FLF Creates Eductional Films

Fascinating Factory
Video company develops nonprofit to create educational films

By Karen Mitchell
For the Camera

Her eye is on the bottom line. Her heart is in the middle. Bunnie Strassner, who with her hus­band, Norman Strassner, owns Flashback Video Productions in North Boulder is on a mission to fund an enticing earthbound journey for middle?school children.

The Strassner moved to Boulder from Los Angeles in 1995, bringing a wealth of broad­cast experience ? he as a network editor and director, she as an agent, personal manager and writer/producer. They bought Flashback from its founder, in­creased its corporate client ros­ter and expanded its services to include broadcast production.

Two years ago, the Strassners incorporated the Fascinating Learning Factory nonprofit orga­nization under their production umbrella. FLF is devoted to de­veloping and producing educational programming for television and the Web.

Enter authors Phillip and Nancy Seff, a geologist and educator, respectively, creators of "Our Fascinating Earth," a series of books replete with spellbinding scientific facts about our home planet. Bunnie Strassner part­nered with the Seffs to develop a magazine?style television series of the same name, based on the Seffs' books and newspaper col­umns.

Using Flashback's facilities, students from local schools ?including their son, Casey, a 19 year?old University of Colo­rado student ? and location shooting around Boulder, the Strassners produced a segment­ed pilot that has gone through several permutations.

"As a result of numerous requests from around the country, we recently uplinked the pilot to all 342 public television stations nationwide," Bunnie Strassner says. “It’s currently being aired to more than 42 major markets including most of the Colorado PBS stations as interstitial programming.'

The shows are aimed at filling an earthly void, educational programming for middle?school children. The Children's Television Workshop is brilliant at cat­ering to the preschool and K1 set,” she says. “And corporations are adroit at funding computer labs and other amenities for the pool of future employees still in high school, but kids 10 to 14 don't enjoy much in the way of targeted educational pro­gramming.

There's nothing dynamic and contemporary for them," she says. 'They're at an age when they begin to break away from their parents, to be influenced by peers."

Bunnie Strassner imbued the pilot with pop culture references, Lincoln Logs and Legos to en­hance the live?action natural and earth sciences segments. Seg­ments are garnered from a rep­ertoire of some 9,000 science stories. One of her favorites is the true tale of the "Petrified Lightning," which explains how, under certain circumstances, lightning creates a fulgurite, a fragile tube of glass that grows beneath the ground as an electri­cal charge fuses the loose sand.

"I wanted it to be upbeat and fun," she says. "NETA, the Na­tional Educational Telecommunications Association, a direct conduit to public television, in­vited us to show our pilot at their First View conference, and they have given us a letter of commit­ment to distribute once we secure funding."

"Fascinating Earth" was well received by educational service directors for public broadcasting as well as many state education departments and independent school districts," said Jady Wade, of NETA Educational Re­sources.

“NETA Educational Re­sources would be delighted to distribute nationwide the com­plete series of programs for Fas­cinating Earth,'" Wade said. "Bunnie Strassner is a truly talented instructional producer, whose talent needs to be put to task."

Supporters also come from the business and educational communities and from political leaders on both sides of the aisle. Rep. Mark Udall, D?Boul­der, is among them.

"I am proud to support the Fascinating Learning Factory,” Congressman Udall says. "The need for more, high?quality edu­ca6onal programming on televi­sion is great."

In addition to the pilot for "Our Fascinating Earth," FLF is developing three other series and two documentaries for mid­dle?school students, and two general audience projects.

"One of our documentaries is called ‘Radio Eyes'", Bunnie Strassner says. "It's about 2,300 middle? and high?school students who download data from a radio telescope. It's being made under contract with the Lewis Center of Education Research, in Apple Valley, Calif. I'm also developing a documentary about Odyssey of the Mind.

Funding for nonprofits be­came dicey after Sept? 11, 2001, but she remains "more than opti­mistic" about her FLF projects. Positive responses from large grant makers, whose advice to is hang in there, has helped.

"The nature of seeking funds is that grant makers let you know immediately if they are not interested. We haven't received refusals," she says. "Our prospects are sensational."

Although television production has never been a big market in Boulder, Bunnie Strassner says the local telecommunications downturn opens an oppor­tunity for other types of busi­nesses, such as educational programming, to make their mark.

"There's a much broader tal­ent pool here than I expected," she says. "Ifs tough to make a living in television here, but the talent hangs on by doing what­ever it takes to survive."

She is dedicated to seeing that "Our Fascinating Earth" goes into production. "I believe that as the focus of general education narrows, with more assessments and more testing of students re­quired, there is less opportunity for teachers to go outside the box for inspiration. I would like to be able to spark enthusiasm. I want to give these kids some­thing they've never heard of. That's my mission." 

Picture credit: MARTY CAIVANO / Daily Camera 

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