A TV storyteller - and cheerleader

The most anticipated day of Catherine Allan's professional life just happened to land on Valentine's Day. "Hoop Dreams," the project that she and Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) had backed when the filmmakers couldn't get anyone else to answer the phone, was about to be nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary and -- perhaps -- best picture. Allan bought heart-shaped cookies for the office and practiced looking surprised.

She didn't have to act. The movie about two Chicago teens who want to be basketball stars, now considered one of the greatest docs of all time, got only one nod. For editing.

Despite that cold shoulder 18 years ago, Allan and TPT have continued their commitment to gutsy, ambitious films. The latest is "Slavery by Another Name," which premieres Monday.

The $2 million project, about the struggles of African-Americans between the Civil War and World War II, comes with a lofty pedigree: Laurence Fishburne narrates, Douglas Blackmon won the Pulitzer Prize for the book it's based on, and director Sam Pollard is Spike Lee's longtime editor.

But the major players credit Allan for keeping everything on track.

"She's very, very focused on understanding how Doug and I could creatively take this film to another level," said Pollard, who previously directed the civil rights documentary "Eyes on the Prize II." "Sometimes you feel like you're being strangled to make the decisions the producers want to make. But Catherine was very open to anything we had to say during the creative process."

In the world of feature film, the executive producer is usually the one who writes the check. But in public television, it means you're the fundraiser. Salesperson. Co-writer. Co-editor. Cheerleader. Referee.

Santa Claus and the elves

"In the beginning, it's a fun idea to make a movie. But who can actually do it?" Blackmon said. "Who has the credibility? Catherine and TPT were the obvious choice. The first time I saw Catherine's proposal, the theoretical script, I thought, 'My God, this is Santa Claus and the elves. These folks know what they're doing. This thing can actually happen.'"

What's already happened suggests that Allan, who previously was responsible for the Peabody-winning "Liberty! The American Revolution" and the Emmy-winning "Benjamin Franklin," has struck gold again.

Pollard got a two-minute standing ovation recently after a screening at the Sundance Film Festival, and Attorney General Eric Holder, whose wife is in the movie, promised to send copies to the U.S. Supreme Court justices. "Slavery" has been featured at events nationwide, including a star-studded screening at the Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., and the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles.

There's nothing glamorous about Allan's cluttered, shoebox office in St. Paul with a not-so-sexy view of the post office. The binder holding together (barely) the various scripts barely fits on a table, which is just below a bulletin board filled with photos of people like Jane Goodall and a program from Allan's father's funeral in 2006.

It was Donald Allan who inspired his daughter to tell stories. An international journalist working for the New York Times and Newsweek, he was as colorful as the subjects he covered. Married five times, Allan escaped two POW camps during World War II and once was tried for stabbing an Italian journalist he believed was hitting on his wife.

His daughter, who grew up primarily in San Francisco and came to TPT 32 years ago, took a more serene route.

"I didn't have that hard-driving reporter instinct," said Allan, who went to journalism school at Berkeley.

Standing by 'Hoop Dreams'

Allan had moderate success in her early days, even overseeing a Paula Abdul aerobics dance video. But it was "Hoop Dreams" that was a game changer.

"We were having an incredibly hard time raising money," said the film's director, Steve James. "Catherine stepped up very early on and believed in us." The $400,000 project, which took more than seven years to create, grew from a half-hour special to a two-hour feature film, a transformation that might scare off other backers.

"Instead of digging their heels in, which I've seen happen in public television, they stuck with it," James said. "It's a real virtue that they stood by us."

Allan's reputation took off, particularly in the area of U.S. history. Profiles of Dolley Madison and Alexander Hamilton have made her a favorite at PBS' "The American Experience." She's currently raising funds for a four-part PBS series on the Constitution, to be hosted by National Public Radio's Peter Sagal.

Despite her longtime connection to public television, Allan said it's never guaranteed that she can get anything on its airwaves.

Allan has had both a children's show about ethics and a cooking program collapse during development. "Not everything gets on PBS," she said. "They're very selective about what gets on the air."

"Slavery" was a particularly tough sell in that it looks in depth at how blacks were abused after the Civil War, how they were thrown in jail on trumped-up charges so the cotton industry could hire them at "convict rates" and how the White House abandoned reconstruction efforts.

"This is a complicated subject that a lot of people were skeptical of wanting to attach themselves to," said Blackmon, who is also trying to turn his book into a feature film. "You had to have someone to convince people that it's not a total downer."

Allan is anything but a downer. Her upbeat temperament and passion for her projects are key reasons for attracting major funders and inspiring filmmakers to do their best work, said Gerry Richman, vice president of national productions at TPT.

"So many people with great talent are jerks, but Catherine is so reasonable and so good," he said. "That's unusual."

Allan's not done dreaming big. She wants to do an American version of "Downton Abbey," but set in the South on the eve of the Civil War. She readily admits it's a long shot, but based on her track record, don't count her out.