The Work in Progress - Film

The Work in Progress

Strangers from across generations and geographies listen to one another as they discuss where America is going and their place in it, alongside portraits of a country at work.

About the Film

If you were invited to sit at a table with someone you’ve never met before and answer handwritten questions from a wooden box about the state of America, would you run the other way? The Work in Progress invites strangers from across generations and geographies to engage in candid discussions about America’s ever-evolving democracy, identity, and definitions of community — and where the heck we go from here. Guided by questions posed by Executive Producer Robert Reich, participants sit down in a series of conversations with one another to explore the country they’re living in now and the one they still believe is possible.

These encounters are intercut with portraits of Americans at work — in woodshops, laboratories, fields, board rooms, recording studios, theaters, and beyond. The message is simple but profound: America can work because, in many ways, it’s already working. And a central part of the work ahead is to reclaim the practices of dialogue, debate, compromise, and perhaps most importantly, listening, so that we might find our footing again.

What emerges in The Work in Progress is an unusual and provocative glimpse of America in its 250th year, and an invitation to all Americans to pull up a chair, invite a stranger, and lend an ear.

Title

The Work in Progress

Release

2026

Runtime

100 minutes (1 hour 40 minutes)

Rating

Not Rated

Genre

Documentary

Directors

Ian Cheney