Remembering Patrick Flanagan – Landing the One of the Greatest Gigs of a Lifetime
By Ken Sheetz
I’ve been blessed with some truly amazing clients over the years. The most world-famous? Oprah Winfrey. Out of all the developers in Chicago, she chose me to oversee the $28 million construction of her iconic Harpo Studios. With the help of my stellar team at Oxford Realty, we brought Oprah’s dream to life—on time and on budget. Midway through the project, I discovered, to my astonishment, that Oprah and I had actually gone to the same high school. That serendipitous connection with Harpo Studios—and the success of the build—earned me the Chicago Sun-Times Developer of the Year award.
Oprah Winfrey, Jeffrey Jacobs, Ken Sheetz at Harpo Studios, 1991
But what I took away most from working with Oprah was the inspiration to follow my own creative dreams. That inspiration led me from building skyscrapers and corporate headquarters to making films.
My first famous client in my new life as a filmmaker was none other than Dr. Patrick Flanagan—a genius mind described by Deepak Chopra as “a gift to humanity.” Our connection came at a low point in my life. I had just returned from a peak experience–filming my Antarctica expedition for The Coolest Meditation Ever. Nearly broke and crashing on an air mattress on a friend’s dining room floor in Studio City, I was preparing for crowdfunding the post-production editing of the film.
To make matters harder, Elizabeth—the woman I believed Spirit had told me was my perfect partner—had gently told me she wasn’t ready for a relationship at the time. My confidence was bruised. But on my way back from Antarctica, I had filmed Patrick at Chichén Itzá, and that brief collaboration sparked something powerful.
When I called Patrick to pitch a full series of Flanagan videos, he was immediately warm and receptive. I kept it simple:
“Patrick, I’d like to produce a 50-video web series using your line of innovative PhiSciences products. Each video would showcase a different experiment, crafted to engage a whole new generation of fans on YouTube.”
Patrick didn’t even pause.
“How much?”
“Expenses plus $20,000,” I said.
“When can you start?”
I explained I had one last gig promoting the One Love Fest in Ojai, but after that, I’d be free to film the entire series over two weeks in early March.
“See you in March, Ken!”
Just like that, I was off to film a visionary. Patrick and I would go on to create the 50-part docu-series THE FLANAGAN EXPERIMENTS, an exciting story of Patrick’s visionary science and spiritual insight entirely ahead of its time.
The final days in LA flew by. I packed my gear, said goodbye to my pal Tom, and hit the road to Sedona. I thought I’d be gone two weeks.
I wouldn’t move back to California for eleven life-changing years in the renowned red rocks of Sedona!
Cathedral Rock Spires, Ken Sheetz & Elizabeth England of CoolestMeditationEver.com (and Lincoln)
