John Paget

It all started in a giant convertible Cadillac, rolling across America on Route 66 with a TV camera strapped to the hood.

That was 1994, when I made my first documentary about the Mother Road. What began as a cross-country adventure became a lifelong fascination with the people and places that make America extraordinary. Along Route 66, I found small towns and family businesses fighting to survive after the interstates siphoned away the traffic that was their lifeblood — and remarkable people who refused to let their communities disappear. The documentaries I made became part of a grassroots revival that changed the fortunes of towns all along the highway.

Thirty-two years later, I returned to Route 66 to discover what had changed, what had survived, and who would carry the story forward. The result is my new documentary, Route 66: The Main Street of America — and a nationwide Roadshow of more than 40 theatrical screenings and live audience conversations celebrating the highway's Centennial.

My journey also took a long detour off Route 66, to Buffalo, New York — the ultimate underdog town. I lived there 17 years and made films about a Rust Belt city fighting its way back, and watched a place rediscover its own story. It's where I learned the thing that drives all my work: communities thrive when they know who they are — and a story, told well, can help them remember.

Through it all, I've been drawn to the same subject: the character of America's communities, especially unsung cities and underdog towns. Because I've come to believe that a story really can change a city.

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