In this episode of HealthiNation’s Daytime Emmy Award-winning True Champions, Congressman Hank Johnson shares his personal experience with hepatitis C—from receiving a devastating diagnosis and undergoing treatment to becoming an advocate for others living with the disease.
Filmed on location in Washington, D.C., the documentary presents Johnson not simply as a public official, but as someone whose experience with serious illness became deeply intertwined with his public advocacy.
My work on True Champions began well before the cameras rolled. I researched potential subjects whose experiences could support meaningful health stories, conducted the outreach, and worked to secure their participation. For this profile, I contacted Congressman Johnson’s office directly and arranged the interview.
Because a central part of my approach to the series was filming people within their own environments, we took the production to Capitol Hill—shooting in Johnson’s office and throughout the surrounding Capitol complex.
Knowing the location presented unique logistical and access challenges, I hired a Washington-based cinematographer experienced in working with politicians and navigating government buildings. His local knowledge allowed us to work efficiently while maintaining the cinematic visual standards I had established for the series.
From identifying the subject through production and post, the objective was always the same: find the human story behind the health condition and tell it with the intimacy and visual language of a documentary rather than a traditional health segment.
