What happens when an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker turns his camera toward one of the fastest-changing tick problems in the Northeast?
In this episode of the Tick Boot Camp Podcast, Matt Sabatello, Tick Boot Camp Co-Founder, sits down in person with Emmy-winning filmmaker Reece Robinson, director of the upcoming documentary Ticking Point, to explore the rise of lone star ticks, Alpha-Gal Syndrome, Lyme disease, and what communities can do to fight back.
For Reece, the story is personal. His older brother experienced severe chronic Lyme disease, including Bell’s palsy, cognitive problems, significant pain, intravenous antibiotics, and a period of being bedridden. Years later, Reece watched another tick-related threat begin transforming life on Martha’s Vineyard: the rapid expansion of lone star ticks and growing concern about Alpha-Gal Syndrome.
Now he is documenting it.
From Chronic Lyme Disease to Ticking Point
Reece shares how watching his brother struggle with Lyme disease left a lasting impression on him long before he became a professional filmmaker.
His career eventually led him into character-driven documentary storytelling and work on National Geographic’s The First Wave, which documented healthcare workers and patients during the earliest months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the summer of 2025, Reece noticed something happening on Martha’s Vineyard that he could no longer ignore. Conversations about ticks and Alpha-Gal Syndrome seemed to be everywhere.
That experience became the foundation for Ticking Point, a feature-length, solutions-focused documentary examining how communities are responding to expanding tick populations and Alpha-Gal Syndrome.
What Is Ticking Point?
Rather than creating what Reece describes as a “doom and gloom” documentary, Ticking Point focuses on people trying to solve the problem.
The film follows residents, scientists, hunters, public health professionals, and advocates as communities confront questions surrounding:
- Lone star tick expansion
- Alpha-Gal Syndrome
- Deer populations and tick ecology
- Community-wide tick management
- Tick-bite prevention
- Emerging scientific research
- Public health policy
- Ecological interventions
- The challenges of balancing competing community priorities
Martha’s Vineyard provides a fascinating case study because it combines a significant tick problem with an engaged year-round community actively searching for solutions.
The question behind the film is much bigger than one island: If Martha’s Vineyard can find ways to meaningfully reduce its tick problem, could those lessons help other communities?
Alpha-Gal Syndrome and the Lone Star Tick
Much of the conversation focuses on growing concern surrounding Alpha-Gal Syndrome (AGS), an allergy associated in the United States primarily with bites from lone star ticks.
Reece discusses stories he has encountered while making the documentary, including people whose reactions extend far beyond simply avoiding steak or hamburgers. For some patients, mammalian-derived ingredients, dairy products, medications containing certain animal-derived ingredients, or even exposure to cooking fumes can become concerns.
The unpredictable nature of Alpha-Gal Syndrome is one reason Reece believes more research is urgently needed.
Two people can experience tick exposure and have dramatically different outcomes—and researchers are still working to understand why.
The Rise of the Lone Star Tick
Reece describes the lone star tick as a particularly formidable challenge.
Unlike the more passive questing behavior people often associate with blacklegged ticks, lone star ticks can actively move toward potential hosts. The conversation explores their behavior, expanding presence across parts of the Northeast, and what that expansion could mean for communities already dealing with Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.
Alpha-Gal Syndrome is also only part of the discussion.
Matt, Rich, and Reece discuss other conditions associated with lone star ticks, including ehrlichiosis, tularemia, and Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness (STARI).
Filming a Long Island Tick Drag with Monica Cipriani
This interview was recorded at the end of an extraordinary day in the field.
Before sitting down for the podcast, Reece joined Tick Boot Camp and researcher Monica Cipriani on Long Island to film tick-dragging footage for Ticking Point.
The results demonstrated just how significant local lone star tick populations can become. The team encountered large numbers of lone star ticks, including dense clusters of larvae commonly called “tick bombs.”
Reece filmed the fieldwork and plans to use footage from the day in his documentary.
See what we discovered during our Long Island tick drag with Monica Cipriani and Reece Robinson.
Searching for Solutions to the Tick Problem
One of the most important themes of Ticking Point is that there probably won’t be one solution to the growing tick problem.
Reece is documenting approaches that address the issue from multiple directions, including:
- Deer population management
- Habitat and landscape management
- Tick-bite prevention
- Scientific research
- Public education
- Community-based interventions
- Research into the human immune response
- Potential future technologies designed to interrupt tick-borne disease transmission
The conversation also explores the social and political challenges surrounding interventions such as deer management and controlled burns.
Solutions that may appear straightforward scientifically can become much more complicated when implemented across real communities.
Can We Prevent Tick-Borne Disease Before the Bite Leads to Illness?
Reece also discusses scientists exploring entirely new approaches to tick-borne disease prevention.
That includes research involving genetically modified mice designed to interrupt the transmission cycle of Lyme disease, as well as investigations into immune responses that could someday help researchers better understand how the body responds to tick feeding.
These ideas remain areas of research rather than immediate solutions, but they illustrate a broader question driving Ticking Point:
Can we change the environment, ecology, or transmission cycle in ways that prevent people from becoming sick in the first place?
A Filmmaker With a Personal Connection to Lyme Disease
Although Reece does not identify as a tick-borne disease patient himself, his brother’s experience gives him a perspective familiar to many families in the Lyme community.
He remembers his brother experiencing Bell’s palsy, severe pain, memory problems, prolonged illness, IV antibiotics, and numerous approaches to treatment.
That experience now intersects with Reece’s career as a documentary filmmaker.
His goal with Ticking Point isn’t simply to show how frightening ticks can be. It is to document people trying to understand the problem, challenge it, and build solutions.
Support and Follow Ticking Point
Ticking Point is currently an independent documentary project, and Reece is looking for people affected by Alpha-Gal Syndrome, researchers, advocates, communities working on tick-control initiatives, and others with meaningful stories to share.
The project is also accepting tax-deductible financial support through its fiscal sponsor.
Learn more about Ticking Point, watch the documentary teaser, join the mailing list, or contact Reece Robinson.
Learn More About Reece Robinson
Reece Robinson is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker whose work focuses on human stories and social issues. His credits include work as a field producer on National Geographic’s The First Wave, documenting the earliest months of the COVID-19 pandemic inside a New York hospital.
Learn more about Reece Robinson and explore his filmmaking work.
More From Tick Boot Camp
Want to continue learning about Lyme disease, Alpha-Gal Syndrome, ticks, and the people working to solve these complex problems?
Explore more Tick Boot Camp Podcast interviews with patients, doctors, researchers, and advocates.
If you’ve recently found a tick or experienced a tick bite, start with the Tick Boot Camp Tick Bite Blueprint.
And don’t miss our behind-the-scenes look at the fieldwork featured in Reece’s documentary: Long Island Tick Drag: Tick Bombs, Lone Star Ticks & an Invasive Tick.
