“The Curious Mister Catesby” has been produced and directed by internationally-respected Cindy Neal, who has many years of important film experience in South Carolina. Scriptwriter Mike Purswell has a background in 18^th century English literature. Directors of Photography and Postproduction Chris Conder and Kurt Poole have strong experience in broadcast and non-broadcast film production.

In addition the Trust proposes to produce in cooperation with South Carolina Educational Television post-broadcast educational products based on the film and geared to U.S. national curriculum standards.  It is intended to distribute these products for free via the internet to both teachers and students in every High and Middle School in the country.  It will contain valuable lessons in art, history and science.  SCETV is one of the leading producers of web-based scholastic products in the United States.

Project News

Dave Elliott, Executive Director of the Catesby Commemorative Trust, circulated the following project news update, June 18, 2008:

The Curious Mister Catesby achieved a very enthusiastic response from the audience of almost 200 at the Smithsonian in Washington last week.

The keynote speaker at the Symposium was Dr. Alan Feduccia, Emeritus Professor of Biology at the University of North Carolina and author of Catesby's Birds of Colonial America and a also leading member of the Academic Advisory Panel for production of the film. The panelists included Leslie Overstreet, Curator of Rare Natural History Books at the Smithsonian Libraries, as well as being another of our key advisors, Dr. Storrs Olson of the National Museum of Natural History and Dr. Therese O'Malley of the National Galley of Art. The panelists fitted together very well and provided an fine introduction to our film.

Altogether a real privilege to those of us involved in the film to have it presented at such a significant location.

Dave Elliott, Executive Director of the Catesby Commemorative Trust, circulated the following project news update, April 11, 2008:

On Monday, June 9 the Smithsonian Institution is showing The Curious Mister Catesby in the late afternoon as the main attraction at their half-day Catesby Symposium. It will be held in the Freer Gallery of Art, on Jefferson Drive at 12th Street, SW., Washington DC and is part of the fortieth anniversary celebrations of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries. There will be no charge for this event.
Dr. Alan Feduccia, retired S. K. Heninger Professor of Biology and Geology at the University of North Carolina, and noted author of many books and articles on ornithology, including Catesby's Birds of Colonial America, will be the keynote speaker. Alan was one of the academic advisors to the production of The Curious Mister Catesby.
  

Dave Elliott, Executive Director of the Catesby Commemorative Trust, circulated the following project news update, February 28, 2008:

From all reports, the American premiere last Monday went very well indeed. Over 350 people (I'm still awaiting a final count) -- many dressed in "black tie" -- came to the Sottile Theater, a beautiful 1920's cinema. While most attendees live in downtown Charleston, some came from as far away as New York, Illinois, Maryland, Washington DC, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. The Host Committee list was headed by South Carolina's Governor Sanford.

The Curious Mister Catesby was projected effectively onto a cinema-sized 25 ft by 45 ft. screen. The College of Charleston Libraries, who organized the event and for whom it was a benefit, arranged for a red carpet on which attendees posed for the photographer, searchlight, and a champagne reception afterward in tent in a College garden and which was packed to the tent pegs!  

Dave Elliott, Executive Director of the Catesby Commemorative Trust, circulated the following project news roundup, January 20, 2008:

The American Premiere of The Curious Mister Catesby will be held at the Sottile Theater in Charleston at 6 p.m. on February 18 2008, to be followed by a champagne reception. This will be a fundraising event primarily for the Friends of the College of Charleston Libraries. A portion of the proceeds coming to the Trust, which will help cover outstanding bills and hopefully some of the costs related to obtaining television coverage in the U.S. (for which we do not expect any income).

The Smithsonian Institution Libraries have confirmed that they will hold a showing this year of The Curious Mister Catesby as part of their 40th anniversary celebrations. They have the financing in place and planning is just starting but the date has yet to be set.

Kiawah Island "sneak preview"

The real estate arm of the Kiawah Island developer organized a "sneak preview" on December 28 for 500 property owners, many from different parts of the United States. We have been told that the realtors were "ecstatic" about the success of the event.

Royal Society

The World Première at the Royal Society on November 14 2007 appears to have been a great success. Sir David Attenborough said "Well done; well done!" and wrote that it "was a very enjoyable evening" and "I do hope you will have success in interesting the BBC in showing the film."

The Times (of London) ran an excellent review that concluded "The task of transforming a weighty volume such as the Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, the first published account of the flora and fauna of North America, into a film is inherently demanding. In this instance, it has been accomplished with style. It deserves a much bigger platform, perhaps on TV." (You can read the entire review here).

The show also received many positive unsolicited viewer comments, many sent to third parties and then forwarded to us.

Dave Elliott, Executive Director of the Catesby Commemorative Trust, circulated supporters of the film project with the following exciting news from the Royal Society in London, September 14, 2007:

The world première of “The Curious Mister Catesby” will be held before an invited audience at the Royal Society in London, on Wednesday, November 14, at 6pm in the Kohn Centre. The historical documentary film brings to light the life and work of the English artist/scientist and Fellow of the Royal Society, Mark Catesby (1683-1749). Catesby’s Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands was written a century before Audubon came onto the scene. A Catesby contemporary described the book as “the most magnificent work I know since the Art of printing was discovered”. Today it is seen as the most important scientific and artist accomplishment relative to North America prior to the American Revolution.

Like Catesby’s work, the production of the film also was a transatlantic endeavour. Interactive interviews were shot on-location in London, Washington DC and South Carolina. The Library at the Society had a major part in the film, which features the Library’s rare first edition of Catesby’s Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands which has exceptional colour values. Almost all acknowledged academic experts on Catesby’s art and science, both here and in the United States, participated in the development or production of the documentary.

Marsh Elder Productions LLC produced this film. Its principals are David J. Elliott, Executive Producer, and Cynthia P. Neal, Producer/Director. They share a passion for the subject based on their mutual enthusiasm for wildlife conservation and bring together Ms. Neal’s three-decade career in film production and Mr. Elliott’s business career and interest in history. Details on Marsh Elder’s production and creative teams are provided below.

The production’s style is in the finest traditions of television documentaries, The high production values include an on-camera host, a 15 years compilation of award winning wildlife and nature footage, candid, in-depth interviews with art and history experts at the Smithsonian in DC, the Royal Society, Kew Gardens and the Natural History Museum in London and in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. State-of-the-art editing tools and techniques were employed to morph Catesby’s wildlife illustrations with the same species in live action footage. The Curious Mister Catesby was post scored with originally composed and performed music based on authentic colonial period melodies and instrumentations.

Independent pre-broadcast comments on this film by critics, academics and “typical viewers” here and in North America have been unanimously positive. Read comments...

Dave Elliott, Executive Director of the Catesby Commemorative Trust, circulated supporters of the film project with the following wonderful news, May 25, 2007:

We extend to you and over 100 other generous supporters our most sincere thanks and deep appreciation for making it possible to complete the production of “The Curious Mister Catesby”.

We now are preparing to submit the program for broadcast approval to PBS. Unfortunately financial underwriters and supporters are precluded by PBS regulations from previewing the show until after their decision on whether or not to broadcast it. Please know that are quite anxious for you to see “The Curious Mister Catesby” and will make those arrangements as quickly as we are permitted by PBS to do so.

In the meantime, we are proud to share with you some comments from the peer review group. This group is composed of creative, marketing and technical experts in the fields of film/video/audio production and marketing communications as well as from our own production and creative team.

The most critical of our reviewers told us that she loved the program. She especially was pleased with the opportunity to learn entirely new information. She commented favorably on the overall quality of the production, on the music and, when asked, was very complimentary of Dennis and his on-camera presentation skills.

Chris Conder, our award winning Director of Photography , whose work is seen regularly on PBS as well as other networks and cable channels, had not seen the finished program until last week. His message to Cindy Neal, our Producer/Director, follows:

“Cindy, I'm so excited, I just finished watching the Catesby film for the first time and I must say it's really an amazing piece of work. It's absolutely terrific, your greatest achievement ever I think. I don't know where to begin. I absolutely love the story and script; the music is so well done - award worthy, I love the morphing technique from the live action shot to the plates and vice versa, Dennis is just right with his narration and on- camera work, the art work and plates look stunning in the film, the editing is great - I love how you peppered the stand-ups with a lot of great footage so as not to linger too long on anyone of them and it's so great to see so much of our wonderful footage from years and years of shoots show up in this film. It really in some ways feels like a culmination of all the work we've done together through the years. I'm so proud of it. And YOU should be so so proud of this film. It's just outstanding. No one could have done a better job with this subject matter. Congratulations! “

We look forward with great anticipation to sharing “The Curious Mister Catesby” with you.

Thank you again for your continued support. It has made the production of this important documentary possible.

David J. Elliot - Executive Director (April 2007):

The editing of “The Curious Mister Catesby” has been completed, including use of some state-of-the-art digital effects that will bring Catesby’s etchings literally to life.

The remaining steps include the Graphic Design and Animation by International award-winning Rhea Borzac; this work was completed just yesterday and we have been told to be amazed when we see it

Scott Brasher, who has been researching & composing the music for six months, is currently having the music performed by a group of outstanding musicians – several are involved with the Nashville Symphony, one works with Ricky Scraggs and the most notable is Phil Keaggy – who is very likely the best guitar player in the world (enjoy listening to some clips of his music at www.philkeaggy.com – give the clips a few moments to load)

As soon as the music has been mixed, Michael Davis, owner of Digital Post, will personally do the Sound Design (sound effects and audio sweetening). Audio Post’s list of credits is remarkable – you see them at www.digitalaudiopost.com/televisioncredit.

And Tape to Tape Color Correction on state of the art "DaVinci" system will be one of the final steps.

Then all this work comes back to Editor Kurt Poole and Producer Director Cindy Neal to be assembled and have the production credits inserted. We expect to have all this done in early May – and then we’ll get ready to present the show to SCETV and PBS. And we’ve asked SCETV to let us know what they believe will be the strongest possible way to present it to PBS.

David J. Elliot - Executive Director (February 2007):

The offline “rough cut” edit of The Curious Mister Catesby was completed in mid-February by Cindy Neal and Senior Editor Kurt Poole; I was in Nashville much of the time that it was being produced & they have done an outstanding job. It’s now being reviewed by our academic team to confirm that it’s accurate, complete and consistent with the “treatment” describing the planned show written three years ago. Cindy will also do some peer reviews to ensure that it is as well-produced as possible.

At the same time Scott Brasher has started to do the post scoring of the music. He’s already done a considerable amount of research on what will be appropriate, including consulting with Nic Butler (who has his PhD in the music of the Colonial-era) on the “Top 20 of 1720”. And Rhea Borzac, international award winning animator at Magnetic Dreams, Inc. has started work on the titling.

The subsequent steps include sound effects, color and audio balancing, and combining these and all the other accoutrements in the online edit into the Director’s Cut for presentation to PBS by SCETV. We very much need to maintain the creative momentum appropriate to a top quality show – which could all be accomplished by mid-March, but depends upon the fund-raising gods being kind to us.

David J. Elliot - Executive Director (January 2007):

David J. Elliot - Executive Director (October 2006):

Some good progress over the past couple of months:—

We are now working with South Carolina Educational Television in two directions. One is that SCETV will present “The Curious Mister Catesby” to the Public Broadcasting System for national distribution as soon as we have a Directors’ Cut (essentially the finished documentary). SCETV is very excited about “The Curious Mister Catesby” and believe it will be an “evergreen” show that will receive many repeat broadcasts over the years. We decided to go in the PBS direction because their audiences are over twice the size of cable channels such as History, Discovery and A&E with exceptional income and educational demographics.

The second is that SCETV is working with us on the remaining fundraising. We need close to $200,000 for postproduction, which includes editing, composition and performance of original music, titling, color correction, audio sweetening and production of both standard definition and converted High Definition versions. We are focusing on finding three organizations for whom the three 15 second promotional spots available on PBS are worthwhile for advertising or public relations purposes. We already have one commitment courtesy of Helen Hill, Executive Director of the Charleston Convention & Visitors Bureau, and are actively seeking two more. The Trust is, of course, working on additional development activities.

We have engaged nationally-known film composer Scott Brasher to compose and have performed original music for “TCMC”. Scott has already started researching the “Top Twenty” of 1725 with Dr. Nic Butler of the Charleston County Public Library. Nic is probably THE national expert on colonial-era music, with his doctorate covering this topic. And Kurt Poole of Music City Digital in Nashville, with whom Cindy and I have extensive experience, will bring his mastery to “The Curious Mister Catesby.

The Royal Society in London has very generously agreed to let Alecto Historical Editions Ltd. digitize its first edition of Catesby’s “Natural History”, as well as Catesby’s letters to his sponsor William Sherard. We will have free use of the images for TCMC and derivative electronic products. The Royal Society’s copy has exceptionally good color quality, with the reds remaining extraordinarily strong and vibrant after almost three centuries. Similarly Oxford University has agreed to free use of the photo of the only portrait of Sherard, who established its Botany Department (now Plant Sciences).

And John Buck, Managing Director of The Frith Collection Limited in the UK is working with us on publication of a coffee-table sized reproduction of the Natural History as the companion book for our documentary. His first step is to put cost and feasibility data together.

David J. Elliot - Executive Director (May 2006):

Filming for “The Curious Mister Catesby” has been completed! Location shoots were held in April at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries in DC, Kew Gardens, the Royal Society and the Natural History Museum in London, plus Middleton Place and Middleburg Plantations as well as Kiawah and Daniel Islands here in South Carolina. A quick look at the unedited tapes indicates we have some great film to go with the beautiful archival footage that Cindy Neal is donating to the project. Take the links in this paragraph to view snapshots taken during the location shoots.

The cooperation we received at every one these locations was fantastic – especially the personal support beyond any normal “call of duty” to ensure we filmed everything relevant they had available – including Sir Isaac Newton’s telescope (Newton was President of the Royal Society when it approved Catesby’s trip to South Carolina), original samples at the Natural History Museum that Catesby sent to Sir Hans Sloane (the founder of the British Museum) which we were able to film with the relevant pages in the Natural History” and one of the original paintings he used to illustrate it. The Queens’ Garden at Kew was closed for our benefit; we had the run of Middleburg and the day-long support of the Vice President – Museums at Middleton Place until midnight.

It was also a great pleasure to see how the key members of the film crew – Director of Photography Chris Conder, Narrator Chris Stone, Sound Director Dave Gullberg and Production Manager Todd Crowder - developed personal enthusiasm for the film beyond their normal high professional standards.

The Smithsonian Libraries are very excited about the film and Bob Kearns, their public relations head, will be here in early June to develop information for stories on it for their magazine, etc.

We are now moving into postproduction (editing, addition of still images and original music, conversion to HDTV, etc). We plan to complete production by the end of the summer, if the additional funding can be developed. Then we intend to produce an educational version to national curriculum standards to be distributed to every middle school in the country. Senators Graham and DeMint and Congressman Henry Brown are supporting a Congressional appropriation to enable this valuable lesson in science, history and art to happen.

Increasingly our researchers have concluded that Catesby’s work was the most significant accomplishment in the arts and sciences relative to North America prior to the Revolution. This includes not only his “Natural History”, but also the first scientifically rational theory of bird migration and the first discussion in North America on the impact of habitat degredation on the survival of species. And the more we study him the more we realize his courage, determination, commitment - and sense of humor.

Contributions of over $750,000 (2/3 in kind, 1/3 cash) have enabled us complete the filming. They include major contributions from the Post & Courier Foundation, Kiawah Development Partners, US Fish & Wildlife Service and the South Carolina Humanities Council as well as many individual contributions. We need to raise only another $100,000 to complete the film on schedule, with some serious risks to the project if we cannot do so. Therefore we’re making a major effort to accomplish this goal

David J. Elliot - Executive Director (January 2006):

The script for the film is finished!  Congratulations to Mike Purswell for a great job - and many thanks to our expert advisors who supported this effort so enthusiastically and effectively! - Script excerpt..

Producer/Director Cindy Neal has virtually completed “logging her archival footage” that we will use in “The Curious Mister Catesby”.  It includes some very exciting and sophisticated footage, such as helicopter film of Middleton Place and other sites, as well as beautiful wildlife and scenic shots – even Francis Marion National Forest in a hurricane! We now have ready for postproduction editing over 50% of the running time of the film.

Only slightly oversimplifying, “all” we have left to make the film are:

• Location shoots in Washington DC, London and here in the South Carolina Lowcountry
• “Postproduction” - which includes preparation for editing,  incorporating the Catesby images, editing the footage we plan to use, composition and performance of music, etc.  However, these are the major expenses in the film.

David J. Elliot - Executive Director (August 2005):

The script outline has been completed and enthusiastically approved by our academic experts. Script writer Mike Purswell and director Cindy Neal have since met to discuss details of “on screen” presentation. The script will be completed in time for the Script Review Conference in Charleston, SC with our academic experts. The process of selecting of celebrity talent for use in narration etc. has started.

Concurrently with the closed Script Review Conference we will hold both a public symposium with them on Catesby and the film and a more intimate affair for those who like to meet these experts personally. From our research it has become increasingly clear that Catesby’s work was the most globally significant artistic and scientific work done in North America prior to the Revolutionary War.

For more information on these events – or on the film – please contact the Trust’s Executive Director, David Elliott at 102 Marsh Elder Court, Kiawah Island, SC 29455, 843/768-9965 or by email at davidmep@bellsouth.net.