Making “Wisconsin Life” with video editor Josh Kappler

PBS Wisconsin producers scour the state for inclusive, surprising and thought-provoking “Wisconsin Life” stories, interviewing fascinating people and collecting vivid photography.

“Wisconsin Life” series video editor Josh Kappler collaborates with the series producers to package these stories together into episodes that celebrate our state’s unique people, places, history and culture.

PBS Wisconsin caught up with Kappler to learn more about his experience and what he looks for when putting a “Wisconsin Life” episode together.

“Wisconsin Life” student production assistant Heewone Lim (middle) conducts an interview while series editor Josh Kappler (right) calibrates camera settings.

PBS Wisconsin: How did you fall into this career path?

Josh Kappler: I’ve been a videographer and editor at PBS Wisconsin since September 2017. But my path to getting here started at a pretty young age.

As a kid, I played with Legos and began watching movies. I remember my dad had a camera and I thought it’d be fun to make my own animated shows. I didn’t have as much fun playing with the Legos the second time, so I’d try to recapture the fun by making my own little action movies.

I then took a video production class in high school and had a great teacher who was very welcoming and brought a real joy to it. He was one of those early influencers on me who made me feel like this is something I’m doing well and could turn it into a career.

PBS Wisconsin: What are the must-have elements of a great “Wisconsin Life” episode?

Kappler: When you watch an episode, we want viewers to see all sorts of different things. One story might be about a subject you’re interested in and the next story may be about something you hadn’t even heard of before that you find interesting. It’s a good mixture for everybody. That’s what makes “Wisconsin Life.”

We’re looking for a good variety of stories with several layers in them, almost like a movie with a twist. One important element to a good “Wisconsin Life” story is just the variety of topics and [the other asks] “How would you describe that with a good layered story?”

PBS Wisconsin: Are there any episodes or moments that are memorable?

Kappler: If I have to choose just one episode that did a good job of pairing everything “Wisconsin Life” does best, it is the season 11 episode where Angela went to Baraboo’s Circus World Museum. The episode encapsulates everything about the “Wisconsin Life” program.

Along with Angela’s visit to Circus World, the episode featured a family passionate about pigeon racing, an “Indiana Jones” memorabilia collector and a story about preserving Hmong cultural heritage through dance.

When I think about some of the segments and the stories that I’ve worked on over the years and just the variety of types of stories, I remember there was one week when I was working on a story about a Green Bay Packers historian. We got to go meet him in Lambeau Field and then went downtown on the historic Green Bay Packers walk. The next week, we went up to Tomahawk where a gentleman had made his own castle, called Kelley’s Castle. I remember when I listened to the idea, I had a certain level of expectation when you hear about a guy building a castle. But I’ll never forget when I first saw it, I said, “Oh my gosh!” It was a legitimate, three-story castle, and it took my breath away when I first saw it. And being told that just did not do it justice for what this guy had built up there. 

That, to me, is what “Wisconsin Life” is. One week you’re in Lambeau Field with a Packers historian, and then the very next week, you’re visiting a guy who’s literally built his own castle.

Pete Kelley walks in front of the Kelley Arms Castle towers.

PBS Wisconsin: What are some of the challenges you face when you’re putting together an episode?

Kappler: Deciding what we include and what we do not have time to include is definitely a challenge as we try to tell the most complete story. Editing and condensing the project down to fit a very short window of time can feel like one giant jigsaw puzzle. 

When all of these different stories are coming in from the producers along with Angela’s stories from on-site shoots, the amount of media that we collect can be a little overwhelming in some ways. There are so many pictures, so many video clips, hours and hours of interviews spread across so many different stories.

PBS Wisconsin: What are you looking forward to in season 13?

Kappler: There are so many segments and stories that we’ve worked on, yet our producers are still finding people out there doing all sorts of interesting things in Wisconsin. They’re always finding the next thing even after you feel like, “Boy, what is next? How are you finding more of this stuff?”

• Jeff McMullen aka Santa Mac

Not only does he play Santa but he was also inducted into an International Santa Claus Hall of Fame, becoming the first and only Santa from Wisconsin to receive the honor. And then also there’s a training program where he helps people learn how to be Santa. What are ways that a Santa should act anyway? It’s a very unique story.

Jeff McMullen, known as Santa Mac, dressed as Santa Claus while presenting during a workshop.

• Miniature shipbuilding

There’s a gentleman who is into model shipbuilding and he makes these very, very detailed, just miniature versions of historic ships, “Pirates of the Caribbean”-type of ships. They’re so detailed and some of them do get quite big. With just the amount of time and work that he put into making those, that’s a story I’m looking forward to sharing. That one was a lot of fun to put together. He had a real passion and joy for what he did.

Scott Safranski crafts wooden model ships with patience, precision and pride.

PBS Wisconsin: What do you hope viewers come away with after watching “Wisconsin Life”?

Kappler: I would hope that when people watch it for this season – and I think it goes for most seasons, too – they are really learning about our state, maybe feeling inspired to go visit portions of the state or an area, or maybe partake in an activity that they haven’t before. “I didn’t know that was a thing. Now I want to be a part of that.”

I find each season with “Wisconsin Life” always does that to me, where I either see an episode, a place where Angela’s going or there’s just a story about someone and an activity that they’re doing, and it inspires me to feel like, “Oh, I want to go to that place,” or, “I want to learn this activity,” or, “I want to learn how to do that.” 

I would hope that when it comes to this season of “Wisconsin Life,” people really take in all the diversity and the variety, all these things that are happening throughout our state, and then hopefully it inspires them to maybe want to go visit a place or maybe participate in something in Wisconsin. 

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Stream full episodes and stories of “Wisconsin Life” any time at wisconsinlife.org and on the free PBS app.