Sundance: Jeffrey Blitz and Sean Welch

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2010

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jeffrey Blitz and Sean Welch were nominated for an Oscar for their first documentary feature, Spellbound. Blitz went on to direct the fictional feature Rocket Science, as well as episodes of The Office. Now, Blitz and Welch have a new documentary, called Lucky, about lottery winners.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, I'm Natalie from Boston, Massachusetts.
0:03.0	Hey, this is Edmund from Montana.
0:05.0	Hi, I'm Dan Sments, Laney Michigan.
0:06.0	The Sound of Young America is an independent production supported by listeners like you and me.
0:11.0	If you'd like to donate to support the show, visit MaximumFund.org and click on donate.
0:16.0	I'm Jesse Thorne, live on tape from my house in Los Angeles.
0:20.0	It's the Sound of Young America from MaximumFund.org and PRI, public radio, international.
0:31.0	It's the Sound of Young America, I'm Jesse Thorne.
0:34.0	We're live on tape this week at the Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah.
0:38.0	My guests are Sean Welch and Jeffrey Blitz, who just premiered their new documentary here at the fest.
0:43.0	When they made their first film together, the spelling bee doc Spellbound,
0:47.0	Blitz was behind the camera and Welch was holding the boom mic.
0:51.0	I don't think even in their wildest dreams, they imagine, that their movie,
0:54.0	which they financed with credit card debt, would end up nominated for an Oscar.
0:59.0	Blitz was a guest on the show in his first fictional feature, Rocket Science,
1:03.0	was released a couple of years ago.
1:05.0	He's kept busy between then and now directing episodes of the office
1:09.0	and working on the duo's new film, Lucky.
1:12.0	It follows lottery winners and tracks the ways that their windfalls have affected their lives.
1:17.0	The film's subjects are multivarious, among them an immigrant couple
1:21.0	who use the winnings to fund family members' businesses back in Vietnam
1:24.0	and this guy, who was living depressed and in squalor before he hit it big.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.