Synopsis | Director's Statement

Scott Lew is a funny guy. His taste for the absurd has served him well throughout a successful career as a Hollywood film executive turned writer/director. Without exaggeration, he's one of those people who is genuinely liked and admired by all who know him.

In 2003, at the age of 33, Scott Lew was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

ALS is a commonly fatal neuro-muscular disease, which leads to the loss of the ability to breathe, speak, chew, swallow, or support one's own body weight. Because ALS attacks only motor neurons, the senses of sight, touch, hearing, taste and smell are not affected. For the vast majority of people, the intellect remains sharp throughout the course of the disease despite the eventual, total paralysis of the body. The average life-span of a patient with ALS is three to five years from the time of diagnosis.

Despite this devastating news and the rapid progression of his disability, Scott forged ahead and made the choice to direct his first feature film, Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas. He had written the script years before, about an eccentric college kid whose grand theories of the universe reach cult status. Characteristically "Scott" in the script's cosmic reflections and wildly funny writing, we see the ideas in the film strangely parallel Scott's changing perspective.

Over the next three years, as Scott worked tirelessly to achieve his goal, trusted friend and filmmaker Adam Bardach set forth to document Scott's trials and triumphs. The resulting film, Living With Lew, is an intimate portrayal of a man forced to make enormous life-decisions in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

Living With Lew is ultimately a story of hope, bravery and a family's love. It is the story of one man's indomitable spirit, relentless lust for life, dogged pursuit of a dream and his wild, subversive sense of humor that carries him through an unimaginable turn in his life story.