… [The film] blended a deep sense of heart with issues of hard science and profound socioeconomic realities about which few are aware.” (medical oncologist)
Investigating Non-Conventional Cancer Therapies
The second feature documentary undertaken by WayMark Productions, “A New Standard of Care: Alternative Cancer Therapies” (2023 release date), investigates non-conventional cancer therapies used worldwide.
The World Health Organization statistics states one-in-three women and one-in-two men will contract cancer in their lifetime. Further, cancer incidence is set to increase by 70 percent in the next two decades.
Receiving a cancer diagnosis psychologically paralyzes many patients. In turn, most readily take their doctors’ advice — advice based on today’s limited Standard of Care protocols of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.
However, science-based non-conventional cancer therapies capable of extending the life of a patient do exist. Many have case studies and are supported by the medical literature.
Some forms of alternative cancer treatments are already being used in hospitals and leading cancer centers. Yet there is still resistance in adding them to today’s conventional Standard of Care due to widespread misinformation and special interests.
Traveling throughout the U.S. and abroad, WayMark’s team is gathering information on the leading alternative technologies through interviews with top scientists, medical doctors, patients, key regulatory and governmental decision makers, and heads of associations.
This documentary film is designed to educate policymakers, the medical community and the public that many alternative cancer treatments are legitimate and worthy of future investment, research, and clinical trials.
The cancer diagnosis is nothing to fear if we are armed with the right tools to treat — and potentially cure — this dreadful disease using “A New Standard of Care.”
Meet the Team
Megan S. Smith holds an M.S. in biology with a thesis in molecular genetics, and currently works as a documentary filmmaker and freelance investigative journalist in the areas of science and health. In 2016, Smith founded WayMark Productions, LLC, a company dedicated to bettering the lives of those with health afflictions.
Prior to that, she worked consecutive decades as a screenwriter, a Capitol Hill lobbyist for renewable energy, and a stage performer/recording artist. Smith was the first to report on the inaccuracy of Lyme disease testing for The Washington Post, and the government’s gross underreporting of this epidemic for her local paper.
Smith wrote, produced and directed her first short documentary, “bOObs: The War on Women’s Breasts,” which garnered international film festival awards. Starting October 2020, Smith’s feature film by the same name was distributed by Los Angeles-based Cinema Libre Studio. The film looks into different breast cancer screening tests for women.
Smith also wrote, produced and directed her second film, “A New Standard of Care: Alternative Cancer Therapies,” which investigates the area of non-conventional cancer therapies. The film is dedicated to her late husband who passed of cancer in 2009. See more about Megan here.
Eric Merola is an internationally award-winning documentary filmmaker. Under his company Merola Productions, LLC, he has over the last decade directed, produced, written and edited his six documentaries exploring new scientific technologies in the space of medical research.
Merola’s best known for his award-winning and critically acclaimed documentaries “Second Opinion: Laetrile at Sloan-Kettering” and “Burzynski: Cancer is Serious Business.”
John M. Kirchner is a professional artist and photographer with over thirty years experience. Kirchner studied at Pratt Institute, The Architectural Association, The University of Copenhagen, and The University of Lausanne.
His work has been exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally, and is contained in the collections of The United States Department of State, The Federal Reserve Board, The District of Columbia Arts and Humanities Commission, JP Morgan Bank, Mr. Peter Lynch and Mr. George Stephanopoulos.
“Extremely well put together…covers a lot of important ground” (alternatives advocate)