THE DOCUMENTARY PRODUCER

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Amy Janes started her career as a documentary editor and producer at a small production company in Boulder, CO. After attending UCLA’s graduate Producing Program,  she was hired to run the feature film department Parkchester Pictures, a Paramount based production company.

 

Her most recent film is the documentary AS SEEN THROUGH THESE EYES, a feature documentary about the surviving art and artists of the Holocaust. It has gone on to win over eight awards around the globe, including Best Foreign Film at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival.

 

Made in association with The Sundance Channel and voiced by Maya Angelou, the film will be released theatrically this Fall.

 

 

Hollywood, The Beautiful

The most beautiful thing about Hollywood is that everything can change on a dime.  Take today for instance…

After struggling at my editing facility to regain that ever illusive story hiding deep my own doc, I had the great pleasure of meeting with a wonderful filmmaker who made me again realize why I got myself into this mess in the first place.

A bit impatient and struggling with the chaos of the corner of Sawtelle and Olympic, I phoned Brad to see why he was running late. In one of those moments straight out of a Hollywood film, he picked up the phone, and standing right in front of me, engaged me in a conversation. So distracted by the traffic, it took me a few moments to catch on to his presence. But when I did, boy was I glad to see him.

Like a breath of fresh air, we jumped right in to the task at hand… preparing our pitch for the Hollywood Documentary Heavyweights.  He came with a one-pager that gave me chills. He said “This is for the execs so they can sell it to their bosses.” I remember thinking, “If that one-pager was ice, we would have no problem selling it to the Eskimos”.

“Great”, I said, “Don’t change a thing!”

We then launched into how he feels the story is to be told. Again, like rain on the hot pavement, it sizzled and popped. Finally he threw on a seven-minute clip of the footage he had shot on a scouting trip. Stunning. I wanted to cry… in fact, I think I did.

These three things are what Documentary Producers’ dreams are made of. A strong one-sheet that sells the film, a solid working knowledge of what your story is (“who cares”) and spectacular footage.

Pitching and selling narrative scripts is hard, but let me tell you, Docs are a different beast completely. No one will guarantee things will go according to your plan – in fact plan that they won’t. BUT if you have the three things I spoke about, you are well on your way to getting the movie financed and ultimately made. (I just can’t tell you how rare that is!)

So today, my faith was restored that there are films and filmmakers out there worthy of the BIG SCREEN and I am thrilled to be a part.

So let’s check off a few things on the list of MUST HAVES when making a Documentary Film…

1.    A passion for the story.   CHECK
2.    A sane director.   CHECK – Thank God!
3.    A compelling subject.  DOUBLE CHECK
4.    A clear pitch and awesome footage.   CHECK
5.    Money…

Ahh… To Be Continued…

Blessing that has built Maysles career.

More advice… He doesn’t take anytime to start shooting, he just jumps in… he has the confidence that he can gain his subjects’ trust and knows he will never betray that. Take Grey Gardens… Little Edie LOVED the film after seeing it and Big Edie said, on her death bed, that she had nothing else to say… it was all in the movie. It is all about staying true to his story and the subjects.  It is not about injecting his opinion into the film. His goal is to have his subjects say at the end “at least it’s honest.”

Contrast this with some of the more recent film and filmmakers such as My Kid Could Paint That. Amir Bar-Lev strayed from making a “Direct Cinema” film to an opinionated search for a truth that should have/could have been left up to the audience to decide. Does this film work? That is for you to decide.

All in all, there is an enormous amount to learn from The Master and in my final plug … check out his website at www.mayslesfilms.com.

This weeks recommendation – My Kid Could Paint That.