Transforming night into day for a boy with a rare allergy to sunlight was life-changing for everyone involved: for Peyton and his self-esteem, for his family and friends who witnessed their entire community rally around them, and for the greater public who was inspired and activated after watching the film.

Ten-year-old Peyton Madden lives with an extremely rare and life-threatening allergy to sunlight called xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), which highly restricts his ability to engage in typical daytime activities without extreme head-to-toe coverage, and with summer temperatures around 105°F, he can easily overheat—a devastating limitation for a child who loves to play outside, ride his bike, and swim. He has never been to the local pool with his friends.

On August 4, 2017, the entire town of El Dorado, Kansas came together to transform evening into morning for Peyton: inviting him to engage in all that the community has to offer, but under the safety of darkness.

In a town of just thousands, nearly 500 people showed up for “Good Morning Peyton,” giving him the “day” of his dreams. To cap it off, the mayor presented an official town proclamation, declaring the evening of August 4th to be “Peyton’s Morning.”

We did not anticipate nor encounter any regional restrictions or regulations regarding our work on Good Morning Peyton.

In “Good Morning Peyton,” we had to authentically capture an emotional, personal story, while orchestrating a massive, participatory event that had an important element of surprise to it. On top of that, we needed to film in the darkness with a child who is allergic to light.

Because of Peyton Madden's rare disease, xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), we made light a central character in the film. As we first begin to tell Peyton's story and explain the details of his allergy to light, we use it as a tool to illustrate the isolation of his disease and his distinct separation from the outside world.

As the film continues, we surround Peyton with more and more light to visually depict the transformation from exclusion to inclusion. The illumination from the overhead balloons and the glow from the string lights gave our event, our cameras, and Peyton a safe and inviting atmosphere.