How the Project Started

October 14, 2008

This project started when I met Todd Sarner at a dinner party in San Francisco back in early 2002. I was drinking a vodka-cranberry at the time and the conversation began when Todd told me that was the
favorite drink of his friend, Mark. We just started chatting and he asked me what I did for a living. When I told him that I made documentaries for PBS, he was very interested in talking to me. He told me about his friend and how he was one of the heroes of Flight 93. He talked about how Mark was already a hero to friends and family long before 9/11. That is why his heroism on that day was not a surprise to those that knew him. Before any of the news came out about the events on Flight 93, Mark’s friends and family knew that Mark had something to do with that plane not reaching its target. Todd shared with me how difficult it was not only to be dealing with the tragedy like the rest of the country but to be grieving for the loss of his friend. And the fact that his friend was directly involved in the events of that day and was in the papers and all over the news was very surreal indeed. What really bothered Todd was that a number of the stories being written about Mark in the days following 9/11 were not exactly accurate. Minor details that had been changed or omitted for the convenience of the journalist. Todd expressed that he really wanted the truth to come out about his friend. And the more he talked about Mark, the more I was determined that Mark’s story had to be told.

After that night we stayed in touch and began speaking about how best to tell Mark’s story. Given the fact that Mark and Todd had been lifelong amateur filmmakers and that Mark always had the camcorder rolling it seemed natural that the best way to tell the story was with a documentary. The more I learned about Mark, the more I realized that Mark had pretty much documented his life on video from his early teens to about a month before he died. Todd and I both felt this material would prove invaluable in creating a documentary.

It’s been a long road since then. We’ve covered numerous events over the years like the marathon where Mark’s friends and families ran in his honor, the first Mark Bingham Day in San Francisco and The Mark Bingham Cup Rugby Tournament held in New York. And we have interviewed numerous friends and family including, most recently, an interview with Mark’s Mom Alice at the Flight 93 crash site. There is still a lot of work ahead of us to bring this story to the screen, but myself and the rest of the production team are dedicated to do whatever we need to accomplish that goal. Even though it has been 7 years since that tragic day, we feel it’s as important as ever to tell Mark’s story. And we are going to tell that story as truthfully and honestly as we can.

Scott Gracheff - Director/Producer