discovery while we’re out there … just being open to where it wants to take you and where the story wants to take us. That’s the reason documentaries are so exciting to make because you’re not working off of a script. You have ideas about what you need to get, you have to, but it’s based on what we’re seeing and capturing, not on what we think it should be.”
James wants the viewer to experience “a distilled version” of what he and his crew experienced. “The things that opened our eyes. The things
that surprised us. … We preserved that quality in the cutting because that’s dramatic, it’s interesting, and people are funny, and we’re always interested in people who are funny!”
The “cast” of characters in “City So Real” couldn’t be any more unique, particularly the politicians and the antics they pull, with James and crew capturing it all. Much of what takes place behind the closed Board of Election doors, is shocking, but James opens them and takes us on an eye-opening journey into the belly of politics. While I expressed my ignorance of the system, both Piper and James openly admitted their surprises as well. Piper said, “I knew that there was a petition process and that there were challenges, but I had no idea about the length of time and the money. … Unless you have serious money to pay a campaign lawyer, you will not be able to sustain a challenge and you will not be a candidate. … That’s really sad and it’s by design.” James concurred and added, “And the amount of gamesmanship, that was completely new to me. … Just the time dealing with that crap and spending money on it and getting frustrated with it.” He went on to describe the heated verbal interaction between Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle as an example of this.
In the end, we all know who gets elected, but it’s the how and the why that truly matters and “City So Real” draws the parallel lines to the nation at large and the upcoming presidential election. James hopes the series will show “both what is wrong and what can be right with elections in this country.” He said, “You see the dirty tricks, you see the corruption of Chicago, you see the gamesmanship that’s not really about who’s the best candidate…” However, the docuseries confirms that “you don’t have to be the machine candidate, you don’t have to have all the resources in the world to win, it helps, but you can overcome that. I think there’s some inspiration in this, too.”