Allison Argo: On Passion, Purpose, and the Wisdom of Following Your Heart

Species Unite

elizabeth novogratz

Philosophy, Society & Culture

5.0 • 911 Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2019

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you were to take a brief look into Allison Argo's life, you'd see the definition of what it means to follow your passion - written in large neon letters. She grew up in the theater on Cape Cod and as soon as she was old enough and able, she moved to NYC with a hundred bucks in her pocket ready to pursue her dream of acting. She walked dogs and cleaned apartments until she landed on her first role on Broadway. After acting in a few Broadway productions, she moved to Los Angeles and had another successful career on television.

But her real life's work didn't begin until she left acting. In 1990, without having any idea as to what she was doing she made her first documentary, The Urban Gorilla. She wrote, directed, produced, and edited it – learning all of the above on the job. It was picked up by National Geographic and was nominated for two Emmy's.

She's gone on to make another 18 films and has won six Emmy's and scores of other awards. Her documentaries focus on animal welfare, endangered wildlife and conservation. They have brought awareness and change to the plights of many species around the globe, including: gorillas, chimpanzees, snakes, dogs, elephants, and most recently, pigs.

The Last Pig is Allison's documentary about a pig farmer named Bob Comis and his final year of sending his pigs to slaughter. It's an incredibly beautiful, meditative film, narrated by Bob, while he struggles with the monthly trips to the slaughterhouse, ending the short lives of the pigs that he has grown to love.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I feel like I really honestly much of the time just feel like I've been selected to do this work.
0:08.0	So it's just this is your mission, get it done. Hi, I'm Elizabeth Novograd's welcome two species unite, the podcast where we talk to people who are fighting some of the hardest fights on earth to stop the unnecessary suffering of animals. I am really happy to share
0:36.4	today's conversation. It's with Allison Argo. Allison is an award-winning
0:41.1	producer, director, writer, and editor.
0:44.2	She's been making films for over 25 years
0:46.4	and is best known for her documentaries
0:48.7	that focus on animal welfare, endangered wildlife,
0:51.3	and Conservation.
0:53.0	We met a couple weeks ago at her home on Cape Cod.
0:56.0	Thank you for having me in your lovely home. Were you born and raised on Cape Cod?
1:07.0	Well, I grew up here. I was actually born in Richmond, Virginia because my parents were visiting my grandmother.
1:16.3	So my brother and sister on either side of me were born here on the Cape.
1:20.6	My other half likes to call me a daughter of the Confederacy, which the in New England. And I read that you grew up in the Sommerstock world.
1:35.0	I did.
1:36.0	My parents had a small Sommerstock theatre that they created.
1:40.0	I think by the age of two I was being carried on stage and by the age of four I was a
1:46.3	no-neck monster in Tennessee Williams cat on a hut-ton roof so yeah that was pretty much in in our blood. That was our
1:55.6	livelihood, our passion and we had this resident company who would come and live on the
2:01.2	grounds of the theater every summer.
2:04.3	Can you give me an example of a day in the life?
2:07.2	Oh, well, we worked our tail feathers off.
2:09.8	So a typical day would begin with, you know, it's all communal eating.
	...

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