The Making of "Big As Life: Obesity in America" By Doris Skiba, M.A.

Two years ago, I received an email from a club I belong to. A documentary about fat people was in the works and the production company was looking for people who might like to participate. I thought this sounded like a good idea. I sent a note back, telling a bit of my story and indicating I would like to be contacted when the production got underway.

A year went by. Another email arrived in my mailbox, this one saying the documentary was still in the works, financing was almost complete, and was I still interested? I wrote back saying yes, I was still very much interested.

My next contact was a phone call from Donald Cooper. Donald was the writer for the film. I spoke with him for almost two hours one Saturday afternoon.

He explained the film was to be made by an independent film company: Issembert Productions. They would come up with a concept for a film, sell the idea to someone (in this case, The Discovery Channel), who would then provide financing so the film could be made. Issembert was, at that time, in final negotiations with Discovery, Donald said, so they anticipated actual production would begin within a few months.

In the two hours I spoke to Donald I was impressed by the questions he asked. It seemed to me they were not interested in making a freak show or showing fat people in an unkind light. Donald seemed receptive to things I told him about size acceptance, the problem of size discrimination, and the many difficulties fat people face in their daily lives. The most important thing I understood from Donald was that he was interested in learning about this issue.