Schodorf Films has been creating impact documentaries and television series for over 15 years and has garnered 19 Regional Emmy Nominations, 6 Regional Emmy Awards and 11 National Telly Awards. Our filmmaking journey began in 2007 with our first broadcast film, Poverty in Chicago, a penetrating look into the incessant world of urban homelessness. It was with this film that we set out on a path to tell the stories that otherwise may not be heard:
To give voice to those too often silenced and use our platform to stand up for equality and represent fair and balanced filmmaking.
Greensburg, the story of a town in Kansas devastated by the most powerful tornado in the history of weather was our first introduction to network television. Airing on the Discovery Channel, Planet Green, Documentary Channel and PBS; we found that our niche was becoming a humanizing approach to our subjects and their experiences.
The Wayman Tisdale Story was a tale of triumph and heartbreak. Released in 2011 on NBA-TV and ESPN, this biography profiled basketball legend and prolific jazz musician Wayman Tisdale. He was known as a gentle giant with an infectious personality by his peers such as Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley – tragically Wayman passed away from osteosarcoma bone cancer at the young age of 44. Brian Schodorf was the last person to interview him just days before his tragic passing. The feature documentary would go on to win a Heartland EMMY AWARD for Best Cultural Documentary and the CD/DVD Definitive Collection would reach #1 on the Billboard Magazine Contemporary Jazz Charts. The Wayman Tisdale Story was aired internationally on NBA-TV over 20 times. In 2012, director Brian Schodorf was recognized as the Kansas Media Professional of the Year by the Topeka Capital Journal in his home state of Kansas in part due to the success of this film.
In 2014 and 2015 the magazine style television series, Beyond the Loop, was nominated for a total of 9 Chicago/Midwest EMMY AWARDS and won an EMMY AWARD for Best Audio in 2015. Over 13 episodes the series follows Second City Alums Edgar Blackmon and Holly Laurent as they explore Chicago’s vibrant culture and culinary cuisine.
In 2020 Schodorf Films released a follow-up to Poverty in Chicago titled, Chicago at the Crossroad. The feature film premiered at the American Black Film Festival and explores the implications urban segregation and housing policy have had on the City of Chicago and its history of violence. Chicago at the Crossroad won FIVE 2020 Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards. Brian Schodorf took home the honors of Best Director and Best Writing in addition to Cultural Documentary, Cinematography, and Promotions.
Schodorf Films is currently preparing for our latest release, Somewhere in America, a four-part series that dives into the moral, cultural, and political fault lines that plague a modern day America. This sizzling series is tentatively expected to be released in the Fall of 2022.
Schodorf Films stands behind our work that has been distributed by leaders in unscripted entertainment.
