Producing "USS IOWA"

It's taken a few months, but I think I've processed the production, release, and reception of the "USS IOWA," a documentary I worked on for four years. I hesitate to call it "my documentary" because I didn't originate the project, and sharing the story of military history and people's personal stories is a bit of sacred task. Discussing the project in reverse, when the documentary was entirely edited and ready for release I felt a shock of concern; would U.S. Navy veterans accept it? the people who run the USS IOWA museum in San Pedro, California? Survivors of the April 19 explosions? Navy historians? Thankfully the answer to all of that was yes. 

A packed house at the second screening of USS IOWA, in Johnston at Camp Dodge.

In Waterloo, the very first audience for USS IOWA.

While the project hit the airwaves on March 1, 2023, the first screening was actually February 18 in Waterloo in front of live audience with hundreds of veterans in attendance and the executive team from the USS Iowa Museum. There were four total screenings and each screening ended with dozens of audience members thanking me for the piece and showering it with praise. Not a single corrective note was shared, including from veterans who served on the IOWA. In fact, I've received so many thank you's it is quite humbling. That experience happened after every screening, the broadcast debut, and still happens when I encounter a veteran or someone who has seen the documentary and knows I produced it. 

If you listen to my interview on Iowa Public Radio's "River to River," you hear that the kernel for this project started in 2018. Production started in late 2019 with a visit to the ship, and then covid-19 global pandemic put the project on ice for until Spring 2022. While the final project is one piece that flows through eras and experiences, the production is really two very different experiences glued together.

Filming in Broadway on USS IOWA BB-61 (2019).

Filming in a USS IOWA BB-61 engine room (2019).

Monitor shot from on the interview sets aboard USS IOWA BB-61 (2019).

2019 was an incredible, eye-opening whirlwind. We travelled to Los Angeles for 4.5 days and spent two days on the ship. Day one we were untethered simply capturing interesting angles of the ship, Day two we went up, down, in, out, thru, and back again the entire ship, and then that night we followed a hundred IOWA veteran sailors as they experienced the ship at night and recorded dozens of their stories. That second day is one of my favorite professional experiences. If you've watched the film and are looking for a little more, please view this extra piece I produced followed the Battleship IOWA Museum CIO David Canfield thru the belly of the ship getting firsthand knowledge on the interconnected nature of the ship.

Come Early 2022, a travel ban on State of Iowa employees was lifted and Iowa PBS could resume filming our special projects, including USS IOWA. Come April, myself and Eric Gooden, Iowa PBS shooter extraordinaire and burgeoning YouTuber, travelled to Norfolk, Virginia for the annual remembrance of the April 19, 1989 turret explosion aboard the Iowa. This shoot allowed us to broaden the look at the Iowa as we interviewed a Navy historian who was unattached to the IOWA but was fully versed in Iowa class battleship history. But we also spent a day filming the remembrance with veterans who visit Norfolk Naval base every April to remember their fallen sailors and commune. You can't tell the story of Iowa without April 19 and you shouldn't tell it without including its effects on Sailors and the overall Navy. Capturing this event and the tone of the experience was crucial to the project. We were very fortunate organizers of the event allowed us to attend.

The final full-scale shoot of the project was a return to BB-61 in June 2022. Eric and I flew out to California for another turn capturing elements of the ship that were missed the first time, plus key interviews. After a bit of drama with me twisting my ankle bad and losing a day of the shoot, Eric and I filmed interviews with everyone we dearly needed to include Dave Canfield, the CIO of the museum and an engineer who served on the ship when the turret explosion happened, the executive team of the ship, and the curator of the ship's history and archives David Way. These last interviews really filled in the cracks of the story. Dave Canfield is weaved throughout the documentary. His story and experience are integral to our film. I can't thank him enough for helping this film happen. David Way was the final piece filmed onboard the ship and after a 40-minute, in-depth interview really brought the history to life. Plus, he gave us a really fun tour of the ships archives that you can watch online.

With summer coming to a close, the most important piece missing from the film was an Iowan who served on the Iowa. Seeing as we're Iowa PBS, this felt more than necessary. Shook a few trees but eventually found Vernie Hart, a wonderfully warm BB-61 vet from Madrid. Vernie gave me two hours of us time to film an interview and talk about the ship, plus a 1984 yearbook that really became a visual key to the back half of the film. Vernie joined me at screenings, on Iowa Public Radio, and the broadcast premiere. He was excellent and very thankful for sharing his story. I don't know how many times I thanked him. He really added a personal element to the story that helped glide the story from the dormant 70s to the recommissioning in the 80s. So thankful he's in the film.

By winter 2022, all the elements were in place, and it was time to do hard part of editing the story together. I knew where I wanted it to go, but weaving the interviews together was the real work. By Christmas a first draft existed and the idea of who could narrate the film started to be discussed. A few common military narrators were mentioned, but I threw out what I felt was a perfect fit; Ron Livingston. If you aren't familiar, Ron Livingston is the lead in the classic comedy Office Space, but what made him the right choice for our project was history role in the masterpiece HBO mini-series, Band of Brothers, plus... he's an Iowan. The wild thing is I threw out his name and three days later we had a tentative agreement. An absurdly quick turn of events that I was told not to get used to because no one says yes that quickly. While I didn't get to fly out to LA to record his narration, meeting him via zoom was a thrill and his voice MAKES the piece. I got chills every day cutting his narration into the piece. A true professional who needed nearly no direction in the studio. If you have the opportunity, hire Ron Livingston. If you read this Ron, thank you, thank you, thank you. Our doc would not be the same without you.

March 1, 2023 USS IOWA was released during Iowa PBS's Festival fundraising period. The program was broken up into three segments and streamed for anyone to watch. Vernie joined our broadcast in the studio and David Way was part of the broadcast from his office on the USS IOWA. I heard back immediately from veterans in the film, all of them were very supportive and happy with the finished product. I even received an immediate personal message from Representative Ashley Hinson (a classmate of mine from 2nd-12th grade) on how much she enjoyed it. One veteran, who has had a very hard health run since we interviewed him in 2019, called me in tears. He was so thankful. It felt really good to hear how positively the film affected those closest to it.

One person I haven't mentioned who was a massive help on the back nine of the project was Iowa PBS Senior Producer David Miller. Dave has produced a handful of military projects and documentaries for Iowa PBS and after everything was shot, I approached him to review my finish cut of the film. He really helped me shape my ideas and words to make the project the best version of itself. The stickiest part of the USS IOWA story is the April 19 explosion. Telling that story appropriately while not letting it dominate the entire hour runtime was key. Dave really reassured me that the raw emotions of our interviews needed to be included. Too many people don't understand the cost of military service and what PTSD can do to a person. My initial cut of that portion of the film was a little more clinical, and Dave really gave me the confidence to push the audience and not pull punches. The 47 people who were lost in that explosion deserve for those who hear their story to know it was awful and reverberated not just across the lives of their shipmates and family, but the entire military. It should also be mentioned, Dave had a personal connection with a person in Ron Livingston's management team and that might have help reel in Ron. Either way, I've thanked Dave a lot and I feel the necessity to thank him everytime the doc is brought up. Thanks Dave.

Now the documentary is out and will be in replays for a decade or more. A bit of a rollercoaster. I'm grateful for being allowed to tell the story and look forward to watching the doc every year when it's rebroadcast. If you're looking to watch it yourself, please visit IowaPBS.org and search USS IOWA.