At Issue with Mark Welp
Tiffany Thomas on Becoming a Storyteller
Clip: Season 4 Episode 1 | 1m 31sVideo has Closed Captions
Tiffany Thomas explains how curiosity and community helped her become a storyteller.
Tiffany Thomas says she sees herself not simply as a filmmaker or writer, but as a storyteller. She explains how accessible technology, research, books and conversations with experienced people helped her learn to make the Prairie Tales films. For Thomas, the most rewarding part of the process is meeting people willing to share their knowledge, history and passion.
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At Issue with Mark Welp is a local public television program presented by WTVP
At Issue with Mark Welp
Tiffany Thomas on Becoming a Storyteller
Clip: Season 4 Episode 1 | 1m 31sVideo has Closed Captions
Tiffany Thomas says she sees herself not simply as a filmmaker or writer, but as a storyteller. She explains how accessible technology, research, books and conversations with experienced people helped her learn to make the Prairie Tales films. For Thomas, the most rewarding part of the process is meeting people willing to share their knowledge, history and passion.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipI don't look at myself as a film filmmaker necessarily, or even a writer.
I look at myself as a storyteller, and I'm so fortunate that the world that we live in makes the technology easily accessible, affordable, so that those stories can be told in a way that people are going to access them in short, succinct, visual ways so that it's easy to tell those stories.
- Yeah, and it's nice you don't have to go far away to a film school and the spend a whole lot of money.
You can do it right from your living room if you want to.
- I mean, I can tell you that since I started this project, so the "Prairie Tales" films, I believe we started in 2024, if I remember correctly.
And it was all about learning all the things that I don't know about writing scripts, about filmmaking, about all of the little details.
As soon as I started getting into it, I realized, well, I need more.
So my way is to read, to research.
So there are a lot of books that I have read about the process that have been incredibly helpful.
My favorite approach when I don't know something is to find somebody who does, and then just talk to them just to learn from them.
And that's been, I think, the most fun part of this process, is all the people that you meet that share their knowledge with you, that share their passion.
I mean, there is nothing in this world that is better than sitting down and talking to somebody about their passion.
And this project allowed me to do that.
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S4 Ep1 | 1m 45s | Tiffany Thomas uncovers the forgotten story of a deadly shooting in the town of Kramm. (1m 45s)
Frederick Douglass Comes to Elmwood
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S4 Ep1 | 1m 54s | Tiffany Thomas shares the story of Frederick Douglass’ 1870 visit to Elmwood. (1m 54s)
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At Issue with Mark Welp is a local public television program presented by WTVP

