On this episode of Newt's World, last night on PBS was the premiere of the new, extraordinary

documentary about Hemingway, a film by Ken Burns and Len Nothin. The documentary covers

Hemingway's entire life in six hours over three nights. Part one is entitled A Writer,

and covers 1899 to 1929. Hemingway's childhood, early youth, and life as a young man in the

World War I Red Cross ambulance service, two marriages and two children. I'm looking forward

to watching Part 2 tonight at 8 p.m. The Avatar from 1929 to 1944, and then Part 3 on Wednesday

night at 8 p.m. The blank page from 1944 to 1961. It's hard to imagine what the filmmakers

go through when taking on a subject like Hemingway. His largeness of life, his bravado

and spirit, how do you capture the nature of the man, the myth, the writer revealed in six

hours? Well, I'm really pleased to welcome my two guests today who will describe the process

they went through in researching, writing, and filming this extraordinary biography. Len

Novick, who directed the film, and Sarah Butstein, who produced the film along with Ken Burns.

Len and Sarah, welcome, and I should mention to our listeners that if they happen to

be in the film, they can watch it on the PBS app or by going to PBS.org slash Hemingway.

And they can watch it online. Before we get to Hemingway's exciting as I am about that,

tell me about your partnership. I understand you've been working the other at Florentine

Films since 1997. That's an amazing run. Yes, this is Lynn and Sarah and I have worked

together with Ken and our writer Jeff Ward and an incredible team of producers and editors

since Sarah came in 1997. I came to Florentine Films in 1989 when Ken was finishing his

Civil War series. And we've had just an incredible experience of learning about subjects as far

ranging as jazz, prohibition, the Second World War, and now Hemingway. And Vietnam War

action, forget that. So we throw ourselves into these subjects sort of headlong, their

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