The Dangerous Art of the Documentary Double Elvis Productions, Tiller Russell

Academy and Emmy Award winning director Alex Gibney, head of the prolific doc studio Jigsaw Productions, has a new film about an old legend, Paul Simon. “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon”, is a look back on Paul Simon's extraordinary six-decade career as well as an intimate glimpse into his creative process as he is in the studio creating his newest album, Seven Psalms. In his discussion with Tiller, Alex reflects on capturing both the practical and mystical method of Paul’s creative process (2:20), starting to put the film together with Paul (8:30), weaving the distant past with the present day (15:30), uncovering the intimacy between Paul and Wynton Marsalis through their disagreements (21:30), and how creating music is unexpectedly evocative of the documentary process itself (28:00). 

Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions

Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s newest film, “The Grab”, is an earth-shattering revelation. Over six years in the making, it follows the incredible work of an investigative journalist who uncovers the money, influence and alarming rationale behind covert efforts to control the most vital resource on the planet. In her discussion with Tiller, Gabriela reflects on her journey of starting to go down this treacherous rabbit hole (1:00), making a complicated global plot feel like a digestible, present tense thriller (8:00), her collaborative methods (15:30), what happened to the film when they received 20,000 secret emails (22:30), how to end an existentially terrifying investigative film like this with genuine hope (29:00), and selling the film’s commercial appeal despite possibly making enemies with world power governments (36:00). 

Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions

Acclaimed filmmakers Rory Kennedy and Mark Bailey join Tiller to discuss their latest hit documentary “The Synanon Fix”, a four-part series that tracks the rise and fall of an organization that began as a rehab for heroin addicts and devolved into an egalitarian community that mandated vasectomies, shaved heads, partner swapping, bizarre social experiments, and ultimately, child abuse and attempted murder. Rory and Mark share how they’ve balanced marriage, co-parenting and running a film company together (1:40), what exactly is Synanon (7:30), why the “cult members” of Synanon feel so genuine and familiar to us today (14:00), the group leader Chuck’s various methods of social experimentation (19:00), the division of labor between directing (Rory) and writing (Mark) (28:00), constructing their opening title sequence (33:00), and how this film “holds the tension of the opposites ” (42:50). 

Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions

Director Avi Belkin’s masterful 2019 film “Mike Wallace is Here” offers an unflinching look at the legendary reporter, who interrogated the 20th century’s biggest figures in his over fifty years on air. Unearthing decades of never-before-seen footage from the 60 Minutes vault, the film explores what drove and plagued Wallace, whose storied career, marked by aggressive reporting style and showmanship, was entwined with the evolution of journalism itself. In his discussion with Tiller, Avi reflects on his foundational approach to nonfiction filmmaking (4:40), the tension between conventional storytelling and evolving the medium (11:00), the origin of “Mike Wallace is Here” (16:00), painting an faithful portrait of a dead man from a bygone era (21:00), moving between genres within one film (30:00), addressing the scene of Mike losing his son (37:30), and Mike’s incredible interview with Barbara Streisand (45:00). 

Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions

Renowned cinema verité filmmaker Chris Hegedus, along with her late husband and co-director D.A. Pennebaker, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1993 for “The War Room”, a fleet-footed and entertaining documentary following the brainstorming and bull sessions of Bill Clinton’s crack team of campaign consultants, especially James Carville and George Stephanopoulos, who became media stars in their own right. In her discussion with Tiller, Chris reflects on first getting connected with Pennebaker (3:00), recognizing dramatic verité stories to tell (11:30), meeting the larger-than-life star of “The War Room” James Carville (16:40), shooting only 40 hours on 16mm film (21:10), her and D.A.’s editing process (31:00), and ultimately when to put the paintbrush down (39:00). 

Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions

Director Bao Nguyen’s new documentary “The Greatest Night in Pop” chronicles the dreamlike recording session for “We Are the World,” the 1985 charity single sung by a motley crew of America’s biggest pop stars. In his conversation with Tiller, Bao reveals why he questioned if he was the right person to tell this story (3:00), his journey to find the long sought-after archival footage (8:40), the practice in ‘80s nostalgia (15:00), why he insisted on filming interviews at the same studio in Hollywood where they recorded the song (19:10), finding surprising characters in the unlikeliest places (26:00), and how they replicated the same filming look of the original music video, from using cheap TV doc crew lights to hunting down the same cameras used in 1985 (36:30). 

Produced by: Jacob Miller
Executive Producer: Tiller Russell
Music by: James Carroll, Graham Tracey & Zydepunk
Distributed by: Jake Brennan & Brady Sadler, Double Elvis Productions