Waiting for 'Superman' (2010) Waiting for Superman (original title)

Director:

Davis Guggenheim

Writers (WGA):

Davis Guggenheim (written by) &
Billy Kimball (written by)

Release Date:

26 November 2010 (Ireland)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

The fate of our country won't be decided on a battlefield, it will be determined in a classroom.

Plot:

Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim reminds us that education "statistics" have names: Anthony, Francisco, Bianca...

Plot Keywords:

Education | Redwood City California | California | Los Angeles California | Girl

Awards:

13 wins & 13 nominations

Cast

Charles Adam	...	Himself
Charles Adams	...	Himself
Jonathan Alter	...	Himself
Robert Balfanz	...	Himself
Harriet Ball	...	Herself
Steve Barr	...	Himself
Ms. Celeste Bell	...	Herself
The Black & McGee Family	...	Themselves
Geoffrey Canada	...	Himself
James Carter III	...	Himself
Todd Dickson	...	Himself
The Esparza Family	...	Themselves
Mike Feinberg	...	Himself
Adrian Fenty	...	Himself
Howard Fuller	...	Himself
The Garcia Regalado Family	...	Themselves
Lester Garcia	...	Himself
The Guy Family	...	Themselves
Eric Hanushek	...	Himself
The Hill Family	...	Themselves
Lance Izumi	...	Himself
The Jones Family	...	Themselves
Jason Kamras	...	Himself
The Leanse Family	...	Themselves
Dave Levin	...	Himself
The Lewis Family	...	Themselves
The Martinez & Gonzalez Family	...	Themselves
Jay Matthews	...	Himself
The Ordon Family	...	Themselves
Michelle Rhee	...	Herself
Bill Strickland	...	Himself
Dennis Van Roekel	...	Himself
Randi Weingarten	...	Herself
The Whitfield & Hill Family	...	Themselves
The Zell Family	...	Themselves

Directed by
Davis Guggenheim

Writing credits (WGA)
Davis Guggenheim		(written by) &
Billy Kimball		(written by)

Produced by
Michael Birtel	....	producer
Lesley Chilcott	....	producer
Eliza Hindmarch	....	co-producer
Michelle Katz	....	field producer
Jeff Skoll	....	executive producer
Shari Tavey	....	line producer
Diane Weyermann	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Christophe Beck

Cinematography by
Robert Richman
Erich Roland

Film Editing by
Jay Cassidy
Greg Finton
Kim Roberts

Production Management
Don Coppola	....	production supervisor
Trevor Herrick	....	production supervisor
Susan E. Novick	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lesley Chilcott	....	second unit director

Sound Department
Phil Barrie	....	sound effects editor
Gerald Beg	....	sound mixer
John Bentley	....	sound mixer
Brian Buckley	....	sound mixer
James Castro	....	sound mixer
Stan Chan	....	sound mixer
Joel Dougherty	....	sound effects editor
Nathan Dubin	....	voice over sound mixer
Julius Evans	....	sound mixer
Chuck Fitzpatrick	....	sound mixer
Richard Fleming	....	sound mixer
Dan Gleich	....	sound mixer
David Hocs	....	sound mixer
Skip Lievsay	....	sound re-recording mixer
Skip Lievsay	....	supervising sound editor
Peter Miller	....	sound mixer
Lincoln Morrison	....	sound mixer
Eddie O'Connor	....	sound mixer (as Eddie O'Conner)
Brian C. Peterson	....	sound mixer
Glen Piegari	....	sound mixer
Mike Primmer	....	sound mixer
Theresa Radka	....	sound mixer
Brenda Ray	....	sound mixer
Chris Ripper	....	sound mixer
Paul Rusnak	....	sound mixer
Hilary Stewart	....	sound mixer
Seth Talley	....	sound mixer
Charles Tomaras	....	sound mixer
Paul Trautman	....	sound mixer
Byron Wilson	....	dialogue editor

Visual Effects by
Sarah Coatts	....	visual effects producer: yU+co

Camera and Electrical Department
Eli Born	....	camera operator
Jac Cheairs	....	camera operator
Lesley Chilcott	....	camera operator
Steve Condiotti	....	camera operator
Jay Feather	....	camera operator
Doug Gritzmacher	....	camera operator
Davis Guggenheim	....	camera operator
Owen Hooker	....	gaffer
Ronan Killeen	....	camera operator
David Layton	....	camera operator
Ernesto Lomeli	....	camera operator
Vic Losick	....	camera operator
Nick Paige	....	director of photography: second unit
John Paulson	....	camera operator
John M. Roche	....	gaffer
Guido Ronge	....	camera operator
Jonathan Schell	....	camera operator
Logan Schneider	....	camera operator
Joia Speciale	....	camera operator
George Tur	....	camera operator
Mark Walpole	....	camera operator
Brett Wiley	....	camera operator

Animation Department
Jordan Bruner	....	animator
Sean Donnelly	....	animation director

Editorial Department
Mike Azevedo	....	first assistant editor
J. Cody Baker	....	digital intermediate assistant
Gilbert Carreras	....	color timer
Salvatore Catanzaro	....	on-line editor
Sam Citron	....	additional editing
Dan Goslee	....	digital intermediate assistant
Annie Johnson	....	digital intermediate producer
Stephen Nakamura	....	digital film colorist
Alexander B. Rubinow	....	second assistant editor
Jason Sikora	....	editor: main title

Music Department
John Houlihan	....	music supervisor
Matthew Janszen	....	score coordinator
Paul Katz	....	music consultant
John Legend	....	Writer and Performer of "Shine"
Jake Monaco	....	music scoring mixer
Orr Rebhun	....	music editor (as Orr Ravhon)
Erica Weis	....	music editor

Other crew
Steve Berman	....	completion bond
Sebastien Betsch	....	digital cinema supervisor
Susan Bliss	....	post script services
Rochelle T.A. Brown	....	intern (as Rochelle Brown)
Lisa Callif	....	legal counsel
Shannon Costello	....	rights and clearances
Michael Donaldson	....	legal counsel
Kimberly Edwards	....	production accountant
Ryan Gallagher	....	researcher
Carrie Gay	....	production assistant
Cody Heller	....	assistant to director
Samantha Kerzner	....	assistant to davis guggenheim
Samantha Kerzner	....	assistant to director
Chris Ruscillo	....	production assistant
Heather Tinnerstet	....	production coordinator
David Vogel	....	set production assistant: Washington D.C.
Garson Yu	....	main titles

Thanks
Chris Kirk	....	special thanks
Adam Ohl	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Electric Kinney Films
• Participant Media
• Walden Media

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures Entertainment (2010) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Paramount Pictures (2010) (UK) (theatrical)
• Paramount Vantage (2010) (USA) (theatrical)
• Argentina Video Home (2011) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Paramount Vantage (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (2011) (Argentina) (all media)

Special Effects

• Method Studios

Other Companies

• Awesome and Modest  animation
• Company 3  digital intermediate
• Digital Media Services (DMS)  digital marketing asset management
• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Eye2Ear Music  music consultant
• Klass Security and Investigations  screening services
• Lakeshore Records  soundtrack
• Mindbomb Films  titles
• Momentous Insurance Brokerage  insurance
• Participant Media  funding
• Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging  post production services
• yU+Co.  title design and animation

Also Known As:

"Waiting for Superman" - USA (original title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some thematic material, mild language and incidental smoking

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #46095) | Canada:G (British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario/Quebec) | UK:PG | Ireland:PG | Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | Canada:PG (Alberta) | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

118th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Electric Kinney Films

Quotes:

Geoffrey Canada:I was like what do you mean he's not real. And she thought I was crying because it's like Santa Claus is not real and I was crying because there was no one coming with enough power to save us.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Simpsons: The Ned-Liest Catch (#22.22)" (2011)

Soundtrack:

American Idiot

One-sided, emotionally manipulative piece of propaganda

Wow. This ranks as one of the most heavy-handed, one-sided, emotionally manipulative pieces of propaganda masquerading as a "documentary" that I've ever seen.

For all the things that are wrong with the American education system that desperately need to be addressed, this movie's sole intent is to bash overworked, underpaid teachers by calling them out as "bad" and to vilify unions as self-interested organizations of malicious intent.

Are there "bad" apathetic teachers? No doubt. Every profession has a few bad apples. Is it so pervasive that it is the principal cause of the downfall of education in America? Puh-lease. This documentary would have you believe that there are FAR MORE "bad" teachers than good, and that it's their amoral unions doing everything in their wicked power to protect them by ROBBING YOU OF YOUR TAX DOLLARS to do it. It's sick propaganda and must be called out as such.

If Americans long for education reform and to "do right for their kids" have a good, honest unflinching look at how governments in other developed nations tackle public education to great success. Failure of the education system in America has more to do with a culture of corporate greed, political corruption, racism, and poverty. All the things this "documentary" so blithely ignores in order to specifically target teachers and unions as the root of the evil.

After failing to accurately and fairly identify the problem, this "documentary" does very little to offer a reasonable, workable solution. It is misinformed, manipulative and misleading. If you really care about how your children are being educated, you'll look further than this movie for answers.