Re: following up: WA poetry release
Dear Jeffrey,
My name is Leah Reis-Dennis, and I'll be heading operations for Lisa's new non-profit, Verse Video Education. She's asked me to be in touch with you about helping us get a release from Woody Allen.
First, I wanted to send along the rough stringout of footage from the conversation with Woody a couple of years ago on "This is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams. This is totally unedited and uncut footage, but we would love the opportunity to turn it into something great.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c0bn1jjxeo0654g/uWZ6KBVbLS?preview=WoodyAllen+Basic+Clip+for+Viewing.mov
If Woody Allen agrees to let us use the footage, he will be in distinguished company. To date, we have filmed conversations about poetry with dozens of distinguished Americans including:
- Bill Clinton
- Al Gore
- John McCain
- Mayor Rahm Emanuel
- Mayor Tom Menino
- Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan
- Sir Mervyn King
- Former Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers
The conversation would be part of a large multiplatform initiative that Harvard Professor Lisa New has under way to bring poetry into the mainstream, and, especially, into English Language Arts classrooms in the United States and around the world. The initiative, Poetry in America, includes a HarvardX online course, a television series we're creating with WGBH to be paired with PBS LearningMedia segments for the classroom, and, a series of online professional development courses we're creating for ELA Middle and High School teachers and for their students.
Let us know if Woody Allen might be open to our sending another release form his way. Of course, if he's interested in releasing the footage for only certain parts of our project, we're open to having a conversation about that, too.
Thank you, and I hope to meet you soon.
Best, Leah
Leah Reis-Dennis
Poetry in America
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Open in principle depending on specially how and where it would be shown and how it would be advertised- both subject to particular requirements and/or restrictions. Also dependent on approval of final cut. Would enter project with positive attitude but release would be reworked by lawyer.
Sent from Soon-Yi's iPhone
thx