In 2015, Jukeboxer Productions partnered with WFYI-TV (PBS) Indianapolis to produce A Writer's Roots: Kurt Vonnegut's Indianapolis. The one-hour documentary for television uncovered the little-reported early life of one of America's greatest 20th Century authors. Vonnegut's friend and fellow author, Dan Wakefield, described it as, "the most accurate and true to the spirit of the man and his work of anything I have seen - or in fact, anything I have read."
The program was distributed by APT (American Public Television) to PBS-TV affiliates across the nation. A Writer's Roots reached more than half of the nationwide television audience and was broadcast from California's Bay Area to the Chesapeake Bay. It aired in major markets including New York, Phoenix, Denver, Chicago and St. Louis, as well as on statewide public TV networks and markets large and small, from San Diego to Milwaukee to New Orleans to Pittsburgh, Buffalo and many smaller cities, too. And, of course, it aired throughout Vonnegut's home state of Indiana, including on presenting station WFYI-TV, Indianapolis.
In 2016, a longer version--almost 90 minutes--was introduced to live audiences at a Top 50 film festival. An official selection of the Heartland Film Festival, A Writer's Roots played to two packed audiences in separate screenings and was nominated for an Indiana Spotlight Award. This "director's cut" included a prologue and epilogue from Dr. Mark Vonnegut, Kurt's son, who read Kurt's speech at Butler University in 2007. That was the first "Year of Vonnegut" in Indianapolis and Kurt himself was supposed to read his speech but he died only weeks before it was scheduled. So his son valiantly carried on, which gave added poignancy to this longer version of the film. That fuller version also appeared on WFYI during its pledge drive. The original one-hour documentary was nominated for two regional Emmy Awards.