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“What About Waco” a four part docu-series written and directed by Chris Charles Scott III.
Synopsis:
A glimpse into five pivotal moments in the city of Waco’s history: the construction of the Suspension Bridge; the Reservation, a district of legal prostitution; the 1916 Jesse Washington public lynching; the World War I training camp named Camp MacArthur; and the 1953 Waco tornado.
How we got here:
My wife Karolyn and I moved back to Las Vegas in 2015 to be closer to family and friends. A couple months later an opportunity to work with a dear and very close friend, Sam Seegars at Cox Media was available. While I was at Cox Media producing commercials for their clients, I met another great guy in Chris Sekerak. Chris was a producer as well and he loved filming.
By April 2017, I had picked up a lot of freelance work in addition to my Cox Media duties and I wasn’t getting much sleep. I gave my notice to leave Cox Media. Chris Sekarek was freelance editing on the side with director Chris Charles Scott on his current documentary series titled “What About Waco”. Scott needed more time editing then Sekarek could offer. My name was mentioned and soon I started editing with Scott.
Episode 1 had already been edited by a local Las Vegas editor, Chun Lim and episode 4 was completed by Shreveport, LA editor, Chris Lyon. I was picking up where Chris Sekarak left off on episode 2 and then eventually episode 3. Yes, there were a lot of Chris’ on this project!
Chris Charles Scott and his team so far had created a very well thought out series and director of photography, Rob Senska was composing beautiful shots not just of the city of Waco but the interviews as well. All around, great job so far and now the baton was in my hand for the heaviest topics, sharing the darker times of Waco: prostitution, lyching and the military preparing for World War 1. I was really prepared to take on this series not just because I had finished two other documentaries in my recent past but because I had built out my client-friendly edit suite. I was ready!
Two months later we had filled the vacancy between episode 1 and 4 and had a complete documentary series. It was fulfilling to see the completed series all together. Hats off to Chris Charles Scott. He had weaved Waco’s history into a beautiful series. A few thousand Wacoans agreed about a month later when the series officially premiered in the city of Waco at the Grand Lodge of Texas Auditorium. Myself and a couple friends were able to attend and witness the full series on the silver screen. It was the first time I had seen my long form work on the big screen and it was contagious.
Chris Charles Scott wore multiple hats on this production. Besides being the creator, writer and director, he single handedly raised all the funding and sponsorships for the series. While we were finishing the series he was on calls with Waco’s Newspapers, TV and radio stations promoting the upcoming premiere. I was very impressed at Chris’ tireless efforts to bring this series to life. Bravo!
