Morris to be featured on PBS ‘Viewpoint’ documentary series

An estimated 80 million television viewers and social media consumers will soon have a glimpse into Morris and its different attributes after city officials offered up funds and an agreement to be featured in a PBS series that has a Hollywood star attached to the project.

At a recent meeting, the Morris City Council approved a studio production authorization agreement to be featured on “Viewpoint,” a documentary series featured on PBS stations across the country, including WTTW-TV (Channel 11) in Chicago.

“What they do is make 4- to 6-minute documentary shorts,” said Stan Knudson, community affairs director with the city. “These are used as filler on PBS stations. When you’re watching ‘Antiques Roadshow,’ and it ends at 7:55, and there’s programming at 8:00, this will fill in those gaps.”

As part of the agreement, the city is contributing $25,000 to $30,000 to help shine a spotlight on the series. Knudson said the city’s share of participating in an upcoming installment of the project will be about 10% of the total figure.

“It will cover production costs, but it’s just a portion of those costs,” he said. “Their costs, on the other hand, are going to be around $300,000.”

Actor Dennis Quaid hosts “Viewpoint.” Each interstitial episode has a different theme. Existing shorts have focused on such disparate topics as organic wine and peace initiatives. Another episode is titled, “Luxury Reinvented.”

Knudson said Morris will be featured in an episode titled, “Places to Live, Play and Start a Business.” Production is slated to take place in the coming months.

There are a number of reasons behind participating in the PBS project, Knudson said, including a redoubled effort to market the city to a wide swath of people — from visitors to prospective residents to businesses looking to set up shop.

“We think it will be a great opportunity to put our product in front of people … even if it means visiting the city for a day,” Knudson said. “I’ve lived here all my life, and I’ll talk to people that live an hour or two away, and they’ll say, ‘Where do you live again?’”

Knudson said people working behind the scenes on “Viewpoint” reached out to Mayor Chris Brown and inquired about participating in the upcoming short.

“We asked, ‘Why?’ and the mayor received an email saying they found us organically,” Knudson said. “”We’ve stepped up our efforts in the realm of social media. The mayor and I have a podcast that we host as well, and we’ve been featured in some great magazines recently.”

Brown and Knudson’s podcast series, “More to Morris,” has included a number of episodes, spotlighting specific events, local businesses and community organizations.

“We went through a lengthy interview and background process to see what they’re looking for,” Knudson said, noting the city’s participation did not occur overnight.

In addition to the traditional 4- to 6-minute broadcasts, Morris will be featured in the “Viewpoint” episode through other avenues, such as targeted advertising on social media and during breaks on cable TV channels.

The council’s approval in support of taking part in the upcoming “Viewpoint” episode was unanimous, and the vote was cast at a meeting on Sept. 16.

“For the consideration of what we’re getting with the exposure, it just makes sense,” Knudson said. “It’s a pretty decent endeavor.”

Details on “Viewpoint” are available online at viewpointproject.com. Clips from past episodes are available on the website.