Media Process Group was originally formed by Bob Hercules and David Beaton in 1985. Within 3 months Hercules’ old college friend, Bruce Lixey, joined the enterprise. The first MPG ‘office’ was located in a loft space on Damen Avenue in Wicker Park (well before that neighborhood’s current trendiness.)

The original vision of MPG was to have a profit-making production company support their desire to produce independent documentaries. The goal was to take projects from script to screen, entirely in-house, if possible (something about ‘controlling the means of production’—according to Beaton).

MPG’s first big break was shooting and editing (on site) the Miller Lite Collegiate Ski Tournament in Killington, Vermont in 1987. Also that year MPG moved into swanky new offices in the fashionable River North district, bought their first edit system and hired Keith Walker (who was to eventually become one of the owners of the company).

In 1988 MPG embarked on their first feature-length documentary—a film about America’s oldest baseball parks entitled “Baseball’s Heirlooms.” Actor Jeff Daniels agreed to host the program and the project was completed late in 1989. It ran on the Discovery Channel for three years, on over 120 PBS stations and has been re-released as a 20th anniversary DVD from Questar Video.

1990 saw the completion of a one-hour documentary by Bruce Lixey called “Ghost Towns of the West.” Also that year original owner David Beaton left the company to move to sunny Florida and pursue his independent filmmaking.

A chance encounter in 1991 led to MPG’s long relationship with CBS’ “60 Minutes” program. Both MPG D.P.’s Hercules and Walker started shooting location segments for the program that year and Walker (along with current D.P. Michael Swanson) continues shooting for the show to this day. Also in 1991 Walker and Hercules started shooting a series of two-camera interviews for Black Entertainment Television’s “Conversations With Ed Gordon” program.

In 1992 Bruce Lixey began work on a major documentary about Times Beach, Missouri (a town which suffered from severe toxic contamination). Lixey completed the film in 1993 to widespread acclaim. The mid-90’s saw a business boom as the company was now shooting regularly for “60 Minutes”, NBC’s “Dateline,” and for countless corporate producers and documentary filmmakers. MPG also completed two documentaries on Native American history for Questar Video—“Great Indian Nations” and ”Great Indian Leaders.” In 1995 Keith Walker became an owner of the company.

In the summer of 1996, tragically, Bruce Lixey discovered he had contracted colon cancer. Lixey battled the cancer for over a year and a half before succumbing in May 1998. He was 39 years old. He left a legacy of great programs and is still sorely missed.

In 2001 MPG teamed up with producer Cheri Pugh to begin work on a feature documentary entitled “Forgiving Dr. Mengele” about Auschwitz survivor and former ‘Mengele twin’ Eva Kor. The film was completed in 2006 and won the Special Jury Prize at the Slamdance Film Festival and is still available on Netflix, Amazon and iTunes. That same year the company moved into its swanky new office in the trendy West Loop neighborhood.

One of the highlights of 2006 was a trip that Keith Walker and Bob Hercules took to Africa with Senator Barack Obama. There they filmed Obama’s momentous ‘homecoming’ in Kenya and his diplomatic stops in South Africa, Ethiopia and Chad. The resulting documentary, “Senator Obama Goes to Africa” is now out on DVD from First Run Features. MPG also went on to shoot Obama’s Presidential announcement video and many campaign videos.

In 2009 we completed two feature documentaries about dance: “A Good Man” (a profile of choreographer Bill T. Jones co-produced with Kartemquin Films) and “Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance” (produced by Lakeview Films and narrated by Mandy Patinkin). “A Good Man” premiered at the Full Frame Film Festival and both films aired on the PBS series American Masters.

In 2012 MPG teamed up with producer Don Dupree to start production on a new series called “A Piece of the Game” which has gone on to win 4 Emmys.  Lisa Pooler was line producer and D.P.’s were Mike Swanson and Keith Walker.

In 2016 our documentary “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to win 17 awards on 3 continents. The film made its broadcast premiere on PBS’ American Masters in 2017 and was also shown in 2017 on the BBC. It won a Peabody Award in 2018.

In 2018 we completed a new feature documentary entitled “The Gate: Dawn of the Baha’i Faith,” for Executive Producer Steve Sarowitz. The film features elaborate historic reenactments shot in southern Spain and was broadcast on over 100 ABC stations.

We are now in our 39th year and our newest documentary, “Mikva! Democracy is a Verb,” ran on over 100 PBS stations in 2020-21.

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