Early television work After university, Bell moved to
New York City, where he worked for three years in
ABC Television's shipping department. In 1964, he was hired by
National Educational Television as a producer and played a role in shaping public television by securing funding to keep programs on the air. Two years later, he gave
Michael Wadleigh his first job as a
cameraman, alongside John Binder. the first live international television broadcast on June 25th. Around this time, he joined the television program
Public Broadcasting Laboratory, where he produced the film
Hunger in Mississippi with activist
Fannie Lou Hamer. In 1968, Bell met young student Harry Wiland, an independent producer who wanted to make a film about
Johnny Cash. Dale helped him secure some funding through National Educational Television. The following year, Bell and Wadleigh collaborated on the project to film the
Woodstock rock festival, held from August 15-18, 1969. With less than a week to go before the event, the director Wadleigh asked Bell, who was associate producer and logistics manager, to organize everything. Bell raised $500,000, rented the necessary equipment, hired around 60 people in 15 film crews, and brought in
Martin Scorsese and
Thelma Schoonmaker as
assistant directors. The documentary
Woodstock, released in 1970, won the
Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
PBS After exploring
commercial television and
feature films, Bell returned to
public television in 1971 and joined
WQED, the first community-funded television station in the USA. In 1973, he worked on the production team for Martin Scorsese's film
Mean Streets. The following year, he reunited with the director as the
production manager on the film
Italianamerican. He later oversaw the production of the
National Geographic Specials documentary series on
PBS,
CBS, and
NBC. After raising $150,000, he became Vice President of World Production at WQED, managing a $5 million annual budget for producing documentaries, drama films, and artist performances at the
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in
Washington, D.C. In 1980, he raised $8 million to create a series on Kennedy Center artists, and in 1986, the
Kennedy Center Honors received a
Peabody Award. Four years later, Bell produced
The Chemical People, PBS's first two-part program to raise awareness about drug issues in schools, featuring First Lady
Nancy Reagan and
Michael Landon. In 1989, Bell produced the TV series
Young Charlie Chaplin, which earned him an
Emmy nomination along with other producers. That same year, he worked on the British film series
The Chronicles of Narnia, which was also nominated for an Emmy. During his tenure as executive producer of the children's program
WonderWorks, the show received the Children's Act Award multiple times. In 1992, Bell became head of Public Television International, aiming to bring better television programs to public broadcasting.
Media Policy Center In 1999, Bell partnered with Harry Wiland to co-found Media Policy Center in 2003, a
non-profit production company. Their goal is to address societal issues with a unique approach compared to traditional media. In October 2002,
PBS organized a special evening to broadcast their documentary
And Thou Shalt Honor, focused on
nursing homes, which was viewed by 16 million people. In 2006, they were inducted into the Ashoka Fellowship, and the following year, they received a grant from the Purpose Prize, presented by filmmaker
Sidney Poitier. In 2015, following the
Volkswagen emissions scandal (Dieselgate), Bell unofficially joined the Californian delegation during the
COP21 climate summit in
Paris. This led to the release of his documentary
Backfired: When VW Lied to America in 2018, which he produced, wrote, and directed. Over his career, Bell has raised approximately $80 million for his projects. == Other information ==