Producer Heather Winters and Director Sara Sackner have known Jay W. Jensen for what feels like an eternity. We, and so many of his former students, would not have survived our enormous high school - Miami Beach Senior High – a very large and diverse public school with a big fat love of football – if not for Jay and his dynamic drama program. To describe Jay as "one teacher makes a difference" is an understatement. Jay is the real deal. At separate dinners held in Jay's honor on both coasts, we knew we had to make a movie about Jay. Once filming began we learned that the Beach High drama department no longer existed. The plays, the Community Theater, the Children's Theater – all gone. This rude awakening to the state of our alma mater set us on the road for a look at the arts in public schools throughout the country.

"CLASS ACT" is about our journey of honoring our favorite teacher, Jay W. Jensen, an eccentric millionaire with talented students who credit him with their success and fascinating friends who share his love of the arts. The landscape broadens with the discovery that the drama program from our alma mater is gone, this incredible disappointment opening the door to an exploration of the world of the arts in public education in America. Our experience ends with the revelation that the inequities in our schools are a symptom of the deep inequality in our society, that America's public schools are a reflection of the "haves" and the "have-nots."

During our two-year journey making this film, we learned how the arts ensure that a student's creativity is awakened and nurtured and how the arts keep kids in school, therefore creating better citizens. We learned that creative people are needed for the future of our country and the new global economy.

We shared the joy of the students and teachers who have the opportunity to participate in the arts and experts from across the country confirmed the empirical evidence of this benefit.

We learned that there still are teachers who dedicate their lives to their students, reaching them through the arts. We learned how non-profits are trying to meet the needs of particularly poor schools where the arts have been eliminated. But for every kid they serve, millions go without the arts in their curriculum.

And yet, there's hope. Jay is a hero. He is a symbol of the thousands and thousands of teachers who have made and continue to make a difference for their students. Jay is an inspiration, both through his philanthropy and his teaching. Jay keeps up a pace that those decades younger could never sustain. Jay's glass is not half full; it's overflowing.

Heather and I are so grateful that our teacher, Mr. Jensen, shared his life with us over the last two years. Here we are, many years out of high school, and as he did when we were teenagers, Jay has once again encouraged us to pursue our dreams.

Our hope is that "CLASS ACT" will help to inspire audiences to make the world a better place for America's children through the arts.

Sara Sackner, Director
Heather Winters, Producer

More than 20 years have passed since New York producer Heather Winters and California director Sara Sackner graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School, a huge public high school with a big fat love of football. Besides sharing a professional relationship, the filmmakers share something else - a favorite teacher - Jay W. Jensen.

When the filmmakers decided to go "back to school" to tell the extraordinary story of their high school drama teacher, Jay W. Jensen, they knew they would be telling the 50 year story of a man who dedicated his life to education, saved every penny, and became known as the "Teacher to the Stars."

What they didn't know is the real story they would uncover. The drama program Jay created and ran for over 30 years, 7 days a week, day and night, no longer existed. Sackner and Winters set out on a journey across the country, talking to everyone from teachers, principals, administrators, government leaders (on both sides!), and students themselves, turning their camera lens on the American public school system only to discover the arts were disappearing from the American classroom at an alarming rate.

CLASS ACT weaves Mr. Jensen's personal story with the fate of arts education in America today, giving us a report card on what lies ahead for America's children. But the story doesn't end in the classroom. With a starting salary of just $2,000 in 1959, Jay secretly amassed millions. To the astonishment of everyone, he then did the most extraordinary thing: he gave it away in the name of education and the arts becoming the most unlikely philanthropist. Today, Jay continues to inspire thousands of students - fat, thin, shy, extroverted, gay, straight, under achiever and academic powerhouse - to follow their dreams. Jay alumni include a virtual who's who of Hollywood, including actor Andy Garcia, film director Brett Ratner, songwriter Desmond Child, music executive José Behar, Broadway producer Adam Epstein, casting director Debra Zane, and sportscaster Roy Firestone, as well as the filmmakers themselves.