SALEM — Reality TV director Katherine Brooks was deeply depressed and recuperating from sinus surgery when it suddenly struck her that she had 5,000 so-called friends on Facebook, and yet, she felt utterly isolated.
"I was looking at my Facebook page, and I didn't understand how I could have so many friends and feel so disconnected and so alone," recalled Brooks, 35.
Amid her personal despair, she decided to take an unusual step in the social networking world and establish a live connection with people.
"I posted that to the first 50 people who say yes, I'm coming to your city and I'm going to spend the day with you and I'm going to make it into a movie," she said. "It was just whoever was on their computer at the time and said yes."
Salem resident Victoria Venturo was among those fortunate Facebook fans who spotted the post and replied immediately, which is how she wound up touring the filmmaker around Salem yesterday as the 10th stop on Brooks' traveling documentary project "Face 2 Face."
"It was awesome," Venturo, 22, a student at Salem State University, said last night. "I can't even explain how it was to see her in person after being a fan for so many years."
Brooks — who directed hit reality shows, including "The Osbournes," and gained a following for her 2006 film "Loving Annabelle," about a girl who is sent to boarding school and has a lesbian affair with her teacher — is now traveling the country in an SUV decorated in "Face 2 Face" graphics.
She picked up Venturo at her Boston Street apartment yesterday, and the pair spent the day visiting the Salem Witch Museum, relaxing on Salem Common, stopping at the Witch's Brew Cafe on Derby Street and, of course, visiting a psychic shop — while the cameras rolled the entire time.
But, most importantly, they talked.
"I was excited to be doing it to tell her my life story," said Venturo, who is a lesbian, "about what has happened in the past that has made me who I am now. We just talked, really."
And that's exactly what Brooks is trying to capture.
"I hate to break most people's bubble, but reality TV is not real," said Brooks, who splits her time between Los Angeles and New Orleans. "Of the 50 shows I've worked on, I would say maybe 5 percent were pure documentary-style where we weren't manipulating or making it the story we wanted to tell. ... I felt like I was tricking people.
"This is so different because it's so raw," she said. "What I'm learning is that everyone has a story."
She'll travel to 39 states in all, and she has about 15,000 people following the journey online.
Brooks posts weekly highlights from the road and plans to choose the eight strongest stories from all 50. She will edit them down to a documentary she hopes to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Venturo said she will be happy whether she makes the documentary or not.
"I'm just so happy that she came up with this idea," said Venturo, a New Jersey native who is studying graphic design at Salem State. "I can't wait to see everyone else's stories. It's just so interesting learning about people all around our country."
Ironically, the social networking site that once exacerbated Brooks' loneliness has now enabled her to bond with people.
"I'm just hoping to connect with people and help people feel a little less alone," Brooks said. "I've already met (10) people, and it's changed my life. I've cried when I left these people."
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To learn more about Katherine Brooks' "Face 2 Face" documentary project, visit www.face2facemovie.com.
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Lifestyles Editor Amanda McGregor can be reached at 978-338-2665, amcgregor@salemnews.com and on Twitter @sn_ashorething and @AmandaSalemNews.
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