The Subjects

Tina

An old-growth tree collapsed in downtown Portland and crushed her — she was on her way to get a tattoo when it happened. She survived, and used the recovery to finally chase the dream she'd been putting off: tattoo school. Then life took her to Mexico, where she ended up in an abusive relationship. She escaped with nothing — just her and her child — and made her way to the Oregon Coast. Now she's a tattoo artist, deciding what marks stay on her body and helping others do the same. She's teaching her kid art. She hikes the forests that surround her for inspiration. She built a life worth staying in.

Ron is 85 years old. He served his country. He built a life. Then his wife passed away in 2024. A year later, his house burned down with his dogs still inside. He lost everything twice in twelve months. Most people would stop after that. Ron didn't. He's still here, still moving, still telling anyone who'll listen the same thing: you keep going. No matter what. You just keep going.

Karen

She lives with chronic illness, and the Oregon Coast is where she heals. She creates sand mandalas on the beach — intricate, meditative, massive. Some stretch over 100 feet wide. She knows the tide will take them. She makes them anyway. For her, the joy is in the making — and in the strangers who stumble onto something beautiful they weren't expecting.

The Oregon Coast

The Coast itself becomes a character.

This is where I'm from. My family has been here for generations, my roots run as deep as the old-growth forests that line these cliffs.

The Oregon Coast isn't a backdrop. It's a character. Fog rolling through sea stacks. Rivers cutting through ancient forest to meet the Pacific. Small towns where people still wave at strangers.

Hollywood doesn't come here. Documentary crews don't either. But the stories are just as rich…Maybe richer, because no one's ever shown up to tell them.

Part of what I'm proving with this pilot is simple: you don't need a big city to make world-class work. You just need to show up, pay attention, and treat the people and places in front of you like they matter.

Because they do.

The Vision on the Road

Field Notes from Earth isn't meant to stay in one place. Once the pilot proves the format, the series hits the road, town to town, coast to coast, bringing world-class documentary work to places that never get it. At every stop, we find the people whose stories have gone untold. We sit with them. We film. We make portraits. And then we do something most shows never do. We stay. We host gatherings called Unplugged, where strangers in these communities practice something that's becoming dangerously rare: listening to each other. Over time, the show funds itself. People see the episodes and book their own portrait sessions. The work sustains the work. That's the long game. But it starts with one pilot, three people, and the Oregon Coast.