Hawai'i stations embrace Lee's drug documentary
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
 |
|
|
"I'm shocked, but I'm really proud," said Lee, who is in the midst of production and editing the documentary. "This is an incredible contribution from the major networks. It's costing them a bundle, because it's the month of fall season premieres."
The prime airing will be from 7 to 8 p.m. on Sept. 24. The historic telecast will be without commercial interruption on these stations: KGMB-9, KHON-2, KHNL News8, KITV-4, K5 The Home Team, KIKU (the Japanese station), Oceanic's OC 16, PBS Hawai'i-11 and KBFB (a Korean language station).
Lee said she has received overwhelming support from the TV stations "because I think they feel a responsibility to the community; the show is something they're supposed to be doing," she said.
Lee said there will be two versions of the film — the main one she's preparing for the wide TV viewing, and a second one geared to a younger audience — a kids-talking-to-kids rendering — that will be completed later. "In filming, I discovered that some kids would speak to us, but not on camera, about drug use," she said. "It's this element we want to communicate with ... the younger viewers in the drug-use generation."
The film has taken on global and national implications, said Lee. "In one hour, we're trying to give the local community as diverse a look at what meth has done to us all, from the point of view of the addicts, to Judge Frances Wong in Family Court, to experts in the medical field. I think folks are going to be surprised to learn that this problem is not just in Hawai'i, but everyone's.
"And one of the most alarming things we discovered is that 75 percent of drug users are in the work force, and employers don't know this," said Lee.
