Carmel's Ashton Gleckman will debut 8-part 'Kennedy' docuseries in Indianapolis this week

At 16 years old, Ashton Gleckman dropped out of high school.

It was getting in the way of the Carmel teenager's burgeoning career as a composer. He had already recorded his first album at 13 and launched his YouTube channel, which has since racked up more than 13.5 million views, at 14.

But, prodigy or not, a teenager's interests tend to evolve. By 19, he was diving into an adjacent profession: documentary filmmaker. His first full-length release was not lacking in ambition for the young novice: "We Shall Not Die Now," a firsthand accounting of The Holocaust told by some who lived through it.

This week, the now-23-year-old Gleckman will debut his latest zealous project: "Kennedy," an eight-episode docuseries chronicling the life of former President John F. Kennedy. The first episode will air at 8 p.m. Saturday on The History Channel.

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Heartland Film Festival and The History Channel will also host a sneak preview screening of the series' seventh episode at The Toby Theater at Newfields on Wednesday. Doors open at 6 p.m. Gleckman will also host a question-and-answer session with Lawrence J. Haas, an author and former White House official featured in the series, after the preview.

The idea to profile Kennedy came to Gleckman in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, as he looked for stories of hope in American history.

"I came to the realization that JFK would be an amazing vessel to explore," Gleckman told IndyStar in a phone interview. "This remarkable moment in American history that created the world we live in and also teaches us a lot about human nature and facing crises."

Research included interviews with government officials, Chris Matthews and Conan O'Brien

Gleckman began work in 2020 by extensively researching the digitized collection of Kennedy's presidential museum. He wrote a loose script based on Kennedy's speeches and correspondence, going as far back as letters written to Kennedy's parents by his grade school teachers.

In March 2021, he rented a car, packed it with film equipment and pandemic-era protective gear, and spent three weeks driving up and down the East Coast collecting interviews. In all, he spoke to more than 70 subjects ranging from historians, scholars and civil rights experts to household TV names like Chris Matthews and Conan O'Brien.

"Part of my mission from the beginning was getting far away from just focusing on people who covered JFK," Gleckman said. "I wanted to (interview) people who covered the time and the context of JFK to really create a full picture of that time period."

Gleckman spoke to government officials involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion and the formation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to name two examples.

Telling Kennedy's story from childhood to the presidency was no small task

Episodes will focus on personal stories surrounding Kennedy's younger years spent wrought with health problems, his service during World War II and time in Congress, in addition to the more well-known presidential moments.

"When World War II came around, he used his family resources and money to get into battle, not out of it, unlike many other privileged people," Gleckman said.

Although he had only made features and short films before, Gleckman said he did not struggle to fill eight television episodes. In fact, his first cut came in at about 14 hours, which he then pared down to the six hours needed for the series due to commercial breaks.

As he has with his previous projects and various films from other directors, Gleckman also composed the score for "Kennedy."

Getting a musical start

Gleckman's entertainment career began in his early teens. He played local gigs and recorded with his band, Rising Gravity Experience, before moving into film scoring and composition at 14. He has recorded eight albums in all.

Gleckman said he was always drawn to the music of various historical epics, from "Lawrence of Arabia" to "Gladiator" and "Braveheart."

His YouTube series delves into famous film scores. Gleckman recreates the pieces instrument by instrument using a computer program, then offers his insights on why the composer made the choices they did.

Gleckman has taken some private lessons and attended a few internships, but most of his musical and film-related technical skills were self-taught.

First feature documentary won an audience award at Heartland

His first feature documentary, "We Shall Not Die Now," was inspired in part by his great-uncle, an American soldier during World War II.

"He had passed away, and I realized there was only going to be a window to go out and interview survivors, travel around and make a film about The Holocaust with firsthand witnesses," Gleckman said.

With limited resources and experience, he filmed, conducted and edited every interview in the U.S., United Kingdom and Poland on his own. His film debuted at the 2019 Heartland International Film Festival and won an audience award in the Indiana Spotlight category.

He then produced an hourlong documentary, The Hills I Call Home, about a small Appalachian town.

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Gleckman's next project will spotlight longtime Secret Service agent

With "Kennedy" ready to debut, Gleckman will focus on his next project: "Agent Number 9," a documentary profiling former U.S. Secret Service agent Clint Hill. Hill served each U.S. president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Gerald Ford and is perhaps best known for shielding John and Jacqueline Kennedy with his body in the moments after the former was shot.

Asked about his research into the time period for both projects, Gleckman said he was most surprised by just how close the world was to global conflict during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which encompasses episodes six and seven of "Kennedy."

"We were literally minutes away — one decision away — from World War III," Gleckman said. "We were lucky to have a leader like Kennedy, who had a sense of patience and diplomacy, to get us through that."

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Rory Appleton is the pop culture reporter at IndyStar. Contact him at 317-552-9044 and rappleton@indystar.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RoryEHAppleton.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: History Channel's latest 'Kennedy' docuseries debuts in Indy this week