American Collectors Film a forerunner to a Reality TV Phenomenon

American Collectors Film a forerunner to a Reality TV Phenomenon

Bellingham, WA. The documentary film, American Collectors is a comprehensive examination of the motivations of collectors in their pursuit to acquire and how they view their role as keepers of culture. Released in 2009, it hit the independent film festival circuit before the advent of the current wave of reality shows about storage auctions, collectors and hoarders. The subject matter struck the cultural zeitgeist, by the time American Collectors had completed its first run, Hoarders was an emerging hit and American Pickers was making its debut. American Collectors was in front of the wave of interest and received national media attention with a write up in Paste magazine, interviews on NPR and a slot on the PBS independent film series, Reel Northwest, followed by additional PBS showings. Most recently, American Collectors was selected for Video On Demand showings throughout North America on digital cable networks and consortiums covering well over 6 million subscibers. What the Sell! Another Reality Show about Stuff. Every time you turn on the television there's yet another show about antique and collectors items. A blue-ribbon example is, What the Sell? on the Discovery Network. Three generations of women run a fine antique and consignment shop outside of Chicago. Lots of Midwestern charm and terrific interaction between the three women. Grandma Gloria is a real hoot. Pawn Stars meets Antique Road Show, its addicting to watch! Now the question is, at what point do we hit saturation? There is a dedicated group of people who will always watch shows like these, but its definitely a "hot' topic right now. Click on this image to see Seattle Film critic Rubert Huttons' interview with American Collectors co-directors Bob Ridgely and Terri Krantz There is certainly a voyeuristic urge to see what other people have behind closed doors. And due to the success of these these shows and our film, American Collectors, the viewer can see the surprisingly wide variety of weird and wonderful stuff people collect. Back in 2007 when co-director and producer Bob Ridgley and I began mapping out our idea for a documentary film about collectors there were only one or two shows on television covering this topic. Whenever we talked about our idea people were genuinely positive and encouraging. Did the collective consciousness suddenly decide collecting and shows about the stuff in our houses and garages would be interesting? Maybe the economic downturn forced people to reflect upon their habits of consuming and at the same time, when needing some extra money started looking at the stuff thats filling up our houses and storage units. American Collectors is available for Video On Demand from many North American digital cable networks and also from IndieFlix.com. For more information go to the American Collectors Web Site