media studies, I was able to take a video essay class that exposed me to documentary editing and writing.”
   
Students can find more information about the documentary at http://www.pavingtheway.tv.

1 comments

Mike & Cindy

Sat Jul 4 2009 20:03

Just watched both parts of the show and wish I could of been there in 1920 what an adventure!!! We thought the show was very good will watch it again.If this is Kendra's first professional work she has bright future ahead it was done very well,great old pics. Thanks Mike & Cindy

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