© 2024 Interlochen
CLASSICAL IPR | 88.7 FM Interlochen | 94.7 FM Traverse City | 88.5 FM Mackinaw City IPR NEWS | 91.5 FM Traverse City | 90.1 FM Harbor Springs/Petoskey | 89.7 FM Manistee/Ludington
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Documentary film follows the makers of a cult public access TV show from the 90s

Screen shot from the TV show "30 Minutes of Madness."
Screen shot from the TV show "30 Minutes of Madness."
Screen shot from the TV show "30 Minutes of Madness."
Screen shot from the TV show "30 Minutes of Madness."

With VHS camera in hand, Michigan native Jerry White Jr. and friends recorded over 400 hours of experimental video art and comedy sketches in a Detroit-area public access TV show they called 30 Minutes of Madness.

“We all clicked together because we were the outsiders, nerds, skaters and punks, jumping around, freaking out – so '30 Minutes of Madness' sounded right,” says White.

Their story is being told in a new documentary film called 20 Years of Madness.

The film follows White as he returns to his hometown of Rochester, in Oakland County, to make a new episode for the show’s 20th anniversary.

In the film the friends are forced to take a hard look at their lives and reconcile their teenage dreams with the realities of adulthood.

“For me it was strangely ironic that they made this show called 30 Minutes of Madness and then a bunch of them ended up sort of having these crazy lives,” says Jeremy Royce, director of film.

Our conversation with filmmakers Jeremy Royce and Jerry White Jr.

The film will be screening at the Traverse City Film Festival on Thursday, July 30 at 9 p.m.

Copyright 2021 Michigan Radio. To see more, visit Michigan Radio.

Mercedes Mejia produces interviews for All Things Considered, including the music segment Songs from Studio East. She also produces content for Stateside. Mercedes relocated to Michigan from New Mexico, where she earned her BA in Latin American Studies and Journalism. She began in public radio as a reporter atKUNMin Albuquerque. She brings extensive video production skills from her work at Univision and Edit House Production.