Cover story: Menlo Park company produces a PBS documentary on fight to end AIDS Cover story: Menlo Park company produces a PBS documentary on fight to end AIDS (December 14, 2005)

By Rory Brown

Almanac Staff Writer

Michael Schwarz, founder and president of a Menlo Park-based production company, and a Menlo Park resident, is involved in two committed relationships.

He is the husband of Kiki Kapany, and together, with the help of a small staff, they run Kikim Media, providing video production for clients that range from local foundations to national corporations.

Mr. Schwarz is also a committed partner -- in the business sense -- to Bill Jersey, a producer whose Berkeley-based Quest Productions collaborates with Kikim Media to produce documentaries for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), the latest of which is "Ending AIDS: The Search for a Vaccine."

The hour-long program covers more than two decades and thousands of miles, examining initial attempts by U.S. companies to find a vaccine in the 1980s, to present-day Kenya, where a select few survivors in communities devastated by AIDS are miraculously avoiding infection, and may hold the key to future research.

Although medication is available to people who can attain and afford it, AIDS is far from becoming a manageable condition without a vaccine to eliminate it entirely.

The film is narrated by actor and AIDS activist Richard Gere, and airs Wednesday, December 14, on KQED, Channel 9.
'A good marriage'

Mr. Schwarz, a former KQED senior producer before founding Kikim Media in 1996, has armloads of awards as both a staff member of KQED and an independent producer, including three national Emmy Awards. His past projects have appeared on the Public Broadcasting Service's television program "Frontline."

Mr. Schwarz and Ms. Kapany established the company in San Carlos before moving to their Menlo Park office two years ago.

Mr. Jersey, who has been making films since the 1960s, started working with Mr. Schwarz in the mid 1990s, and the two producers have joined forces to make three documentaries.

"It's like a good marriage," says Mr. Jersey. "We work well together, but we also have our own projects to work on."

The two producers have never relied on more than a handshake to set a project into motion, says Mr. Schwarz: no legal contracts, no egos and only a few arguments, which are dealt with swiftly.

"We don't get wedded to ideas," says Mr. Schwarz. "The only thing that matters is finding out what works for the film."
Decoding science

Figuring out how to translate the search for an AIDS vaccine -- a complicated and science-laden subject -- to a wide television audience requires an engaging, but still informative, presentation. And, it all has to fit in an hour of film.

"It's a big job -- to find a way to tell this particular story so your [viewers] don't get lost." said Mr. Schwarz. "With a story like this, you'd want to tell how someone figured out the vaccine, but this story hasn't ended yet."

Using archived footage, the producers tie the story together with a universal thread: television newscasts that span several decades.

"There's a multitude of ideas, understandings, perspectives and elements to this story," says Mr. Jersey. "The arc of our story became how television represented the search for a vaccine."

Through the broadcasts of Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and other anchors, the film reveals how television portrayed and explained the search for a vaccine.

"It's important to have a visual aspect to this story," says Mr. Jersey. "It's important to have more than just Petri dishes and a couple of syringes to show for this -- there's a lot to this story.

"[The film] doesn't feel like information -- it feels like a good story," says Mr. Schwarz.
Tapping the author

Like the pair's previous documentaries, "Ending AIDS" is based on a book. In this case, Jon Cohen's "Shots in the Dark: The Wayward Search for an AIDS Vaccine," published in 2001, provided the inspiration.

Mr. Cohen, a science journalist, also plays a prominent role in the film, helping the viewer make sense of the science and controversy surrounding an AIDS vaccine.

"John Cohen spoke English," says Mr. Jersey, referring to the author's ability to avoid scientific jargon in making the most detailed of scientific research easy to understand.

"Imagine taking a human and cutting off the arms and legs," says Mr. Cohen, creating a metaphor for restraining HIV about halfway through the film. "It's still a human being but it can't hit you."
Getting Gere

Mr. Schwarz and Mr. Jersey ran their script by prominent scientists and members of AIDS foundations, but they needed someone to narrate it -- specifically actor Richard Gere, known for his active role in supporting global solutions to the AIDS epidemic.

"We called [Mr. Gere's] agent, and we weren't getting through," says Mr. Schwarz.

But Ms. Kapany, who does the bulk of the everyday business and financial operations of the company, went to college with Audrey Wells, a screenwriter who wrote "Shall We Dance" and the rewrite for "Runaway Bride" -- both Richard Gere films.

Ms. Kapany called Ms. Wells to explain the situation, and immediately Mr. Gere's agent, and later Mr. Gere, called the Kikim office, pledging their support.

"[Mr. Gere] is really committed to this -- to the problem of AIDS," says Mr. Jersey.
Funding issues

But it was an uphill climb finding financial support for a film about AIDS -- a subject still considered controversial by the audience of potential investors.

After getting three-fourths of the funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Mr. Schwarz and Mr. Jersey had the money to make the film, but didn't have the financial backing to distribute it.

"We went to dozens of corporations and an equal number of foundations, and no one wanted to touch our project," says Mr. Schwarz. "If one plane crashed everyday, people would want to know about that story. With AIDS, we have the equivalent of 40 [planes] crashing everyday, yet no one wanted to put money into our film."

"It's because those planes aren't crashing in our backyard -- they're not crashing in Menlo Park," says Mr. Jersey. "The planes are crashing in Africa, China, India and other places people can't afford drugs."

At the eleventh hour, two years after the project started and the producers got their initial funding, the John D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation provided the funds needed to finish, screen and distribute the film.

"Most people say a vaccine is the only thing that will stop the epidemic," says Mr. Schwarz. "The sad fact is you can't get enough people to change their behavior."

The film shows the progress, and the huge strides made toward finding an AIDS vaccine, but there's yet to be a definite success, and the film's last screen leaves a haunting message: "In the absence of a vaccine, by 2010 another 60 million people may be infected by HIV."
Moving on

Although Mr. Schwarz and Mr. Jersey say they will continue to provide the film to foundations and institutions as a teaching tool, the two producers are eyeing a new project, as well as tackling everyday work at their respective companies.

"We're always dedicated and committed to the projects we take on, but we're also eclectic in our interests," says Mr. Schwarz.

He and Mr. Jersey are considering straying from their routine for the next film, using a group of mathematicians, rather than a specific book, as inspiration.

As for Kikim Media, the company continues to serve their client list of foundations and corporations, about 10 percent of whom are based in Menlo Park, according to Mr. Schwarz.

Currently on the company's plate is completing the edits of the special features for the DVD of HBO's series "Deadwood."

"Depending on what we're doing, our office is too big, or not big enough," says Mr. Schwarz.
INFORMATION

"Ending AIDS: The Search for a Vaccine" will be shown at 9 p.m. Wednesday, December 14, on KQED Channel 9. To obtain a DVD version of the film or get information about other Kikim Media projects, go to kikim.com. Kikim Media's offices are at 887 Oak Grove Ave., Suite 201, in Menlo Park.

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