UNTURNING STEEL feature documentary
UNTURNING STEEL is a documentary project that features reliability engineer and U.S. military veteran Bill Leahy as he works to provide service members with a path forward after returning home.
In the aftermath of family tragedy, Bill sets out on a hero’s journey to help his fellow veterans bring their talents to American manufacturing. Together with the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Bill has created a new offering that provides veterans the support and training they need to find purpose in American manufacturing.
But in a society falling short of offering proper support to both veterans and manufacturers, will Bill realize his vision? Will veterans find those employment opportunities as American manufacturing experiences a new renaissance in the 21st century.
For twelve months (on and off), Laurie Lamson worked in close collaboration with Producer/Director Michael Wood of Never Forgotten Media on this project.
(She also did some PR and proposal writing for Never Forgotten Media’s Cactus Militaria Museum .)
Laurie’s duties for the Unturning Steel documentary project included developing and writing a feature screenplay, helping create a pitch deck, writing articles and web content.
She also reviewed interview transcripts, created a short version of the script, and provided in-depth support for the editing of the short version, which screened at the 28th Annual MARCON in March 2024 (Annual Maintenance and Reliability Conference) at Knoxville Convention Center.
This short will also be part of a presentation for the U.S. Congress.
U.S. Military Writing Experience
For the Unturning Steel crew, Michael mainly hired U.S. Veterans, and a few people like Laurie who’ve worked on military-related communication projects.
He appreciated that she had helped share soldiers’ stories as researcher/scriptwriter for five major interactive exhibits at the National Museum of the U.S. Army.
Laurie also wrote a series of audio and video PSAs for a U.S. Army Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention education & awareness campaign, as well as “A Day at the MEPS” – a detailed video about the application and intake process for new Army recruits.
All Army projects were as a subcontractor with longtime client Showreel, Inc. then Shot Glass Films.
