Ken Chowder

The 50-Cent Tour

Ken Chowder has scripted over 25 documentary films (and one feature film) broadcast on PBS, NBC, TBS, Discovery, A & E, and BBC, and has published three novels to glittering reviews.

His credits include seven films for PBS’ The American Experience, one American Masters,and seven National Geographic films.

His films have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary, won the Columbia/DuPont Prize, and named Best Documentary or Best History Film at many festivals, including the American Film Festival. He’s written (in part or whole) twenty-four proposals that succeeded in getting scripting or production funding, or both, from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and twice won individual fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Chowder’s articles have seen the light of print in Smithsonian, Audubon, Travel & Leisure, The New York Times Sophisticated Traveler, American Heritage, Modern Maturity, The New York Times, Geo, The [London] Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Geographical magazine, and even Reader’s Digest.

His three novels were all published by Harper & Row — one is in Penguins, another was given the Harper-Saxton Prize, and a third was an Editors’ Choice book at the New York Times and Washington Post. Extravagant reviews can be glimpsed on the Fiction page of this site.

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Recent Chowder News

• New Projects
  The 38th Parallel, a two-hour film about the Korean War, executive produced by Jeff Bieber, produced by John Maggio, for WETA (Washington, DC, PBS station).  The project received a production grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2016 — Chowder wrote the grant and the accompanying script. 2. An American Story: Norman Mineta and his… Continue reading New Projects
• Jamestown’s Dark Winter
  A 60 minute film, produced by Andreas Gutzeit of Story House Productions for the PBS series Secrets of the Dead — the brutal and tragic story of a young girl who arrived in Jamestown during the Starving Time.   The story now is in her bones, which tell of a gruesome fate called survival cannibalism. You can… Continue reading Jamestown’s Dark Winter
• Rising Voices/Hóthaninpi
  RISING VOICES/HÓTȞAŊIŊPI, a 60-minute film by Lawrence Hott and Diane Garey, was a production of Florentine Films/Hott Productions, Inc. in association with The Language Conservancy. Rising Voices/Hótȟaŋiŋpi. Five years in the making, this multi-platform project tells the story of a powerful threat to a Native culture. This threat is an insidious, impersonal villain – one… Continue reading Rising Voices/Hóthaninpi
• Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America
  Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America, a 60 minute film by Florentine Films/Hott Productions, was produced and directed by Lawrence Hott and Diane Garey.   Funders included the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, HSBC, the Tiffany & Co. Foundation, the C.E. & S. Foundation, the Peter C. Cornell Trust and Mass Humanities.… Continue reading Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America
• Latino-Americans series, largely written by Chowder, wins Peabody Award
  A six-part PBS series, The Latino-Americans, has been awarded a 2014 George Foster Peabody award.  Chowder developed the series, created the many proposals that got funding for it, and then wrote five shooting scripts.  His credit was “Consulting Producer.” The Peabody citation reads: “A revelation no doubt for many viewers, the documentary series’ six fascinating installments… Continue reading Latino-Americans series, largely written by Chowder, wins Peabody Award