Coronado resident Jane Mitchell has won her 29th Emmy award, the latest one awarded for her documentary on the 75th anniversary of the Coronado Fourth of July parade.
Mitchell, a former TV journalist, created a passion project last year for her home town’s Independence Day celebration – and received her next Emmy for it.
She created the film with Jamie Hartnett, president of the Coronado Fourth of July, and Dan Roper, who was editor and co-producer. Mitchell wrote the almost 20-minute-long script for the short film herself, which is what received the local TV award.
“It’s such a team effort when you do any type of creative production like this,” Mitchell said. “Even the writing, which I won in that category, it is still a team effort.”
Mitchell, Hartnett and Roper started the documentary in 2023 when they shot footage of the parade so that they could release the film before the Fourth of July in 2024.
They spent the next few months conducting interviews and doing research on the history of the parade. Condensing 75 years into 18 minutes of video was a lot of work, Mitchell said.
“It takes about one to two hours for every minute that you write,” she explained. “You have to find a way to pull it all together without missing anything major, but also capturing the essence of the story.”
Mitchell said receiving this Emmy was a little different than her previous awards because she made it for her hometown. Most of her former wins were connected to the TV channel she worked for, or part of a larger organization.
It is something I really care about in a different way, because this is part of my story, too … But, bottom line is, you never do it for the awards. You do it for the passion of the storytelling.
Jane Mitchell
“It is something I really care about in a different way, because this is part of my story, too,” Mitchell said. “But, bottom line is, you never do it for the awards. You do it for the passion of the storytelling.”
And what she loves about this particular story is the connections it makes, not only for people who live on the island, but for people who visit.
There were people in the film who weren’t even from San Diego or Coronado, but became part of this iconic celebration by attending the parade.
She said she wanted to capture these people’s stories.
“Being able to do it and have people enjoy it – that is really the best prize,” Mitchell said.
