Documentary First: Conversations on Documentary Filmmaking

Christian Taylor | Documentary First
  • 4.8 (45)
  • Film Interviews
  • Weekly

Conversations with the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-time directors finishing their first film. Documentary First is a weekly podcast for anyone who loves a true story, and for the filmmakers who tell them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom (25+ international awards; distributed by Virgil Films, Swank, and Canal+), has talked with documentary directors, editors, producers, distributors, composers, entertainment lawyers, actors and more across HBO, Netflix, PBS, and the independent documentary world in nearly 300 conversations. Guests have included Emmy and Peabody Award-winning editor Charles Olivier (HBO’s The Jinx) and Emmy-nominated director Nicholas Bruckman (Not Going Quietly, Minted). Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. Two formats, one feed. The main show features long-form interviews about the stories behind the films: how they got made, what it took from the people who made them, and what they learned. On alternating weeks, Documentary First: The Deep Dive takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Topics include documentary films and how they get made: documentary directing, documentary producing, documentary editing, documentary distribution, documentary funding, documentary storytelling, film festival strategy, archival footage and rights clearance, entertainment law for filmmakers, and building a life in nonfiction filmmaking. New episodes every week. Follow the show and leave a review. Instagram: @documentaryfirst | Facebook: @documentaryfirst | X: @doc_first | TikTok: @documentaryfirst | YouTube: @DocumentaryFirst | LinkedIn: documentaryfirst | documentaryfirst.com

  1. 3d ago ·  Video

    Documentary First Podcast Trailer: The People Behind Documentaries

    What happens to the people who make documentaries? In this trailer: Jonathan de Jong (Human Forever), Ken Burns, James L. Freedman (Charles Grodin: Rebel with a Cause), Susan Lacy (Billy Joel: And So It Goes) and Nick Bruckman (The Price of Milk). Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week. Follow Documentary First wherever you listen so every new episode shows up in your feed.

    Documentary First Podcast Trailer: The People Behind Documentaries

  2. 4d ago ·  Video

    Even Scorsese Had a Mentor. How Do You Find Yours?

    How do you find a film mentor when you don't know anyone in the business? Finding a film mentor with no connections can feel impossible, especially in documentary filmmaking. Documentary filmmaker James L. Freedman never used the words mentor or champion in his conversation with Christian Taylor. But listening back to Documentary First Episode 288, Christian heard the same thing again and again: door after door in his career opened because of a person. In this Deep Dive, she follows that chain of people, explains the difference between a mentor and a champion, and ends with seven places to look for a mentor in the film industry, even if you know no one. In this Deep Dive on Documentary First Episode 288 with James L. Freedman, Christian traces how James, a longtime TV writer, found his way into documentary filmmaking. As a high school senior, he had produced Marty Glickman's late-night radio talk show on WNEW in New York. Decades later, his wife suggested he make a documentary about Glickman, and a friend he hadn't spoken to in six months called and turned out to be Lou Zamperini's next-door neighbor. When the finished film, Glickman, played the Santa Barbara Film Festival, Ari Emanuel of WME told James that Martin Scorsese should see it. The next day, James says, an email arrived: Scorsese was in, and he wanted to put it on HBO. Christian shares the documentary storytelling lessons James brought out of decades in writers' rooms, including his belief that "every single frame, every second, should have intent behind it." He keeps a folder of first impressions, does all of his own research, finds the spine of a story first and plants the payoff early, which Christian calls documentary storytelling at its finest. She also tells the story James told her about Scorsese's editing room, where Turner Classic Movies played with the sound off, and the story Scorsese has often told about his own mentor, John Cassavetes, who saw a rough cut of Boxcar Bertha, told him he was better than that kind of movie and pushed him to make something different. Scorsese's next film was Mean Streets. Then the money. Christian looks at how favors, donations and discounts helped James get archival footage he couldn't otherwise afford. James sees fair use as a gray area and tries to make it a darker gray. That is one filmmaker's experience, not legal advice. Finally, Christian names the mentors and champions in her own life: Ken Burns, who taught her through his films and his MasterClass long before he sat down with her on Episodes 208 and 209; one of her best friends, Sandy Gordon, who worked locations on Rudy and was consulting producer on The Girl Who Wore Freedom; Pam Tierney, who has worked side by side with her since they were non-union actors in Chicago; and Chad Gilchrist and Armin Korsos, younger filmmakers she produces with on Five Great Lakes. WATCH THE FILM: James's latest documentary, Charles Grodin: Rebel with a Cause, is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home and Google Play. FREE GUIDE: From Sitcoms to Scorsese, 37 lessons from James L. Freedman, free with your email. DOCUVIEW DEJA VIEW: Every documentary Documentary First guests have recommended, in one place. In this episode, Christian explores: How did a party question, his wife and an old friend start James's first documentary?How did Glickman get from the Santa Barbara Film Festival to Martin Scorsese and HBO?What documentary editing tips did James bring out of decades in TV writers' rooms?Why does planting the payoff early make for better documentary storytelling?Who was Martin Scorsese's mentor, and what did he tell him about Boxcar Bertha?What kinds of mentors and champions does a filmmaker need, from Ken Burns to Sandy Gordon? CHAPTERS 0:00 One Phone Call, Then Scorsese 3:32 Mentor vs. Champion 5:59 Documentary Editing Tips 8:11 Archival Footage, Favors, Fair Use 11:14 Ken Burns and Other Teachers 14:33 Seven Places to Start Looking FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS How do you find a film mentor with no connections? Christian Taylor suggests seven places to start: watch great documentaries; listen to people ahead of you through podcasts, interviews and classes; look at who is one or two people away from you; contact your local film office; join meetup groups, production alliances or a Women in Film chapter; volunteer on films and at festivals; and ask for one specific thing while offering something in return. She suggests picking one of the seven this week. What is the difference between a mentor and a champion? In this Deep Dive, Christian Taylor describes a mentor as someone who teaches you over time, and a champion as someone who uses their name or position to open a door for you. In documentary filmmaker James L. Freedman's story, Ari Emanuel didn't teach him how to make a film, but he made sure the film got to Martin Scorsese. Christian says everyone needs both kinds of people. What did Martin Scorsese tell James L. Freedman about editing and narration? James L. Freedman says that when he saw Martin Scorsese's editing room, Turner Classic Movies was playing with the sound off. As James tells it, Scorsese said watching pictures without sound shows you how filmmakers choose to tell their story, and that it helps his editing. James also says that when he wondered whether HBO would want a celebrity to narrate Glickman, Scorsese told him, "No, I love your narration." LISTEN AND FOLLOW Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts Watch on YouTube SUPPORT THE SHOW Rate us, share an episode, or get our free guides CONNECT WITH DOCUMENTARY FIRST All platforms Christian Taylor on LinkedIn ABOUT THE FILMS James L. Freedman James L. Freedman wrote in Hollywood for more than 25 years, on shows including Coach, Zoe and Cybill. He wrote, directed and narrated three documentaries: Glickman (2013), executive produced by Martin Scorsese for HBO; Carl Laemmle (2019); and Charles Grodin: Rebel with a Cause, distributed by Virgil Films. Website | X (the film) The Source Episode Charles Grodin Documentary: Comedy Star, Prison Crusader (Episode 288) Listen | Watch ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST: THE DEEP DIVE Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week. RESOURCES MENTIONED Illinois Film OfficeKen Burns Teaches Documentary Filmmaking (MasterClass)Ken Burns on Documentary First, Episode 208Ken Burns on Documentary First, Episode 209 Photo of Martin Scorsese by Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

    Even Scorsese Had a Mentor. How Do You Find Yours?

  3. Oct 22 ·  Video

    Charles Grodin Documentary: Comedy Star, Prison Crusader

    Who was Charles Grodin when the cameras weren't rolling? Most people know Charles Grodin from Midnight Run, The Heartbreak Kid or Beethoven. Far fewer know that he spent the last 20 years of his life working to get women out of prison, and visited them every week. Charles Grodin: Rebel with a Cause, the Charles Grodin documentary from James L. Freedman, tells both stories. In Episode 288, Christian sits down with James L. Freedman, a longtime sitcom writer who came to documentary filmmaking late. A question at a party about the best job he ever had led to his first film, Glickman, which Martin Scorsese executive produced for HBO. For his third, Grodin's widow, Elissa Grodin, sent him seven boxes of archives, about a hundred hours of material, and James did all of the research himself. James explains why he wouldn't make "an hour of him being funny" with the activism saved for the end. Instead he seeded Grodin's conscience through the whole film: the class president who helped Black students in Pittsburgh, the 1969 Simon & Garfunkel television special that lost its sponsor, and the CNBC show that turned to social issues. James quotes Grodin's own line: "You don't want me to picket the governor's office, you want me to be in the governor's office." He also walks through how he hunted down archival footage, how an independent filmmaker got Robert De Niro, Steve Martin, Martin Short and Elaine May on camera, and how he keeps a budget down as, in his words, "one guy making this movie." WATCH THE FILM: Charles Grodin: Rebel with a Cause is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home and Google Play. James's film Carl Laemmle airs on TCM on Friday, October 23, at 8:00 p.m. ET. In this episode, you'll learn: Why James writes down his first impression of everything he likes, so he remembers how it first hit him after he's gone numb to itWhy he finds a story's spine first, and how he knew his opening and closing when he saw themHow the stars said yes, and why famous interviewees want to know who else is in the filmHow Elaine May changed her mind about an interview, and what she said after seeing the filmHow a Johnny Carson story became a Charles Bronson sequence, and why every second needs intentWhere to find archival footage when none seems to existHow fair use, donated clips, grants and paid festival screenings fit into a documentary budgetWhat surprised him most about Grodin: the weekly prison visits, and the father Grodin lost at 17 CHAPTERS 0:00 Midnight Run's Other Side 6:43 TV Writer Turned Filmmaker 12:24 Beginning, Middle and End 18:23 Getting De Niro and Elaine May 26:51 Charles Grodin on Johnny Carson 29:35 The Archival Footage Hunt 36:42 Narrating Your Own Documentary 39:43 Fair Use, Licensing and Costs 48:15 Scorsese's TCM Editing Trick 50:19 Weekly Prison Visits 53:54 Carl Laemmle Saved 300+ Refugees FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS How did a small documentary get Robert De Niro, Steve Martin and Martin Short? Director James L. Freedman says his first two films helped: Elissa Grodin watched both before giving him her husband's story, then connected him with Robert De Niro and Steve Martin. He cold-called Martin Short. Freedman believes they agreed because they loved Charles Grodin, and that stars want to see other recognizable names in a film so they know they aren't being exploited. What did Charles Grodin do for prison reform? For the last 20 years of his life, Charles Grodin worked to get women out of prison, most of them mothers of color with young children who had been caught in police stings. Director James L. Freedman says Grodin visited them every week, and a friend who saw him after those visits said he would come away a broken man, crying. As Freedman tells it, Grodin believed he could do more inside the governor's office than picketing outside it. How do independent documentary filmmakers keep costs down? James L. Freedman doesn't pay himself for his time, so he does the slow work himself: all of his own research and his own calls to studios. He asks rights holders to donate clips and photos, and when he has to pay, he asks for a discount, reminding them he is one filmmaker, not a corporation. When something unavoidable costs more, like a hotel suite for an interview, he makes the money back by spending less elsewhere. How do you find archival footage for a documentary? Director James L. Freedman does his own research and calls it a scavenger hunt. With no footage of Lovers and Other Strangers, the Broadway play Charles Grodin directed, he Googled every name in the Playbill and found a scene on The Ed Sullivan Show. For Glickman, he slowed a two-second newsreel shot to four seconds, and a snowy VHS tape led him to an old Paramount newsreel on nitrate film that came back crystal clear six months later. DOCUVIEW DEJA VIEW PICKS James's pick: Carl Laemmle (2019), his own second film, about the founder of Universal Studios, who helped more than 300 refugees escape Nazi Germany. It's on Amazon now. James says Glickman, his first film, comes to Fandango at Home by year's end. Need a doc for date night? Browse every guest pick on our DocuView Deja View page. SPONSORED BY VIRGIL FILMS ENTERTAINMENT This episode is brought to you by Virgil Films Entertainment, distributor of Super Size Me and the Oscar-nominated Restrepo, with over 25 years of distribution experience. https://virgilfilms.com LISTEN AND FOLLOW Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts: https://pod.fo/e/6e27d4 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@documentaryfirst SUPPORT THE SHOW Rate us, share an episode, or get our free guides: https://documentaryfirst.com/pages/support CONNECT WITH DOCUMENTARY FIRST All platforms: https://linktr.ee/doc1st Christian Taylor on LinkedIn ABOUT THE GUEST James L. Freedman Writer, director and narrator, Charles Grodin: Rebel with a Cause James L. Freedman wrote in Hollywood for more than 25 years, on shows including Coach, Cybill, where he was also a co-producer, and Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane. Charles Grodin: Rebel with a Cause, his third film, is distributed by Virgil Films. Website: https://charlesgrodinfilm.com X (the film): https://x.com/ChuckGrodinFilm ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week. RESOURCES MENTIONED TCM Films on Film schedule

    Charles Grodin Documentary: Comedy Star, Prison Crusader

  4. Oct 15 ·  Video

    The Velveteen Rabbit and Old Home Movies: What Is Real?

    What does The Velveteen Rabbit, a 1922 children's book about a stuffed toy, have to do with old home movies and AI? In Margery Williams' classic story, an old toy called the Skin Horse tells a stuffed rabbit that being real isn't about how you are made. It is something that happens to you when you are loved for a long time. In this episode of Documentary First: The Deep Dive, Christian Taylor follows that idea from the nursery to old home movies, the scratchy 8mm reels families shot for decades, and asks what it means to keep things real now that tools can make footage of things that never happened. In this Deep Dive on Documentary First Episode 287 with Phil Maher, founder of Stockfilm, a home movie archive with over 200,000 clips from the 1930s to the 1980s, Christian picks up on something Phil told her. Stockfilm keeps the scratches and the dust, because they make the footage feel original and real. That sent her back to Christmas Day, 1986, in her family's home in Arlington, Virginia. She was 17. Her little sister Annie, then three, had been given The Velveteen Rabbit as a book and cassette, read by Meryl Streep with George Winston playing the music underneath. Annie fell asleep in her lap. Christian kept listening, had never heard the story before, and found herself crying. It became her favorite story to read to children. From there, Christian brings the Skin Horse's idea back to Phil's archive. Phil has seen hundreds of Christmases on those reels and thinks of himself as a steward of these people's lives. Christian looks at why that kind of real matters more now that AI can show a face that never existed or a moment in history nobody was there to see, and at Phil's clear line: the footage itself stays 100 percent real, because it is the historical record. She shares why she has spent weeks setting up a NAS, network-attached storage, at home: she doesn't want to lose years of work, and the RAID drive holding her film The Girl Who Wore Freedom is failing. She also talks about why so many people want to own the album or the CD again instead of licensing it. She closes with practical steps for anyone with a box of old reels in the closet, and with the end of the rabbit's story, where his spots still show through. In this episode, Christian explores: Hearing The Velveteen Rabbit for the first time on Christmas Day, 1986Why, once you are real, shabbiness doesn't matterWhy imperfection can be what makes an audience believe a filmWhy Christian is setting up a NAS while the RAID drive holding her film is failingOwning a movie or an album versus licensing itWhat Phil sees again and again on old reels: people dancing together CHAPTERS 0:00 The Velveteen Rabbit, Christmas 1986 4:21 What Is Real? The Skin Horse 6:34 Scratches, Dust and AI Footage 9:40 Why Physical Media Still Matters 13:50 The Splendid New Bunny FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS What is the Skin Horse's quote about being real in The Velveteen Rabbit? In Margery Williams' 1922 book, the old Skin Horse tells the Rabbit that "Real isn't how you are made" and that "It's a thing that happens to you." A toy becomes real when a child loves it for a long time, not just to play with. By then most of its hair has been loved off and it is shabby, but, as the Skin Horse says, once you are real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand. Why do filmmakers leave the scratches and dust in old home movies? Phil Maher, who founded Stockfilm, keeps his footage as close to the original as he can, scratches included. He says those marks make footage feel original and real, and show that this is how it looked. In this Deep Dive, Christian Taylor argues the imperfection is sometimes the very thing that lets an audience believe a film, and suggests filmmakers leave the scratches in when they tell the truth. How do you preserve old home movies and film reels? Start by not throwing them out. Phil Maher of Stockfilm says that is how many family memories get lost: reels sit in a closet in a format nobody knows how to play, until someone tosses them. Get them digitized, but keep the originals, and keep them away from heat and humidity. Then store copies in more than one place. Phil keeps three: on-site, in the cloud, and off-site with no internet connection. Who narrated the 1985 recording of The Velveteen Rabbit? The 1985 Rabbit Ears Productions recording of The Velveteen Rabbit was narrated by Meryl Streep, with music by pianist George Winston. It was sold as a book and cassette. Christian Taylor first heard it on Christmas Day, 1986, when her little sister Annie, then three, was given the set as a gift. Annie fell asleep, but Christian, then 17, kept listening and has read the story to children ever since. Should filmmakers tell audiences when they use AI to recreate history? Yes, according to Phil Maher, founder of the home movie archive Stockfilm. He uses AI to date and search footage, but he keeps the footage itself 100 percent real, because it is the historical record. If a filmmaker uses AI to recreate a moment in history, he says, the audience should be told what is real and what isn't. Christian Taylor agrees, and adds that viewers will likely trust the film more for it. LISTEN AND FOLLOW Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts: https://pod.fo/e/6bcd99 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@documentaryfirst SUPPORT THE SHOW Rate us, share an episode, or get our free guides: https://documentaryfirst.com/pages/support CONNECT WITH DOCUMENTARY FIRST All platforms: https://linktr.ee/doc1st Christian Taylor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetchristiantaylor ABOUT THE TOPIC The Velveteen Rabbit The Velveteen Rabbit, or How Toys Become Real, was written by Margery Williams and first published in 1922 with illustrations by William Nicholson. It is in the public domain in the United States and free to read through Project Gutenberg. The 1985 Recording Rabbit Ears Productions released The Velveteen Rabbit in 1985, narrated by Meryl Streep with music by pianist George Winston. It was sold as a book and cassette. Phil Maher and Stockfilm Phil Maher founded Stockfilm in 2015, after digitizing his grandfather's 8mm home movies. Stockfilm licenses real 8mm and Super 8 home movie footage from the 1930s through the 1980s, keeps every physical reel after scanning, and uses AI to search and catalog the archive, never to alter the footage. Website: https://stockfilm.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philmaher/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stockfilm X: https://x.com/stockfilmcom YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StockFilmFootage The Source Episode Archival Footage: Why Use Home Movies?, Documentary First Episode 287 with Phil Maher Listen: https://pod.fo/e/699995 Watch: https://youtu.be/pQ7OXqY2av4 ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week. RESOURCES MENTIONED The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (Project Gutenberg): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11757 The Velveteen Rabbit, Rabbit Ears Productions recording, 1985 (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Velveteen_Rabbit_(album)

    The Velveteen Rabbit and Old Home Movies: What Is Real?

  5. Oct 8 ·  Video

    Archival Footage: Why Use Home Movies?

    What happens to a family's home movies when no one knows what to do with them? Phil Maher was a software engineer looking for a sense of purpose when he started watching his grandfather's family reels and saw his father and his brothers, a big Irish Catholic family in Chicago. He kept going. Some families sold him their reels; others gave them so their family would be remembered. "Everyone's lost to history except the few elites that make it through history and are remembered," Phil says, and he wanted to be "a steward to these people's lives," down to their vacation trips, Halloween costumes and Christmases. Those home movies, the 8mm and Super 8 reels families shot from the 1930s through the 1980s, are archival footage that adds texture and emotion without narration having to explain it. In Episode 287, Christian sits down with Phil Maher, founder of Stockfilm, a home movie archive with over 200,000 clips. Since 2015, Phil has built a library of archival footage that filmmakers can search and license. Stockfilm keeps every scratch and flaw on purpose, and it keeps the physical reel after every scan. Phil walks through how a reel becomes a licensable 4K clip: cleaning, splicing, scanning, and dating footage with no label by reading the cars and clothes in the frame. He explains vinegar syndrome and why one decaying reel can damage the reels stored beside it. Christian and Phil take on footage houses that charge for public domain Signal Corps film and draw a firm line on AI. Stockfilm uses it to search and catalog the archive, never to change a frame. As Phil puts it, "We can prove every frame that we have, because we have it." Christian also shares 1947 home movies of Carentan, Normandy, shot by the father of Yves Marchais, whose story is at the center of her film in production, Heroes of Carentan. The conversation turns to physical film versus cloud storage, and Christian brings up the Nine PBS case. In March 2026, the St. Louis public television station lost access to more than 50 terabytes of its archive, 70 years of its history, when its cloud storage vendor cut off access. It backs up Phil's point that the cloud can go away, because you do not really own it. In this episode, you'll learn: How one family's 8mm reels became a searchable archiveWhy you should keep the physical reel after digitizing itWhy physical media belongs in a real backup plan CHAPTERS 0:00 A Grandfather's 8mm Became Stockfilm 9:28 Racing to Save Fading Film 13:18 How Do You Date Unlabeled Reels? 18:38 What Is Vinegar Syndrome? 20:56 Is Public Domain Footage Free? 23:36 Why Home Movies Move Audiences 27:18 Smoking, Dancing, Forgetting to Smile 32:34 AI in Documentary Filmmaking 35:02 Cloud or Physical Media? 39:08 Donating Your Family Archive 42:44 Dawson City: Frozen Time FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Why use home movies as archival footage in a documentary? Home movies capture ordinary life the way it actually looked, scratches and all. Stockfilm founder Phil Maher says filmmakers turn to them when they want texture and emotion, something real that doesn't need narration to explain it. In his words, "A few seconds of just showing someone a place and time can really just get people into that spot and really create that moment that connects with the audience." Where can I find free archival footage for a documentary? Much U.S. government footage, including World War II Signal Corps film, is free through the National Archives and the Library of Congress. Christian Taylor points out that commercial footage houses often charge download and license fees for that same public domain material. Doing the research yourself takes longer, but it can save an independent film real money. How do you date old home movie footage with no label? Start with the clues inside the frame. Phil Maher of Stockfilm explains that cars are one of the best markers, because a shot can't predate the model year of a car that appears in it. Clothing narrows it further. Today AI image recognition helps suggest dates and keywords, but the footage itself is never altered. What is vinegar syndrome in old film? Vinegar syndrome is the breakdown of acetate safety film, the stock used for most 8mm and Super 8 home movies. As it degrades, the film gives off a vinegar smell, warps, shrinks and dries out. Phil Maher warns it can spread almost like a mold to reels stored nearby, so separate affected film and keep it away from heat and humidity. Should documentaries label AI-generated historical footage? Yes, according to Phil Maher. Stockfilm uses AI to search and catalog its archive but never to alter the footage, because the footage is the historical record. If a filmmaker uses AI to recreate a historical battle or event, Maher says the audience needs to be told it is AI-created, a fictional rendition of what may or may not have happened. DOCUVIEW DÉJÀ VU PICKS Phil's pick: Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016), directed by Bill Morrison, built from more than 500 silent-era reels dug out of the Yukon permafrost in 1978. SPONSORED BY VIRGIL FILMS ENTERTAINMENT This episode is brought to you by Virgil Films Entertainment, distributor of Super Size Me and the Oscar-nominated Restrepo, with over 25 years of distribution experience. https://virgilfilms.com LISTEN AND FOLLOW Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts: https://pod.fo/e/699995 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pQ7OXqY2av4 SUPPORT THE SHOW Rate us, share an episode, or get our free guides: https://documentaryfirst.com/pages/support CONNECT WITH DOCUMENTARY FIRST All platforms: https://linktr.ee/doc1st Christian Taylor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetchristiantaylor ABOUT THE GUEST Phil Maher Founder, Stockfilm Phil Maher holds a computer science degree from Illinois State University and spent his career as a software engineer. He founded Stockfilm in 2015 and has spent more than a decade collecting, scanning and cataloging family reels. Email: phil@stockfilm.com Website: https://stockfilm.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philmaher/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stockfilm X: https://x.com/stockfilmcom YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StockFilmFootage ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week. RESOURCES MENTIONED National Archives: https://www.archives.govLibrary of Congress: https://www.loc.govDawson City: Frozen Time (Bill Morrison, 2016): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5215486/Nine PBS lawsuit (Current): https://current.org/2026/08/nine-pbs-sues-iron-mountain-over-blocked-access-to-archival-data/

    Archival Footage: Why Use Home Movies?

  6. Sep 10 ·  Video

    How Do You Get a Documentary Made? Ask the Woman Who Co-Runs RKO

    Do you have a documentary, or do you have a Wikipedia entry? Somebody decides whether your documentary gets made. Sophia Dilley is one of those people. She runs Concord Originals, the division behind Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. on HBO, and she is Co-President of RKO, which Concord bought in June 2025 along with more than 5,000 titles including King Kong, Citizen Kane and It's a Wonderful Life. In this episode she gives away the three questions she asks before her team commits to anything. In Episode 286, Christian sits down with Sophia Dilley, Executive Vice President of Concord Originals and Co-President of RKO, to talk about how a project gets chosen, how to reach out to someone far above you, and how music rights for film work when the budget you have is the only budget there is. The spine of the conversation is a question Dilley asks before her team commits to anything: is this a Wikipedia story we're telling? If the whole thing is already available in twelve seconds of searching, there may not be a film in it. Around that sit her two other threshold questions, a working answer to why the documentary business feels impossible right now, and the plainest reassurance in the episode. "It's scary," she says. "It's scary for everybody." Along the way: a punk band that played CBGB's, a production designer father who left for set at four forty-five in the morning, Roger Deakins as a case study in how to write to someone you admire, and the difference between distribution rights and derivative rights, which is the thing almost everyone (including Christian!) got wrong about the RKO deal. If you have ever been told that music rights for film are impossible on an independent budget, she has a different answer. In this episode, you'll learn: The three questions Sophia Dilley asks before committing to any storyHow to tell whether you have a film or a Wikipedia entryWhat to say to a music company when the budget you have is the only budget there isWhy a rejection is usually about the marketplace rather than about your filmHow to open a door with someone you admire without being, in her words, a scary, creepy fanWhat it looks like inside a company that generates most of its projects out of its own catalog CHAPTERS 0:00 What Concord Actually Bought With RKO 5:34 From CBGB's to Running a Studio Division 11:42 Reaching Out to People Above You 16:32 Why Distribution Is Scary for Everybody 21:26 Who Are You Really Competing With? 26:02 Music Rights for Film: Sync and Publishing 29:49 Why a Doc Takes Five Years 34:54 How Does She Decide What Gets Made? 41:44 Women, Allies, and Your Replacement 46:05 What if You Can't Afford the Song? 50:05 Closing Argument and DocuView Deja View FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS How do you get music rights for a documentary? You need permission from more than one owner. The song belongs to a publisher and the specific recording belongs to a label, so most documentaries need both a sync license and a master use license. On Stax: Soulsville U.S.A., that meant clearing more than thirty artists, multiple publishers and several estates. Concord Originals EVP Sophia Dilley says the first step is acknowledging you need those rights before you build the film around them. What if I can't afford to license a song for my film? Call anyway, and be honest about the budget. Sophia Dilley advises independent filmmakers to say who they are, name what the film was made for, show the actual scene the song would sit under, and ask directly for help. "Behind every door at every music company, there are real people," she says. A studio with a real budget cannot use that approach. A genuine independent often can. How long does it take to make a music documentary? Longer than most filmmakers expect. Sophia Dilley of Concord Originals puts the average at five years, at least. Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. began in 2018, when a colleague walked into her office with the story, and premiered on HBO in May 2024. Much of that time goes to music rights, estates and publishers rather than to production, because every stakeholder connected to the music has to be brought on side first. Who owns RKO now? Concord Originals acquired RKO Pictures in June 2025, but the deal is narrower than it sounds. Distribution rights to the classic RKO library remain with Turner. What Concord bought are the derivative rights, meaning remakes, sequels, prequels, story and stage rights to more than 5,000 titles the studio produced in-house. Sophia Dilley serves as Co-President of RKO, which continues to operate under Concord Originals. DOCUVIEW DEJA VU PICKS Sophia Dilley's picks: New York Doll (2005), directed by Greg Whiteley. A deep cut about Arthur "Killer" Kane of the New York Dolls and his search for his own history. Dilley notes that Whiteley went on to make Cheer, and the warmth is already here.Science Fair (2018), directed by Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster. She saw it at SXSW, where it won the Audience Award. Teenagers at the international science fair, and, in her words, so much magic in following a real human story. SPONSORED BY This episode is brought to you by Virgil Films Entertainment. Over 25 years of distribution experience, from Super Size Me and the Oscar-nominated Restrepo to Forks Over Knives and Speed is Expensive. If you are a filmmaker having trouble with distribution, talk to Virgil. LISTEN AND FOLLOW Listen on any podcast app: https://pod.fo/e/5ffe38 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@documentaryfirst Support the show: https://documentaryfirst.com/pages/support CONNECT Documentary First on all platforms: https://linktr.ee/doc1st Christian Taylor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetchristiantaylor ABOUT THE GUEST Sophia Dilley is Executive Vice President of Concord Originals and Co-President of RKO. Concord hired her in 2018 to build a content strategy, and in 2021 she launched Concord Originals, the company's film and television division. Her father was a production designer, so she grew up on movie sets watching what the work actually costs. Before film, she thought she would go into music: piano, violin, voice lessons, and a punk band in high school that played CBGB's in New York. ABOUT CONCORD ORIGINALS Concord Originals is the film and television arm of Concord, developing screen stories out of one of the largest independent music and theatrical catalogs in the world. Most of its projects are self-generated, which Dilley describes as the division's whole remit: take what is already under the roof and find a new life for it. Because the catalog is the source, music rights for film sit at the center of nearly every project the division takes on. Recent and upcoming work discussed in this episode: Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. (HBO, 2024), the four-part series directed by Jamila Wignot. Peabody winner, nominated for two Emmys.Billy Preston: That's the Way God Planned It (2026), directed by Paris Barclay, in theaters through Abramorama.Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks (2026), directed by Ilya Chaiken, brought to Concord by Betsy West and Julie Cohen.Films on Billie Holiday, Cyndi Lauper, Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, with Robert Johnson and Fania Records on the way. ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week. RESOURCES MENTIONED Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records by Rob Bowman, the book behind the film: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2775862Documentary First Episode 277, Teddy Cannon on music rights and licensing, the other side of this conversation: https://pod.fo/e/413f3a

    How Do You Get a Documentary Made? Ask the Woman Who Co-Runs RKO

  7. Aug 21 ·  Video

    Beyond Banners: How to Make a Documentary With No Film School

    Who finishes your film if you can't? Andre N. Jackson had never made a film. He had twenty years in technology and security, an idea that arrived while he was sitting in a barber's chair, and no way into the industry. He finished the film anyway, and he came on the show with three lessons for other filmmakers. Two more came out while we were talking. In Episode 285, Christian sits down with first-time filmmaker Andre N. Jackson to talk about "Beyond Banners," his film about the basketball program at Gwynn Park High School in Prince George's County, Maryland. Over a twenty-year run the team reached twelve state championships and won more than any high school in the state. The film starts there and ends up somewhere else entirely. Andre puts it plainly: "I actually learned about filmmaking through making a film." The spine of the conversation is what it takes to make a documentary when nothing is set up in your favor. Andre leaned on the research and analysis skills he built as an intelligence analyst, cold-called a Hall of Fame coach, funded it through a fiscal sponsor, used AI as a second brain, and kept going through two heart attacks in three days, the second while he was still in the hospital. Along the way the film became a story about stewardship, about the people who stayed, and about what the commercialization of youth sports is doing to community public schools. In this episode, you'll learn: How an idea that arrived in a barber's chair became a finished film with no film school behind itWhat a fiscal sponsor is, and how the Southern Documentary Fund made donors want to giveWhat two heart attacks in three days taught him about succession, and what he changed the week he got out THE FIVE LESSONS Lean into your superpowersGet comfortable taking calculated risksGet creative about filling gapsPlan for your absenceUse AI as a second brain CHAPTERS 0:00 No Film School, No Connections 3:16 How Do You Fund a First Documentary? 6:09 When a Team Becomes a Town 11:53 The Cost of Commercializing Youth Sports 18:58 Planning for Your Own Absence 24:37 AI as a Second Brain 29:16 Cold Calling a Hall of Fame Coach 33:45 Why the Collective Should Matter FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS How do you make a documentary with no film school? Lean into the skills you already have and hire for the ones you do not. Andre N. Jackson spent twenty years as an intelligence analyst, so he built his film on research and relationship building, the two things he was already good at. Then he deliberately recruited crew members who covered his gaps in craft and experience. He learned filmmaking by making a film, not before making one. How do you fund a documentary with no industry money? A fiscal sponsor is the most common route. It is a 501(c)(3) that sits between your project and your donors, so contributions become tax deductible and donors have a reason to say yes. Andre used the Southern Documentary Fund. You apply, you are accepted, you onboard, and then you can offer donors a tax break for backing your film. He combined that with personal funds and direct fundraising. How do you get well-known people to be in your documentary? Cold call them, and be specific about who you both know. Andre landed Hall of Fame coach Tubby Smith by reaching out directly and naming a mutual connection to establish trust. He got Wake Forest star Randolph Childress through a warm introduction from a Gwynn Park alumnus. The pattern is the same either way: ask, and use the relationships your relationships already have. What happens to your documentary if you cannot finish it? Plan for your absence before you need to. After two heart attacks during production, Andre started documenting what had only ever lived in his head and briefed his executive producer and his producer on the next steps, so the film could be completed whether or not he was there. Contingency planning in film usually means backup drives. It should also mean succession. Can AI help you make your first documentary? Andre used it three ways: to learn the end-to-end production process he never went to film school for, to generate an animated reenactment of a co-protagonist who had died and left almost no footage behind, and as a second brain that challenged his assumptions and pressure-tested his interview questions. He was clear it supplemented human mentorship rather than replacing it. DOCUVIEW DÉJÀ VU PICKS "Undefeated" (2011), directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Andre's direct inspiration for making "Beyond Banners.""The Last Dance" (2020), ESPN and Netflix. Andre is a Michael Jordan fan and names it as the film that came before Undefeated for him. SPONSORED BY This episode is brought to you by Virgil Films Entertainment, distributor of Super Size Me and the Oscar-nominated Restrepo, with over 25 years of distribution experience. Virgil Films Entertainment ABOUT THE GUEST Andre N. Jackson is a first-time documentary filmmaker based in Fairfax, Virginia, who wrote and directed "Beyond Banners." He spent twenty years in technology and security, including work as an intelligence analyst on cybersecurity and terrorism issues, and is a 1998 graduate of Gwynn Park High School, the subject of his film. ABOUT THE FILM "Beyond Banners" is directed by Andre N. Jackson and follows the basketball program at Gwynn Park High School in Prince George's County, Maryland. In the words of the film's own logline: a son returns to his alma mater to carry his father's coaching legacy, only to discover that the winning tradition he grew up in was built for a world that no longer exists. Website: https://beyondbannersdocumentary.com Instagram: @beyondbannersdocumentary ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week. RESOURCES MENTIONED Southern Documentary Fund, fiscal sponsorship: https://southerndocumentaryfund.orgJames Hawkins, book on Gwynn Park's 1968 to 1970 state championship three-peatMarquis Smalls, writer, director and producer, Street Dreams Films, Brooklyn, New York: https://streetdreamsfilms.comHiggsfield, the AI tool used for the animated reenactment LISTEN AND FOLLOW Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts: https://pod.fo/e/562e4c Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@documentaryfirst SUPPORT THE SHOW Rate us, share an episode, or get our free guides: https://documentaryfirst.com/pages/support CONNECT WITH DOCUMENTARY FIRST All platforms: https://linktr.ee/doc1st Christian Taylor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetchristiantaylor

    Beyond Banners: How to Make a Documentary With No Film School

  8. Aug 13 ·  Video

    What Dementia Taught Me About Building an Audience

    When did your audience stop being people and become a number? Most independent films and podcasts do not fail because the work is bad. They fail because no one ever felt like they belonged to them. This Deep Dive is about how to build an audience for your documentary before it is ever released, and the one ingredient that decides whether people stay with what you make. In this Deep Dive on Documentary First Episode 284 with Dutch filmmaker Jonathan de Jong, host Christian Taylor takes the idea at the heart of his film “Human Forever,” the most-watched human interest documentary in Dutch cinema history, and follows it somewhere unexpected: the same thing that makes dementia care humane is the thing that built his audience. The spine of the episode is a single word, belonging. Jonathan says the most dangerous part of dementia is not the diagnosis, it is the feeling of not belonging. Christian tests that idea against her own father’s move into memory care this month, then turns it on filmmakers through Martin Buber’s 1923 book “I and Thou” and the difference between treating a person as an “It” and meeting them as a “Thou.” The through line: build belonging before you build buzz. In this episode, Christian explores: Why the feeling of not belonging is the most dangerous part of dementia, in Jonathan de Jong’s own wordsThe one ingredient that decides whether people stay with what you makeHow Jonathan built an audience for “Human Forever” before a single frame was shotWhy building a movement beat marketing a filmWhat belonging looks like in one real room, on her father’s move dayMartin Buber’s “I and Thou” and the difference between an It and a ThouHow filmmaking goes wrong the moment your audience becomes a numberWhy you invite people to belong instead of reaching for themThe question to ask about anyone you put in front of your cameraWhat a documentary about dementia can teach any filmmaker about reach CHAPTERS 0:00 The Secret That Keeps an Audience 2:04 The Most Dangerous Feeling 5:16 The People and the Plan 7:53 Build Belonging Before Buzz 11:26 Meet Them, Don’t Aim FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS How do you build an audience for a documentary before it is released? You build belonging first. Jonathan de Jong built a movement around “Human Forever” before the film existed, a real person at the center and bestselling books out in the world, so audiences already felt part of something by release. The lesson for any filmmaker: make people feel they belong to what you are doing long before you ask them to watch, buy, or share it. What is the best way to market a documentary with no budget? Stop marketing and start including. Invite people into the mission instead of aiming promotion at them. When an audience feels seen and part of the story, they carry it for you. Belonging spreads a film further than any ad spend, which is why Jonathan filled theaters for a film about dementia without a marketing war chest. What is Martin Buber’s “I and Thou” about? “I and Thou,” published in 1923, describes two ways of relating to another person. You can treat someone as an “It,” a thing to manage, a number, a problem to handle. Or you can meet them as a “Thou,” a whole person, encountered directly. Buber argued that real life is found in the “Thou,” in genuine meeting rather than use. Why do people stop watching independent films and podcasts? Because they can feel when a creator is aiming something at them instead of making something for them. The moment an audience becomes a view count or a click to convert, the work loses the sense that it was made for real people. People stay when they feel met and included, and they drift when they feel handled. ABOUT THE FILMS AND TOPIC “Human Forever” is a documentary directed by Dutch filmmaker Jonathan de Jong through SUPER7EVEN Productions. It follows the young dementia-care nurse Teun Toebes as he lives among and travels the world alongside people with dementia, and it became the most-watched human interest documentary in Dutch cinema history. The film is one piece of a larger movement that also includes Teun’s bestselling books and the Article 25 Foundation he co-founded. Jonathan de Jong is a Dutch filmmaker and author who builds socially focused stories, and the guest on Documentary First Episode 284. SUPER7EVEN Productions: https://supersevenproductions.com. Film: https://human-forever.com. Teun Toebes is a nurse, humanitarian activist, and bestselling author who has spent years living inside dementia wards around the world. https://www.teuntoebes.com. ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week. RESOURCES MENTIONED “Human Forever” (film), Jonathan de Jong, SUPER7EVEN Productions: https://human-forever.comSUPER7EVEN Productions: https://supersevenproductions.comTeun Toebes: https://www.teuntoebes.comMartin Buber, “I and Thou” (Ich und Du), 1923 Documentary First Episode 284 with Jonathan de Jong: https://pod.fo/e/50bde1 LISTEN AND FOLLOW Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts: https://pod.fo/e/53fafc Watch on YouTube: @DocumentaryFirst SUPPORT THE SHOW Rate us, share an episode, or get our free guides: https://documentaryfirst.com/pages/support CONNECT WITH DOCUMENTARY FIRST All platforms: https://linktr.ee/doc1st Christian Taylor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetchristiantaylor

    What Dementia Taught Me About Building an Audience
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Conversations with the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-time directors finishing their first film. Documentary First is a weekly podcast for anyone who loves a true story, and for the filmmakers who tell them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom (25+ international awards; distributed by Virgil Films, Swank, and Canal+), has talked with documentary directors, editors, producers, distributors, composers, entertainment lawyers, actors and more across HBO, Netflix, PBS, and the independent documentary world in nearly 300 conversations. Guests have included Emmy and Peabody Award-winning editor Charles Olivier (HBO’s The Jinx) and Emmy-nominated director Nicholas Bruckman (Not Going Quietly, Minted). Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. Two formats, one feed. The main show features long-form interviews about the stories behind the films: how they got made, what it took from the people who made them, and what they learned. On alternating weeks, Documentary First: The Deep Dive takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Topics include documentary films and how they get made: documentary directing, documentary producing, documentary editing, documentary distribution, documentary funding, documentary storytelling, film festival strategy, archival footage and rights clearance, entertainment law for filmmakers, and building a life in nonfiction filmmaking. New episodes every week. Follow the show and leave a review. Instagram: @documentaryfirst | Facebook: @documentaryfirst | X: @doc_first | TikTok: @documentaryfirst | YouTube: @DocumentaryFirst | LinkedIn: documentaryfirst | documentaryfirst.com

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