Patient questions for the documentary:

1. How has your wound changed your life?
2. Has your wound caused you any pain or anxiety?
3. What do you and your family worry about concerning your wound?
4. (Selective patients) Have you been told you needed to have your leg amputated?
5. (Selective patients) Have you gotten everything you need to manage your wound?

Accordingly, I’ll try to make it easier for all of us to collaborate on the rest of the film project which is guaranteed to be information-intensive. Here are the issues du jour to discuss by phone or on new forum (mentioned herein):

1. I bcced you on the email and post from Dr. Jones, who found me through the biofilm site. He posted and referenced your article and interactions with him. We spoke last week at length, and I hope to see him in Lubbock or in Boston. He is “working” a sponsorship for the film through his son, who works at the Utah company that licensed and produces Clear, his xylitol-based product.

2. I continue to research biofilm eradication across a broad range of disciplines, particularly in the naturopathic/nutritional area. I’d like to find a naturopathic doctor that could speak intelligently about gut biofilms, and found one in Chicago (Dr. Anju Usman) that is treating autistic kids with an antibiofilm program and achieving great results; but she is being “persecuted” by the Chicago tribune for her methods. Any way, is it important to talk about the powerful benefits of natural approaches to controlling biofilm? Look at this interesting article from this prolific author! Many spices and herbs like hyssop seem to be helpful. BTW, I’ve discovered myrrh and now use toothpastes with it from Trader Joes.

3. I’ve found a local college to create a computer-generated animation of the biofilm growth stages. This will be a high-quality, instructive and detailed animation clip that will bring this complex biological process to life. I’ve tenaciously searched for such clips and found nothing; except the graphic which now adorns my web site banner. I need to collaborate with a number of people to create two clips: one to illustrate the biofilm growth in stages, the other to show planktonic showers and how infection spreads throughout the human host. Accordingly:

a. Given the importance and educational impact, should we “brand” these future clips with a naming convention that credits the discoverers? Was it primarily Bill’s work? If it was, perhaps we could call something that connotates “Costerton’s biofilm lifecycle?”

b. Are the five stages depicted in this Wiki reference accurate? Are they recognized as sequential stages, as standards? I need to carefully study them and correlate it to your writings, Bill’s, et al. We need to adopt the correct stages, and subsequent layers of details to create the animation and audio narration. I’ll defer to your consultative advice as to how to create the visual and audio language for this critical piece of the film.

4. I’d like to start developing the marketing strategy for this film – even without funding. I was thinking about doing a press release in advance of the film; it’s a bit unusual but may help us in a number of ways. Related to this press release:

a. Are there organizations that would like advance notice of the release?
b. Are there any conferences in 2010-2011-2012 that we could be speaking at? Showing the trailer? Licensing content to for education or their marketing?

5. As we discussed, we need a great deal of B Roll video. But we also need many still shots to show how many things become infected with biofilms, e.g.:

a. Wounds, blood, joints, nervous system tissue (nerves, brain), GI tract
b. Stuff: household (drains, toilets, water bottles), catheters, syringes, intubation eqpt.,
c. Stuff: food mfg., water pipes, gyms, etc.
d. Pets: mouths?
e. Other?

A patient from California sent me this today — here’s an excerpt. Randy, can I use your letter for this purpose?
______________________________

Dear Richard,

I have a few MDs that I communicate with on a fairly regular basis. Do you think that they would possibly be a source of some funding for your film? That is, are they the right public to approach?

If you have something written up as a fund-raising statement directed at health care professionals who would encounter problems with bio-films and would want a film that could educate them/patients/whatever public the film is to address, you could send it to me, and I’d forward it to them.

Love,

Cassandra

OK–so my comments from a funding and marketing point of view are the following:

1) You need to very carefully determine/decide WHO THE PUBLIC(S) IS/ARE for this film. That is, who are you trying to reach??

2) It is very, very important that you don’t have words or terms or symbols in the movie that could be misunderstood or not understood. This means that you’ll need to DEFINE CLEARLY every word or term that is going to be used. People go blank (and also have other, more negative reactions) when they go by a word or symbol they don’t understand. Pictures and diagrams and animated bits help a LOT with this–could be interspersed with head shots during interviews, etc. This would also make the film more interesting to watch, visually.

3) The title needs to CLEARLY STATE THE MESSAGE OF THE FILM, or reach the target audience with a mystery that will get them to want to see it.. “Seventeen Million” is confusing, not illuminating or mysterious. “Are you one of the 17 million?” for example, would create a mystery for everyone. “What’s keeping that (or “your”) treatment from working?” would probably be a “hook” for practitioners and patients alike, and would also give an idea about the purpose of the film and why they should watch it.

Anyway, play around with these ideas, and let me know what comes up, eh?

Love,

Cassandra

October 16-19th – Lubbock, TX Interviews:

1. Dr. Randy Wolcott
2. Dr. Scott Dowd
3. Patients: people with wounds, employees with chronic sinus infections
4. Dr. Lon Jones ?

October 20th- 21st – Orem Utah depending on interview with Clear executives or doctors

October 22-24 – San Diego, attending seminar on the Gerson therapy for treatment of degenerative diseases and cancer

PENDING INTERVIEWS

John P. Kennedy, R. Ph., PhD
Vice-President, Development
Southeastern Medical
709 Mall Boulevard,
Savannah, Georgia 31406

Rodney M. Donlan, Ph.D.
Biofilm Laboratory
Clinical and Environmental Microbiology Branch
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Road, N.E.
Mail Stop C-16
Atlanta, GA 30333

Sandra Berrios-Torres
c/o:
L. Clifford McDonald, MD, FACP
Chief, Prevention and Response Branch
Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Randall Wolcott, M.D.
Southwest Regional Wound Care
Lubbock, TX

Carl J. Flatley, DDS, MSD SA Founder/Chairman
Sepsis Alliance
Florida

Bill Costerton, PhD
ASRI
Pittsburgh, PA

Dr. Lon Jones
Texas
(To be interviewed here in Woburn.)

Craig M. Coopersmith, MD
Surgical Infection Society Member
Professor of Surgery, Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine
Associate Director, Emory Center for Critical Care, Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory University
Chair, Emory University Hospital Critical Care Executive Committee
1365 Clifton Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30322

TBD:

Kin Wong, DDS (or)
Richard Nagelberg, DDS

Infection Disease Society of America