One afternoon, after receiving hundreds of emails and messages following a post on my New York studio by Homeworthy (an online streaming platform dedicated to home interiors), I had a phone message from Sean Herbert. Sean is a veteran producer for CBS Sunday morning. I phoned him back, and we had a nice conversation about my work as an artist and my studio. Sean expressed interest in the possibility of doing a piece for Sunday Morning and said that he would get back in touch.

Several months passed, and one day I posted a photograph on my Instagram account with former President Joe Biden, having just met with him to start his portrait for Syracuse University. The phone rang, and it was Sean again, wanting to know more about the post and the project that I was doing with President Biden. He again concluded the call expressing his desire to do something for Sunday Morning, but he said with 2 to 3 years of arts programming already “in the can” and ready to use at a moment’s notice, he wasn’t sure he could get the story approved. He said he was going to continue to pursue the idea with his bosses at CBS.

A few days later, I was traveling from New York to Nashville on the last flight on Delta Airlines. I was upgraded at the last minute to first class and was sitting in 1A in the front of the plane. Looking at my phone and not paying much attention to my surroundings, I heard a voice from a fellow passenger, placing his bag in the overhead just near me say, “Michael Shane Neal. I can’t believe it. What are the chances?!” Sometimes being recognized by fellow artists, I assumed that he was an artist because I could not quite place him at the moment. He asked the flight attendant if he could take the empty seat beside me. She agreed, and he moved over next to me. He went on to say he could not believe that, following our conversations by phone, he would board the same flight that I was on in NYC. He said that he felt that it was fate that we meet. From that moment on, it has been a delightful and exciting adventure as Sean worked to not only get all the pieces of the puzzle to fit, but to follow me to Nashville, New York, England, and Scotland to gather the information and footage that he needed to create the story. He was excited to be partnered with the wonderful Martha Teichner, a 48 year veteran of CBS News and a journalist for Sunday Morning for 33 years.

During the many hours with Sean and his delightful wife, Taryn, I learned so much about the creative discipline of telling a story on film. I have been impressed by Sean’s enthusiasm, work ethic, and professionalism as well as Martha Teichner‘s insatiable curiosity.

From start to finish the piece, took eight months to film. It must be a total of 15 or 20 hours of tape that will be edited down to a 6 to 7 minute story. That part of the process, capturing so much footage for such an editing down version, was something I never fully grasped before.

I am grateful to Sean and Martha for their interest in my work and studio. Having the privilege of appearing on CBS Sunday Morning (my family’s favorite television show) was a dream of my mother for many years. She said over and over again that she wished someday that I could appear on the show. I assured her it was likely impossible-clearly another example that mothers are always right!