About

Tracy Shields was an American expatriate working as an au pair and studying in Paris. Captivated by great expats like Earnest Hemingway, Henry Miller, and Anaïs Nïn, she sat nearly every day at the cafe Les Deux Magots writing, dreaming and racking her brain to figure out a way to stay longer.

But, she ran out of money, whomp, whomp, and her parents dragged her home.

That didn’t stop her from continually pursing life abroad. Since then, she has lived, worked and/or traveled through Greenland, France, Spain, Italy, Holland, UK, the Caribbean and North Africa.  And while her current home-base is New Jersey, she continues to travel the globe, fascinated by the people she meets who call somewhere else their home.

American Uproot is born out of the passion and the desire to take a peek into the lives of other Americans who have packed their bags and moved abroad. Partnering with tourist boards, friends oversees, and an incredible group of art, writing, film and video associations within the countries she visits, Shields decided to create a travel series where extraordinary destinations are brought to viewers not by scripted experts, but rather, by ordinary Americans.

The pilot episode will be filmed in Madrid; and, other episodes such as Tangier, Marrakech, Nassau, and Abu Dhabi will follow. American Uproot is currently an independent video project not affiliated with a network.