AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

CPB Announces Ten-Year Funding Commitment to Filmmaker Ken Burns - Press Release

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) today announced that it has entered into a long-term agreement with renowned filmmaker Ken Burns and his company Florentine Films to develop and produce programming for public broadcasting.

“For over 20 years, Ken Burns has educated, entertained and enlightened the American people, providing us with moving images and gripping stories reflecting our history and culture and the contributions of individuals of every race, heritage and walk of life,” said Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of CPB. “We are very pleased to be able to ensure that the American people will continue to benefit from Ken’s remarkable storytelling gift across all media platforms and in the classroom.”

Under the agreement, which will run through 2017, CPB will provide funds for the development and production of programming. Projects under consideration include: Baseball: The Tenth Inning (which will update the original series Baseball, by chronicling the sport from 1994 through 2009 against the backdrop of social and cultural change in the United States during that time), a new film on prohibition and two major series, one a joint biographical series on Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and one on the Vietnam War.