Many people want to preserve more than their wealth. They also want to save – and pass on – their family history.

Some would love to be able to hear a grandfather or great-grandmother’s story, but it might be too late. Or they would like to pass on to future generations the stories of their lives.

Acknowledge Media has created a product to help carry out these desires. The company produces family legacy films that preserve the lives and thoughts of an older generation for younger family members and for generations to come.

“I’ve always been inspired by the human narrative,” says Rich Polt, who founded Acknowledge Media in June after 24 years in public relations, most recently for Foundation Source, an organization that helps people set up private foundations.

He and Eric Brotman, president and managing partner of Brotman Financial Group based in the Baltimore area, launched a collaboration Tuesday to provide legacy films to Brotman Financial Group clients. They already have created a legacy film of Brotman’s father and have several other people signed up.

The family legacy film is based on interviews with a family member, usually an older couple or an older, single man or woman, who wants to preserve the stories about how they grew up and the significant things that happened in their lives.

The interview is combined with up to 100 family pictures, plus other souvenirs or keepsakes from a lifetime of living, set to a musical background that tells the story of the family.

“I would give anything to hear my grandfather’s voice right now and to revive his wisdom,” Brotman says. “My daughter will never know my grandparents. Legacy family films are a way to change that.”

Brotman says to understand where a family came from, more than a family tree is necessary. More is needed than the facts; more than the whats, wheres and whens. A descendent wants to know the whys, he says.

The process for completing a legacy film involves having an initial conversation with Polt to determine the goal of the person being interviewed and to set out the parameters of the conversation.

An in-depth interview of two to four hours explores the history of the person, the important events of his or her life and the emotions surrounding these events. The whole interview is filmed along with the photos and any other relevant items.

Depending on what the client wants, the entire process can be boiled down to a one-hour film, and a highlights film of a few minutes, plus the recording of the entire interview. Each film is individually designed and edited.

Although the idea of preserving a family’s history has been around for some time, many are fairly expensive. Acknowledge Media will do family legacy films starting at about $6,000. The recordings are produced on DVD or Blu-Ray or on a digital file and the process takes about six to eight weeks.

The company is limiting work to the central East Coast area for now, but Polt sees the project expanding nationwide or even internationally eventually. The interviews are usually conducted in the family home or wherever the interviewee feels most comfortable.

“A lot of people feel like they do not have enough stories to tell or that no one will care about their lives, but they inevitably turn around and say they wish they had a movie of their grandfather or grandmother,” Brotman says. “Rich is very good communicator and story teller. This is a prime piece of estate planning that is usually overlooked.”

“We believe that a comprehensive legacy plan considers the full breadth of assets in planning for the future prosperity and security of a family. Traditionally, wealth managers focus on the financial side of the picture, but that is only one component of what a family may want to preserve for future generations,” adds Brotman who says the service also will help differentiate Brotman Financial Group from competitors.

“By teaming with Acknowledge Media, we’re providing our multi-generational family clients with the know-how, tools, and services to preserve and celebrate the unique aspects of legacy including oral histories and family values,” he says.