Sharon Kelly Baker, AS ’71, UD’s Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, has built a small film empire without ever leaving Delaware. Teleduction, which she owns with husband, Frank, is an independent production company based in Wilmington. Baker calls it “a ‘David’ in a Goliath-size industry.”

In recent years, the small studio has produced and distributed critically acclaimed programs to both broadcast and educational audiences. Teleduction’s titles range in content from issue-oriented public affairs programs and cultural/historical documentaries to narrative children’s programming.

In addition to its artistic and technical goals, the organization is dedicated to making a positive contribution to the greater community through the television and film arts. Programs by Teleduction have aired on PBS, Nickelodeon, A&E, The History Channel and BRAVO.

Teleduction has received a host of awards and award nominations, including two recent mid-Atlantic Emmy awards for outstanding director and outstanding children’s program for The Dating Bill of Rights. The Emmys were awarded in September by the Philadelphia regional chapter of the National Academy of the Television Arts and Sciences.

Baker recently talked with the Messenger about her life and successful career.

Messenger: How did you get interested in film?

Baker: “I have been interested in film ever since I can remember, directing small shows with cousins as a little kid. For my senior project in high school, I did an 8mm film–very editorial, antiwar. It was a montage of news clippings reporting on the war in Vietnam set to the Beatles tune, ‘A Day in the Life.’ My college major at UD was dramatic art, but I wrote and directed several TV shows and short films, too.”

Messenger: How did you get involved in Teleduction?

Baker: “I met Frank in my senior year. He was starting up a local origination cable channel in Newark, the first of its kind in the country! I got an internship, then a job. We produced 28 hours of ‘live’ local programming a week–public affairs, music, literary stuff. I was also very influenced by my friend and mentor, the late Robert Hogan, in UD’s English department.”

Messenger: What attracted you to film?

Baker: “My family, historically, on both sides, emigrated from the west of Ireland from where, in my view, some of the best, most visual, writers and storytellers issued. Perhaps a drop of it flowed into me. In any case, it is the potential for good storytelling that the film medium offers that attracts me, along with the opportunity to use light and music to create atmosphere, an emotional experience for viewers.”

Messenger: What are your greatest accomplishments?

Baker: “My three wonderful children. Now grown, they have inspired most everything I have ever created. Certainly Drawing A Blank, my first 35mm, longer-length film was a milestone. It’s about a child who doubts her ability to do an unexpected assignment and then musters the courage to succeed. Also, I am very proud of a recently produced documentary, Charles Parks: Working Artist. I have written several screenplays of which I am proud. And, generally speaking, successfully growing a competitive production company based in Delaware all these years is somewhat miraculous, according to some.”

Messenger: How have you learned about film?

Baker: “By doing. It’s about telling a good story, frame by frame, scene by scene. I painted in high school and had an art teacher who gave me a sense of composition. I am a good observer, and I watched a lot. In the early 1980s, I took a director’s and editor’s master class in Maine, studying with the late Ralph Rosenblum. I took an assistant camera class and learned about film stocks and how to load and light. But, again, I learned mostly by doing. By necessity, in earlier days, I spent many hours shooting and editing training type programs and the like. It’s all about building the frame, regardless of the format.”

Messenger: What’s the source of your high energy?

Baker: “I just naturally see the glass half full. I make sure I always give myself something to look forward to–even when things don’t look so good. My father gave me that gift, and I try to pass it on to others, I suppose.”

Messenger: What are some of your most memorable moments at work?

Baker: “Here at the studio, we were pioneers, if you will, on the waterfront. We moved here in November 1985. We’ve seen lots of rough weather, but in December 1992, the Christina River overflowed its banks and the water out front came up over car doors. A small boat was cruising around the parking lot, and we had a visiting client who started to panic. The studio (and tons of electronic equipment) remained bone dry! Then, there was the homeless guy who was fishing buck naked and was calmly arrested and taken away…

“On the job/on location, memorable moments include filming village children singing to us in Africa...the plight of young Navajo Indians in New Mexico and the Sioux in South Dakota...filming a young man my son’s age convicted of murder, inside prison...filming a call to prayer in the Great Blue Mosque in (Istanbul) during Ramadan–and being one of two women among more than 1,500 men...filming several conversations with Jimmy Carter...seeing This Better Be Good screened at Universal Studios in Hollywood...filming kids flying kites in Tiananmen Square...being driven in secret to interview domestic violence victims...directing Ed Asner and Louis Zorich...climbing down a Jacob’s ladder on a huge, moving ship while trying not to drop the camera...hanging out of a helicopter 10,000 feet above the Texas/Mexican border shooting a balloon descent...dinner at home with the exiled Kuwaiti royal family after an interview in London.…”

Messenger: What do you plan to do with the rest of your life?

Baker: “I would like to try continue to work on meaningful programs that somehow enlighten and even uplift viewers. The medium isn’t going to go away, and while there is so much that’s so bad about television, there is also so much potential.

I’m particularly interested in staying with historical, human-focused documentaries and interactive material directed to young audiences. Also, I have two narrative scripts that I would like to do as independent feature projects. I have several other scripts in progress and I’d like more time to write. In any case, I want to spend as much time as possible with my family, just being. I also hope to learn to cook in smaller quantities.”

Messenger: Tell us about your family.

Baker:“My husband is a guitar player-singer and grillmeister extraordinaire. He makes his living as a freelance actor and voice. Our oldest son, Peter, has a degree in hotel/restaurant management and he lives and works in Boston. Our middle child, Ned, is a high school English teacher and musician who lives and teaches in Ithaca, N.Y., when not gigging with his band. Our daughter, Katherine, is completing her college degree at UD in English and (what else?) theatre.”

Messenger: Do you ever wish you had left Delaware for the “big time” in, say, New York or L.A.?

Baker: “I believe that I would have had the same career had I gone to New York right after graduating from UD. I just would’ve “gotten there” sooner. However, I don’t think I would have had the kids, so I’m very glad I stayed here. Now with the Internet et al., it doesn’t matter where you’re located, as long as you can get to an airport once in a while!” –Beth Thomas