Looking for mothers of large families to be on a documentary

Yael

Wed, Aug 06 2008, 12:13 pm

I recieved the following email. If you are interested, you can contact her at the number below

Hello,

I am writing to ask if it might be possible for me to make contact with any of the mothers who use your forum. To explain, I am carrying out some research for a British television documentary about large families. I am looking for families with 12 or more children in different countries around the world, and hope to speak to people who can tell me what it's like to be part of such a big family unit.

I read on the forum some comments about the largest family in the U.S, where people also mentioned other large families they knew. I would like to find out more, to see if I could perhaps make contact with some of these families.

The programme itself aims to gain an insight into what leads people to keep on having children at a time when fertility rates are dropping in much of the world, and to give large families an opportunity to talk about the pleasures and challenges of managing a big household. We would like to spend time with different families in their homes, hearing from the mothers, fathers and children about what their daily life is like.

The subject will be handled in a sensitive, intelligent way and we will of course not invade people's privacy or expose any element of their lives if they feel uncomfortable.

At this stage I just want to talk to people to help with my research and there is no obligation to be involved with the documentary.

I'd be very grateful if you could let me know as soon as you can whether you are able to help with this request. I would be happy to provide any further information you require. We will be filming during the last 2 weeks of August, which does not give me much time to make contact with people.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,
Kathryn

Kathryn Tregidgo

Assistant Producer

Firefly Film and Television Productions Ltd

120 - 124 Curtain Road

London EC2A 3SQ

United Kingdom

T: +44 (0) 207 033 2300 Ext: 302

F: +44 (0) 207 729 3086

W: www.fireflyproductions.tv

Last edited by Yael on Wed, Sep 24 2008, 8:38 pm; edited 1 time in total

bubby

Wed, Aug 06 2008, 12:18 pm

Please be careful...I wouldn't trust filmakers as far as I can throw them (a good British saying.)

bubby

Wed, Aug 06 2008, 12:19 pm

How did this lady get on imamother anyway???

greenfire

Wed, Aug 06 2008, 12:23 pm

hm ... I'll do it ... we don't actually have a dozen children - however we have many varied personalities ... Nervous

Clarissa

Wed, Aug 06 2008, 12:23 pm

bubby wrote:

Please be careful...I wouldn't trust filmakers as far as I can throw them (a good British saying.)

I spent my career working for documentary filmmakers. Then again, I think it would take a mighty strong person to toss me very far.

Mrs. XYZ

Wed, Aug 06 2008, 12:28 pm

bubby wrote:

How did this lady get on Imamother anyway???

She didn't. I guess she heard about this site and emailed Yael and asked her post it here.

I'm really curious if there is anyone on here with 12+ children.

bubby

Wed, Aug 06 2008, 12:29 pm

Schizo are we, Green??? Wink

bubby

Wed, Aug 06 2008, 12:37 pm

My family & I were once the focus of a documentary that actually was seen by 3.5 people...talk about embarrassing although we were lucky, they didn't cut & paste too much at all. We were talked into it by a bigwig who said they were looking for a normal, articulate family. I should have realized then we weren't the best choice. My DS's were like lunatics. The girls were mute & glassy-eyed. And we won't talk about me.

BE WARNED...they make you sign away your rights to any objections or editing. You really have no control over how they make you appear. I'm concerned that with the UK's strong anti-Jewish bias in the media, whoever gets into this will end up looking really bad through no fault of their own.

But then, I'm an eternal optimist.

sarahd

Wed, Aug 06 2008, 3:24 pm

Not I, bubby. I'm a real cynic and I agree that I would never let myself be interviewed, especially by someone who wants to know

Quote:

what leads people to keep on having children at a time when fertility rates are dropping in much of the world

You know what happens in these documentaries? They interview you for five hours and then they take the three minutes in which you said something perhaps not so smart, or something that in context made sense but out of context makes you sound off the wall, and that's what they put into the film.

grin

Wed, Aug 06 2008, 3:56 pm

I wouldn't want someone interviewing me in my house, even if I did have 12+ chidlren, which I don't.

shalhevet

Wed, Aug 06 2008, 4:26 pm

"Well, three times a year I don't do laundry for more than a week and then I have fourteen people's clothes to wash."

"Actually it's only once a year that I do a thorough clean and make sure there isn't a crumb left in the entire house."

"Oh, the girls are happy to clear up while the boys learn our ancient texts."

"No, all my daughters wear long sleeves and socks, even when it's 90 degrees outside"

"No, we're not planning on sending our children to college"

ChossidMom

Wed, Aug 06 2008, 4:31 pm

shalhevet wrote:

Boys"R"Us

Wed, Aug 06 2008, 6:22 pm

bubby wrote:

How did this lady get on Imamother anyway???

I hate to burst your bubble, but many of the imamother forums are catalogued by all the major search engines. If this woman were to search large families, all the imamother posts that mentioned this subject would pop up freely available for her (or anyone) to read. She couldn't post on the site though.

~Debbie

amother

Wed, Aug 06 2008, 9:20 pm

BEWARE We have been on television for a 13 series and I will tell u no matter what they say it is very invasive, a headache, sholom bayis issues, and I truly wonder if it was all worth it in the end
I would not do it agian even if you payed me. My husband too did not realize what it would entail there were times we had arguments it was not good for anyone but them!

Mini Cookie

Thu, Aug 07 2008, 5:16 pm

just did a search on her name & she is indeed an assistant filmmaker