About this project

About the Series

People across the country are discovering a bounty of seasonal ingredients, heritage foods, and artisanal products unique to their regions. In Season celebrates this sense of discovery, inspires viewers to seek out the best ingredients and showcases food's color, texture and flavor with down-to-earth, delicious dishes.

John MacPherson, co-owner and chef at the Foster Harris House bed and breakfast in Washington, Virginia goes into the field to meet and work with the folks who grow, produce and harvest beautiful and sometimes unusual foods. Whether it's fishing for Chesapeake Rockfish on a frigid January morning, or foraging for the elusive morel mushroom on a warm spring day, he’ll unearth what's in season and at the peak of flavor.  Then, he takes those ingredients back into the kitchen to prepare a simple meal that features nature's seasonal highlights.

Why it's Different

TV cooking shows tend to fall into three categories: "stand-and-stir,"  "watch me eat," or competition formats. We wanted to see a food show that had a little more soul. One with an independent feel. One that introduced people to the true champions of local, seasonal and honest foods. One that looked as beautiful as the foods taste.

We couldn't find a show like that on TV, so we decided to make it ourselves.

Three years ago, we borrowed a video camera, filmed at our local farms and cooked in our kitchen. The end result was embarrassingly bad, but we knew we had a good idea.  Our good friend John Spaulding (with far more experience in video) helped with version two. Much better, but still not what we envisioned. John Spaulding connected us with Brendan Goeckel of Garrett Park Films who actually is a TV and film producer. So we did it again.  We drove around Virginia and met fascinating people producing the most amazing foods.  This time with a real movie camera, real sound equipment, a real schedule and real editing, all donated by talented people who thought it was a good idea, too.  And when it was finished, we had the show we wanted.

PBS Agrees!

What network would be interested in a cooking show that ventures outside of the studio kitchen, but without the drama of ticking stop watches, fallen soufflés and dashed hopes?

PBS, that's who! PBS -- the home of the first and most revered TV chef of all time, Julia Child -- not only likes In Season, but is "enthusiastically committed" to distributing the first season --13 half-hour episodes!  It's a dream come true.

There's one catch: PBS will distribute our show to its affiliates, but it's up to us to find the funding to produce it. 

We Need Your Help

With your help, we can bring In Season to life and perhaps redefine how PBS programming gets funded. We've put together a range of rewards to show our appreciation for your generous contributions.  Even if you can't participate at a reward level, every dollar is a vote for programming like ours and it means a great deal to us to have your support.  If you'd like to contribute but don't fancy any of our rewards, feel free to make suggestions and we'll do our best to make it happen. If you want to contribute even more than our top dollar ticket, we'll put together a custom, larger than life, be-all-end-all package, just for you! 

Where the Money Will Go

The money from this Kickstarter project will help us produce the first season of In Season. We've completed the pilot episode and now we need your help to complete the remaining twelve episodes. If we reach our goal of $125,000, we’ll be able to produce the next two episodes of In Season. The funding will cover production, travel, editing and post-production of the these episodes. Every dollar over our goal will go towards the next episode, and if enough people contribute we may just be able to fund the entire season, right here on Kickstarter!

Not only are we raising money to produce the series, we're also building a community behind the show;  your participation will make all the difference!

Many thanks from the In Season crew:

John MacPherson, Brendan Goeckel, John Spaulding, and Diane MacPherson

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Where does the Kickstarter money go?  After Kickstarter fees and reward fulfillment, all of the remaining funds will be used to produce the series.  PBS expects the same high production value we delivered in the pilot, but this time we actually need to pay for all the talented people, equipment, travel and final finishing we'll need to make it happen! If we don't meet our funding goal of $125,000 by March 24, 2012, no one is charged and no money changes hands.

Will In Season air if you only get funding to produce a few episodes? PBS wants 13 episodes, but will distribute In Season to its affiliates with as few as six episodes.

How will you get the rest of the funding needed? We would love to fund In Season entirely with Kickstarter, but we'll also be seeking corporate funding by companies that share our passion for local, seasonal foods and our vision for the show. 

How will I be able to see In Season on TV in my area?  Each of the more than 350 PBS affiliates across the country will have the option of airing In Season.  Once we have the six episodes we need to air, we'll email our Kickstarter backers and we'll post a link on our site (www.inseasontv.com) to help you find out where and when you can watch the show. 

There's an amazing food producer/farmer in my community.  Any chance you'll feature them?  We're actively seeking out artisanal food growers and producers from around the country.  If you are -- or know of -- an outstanding, unusual or small batch food purveyor in your region, we'd love to hear about it.  Please post your idea on our comments board.

Help us get the word out by liking In Season on Facebook

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