Erik Ewers

Co-Director and editor Erik Ewers has worked with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns for more than 30 years, including nearly all of his single and multi-episodic films. He currently serves as co-director and editor of Ewers Brothers Productions, a preferred collaborative company in the co-creation of Ken’s films.

Erik has been nominated for more than seven personal and program Emmy Awards and has won one editing Emmy and three program Emmys, as well as two prestigious ACE Eddie Award nominations and one ACE win for “Best Edited Documentary of 2015.” Erik is an expert in all aspects of filmmaking, having served as music producer, writer, director, film producer, picture editor, and sound effects, music, and dialogue editor.

In 2015, Erik collaborated with brother Chris and Ken to create the two-hour PBS film The Mayo Clinic: Faith, Hope, Science, serving as co-director and editor. He and Chris co-directed Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness, exploring the mental health crisis in our nation’s youth and young adults, which aired on PBS June 27th and 28th to millions. They are now working on a documentary biography of Henry David Thoreau and the follow up film, Hiding in Plain Sight: Adult Mental Illness, both scheduled to air nationally on PBS in the coming years.

Christopher Loren Ewers

Co-Director and Director of Photography Christopher Loren Ewers has been working behind the camera for over 20 years, traveling the world and exploring the human experience through the lens. His broadcast work has appeared on national networks like NBC and PBS, his commercial work has included Fortune 500 brands like Apple and Coca-Cola and his social issue work for nonprofit organizations like the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Clinton Global Initiative. His documentary cinematography has been featured in each of Ken Burns’ films since The Vietnam War.

Working with Ken as executive producer, Chris co-directed and served as Director of Photography on feature length documentary, The Mayo Clinic: Faith, Hope, Science, broadcast nationally on PBS in September 2018. He and brother Erik co-directed Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness, exploring the mental health crisis in our nation’s youth and young adults, which aired on PBS June 27th and 28th to millions. They are now working on a documentary biography of Henry David Thoreau and the follow up film, Hiding in Plain Sight: Adult Mental Illness, both scheduled to air nationally on PBS in the coming years.

Julie Coffman

Producer Julie Coffman graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design and worked as a graphic designer for ten years before joining Ewers Brothers Productions. At EBP, she has produced numerous films including: Coke Zero: Sam’s Story; American Academy of Arts and Sciences; The Residue Years (based on the novel by Mitchell Jackson); Colby College; and Walden.

In 2015 she joined Florentine Films in collaboration with EBP and Ken Burns. She produced The Mayo Clinic: Faith, Hope, Science, a feature length documentary which premiered on PBS in 2018.

Currently, Julie is at work with Ken Burns and Ewers Brothers Productions on a multi-film series exploring our mental health crisis, with the first film slated for broadcast in 2022, as well as a documentary biography of Henry David Thoreau, which will broadcast on PBS in 2024.

Susan Shumaker

Susan Shumaker is a producer and story researcher with Ewers Brothers Productions and Florentine Films. She is currently at work on the film biography Henry David Thoreau (2024), a multi-film series exploring our mental health crisis (2022), and The American Buffalo (2024).

Susan joined Florentine Films in 2002 as an intern on The War (2007). She worked on the Emmy award-winning The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (2009), The Dust Bowl (2012), and Country Music (2019). She has collaborated with WETA, Washington DC’s flagship PBS station, on educational outreach materials and companion websites for many of Florentine’s films, most extensively for The War, The National Parks, The Dust Bowl, and Country Music.

Susan received a Masters of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School after graduating with honors from West Virginia University. She lives on a farm in West Virginia with her husband, their two brilliant children, four quirky cats, and one very sweet golden retriever.

David Blistein

Writer David Blistein spent 25 years as the owner and creative director of a regional advertising agency in Vermont, after which he began writing non-fiction books and documentaries. He was a writer on the PBS documentaries Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies (2015) and The Gene (2019). He also wrote the award winning The Mayo Clinic: Faith, Hope, Science (2018), produced by Ewers Brothers Productions and Florentine Films.

David co-wrote Grover Cleveland Again! with Ken Burns (2016) — a book about the American presidents for young adults — and is the author of David’s Inferno (2013), which combines memoir with essays on how manic-depression is diagnosed and treated. Most recently, he wrote Opium: The Agony and Ecstasy of Earth’s Most Powerful Flower with John Halpern, MD. With the Ewers Brothers team, David is currently working on a three-film series on the mental health crisis, as well as a documentary biography of Henry David Thoreau.

Cauley Powell

Cauley Powell began at Florentine Films in 2012 as an intern on The Roosevelts. She worked for 8 years in the Florentine Administrative Offices as assistant to Ken Burns and coordinator of special projects.  Highlights included work on: Ken’s seminar for MasterClass, the American Prairie Reserve’s annual Ken Burns American Heritage Prize, and Ken’s 2016 NYT bestselling children’s book Grover Cleveland, Again!: A Treasury of American Presidents, on which she is very proud to be a co-author.

Cauley is now an associate producer on the Ewers Brothers and Florentine Films coproduction exploring the life and legacy of Henry David Thoreau.  She also serves as a producer on the Ken Burns UNUM project and liaises with PBS LearningMedia on their Ken Burns in the Classroom initiative.

Cauley received her BA from Bennington College in Vermont, where she studied history, political science, and sound design. She enjoys reading and being read to, is an enthusiastic bowling league member, and has a seemingly endless attention span for all things Russian History. Is she more an Owen or a Luke Wilson? She doesn’t know but is accepting feedback.