- Home
- Watch the Documentary
- Synopsis
- Background Research
- Production Team
- Key Players
- Production Stills
- Transcript
- Production Calendar
- Production Blogs
- Special Thanks
- Links
Synopsis & Treatment
Staking a Claim: Youth Involvement in Local Elections is a documentary compiled by Wheat for Sheep Productions that examines college students’ involvement in Ithaca politics. The movie follows Svante Mryick in his ultimately successful bid to become the youngest mayor in Ithaca history, using his campaign as a way to trace youth participation in the electoral process.
The documentary opens with a shot of Svante explaining his “unusual” press release before introducing the audience to its principle characters: Fil Eden, Svante’s campaign manager; Rob Flaherty, the communications director; and Karen Schillinger, the campaign’s field director. The shot freezes on each of these principals for a moment, allowing some biographical information, most relevantly their age, to appear on screen.
After a brief introduction to the principals, the audience also meets some of Svante’s supporters, most importantly Deb Mohlenhoff, a city council member who endorsed Svante as soon as he announced his candidacy. The documentary allows all of the principals and Mohlenhoff to speak to some of the criticism of their youth levied by detractors. It also details how they feel their youth, energy, and above all competency, contributed to their campaign’s success.
This energy and competency manifests itself in the example of debate preparation. The audience sees the whole team readying Svante for the biggest debate of the primary election season, a showdown with competitors Pam Mackesey and J.R. Clairborne. The campaign team put an immense amount of work into getting him ready, and the audience sees those efforts before the documentary cuts to footage of the debate itself.
The audience then learns more about Mackesey, the leading critic of Svante who said that he’s using an army of students to invade Ithaca and that his supporters are in fact “carpetbaggers.” The documentary then moves into blowback against that criticism, with students detailing exactly why they have a stake in the Ithaca community, why they’re not “carpetbaggers” and why they support Myrick.
Next, the audience sees Svante and his team distributing pamphlets on the day of the Democratic election, beginning at four in the morning, before moving into the results themselves. Karen describes the feeling she had as the numbers began to roll in before the documentary cuts to footage of Svante announcing the results, ward by ward, to his supporters.
The audience sees him win the Democratic nomination and hug his staff happily before the documentary cuts to a black screen with text detailing the fact that Svante managed very few votes in the student-dominated fourth ward. This was a major disappointment, and the documentary then cuts to a series of interviews explaining exactly why this was a disappointment and why students should vote in Ithaca if that’s where they feel connected. It concludes with Flaherty asking: “If we couldn’t do it, who can?”
This leads to a final scene in which Irene Stein, chair of the Tompkins County Democrats, announces Svante’s victory and he gives an acceptance speech. The audience gets one last look at all the principles together before the end of the documentary.
Overall, the documentary is designed to probe youth involvement in politics. This emerges primarily through interviews with Flaherty, Eden, Schillinger, and Myrick. However, it is also evident through footage of their tireless efforts to get Myrick into the mayor’s office; their supporters’ energy; and discussions of why youth voting is an important aspect of democracy, regardless of whether they vote in their hometown or their college home.
The documentary opens with a shot of Svante explaining his “unusual” press release before introducing the audience to its principle characters: Fil Eden, Svante’s campaign manager; Rob Flaherty, the communications director; and Karen Schillinger, the campaign’s field director. The shot freezes on each of these principals for a moment, allowing some biographical information, most relevantly their age, to appear on screen.
After a brief introduction to the principals, the audience also meets some of Svante’s supporters, most importantly Deb Mohlenhoff, a city council member who endorsed Svante as soon as he announced his candidacy. The documentary allows all of the principals and Mohlenhoff to speak to some of the criticism of their youth levied by detractors. It also details how they feel their youth, energy, and above all competency, contributed to their campaign’s success.
This energy and competency manifests itself in the example of debate preparation. The audience sees the whole team readying Svante for the biggest debate of the primary election season, a showdown with competitors Pam Mackesey and J.R. Clairborne. The campaign team put an immense amount of work into getting him ready, and the audience sees those efforts before the documentary cuts to footage of the debate itself.
The audience then learns more about Mackesey, the leading critic of Svante who said that he’s using an army of students to invade Ithaca and that his supporters are in fact “carpetbaggers.” The documentary then moves into blowback against that criticism, with students detailing exactly why they have a stake in the Ithaca community, why they’re not “carpetbaggers” and why they support Myrick.
Next, the audience sees Svante and his team distributing pamphlets on the day of the Democratic election, beginning at four in the morning, before moving into the results themselves. Karen describes the feeling she had as the numbers began to roll in before the documentary cuts to footage of Svante announcing the results, ward by ward, to his supporters.
The audience sees him win the Democratic nomination and hug his staff happily before the documentary cuts to a black screen with text detailing the fact that Svante managed very few votes in the student-dominated fourth ward. This was a major disappointment, and the documentary then cuts to a series of interviews explaining exactly why this was a disappointment and why students should vote in Ithaca if that’s where they feel connected. It concludes with Flaherty asking: “If we couldn’t do it, who can?”
This leads to a final scene in which Irene Stein, chair of the Tompkins County Democrats, announces Svante’s victory and he gives an acceptance speech. The audience gets one last look at all the principles together before the end of the documentary.
Overall, the documentary is designed to probe youth involvement in politics. This emerges primarily through interviews with Flaherty, Eden, Schillinger, and Myrick. However, it is also evident through footage of their tireless efforts to get Myrick into the mayor’s office; their supporters’ energy; and discussions of why youth voting is an important aspect of democracy, regardless of whether they vote in their hometown or their college home.