UPDATE:
The final project for the Documentary Pre-production Planning course in the Spring of my first year was to pitch an idea for our thesis film to the faculty and our classmates. After the pitch, the faculty asked questions and made comments about the potential of the film topic.
On a whole, I felt the idea was not well accepted. What I remember most was the term "real deb" being thrown around a lot. The faculty felt that the Cary Debs were not "real debs" because they are chosen based on their personal merits and philanthropic contributions to the community rather than their families wealth and position. They felt that I should focus more on this distinction rather than to incorporating it within the context of the film.
There were a number of other aspects of the film that the faculty found cause to argue with, but thankfully, unless they feel that you cannot complete the proposed film, because of access restrictions or funding, they will sign off on the project. Mostly, I think, this is a nod to creativity and if there is anything that the faculty believed in, it was learning through trial and error: allowing us to make our own mistakes and learn from them.
I think that's what they believe this film will be for me: a mistake. However, I have every intention of proving them wrong.
