Katie Lee Biegel and Ryan Biegel are behind a new CNN documentary short, *Top of the World*, which explores the history of the famed Windows on the World restaurant and the people who worked there. The documentary is inspired by Tom Roston’s book, *The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World*.
The project began after chef Marc Murphy, who worked at Windows on the World, gave Katie Lee Biegel and her co-hosts on Food Network’s *The Kitchen* copies of Roston’s book. Biegel recalls reading it in her dressing room and being immediately captivated. She and her husband, Ryan Biegel, discussed turning the book into a documentary for several years. Approximately three-and-a-half years ago, Ryan Biegel began working on the project.
The resulting documentary, directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen (known for *RBG* and a documentary about Julia Child), will premiere on CNN on Labor Day, with streaming availability on CNN’s app and CNN.com. It received a limited theatrical run in New York City from August 28 to September 3. *Top of the World* focuses on the 25-year history of Windows on the World, located on the 106th and 107th floors of the north tower of the World Trade Center, and the stories of people like chef Michael Lomonaco and restaurateur Joe Baum. Seventy-nine Windows employees and 91 guests were among the nearly 3,000 people who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Katie Lee and Ryan Biegel partnered with Time and Tribeca Studios for the project, choosing them from nearly a dozen interested production companies. They specifically wanted West and Cohen to direct, praising their ability to utilize archival footage and incorporate food into storytelling, as demonstrated in their Julia Child documentary. Katie Lee Biegel highlighted the financial challenges of bringing the documentary to fruition, stating, “There were several times when we thought this was not going to happen just due to the sheer finances of raising money to make a documentary…There were several times when we just didn’t think that we were going to be able to raise the budget to do it, and that was something that I worked really hard on. And fundraising is not in my wheelhouse, so that was something new that I learned.”
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