Ken Burns — A Master Filmmaker on Creative Process, the Long Game, and the Noumenal (#386)

“There’s always the certainty that the opposite of what I might believe in might also be true.”

— Ken Burns

Ken Burns (@KenBurns) has been making documentary films for more than 40 years.

Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Ken has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War; Baseball; Jazz; The Statue of Liberty; Huey Long; Lewis & Clark; Frank Lloyd Wright; Mark Twain; Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson; The War; The National Parks: America’s Best Idea; The Roosevelts; Jackie Robinson; Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War; The Vietnam War; and The Mayo Clinic: Faith — Hope — Science.

Ken’s films have been honored with dozens of major awards, including sixteen Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Oscar nominations; and in September of 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Ken was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

His newest work is Country Music. It explores the history of a uniquely American art form: country music. From its deep and tangled roots in ballads, blues, and hymns performed in small settings, to its worldwide popularity, learn how country music evolved over the course of the twentieth century, as it eventually emerged to become America’s music. Country Music features never-before-seen footage and photographs, plus interviews with more than 80 country music artists. The eight-part, 16-hour series is directed and produced by Ken Burns, written and produced by Dayton Duncan, and produced by Julie Dunfey.

It debuts on PBS on Sunday, September 15th, 2019, at 8 EST/7 CST.

The first four episodes will stream on station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and PBS apps, timed to coincide with the Sunday, September 15th premiere. The second four episodes will be timed alongside the broadcast of Episode 5 on Sunday, September 22nd; each episode will stream for a period of three weeks. PBS Passport members will be able to stream the entire series for a period of six months beginning Sunday, September 15th.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Stitcher, Castbox, or on your favorite podcast platform.

#386: Ken Burns — A Master Filmmaker on Creative Process, the Long Game, and the Noumenal

Listen to it on Apple Podcasts.
Stream by clicking here.
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Want to hear another podcast with an artist who tells stories in a unique way? — Listen to my conversation with Brandon Stanton, the photographer behind Humans of New York. (Stream below or right-click here to download):

Brandon Stanton - The Story of Humans of New York and 25M+ Fans

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

Connect with Ken Burns:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Country Music, PBS
The Ken Burns Filmography
The Greenwood School
The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
The Address, PBS
The Civil War, PBS
Small But Deadly: The Minié Ball, The Civil War Institute
Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, Poetry Foundation
D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, Normandy Tourism, France
Jackie Robinson, PBS
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, PBS
Jazz, PBS
Thomas Jefferson, PBS
Declaration of Independence, National Archives
Bhagavad Gita
Baseball, PBS
http://kenburns.com/films/baseball-2/
The National Parks, PBS
The War, PBS
The Roosevelts, PBS
The Vietnam War, PBS
History Does Not Repeat Itself, But It Rhymes, Quote Investigator
Mark Twain, PBS
Ecclesiastes 1:9, The Bible
#MeToo Movement
M422 Mighty Mite, Wikipedia
John Dean’s Compelling Case for Parallels Between Trump and Watergate, The Washington Post
The Statue of Liberty, PBS
Every Song from Cop Rock, YouTube
Brooklyn Bridge, PBS
The Shakers, PBS
Huey Long, PBS
The Congress, PBS
Thomas Hart Benton, PBS
The Attention-Span Myth, The New York Times Magazine
I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry by Hank Williams
Austin City Limits
George Washington’s Favorite Play, Journal of the American Revolution
Annual Message to Congress Concluding Remarks by Abraham Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln Online
Mount Rushmore
Hampshire College
University of Michigan
Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, PBS
Odd Man Out
Florentine Films
What is Auteur Theory and Why Is It Important? Indie Film Hustle
Johnny Guitar
The American Cinema: Directors And Directions 1929-1968 by Andrew Sarris
Telluride Film Festival
The Noumenal World and the Phenomenal World, Mr. Hoye’s TOK Website
Poetics by Aristotle, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

SHOW NOTES

What are the stories behind the comforting mementos Ken carries in his pocket? [08:06]
What is the less comforting memento with “a weight and a disturbing heaviness” Ken can’t carry in his pocket? [13:14]
What purpose do these mementos serve for Ken? [15:06]
What does a wholehearted “yes” feel like to Ken when he’s considering a project, and what’s his best example of this experience? [18:14]
On the sadness of wrapping up a long project, the hospice care of the creative process, and dismantling the myth that history repeats itself (though it may very well rhyme). [23:05]
When a project that Ken has been working on for 10 years resonates eerily with the present. [26:25]
What’s the motivational neon sign that hangs in Ken’s editing room, and how does it speak to the process of trying to complete a project that’s always in a state of flux? [29:20]
On The Civil War somehow capturing the public’s attention more than ABC’s Cop Rock, and the millions who have seen it in the 29 years since. [34:39]
Ken talks about dealing with debilitating anxiety and doubt early in his career, and developing General Grant’s “morning courage” over time. [35:47]
The three things Ken tries to do as he helps others deal with their own debilitating anxiety. [40:17]
Music as “the art of the invisible” and a “benign form of heroin.” [41:10]
What do the three things Ken mentioned earlier look like in practice, and which are the hardest to navigate? [43:06]
“How much pain has caused us the evils which have never happened?” [45:02]
Ken’s personal philosophy is an alloy made stronger by its inclusiveness in the space between us and US. [45:49]
What is Hampshire College and how is Ken’s story — and success as a filmmaker — entwined with it? [52:13]
What lessons from Ken’s mentor Jerome Liebling have had the most impact on his trajectory since graduating from Hampshire College? [58:04]
When a cliche about what happens if you love your work (and, by extension, the people with whom you work) happens to be true. [1:03:05]
How did Ken’s father react when he made the decision to go to Hampshire instead of The University of Michigan? [1:04:41]
As the “smartest man” he ever knew, but “like a Maserati without a clutch,” does Ken think his father may have suffered from depression? What qualities did Ken inherit from his father and mother, and what have conversations with his brother and father in law revealed about his own motivations as a filmmaker? [1:06:16]
The pros and cons of digging deep as an emotional archaeologist. [1:13:45]
As we seek to find the sum of our parts, it shouldn’t be too surprising when the math doesn’t always add up. The human condition is anything but rational, but it makes for good storytelling. [1:16:27]
Parting thoughts. [1:19:33]

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