Watch "A Filmmaker's Perspective" for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "The Phoenix Lights Documentary."

I first met Dr. Lynne Kitei in February 2004. I was introduced to her by author Paul Perry, who has written many books and wrote the forward in Dr. Lynne's best-selling book; "The Phoenix Lights - A Skeptic's Discovery That We Are Not Alone." Paul and I were discussing the idea of shooting a documentary series based on his latest book when out of the blue he called and asked if I had any interest in shooting a UFO documentary. Paul didn't know that I have had a keen interest in the UFO topic since I was eleven. Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity. He told me a little about Dr. Lynne who was formerly known in the media as "Dr. X" and said he would arrange a meeting with her if I was interested. As it turned out, I was planning to take my daughter Casey to the Arabian Horse Show in Scottsdale, Arizona so we arranged a meeting after the show.

I met Paul and Lynne for lunch and she presented me with a notebook filled with numerous photos of anomalous lights she witnessed and photographed from her mountainside home in Paradise Valley, Arizona. She was a little apprehensive to reveal her collection as she had been very guarded about coming forward publicly. After all, she was the Chief Clinical Consultant at the Arizona Heart Institutes' Imaging-Prevention-Wellness Center in Phoenix and she was concerned about jeopardizing her prestigious career by publically associating herself with such a controversial topic. As I looked through her photos I became more and more convinced that we had the makings of a good documentary, although at the time I wasn't considering anything other than a 20 minute film, perhaps a segment that could be sold to one of many UFO shows.

As soon as I returned to my home in Grass Valley, California I sent her an email thanking her for sharing her photos and experiences. I told her that if she wanted to proceed with a documentary, there was much work to be done on her part. She would have to find witnesses and experts to interview and become the guiding light for assembling the right information based on her experiences and everything she learned during her seven years of meticulous research on the famous March 13th event.

After a series of emails over the next month or so, Lynne surprised me by quickly assembling dozens of witnesses and experts and we decided to move forward with the project. I was impressed with her book and was confident we could produce something special.

On May 11th 2004, I began my 15+ hour drive from my home in Grass Valley, California to Phoenix where my mother and step father live. My Ford Expedition was packed to the ceiling with equipment. My mother flew out and accompanied me on the long journey so that we could trade off driving. My legs start to cramp up after driving a few hours and I tend to get drowsy on long road trips, so having her ride along was a big relief. I am very close with my mother and it was nice to spend some quality time with her on Mother's Day.

We arrived in Phoenix about 10:30pm and since we were exhausted from the long drive, went straight to bed. Early the next morning we met Dr. Lynne at her home and headed off to the ASU campus. We set up our first interview in a conference room at the Mathematics department. Dr. Paul Cook was interviewed first, followed by Dr. Alvin Swimmer and Robert Golka, an expert on Ball Lightning.

We continued shooting every day for a solid week, including a trip to Tucson to interview Dr. Richard Powell, Dr. Gary Schwartz and Lynne's son Dan, who also witnessed the mysterious orbs of light. On Wednesday May 19th, we finished up the last round of interviews and shot Lynne's reenactments at her Paradise Valley home. The following day, I had scheduled a meeting with Jim Dilettoso, a key investigator in the Phoenix Lights saga, at my mother's house where I was staying. He had to cancel, so I spent the day relaxing by the pool. I was exhausted after eight long days of shooting and needed a break before making the long drive back to Grass Valley the next day.

A few days after I returned to Grass Valley, I began transferring the raw footage to VHS and sent the copies to Lynne. There were some additional key interviews and b-roll coverage that we needed so I flew back to Phoenix for a two-day shoot, June 15th-16th 2004.

On August 4th, I drove with my family to Santa Barbara, California to shoot an interview with Jim Dilettoso and Dr. Rand Molnar, an expert in image analysis. Rand was an instructor of mine when I attended Brooks Institute back in 1983. We shot the interview at the Montecito campus on August 5th.

After a brief family vacation in Newport Beach I returned home and started working on a 10 minute short that Lynne wanted to show at the Bay Area UFO Expo on August 28th. Lynne was a keynote speaker and I barely finished the short film in time for the event where the Phoenix Lights Documentary made its first debut. It was the humble beginning for what was to become a feature-length documentary that overall, took nearly four years to complete.

I returned to Phoenix once again from October 15th to the 17th to shoot additional interviews, reenactments and Phoenix backgrounds. Other interviews were shot at my home a year later and Keith Ritchie, a news cameraman in Phoenix, shot additional b-roll and interviews as well, including Dr. Edgar Mitchell, who was added in December 2007 along with a 911 operator and a professional pilot. Lynne videotaped other orbs and formations in 2005 that were also added to the film.

Overall, we shot over 25 hours of footage, all of which had to be captured digitally into the computer and organized. It is one of the most tedious tasks in an editing job and very time-consuming. Our goal was to complete the film in time to submit it into the 2005 Phoenix Film Festival. The final deadline was December 31st and it was a monumental task to try to finish the film in time.

Dr. Lynne spent countless hours watching footage and logging in and out points. She then emailed me the notes with time code references and I pieced everything together. We worked tirelessly for months, but the film was still very raw looking by the entry deadline.

Our next goal was to complete the film in time for the March 13th anniversary of the Phoenix Lights event. Harkins Theatres scheduled three special showings on Sunday March 13th 2005. With the dates set and Dr. Lynne working hard to promote the world premiere, I was under tremendous pressure to finish the film.

All too soon, the big day arrived. Terry Mansfield, a key witness we interviewed for the documentary, hosted a cast party at her home in Paradise Valley. It was a beautiful morning and everyone who attended had a relaxing time with very stimulating conversation.

After lunch, we headed off to Harkins Shea 14 Theater in Scottsdale. The first showing was scheduled at 1pm, followed by another at 4pm, then the final show at 7pm. Lynne did a great job of promoting the film with the local press and media as all three shows were completely sold out! Lynne and I hosted Q & A's after each show, along with cast members who were invited to stand up front and answer questions.

The documentry was still a "diamond in the rough" as far as Lynne and I were concerned, so we spent the better part of three years perfecting the film, adding additional interviews, special effects, archival footage, new sightings, Symington's public confession and much more.

After the world premiere, we entered the documentry into film festivals across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. To date the film has been an official selection in over a dozen festivals worldwide and received three nominations for Best Documentary Feature. The Phoenix Lights won two international awards, including Best Documentary Feature and Best Director and has been screened at numerous events, including the "X-Conference" in Washington D.C., the International MUFON Symposium and the Bay Area UFO Expo. In addition, the film has been screened at Warner Brothers Studios, the famous Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood and the Crest Theater in Westwood.

Currently, the film is being distributed by Vanguard Cinema and has been available at numerous outlets, including Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Netflix, iTunes and pay-per-view.

SHOOTING DATES SUMMARY:

May 12th-19th 2004 (8 days) - Interviews, reenactments, Sky Harbor/Phoenix B-roll

June 15th-16th 2004 (2 days) - Interviews, B-roll, Phoenix backgrounds

August 5th 2004 (1 day) - Rand Molnar and Jim Dilettoso at Brooks Institute

October 15th-17th 2004 (3 days) - Interviews, reenactments, backgrounds