Steve McCarthy's family business for filmmaking

Guest: Steve McCarthySteve McCarthy is an Emmy Award winning network TV news producer and documentary filmmaker. A former staff producer for 60 Minutes, Dateline and CNN, he formed McCarthy Productions, Inc in 2001 and produced projects for 60 Minutes, Dateline, Charlie Rose, MSNBC, PBS, BBC America, Reuters and others. In 2006 he directed an independent documentary film Finding Paddy, a documentary about 9/11 which aired in more than 20 countries. In 2016 he co-produced the documentary The One That Got Away which aired on PBS. In 2019 he co-directed and co-produced an HBO documentary about journalism through the life stories of Pete Hamill and Jimmy Breslin called Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists. (Winner 2019 National Emmy) In 2019 he also co-produced the documentary feature “Life with Layla” about a New Jersey family caught in the grips of the opioid epidemic. In 2022, he directed and co-produced Eva’s Promise, about a Holocaust survivor’s promise to her brother to share his art should he not survive the concentration camps. Eva’s Promise is being distributed on PBS stations in the spring of 2024 by American Public Television.McCarthy teaches documentary film and journalism at Montclair State University.Steve and Jothy met when Steve was the producer of a piece for the Today Show about Jonathan Alter’s dealing with a cancer diagnosis and deciding to join Jothy in doing the 192-mile Pan-Mass Challenge bike-a-thon for the Data Farber Cancer Institute. They have been friends since then and decided to create a TV show based on the Who Says I Can’t concept which they filmed 3 full episodes of and tried to sell to the major networks. They did not bite and those three episodes live on on YouTube.In this conversation, Jothy Rosenberg interviews Steve, the founder of McCarthy Productions. They discuss Steve's love for the Grateful Dead, the positive atmosphere at Dead shows, and the involvement of Steve's children in the family business. They also talk about the production of Eva's Promise, the challenges of independent filmmaking, and the importance of authentic storytelling. The conversation touches on the difficulties of selling a show, the potential for reviving their previous show, and the significance of the Holocaust Museum. They also discuss the editing process and the importance of preparation in presentations and talks.Sound BitesChapters00:00 Introduction and Personal Background00:11 Steve's Love for the Grateful Dead01:16 McCarthy Productions as a Family Business03:22 The Production of Eva's Promise04:12 Doing Corporate Videos05:09 Passion for Journalism06:29 Journalism Trip to the Border08:01 Collaboration on Can Do Productions08:58 Participating in the Sports of the Show's Subjects09:07 The Fun and Challenges of Filming11:07 The Difficulty of Selling the Show17:40 The Importance of Authentic Storytelling19:55 The Potential for Reviving the Show23:44 The Story of Eva's Promise27:25 The Holocaust Museum and the Importance of Remembering31:05 The Editing ProcessLinksLink to Jothy's site: http://jothyrosenberg.comLink to Steve's McCarthy Productions site: https://www.facebook.com/mccarthyproductions/Link to Podchaser to leave a review: https://www.podchaser.com/AdventuresOnTheCanDoLink to Who Says I Can't TV channel: https://www.youtube.com/@WSICTV