My latest TV project before I went abroad was Discovery Channel’s American Underworld. This was gritty documentary at its finest. The show follows investigative journalist Mark Allen Johnson as he delves into underground subcultures throughout the country — drugs, prostitution, carjacking rings and more.
We produced three episodes this spring, which include a Meth bust in Tennessee, a drug dealer making illegal steroids in his Los Angeles kitchen, pimps working the streets in Chicago, and an auto theft ring in Oakland. This was one of the most challenging shows I’ve worked on, since so much of it involved forging delicate relationships with criminals as well as law enforcement officers, and the show was shot very on-the-fly, by-the-seat-of-your-pants. We never knew what we were going to get when we sent Mark out with a camera…a lot of times we got nothing…but a lot of times, we got some of the most scary and revealing footage we’ve ever seen.
American Underworld has been airing the past few weeks on Discovery. You can watch clips from the show here, and also find listings for when it will air on the Discovery Channel.
