The Documentary Life

Filming the ones that we love and making documentaries about them can be a challenging, but ultimately very rewarding experience. It can be full of emotional pitfalls. It can bring families closer to…

One of the most popular topics on The Documentary Life deals with post production. More specifically, editing your documentary film. And not surprisingly one of the most popular guests on the program…

Two veterans of Ken Burns films, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein, have recently completed work on their documentary film, four-part PBS series, College Behind Bars.  And I had the pleasure of speaking…

How can you raise a quick $8k in 18 days for your documentary film?  Steph and I recently did this on our doc project, Elvis of Cambodia. We’d like to share a few things that worked well and one thin…

How does one combine the expanse of one’s artistic works and their personal journey with breast cancer into their first documentary film?  This is what was on my mind as I spoke with French sculptor,…

What if there was a viable way for the independent documentary filmmaker to build and sustain an audience to support your doc films for the duration of your career?  And what if there was a straight …

If you were subjected to daily bombardment from the air, you were entrenched in a make-shift hospital, and you’d just recently had a baby, would you still be able to pick up your camera and film even…

What if there was a pretty straightforward way for the independent documentary filmmaker to raise a quick infusion of funding for their documentary film… simply by holding a party? Well, there is. It…

Ever noticed just how many barriers there seem to be to this documentary filmmaking thing?  Funding. Equipment. Live pitch presentations. Distribution platforms. You name it, everywhere you turn as a…

So many of us doc filmmakers think that we’ll never make any money from our films. Or that we’re incapable of raising money for them. And that’s wrong. There is actually no reason that any of us shou…

So many doc filmmakers are doing the one person crew documentary. For many, it’s a necessary evil due to financial constraints of the doc filmmaker. But for some, like doco Claudio von Planta, it’s t…

How many times have you been approached by a friend or family member with another “great idea for a documentary”, when they find out that you’re a doc filmmaker? Well, if you’re anything like Miami d…

Ever wonder what it might be like to discover a treasure trove of archival footage that lay untouched for over thirty years for your documentary film? That’s exactly what happened for veteran BBC and…

When filmmakers Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce met, it was a match in doc filmmaking heaven. Their first documentary film, The Art of the Steal, was a Netflix hit that would lead them to their next d…

Entrepreneur, Dominic Johnson-Hill, has just spent the last year traveling China and presenting for the documentary series, Seasons of China. But the journey to becoming one of China’s most recogniza…

Doug Block has made a living out of the personal documentary style, including films like Home Page, 51 Birch Street, and The Kids Grow Up. He is also the pioneer behind one of the largest online docu…

Few people know the crowdfunding game like John Trigonis. He is considered to be one of the leading experts in the game. And with good reason, since he has been leading some of the most impressive cr…

Thom Powers has been more in touch with documentary filmmaking and filmmakers than most anyone I know. Which makes sense, since he made docs for about a decade, programs for two of the most prestigio…

Doc filmmaking duo, James Jones and Olivier Sarbil, have been making their doc living on the frontline of some of the world’s most dangerous areas. But they didn’t necessarily always intend it to be …