ABOUT THE PROJECT

LOGLINE
During the Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown, Artist Heather Spooner created The Letter League, an adult pen pal program, which resulted in heartfelt, humorous and poignant stories of connection and humanity.

SYNOPSIS
The Letter League, founded during the Covid-19 Pandemic lockdown, is a story about connection. Founder Heather Spooner had a large social media following. When the lockdown hit, Heather was concerned about her followers and how she could help them feel connected in a time of such isolation. She wanted to help foster a sense of community when people couldn’t physically be together.

She created a master plan that involved a carefully constructed questionnaire and the hope that her newly-locked-down followers would find solace in being matched with a pen pal and the opportunity to connect with someone unknown to them and their world.

Hundreds of people from across the U.S. and several other countries participated and formed meaningful connections during an extremely challenging time for all of us. This documentary will tell the origin story of how the adult pen pal program was created and the profound results that followed. The story will be framed with a timeline of events occurring with the Covid-19 Pandemic as well as the U.S. Postal Service, which was experiencing controversial slow-down issues simultaneously to the country going on “lockdown.” A desire to “help save the Post Office” was also a motivating factor in wanting to have people send mail to one another.

While Heather will be filmed in person, interviews with the Letter League pen pals will be audio only, giving the viewer the same sense of anonymity that the participants experienced by only meeting their new friends through letters. Compelling imagery including archival footage and ephemeral materials mixed with collage and animation will enhance the storytelling.

The film will explore the ways we connect and how a community brought together by a common interest helped each other face and overcome challenges, even as strangers.

PROJECT TYPE Documentary Short

DIRECTOR Michelle Boyaner
SCREENWRITER Michelle Boyaner
PRODUCER Michelle Boyaner, Barbara Green, Wendy Zipes Hunter, Katie Ford, Heather Spooner

WEBSITE letterleaguedoc.com