The Elephant in the Living Room

Terry Brumfield’s lion cubs, given to him by a friend to help him cope with depression, are cubs no longer.

John Adkins came to Wright State with a vague idea that he would like a career in film or video. He didn’t realize he would graduate with an enduring passion for documentary filmmaking. Or that he would go on to start a production company with one of his colleagues and produce the award-winning documentary The Elephant in the Living Room, which tells the story of exotic animal ownership in the United States.

John Adkins

When Adkins transferred to Wright State from the University of Cincinnati, he didn’t know that he would be arriving in the program at the same time that renowned filmmakers Julia Reichert and James Klein joined the faculty. “It was a little program when I was here,” says Adkins. “We used to be in a little corner of Millett Hall.”

Adkins’ journey to success began when he made a short documentary with fellow Wright State students Steven Bognar and Tim Ballou, titled If It Bleeds, It Leads. “My love for documentaries really started here [at Wright State],” explained Adkins. “The best thing I had to show for my time at Wright State was a documentary.”

After graduating with a B.F.A. in motion picture production in 1986, Adkins got a job with a corporate video company. When his position was scaled back due to budget cuts, Adkins and co-worker Mark Morgan started their own company, Mainsail Productions. Michael Webber joined the company soon thereafter.

Though Mainsail does many television spots and internet pieces, and has produced several theatrical films, Adkins still brings his documentary experience to bear on many of Mainsail’s projects. “A lot of the things we do at Mainsail are, in one way or another, documentary oriented,” he said. “That business of ‘how do you tell a story appropriate to the content,’ though it was taught in the film program, really applied to video.”

The Elephant in the Living Room was the idea of Michael Webber, who wanted to bring the controversial issue of exotic animal ownership into the public view. Webber got about 200 hours of footage, which then had to be cut down to feature length.

“For me,” said Adkins, “it was a lot of late nights, but it went down that alley of what I really enjoy, which is trying to tell a story with people’s words, instead of trying to make up words about them.”

The Elephant in the Living Room, which began the festival circuit in February 2010 and premiered in Dayton in March 2010, has been hailed by Academy Award–winning director Michael Moore as “one of the scariest, most entertaining and technically perfect films.

It has won two best documentary awards, one from Moore himself at the Traverse City Film Festival, which he founded. The film has also received an award for “best socially conscious film” from the Burbank International Film Festival and an ACE Award from SilverDocs, the Discovery Channel’s documentary festival.

Police officers like Tim Harrison must intervene when exotic pets turn dangerous.

The film follows Tim Harrison, a police officer, firefighter, and paramedic who has dedicated much of his career to policing the exotic animal trade in the United States, and Terry Brumfield, an animal lover who was given two African lion cubs to help him cope with depression. In the film, the lions are fully grown, but their size does not diminish Brumfield’s love for them.

Both sides of the issue of exotic animal ownership are presented with compassion for those involved: the people who own and love the animals, and the police officers who must intervene when the situation grows dangerous.

Reviewers have called the film “impressive and moving,” “a must see,” and “eye opening and heart stopping. The very best in documentary film making.”

When asked if he has any advice for film students at Wright State, Adkins admitted that what he has to say is not very glamorous, but it will help students perfect their technique in the long run.

“This doesn’t sound very profound, but do as much production as you can,” he said.

Adkins also encourages students to work with other filmmakers and to get involved with a variety of different types of filmmaking. Experience, he says, is key. “The theory side of things is really valuable, but really you just have to go out and do stuff.”