My introduction to documentary films came by way of a class that I took at Cal State Monterey Bay. Before then my experience with visual media mostly involved performance theatre. Once I had made an acquaintance with documentaries, my path as a producer and director was illuminated. Towards the end of film school I was really eager to get my career started as a new director. For my first project I felt it was crucial that I find a subject with depth and that was important to me personally. It seemed that to find where I needed to go I had to take a look at where I came from.

Through my childhood and into college my father worked as a doctor for the California Department of Corrections. Some of his stories about the judicial and penal systems had enough weight to be the basis for a documentary. That's how I originally chose the subject of the "Three Strikes and You're Out" Law for my thesis and final project at CSUMB. I produced a 13 minute short on the "three strikes" law that went to the Jackson Hole, Hot Springs and Mill Valley film festivals. At Mill Valley it was the runner-up for a British Academy of Film and Television Award for best short film. The great responses the short received convinced me that many people shared my passion about the subject matter. I decided to pursue the "three strikes" law as the topic for my first feature length documentary.

A documentary about "three strikes" had actually been produced in 1998. It was full of information and history about the law and so was very educational. It was released only four years after the 1994 inception of the "three strikes" law. I feel that enough time has passed to explore the motion of the law through the many individuals and institutions affected by it. 25 to Life not only tells the law's history but also the daily reminders of its impacts on those involved giving it a more human element.

It is with this in mind that I'm moving this project forward towards making a positive change by educating and opening a global commentary on one of America's most controversial bills, the "Three Strikes and You're Out" Law.

- Deloss Pickett