Drinking was a burden for Bill Wilson. But when he quit, he took up a new burden.

That’s the story that directors Kevin Hanlon and Dan Carracino tell in their film “Bill W.” They didn’t set out to tell this story; they just wanted to make a film. But as Hanlon happened to be reading the history of Alcoholics Anonymous he realized there was a good story to tell.

The two AA founders were Dr. Bob Smith of Akron and Bill Wilson, a businessman in New York. The filmmakers decided to focus on Wilson, and they had hundreds of tape recordings of his speeches to use.

Wilson famously began making phone calls, hoping to find a fellow alcoholic to help him.  He was put in touch with Henrietta Seiberling who invited him to her house – the gate house at Stan Hywet. And that became the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous on Mother’s Day 1935.  She introduced him to her friend Dr. Bob Smith, an alcoholic who needed help even more than Bill W.  The two men formed the organization and wrote its guiding principles.

Many, if not most, of the people in the documentary are alcoholics themselves. Their identity is hidden --  their stories, personal. 

AA member:  "They'd come pick me up and take me to a meeting and I'd walk out the back door.  I wouldnt stay for the meeting I was just trying to get a ride across town. I'd try to get money off of them. They'd make me take a shower because apparently I stunk too bad to go to a meeting... And every day they'd pick me up. They'd act like that was the first time I was going to get sober. They never got sick of me; they never acted like I was wearing them out."

Bill W. spent the rest of his life leading AA even though he'd like to have simply gone back to a life in business. The responsibilities and the lack of took its toll on him and the lack of adequate pay took a toll on him.  For his selfless service to the cause Wilson was adored by AA members.