ROMAN EMPIRE — PBS — Lynn Goldfarb
Production Team: Goldfarb and Koval, marchFIRST, DNA Studios and Carolyn May.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE FIRST CENTURY is a four-hour prime time documentary series, produced by Goldfarb & Koval Productions in association with Devillier Donegan Enterprises and PBS, and is scheduled for broadcast in the fall of 2001. The goal of this series is to bring first-century Rome to life and provide viewers a tangible, resonant experience.

The producers worked in partnership with mentors: marchFIRST, DNA and Carolyn May to develop a prototype which retained our story line at the center of the enhancements. Enhancements such as maps, biographical sketches, art notes, and a timeline broaden and deepen information which the series can only touch lightly. Directors' notes and a chat room are available. The heart of this prototype and the heart of THE ROMAN EMPIRE itself - is not just facts but human experience. And here, the prototype offers the most exciting enhancements. Building on the series' extensive use of first-person accounts, this prototype offers viewers the ability to hear alternate accounts of similar scenes. When the documentary, for example, quotes an affluent Roman at a dinner party, viewers can take a side trip with separate audio and video tracks to experience meal time from a slave's perspective or in a common street caf�. They can even enter the scene by navigating through a 3-D triclinium or ancient dining room, a focal point of social life. Later in the program, viewers can watch a single event-in this case a pivotal military battle-from opposite sides of the battle lines. Viewers not only appreciate two opinions: they experience the broader point that historic truth is always multi-faceted and often contentious, a point that can be underscored boldly by enhanced television.