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Recent Press:

Carb-Loaded: A Culture Dying to Eat LLC Presents:

Carb-Loaded: A Culture Dying to Eat

Lathe Poland
22A Hickok Ave. Bethel, CT
06801 203-545-7348
lpoland@thescenelab.com
www.carbloaded.com

Social Media:

facebook.com/carb.loaded
twitter.com/Carb_Loaded
plus.google/ Carb loaded
youtube.com/user/CarbLoaded

About the Filmmakers

Lathe Poland resides in Bethel, CT with his wife Elyssia. In 1998 Lathe began working as a graphic designer. While he had a talent in design and illustration, he had a passion for film and video production. By 2001 he was producing videos for local businesses, before teaming up with Eric Carlsen in 2004 to form a video production company with a focus on luxury marketing. In November of 2010 Lathe was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. This turn of events led to the inception of the Carb Loaded documentary.

Eric Carlsen and his wife Gisela live in New York’s Hudson Valley. He spent the better part of the 1990’s working in a variety of network support roles. After producing a few hobby video projects together, Lathe convinced Eric that the two would make a good production team. After 10 years of IT consulting including projects for Merrill Lynch, Computer Associates and IBM, Eric hung up the pocket protector for a chance to work in video production. In 2004 Lathe and Eric teamed up to form what is now The Scene Lab, a media production company. Over the last eight years they have traveled extensively producing web commercials, filming live events, and creating video marketing for luxury brands. The Scene Lab is proud to count ABC Studios, The Discovery Channel, Dreamworks Pictures, and The History Channel among the many clients who have benefited from their work. They are also proud of the local, national, and non-profit organizations that regularly use their services. Carb Loaded will be the first documentary produced by The Scene Lab, and this film tackles the diabetic epidemic head on.

Article #1

Connecticut filmmaker producing diabetes documentary

For Immediate Release: Bethel, Connecticut – It’s a classic image. An athlete bingeing on massive amounts of carbs before a race. It is believed that by consuming carbohydrates beforehand, an athlete is more likely to complete endurance events. Many people dress and talk like their sports heroes. They also EAT like them. While dressing and talking like your favorite athlete might not hurt you, many experts say carb-loading without the intent of strenuous physical activity can be destructive. This is just one aspect of our food culture to be addressed by Lathe Poland in his upcoming documentary, Carb-Loaded: A Culture Dying To Eat. Lathe, a slim build man in his mid 30’s, was diagnosed with Type2 diabetes in late 2010. “I wasn’t overweight. In fact I weigh the same now as I did back then. To be honest, I was completely blown away when my doctor gave me the diagnosis. Why would a seemingly healthy 30 something man like myself get a disease like this? My misconception like most people was that there were two scenarios where you get diabetes…Either it’s hereditary and it’s not your fault, or you eat junk food like it’s going out of style and end up diabetic.”

Lathe’s general practitioner wanted to start him on three different prescription medications, IMMEDIATELY. He recalls, “I guess what alarmed me was the ‘matter of fact’ rubber stamp approach. Is this the way it was for everyone? Feeling very discouraged, I resigned myself to the fact that I would be taking medication the rest of my life.” Not long after that, Lathe heard an NPR news segment about cases of diabetes and pre-diabetes skyrocketing. “I remember that was the tipping point for me,” he continues “for my own sanity, I needed to piece this puzzle together.” That journey began when Lathe spoke with his business partner, Eric Carlsen. Since 2004 the long time friends have run their own video production company. Lathe was interested in making a documentary, uncovering the reasons behind the shocking rise in diabetes over the last two decades. Eric though was a bit skeptical at first. “We have been producing video together for over eight years, so I have a lot of confidence in Lathe’s individual talent and our ability as a team. But the scope of what he was talking about was a bit overwhelming to say the least.” Buoyed by his friend’s enthusiasm, Eric finally agreed they could do it. The next obstacle that needed to be addressed was how to finance the film. “I had heard about filmmakers using crowd funding sites as an alternative to seeking financing from studios or private investors,” Lathe relates, “and I wondered if we could do the same.” Lathe and Eric decided they would use KickStarter.com to host their crowd funding project. However, as they continued their research they realized yet another challenge had to be met. Eric continues, “Crowd funding sites are a phenomenal tool, but they’re only effective if you attract a crowd. We knew we would have to build awareness and create an audience prior to launching our KickStarter campaign.”

As it turns out that audience would come from a multi-pronged approach. The two friends designed a website and set out to get experts to contribute content to the site. They also decided to make use of social media, including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. As content on the site grew, so did their fan base on Twitter and Facebook. At least once a month Eric and Lathe create an update video and post it to YouTube and their website, informing interested people how the pre-production work is progressing. The pair decided they would include their outtakes for each update at the end of the segment. Lathe explains, “We wanted people to be able to relate to us right away. By letting them have a behind the scenes peek at what we were doing, it seems to attract a lot of interest in the project. We get great feedback when we post our video updates.” The duo plans to launch their KickStarter campaign in March of 2013, with the goal of beginning full scale production by late this spring. If all goes well they hope to complete filming toward the end of 2013. “It’s a way to take a negative (having diabetes), and turn it into a positive,” Lathe observes. “The idea is not to just scare people, but to help them realize that they have a measure of control over their health and the health of their kids. It requires education, and we get to play a small role in that process…what’s not to like about that?”

Article #2

Documentary film examines the diabetes epidemic

For Immediate Release: Carb-Loaded: A Culture Dying to Eat, is a documentary film being produced by The Scene Lab, LLC a production company in Bethel, CT. The film will explore the exploding diabetes epidemic. Not by coincidence one of the films creators, Lathe Poland was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2010. Lathe always thought of himself as a healthy eater. He rarely ate sweets, never drank soda, and had no family history of diabetes. Why would a seemingly healthy thirty-something man like Lathe get a disease like this? The misconception that he had, like many people was that diabetes is either hereditary and it’s not your fault, or you eat junk food like it’s going out of style and you end up diabetic. “My general practitioner wanted to start me on three different prescription medications, IMMEDIATELY. I guess what alarmed me was the ‘matter of fact’ rubber stamp approach,” recalls Lathe.

He wondered if this was the way it was for everyone? Feeling discouraged, he resigned himself to the fact that he would be taking medication for the rest of his life. Then came a moment of clarity. “I remember the day I heard a news story on NPR about cases of diabetes and pre-diabetes skyrocketing. For me it was the tipping point…for my own sanity, I needed to piece this puzzle together.” The news story was about the Journal Pediatrics study of pre-diabetes and diabetes cases in children ages 12-19. In the year 2000, 9% of that group had pre-diabetes or diabetes. Eight years later that number had grown to 23%. “I realized that there was more to the story then my mater-of-fact diabetes diagnosis,” says Lathe. “One in four people are pre-diabetic or diabetic, and research indicates that number is rising fast.” Was our lifestyle, culture, or food ecosystem, enabling this shift? Or was it the catalyst? And, more importantly, could this wave of momentum be reversed? These are the questions that will be answered in the film Carb-Loaded: A Culture Dying to Eat. Leading nutrition scientists, doctors and researchers will weigh in on this unparalleled epidemic. Additionally, the film will explore our connection to a food culture that may be responsible for the most expensive healthcare crisis in modern memory. “This is a bigger project than anything we’ve ever tackled,” states Eric Carlsen, the other half of The Scene Lab. “We produce commercials and marketing pieces, and Lathe was proposing we create a full length documentary.” Eric continues, “a project like this takes a lot of money…how in the world were we going to pay for this???” Lathe and Eric will be producing the film by means of a relatively new financing approach called crowd-funding.

Crowd-funding allows independent filmmakers to raise capital while growing their market at the same time. It makes it possible to “pre-sell” a creator’s work before it is made. There are a number of popular crowd-funding companies on the internet, but Lathe and Eric will be using Kickstarter. So in the instance of a film, people can pre-purchase the movie on DVD. Once the goal amount is raised, the film can start production. Eric explains, “The great thing about crowd-funding is that once you’ve finished making your movie, there is already an audience waiting for delivery of your film.” One aspect that the audience will no doubt appreciate is that if the project doesn’t get enough support no one pays anything. This avoids the problem of a few people supporting a project that never gets produced, and being out the funds they contributed. “It’s a win win for everyone involved,” continues Eric. “The filmmaker gets the financing they need and the audience gets content they’re interested in.” If you would like to receive more information about the film, sign up for updates at the Carb-Loaded website: www.carbloaded.com

Q and A

So what exactly is this documentary all about?

We try to find out the reasons behind the enormous spike in various forms of diabetes, over the last three decades, and what can be done about it.

Oh…I get it another movie about how we eat too much and we’re all going to die.

Well, as a culture we do certainly eat too much. But more importantly it’s what we’ve been eating that may be the biggest problem. Refined and processed foods, especially processed carbohydrates have become a staple of our culture, and we are reaping the consequences.

What makes Lathe and Eric experts on the topic?

Nothing. They are not claiming to be experts in any way shape or form. They are filmmakers talking to a variety of experts in several fields who will present some very interesting data.

Okay…not that I want to, but hypothetically how could someone help?

First of all spread the word. The more people who know, the better. We encourage people to sign up on http://carbloaded.com for updates or follow us on Twitter (@Carb_Loaded) or Facebook (Carb.Loaded).

I have other questions or thoughts that you didn’t cover…

No problem. Contact us at carbloaded@thescenelab.com.