In 1999, Cutler set out to create the first network "nonfiction drama," a form of documentary serial storytelling that was new to American commercial prime time television. Cutler conceived of, developed and sold a television series called "American High" to Fox Television's drama division. Then he and two cinema verite crews spent an entire school year filming 14 students at Highland Park High School, a public high school 40 miles northwest of Chicago. Over the course of the year, they collected more than 2800 hours of footage, 70 percent of which was shot by Cutler's crews, and the rest of which was filmed by the students themselves with digital cameras provided by the filmmakers. This footage was then edited into 14 half-hour episodes.