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’s called the fundraising houseparty. And there is a science to it. And we’ve got film fundraising guru, Morrie Warshawski, back on the show to give you the step-by-step process to that science. You’ll be holding parties and raising monies for your film in no time!

And then we’ll learn how to make even more money, when our host, delves into this recent Cambodia trip to garner finishing funds for his own doc project, Elvis of Cambodia. Following on from last week’s episode, where Chris and Steph discussed their plans in Cambodia for finishing their film, Chris travels down to the capital city of Phnom Penh and starts banging on doors. And asking for money. Doc Filmmaking Fundraising 101 ensues.

Topics Discussed

• why individual donors tend to make up the largest percentage of funds for doc films
• the importance of the fundraising houseparty invite and tips for producing it
• the types of people that you should invite to your fundraising houseparty
• step-by-step process for the day of the fundraising houseparty
• the doc filmmakers responsibilities for the fundraising houseparty

Additional Resources

THE BOOK

Think you might be ready to hold that fundraising houseparty and make some serious money for your doc film? There are two ways in which you can purchase Morrie’s book. You can buy from Amazon.

Or an even cooler way is to purchase directly from Morrie himself. Tell Morrie you heard about the book from The Documentary Life and he’ll give you an additional $5 off the price of the book!

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!

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 doc filmmaker, there seems to be something keeping you from actually doing the thing that matters most to you. But what if there was a way doc filmmakers could simplify things – strip away the unnecessary fat – and get to what really matters? Making documentary films. And then making more of them.

Well, long time national television news veteran, Rustin Thompson figured out a very viable way to do just that when he came up with what he calls Lean Team Documentary Filmmaking. In the process, he left the tv news industry behind and followed his passions to the land of documentary. And he has been making the kinds of documentary films he’s always wanted to make ever since. And now he’s going to tell you how you can do the same.

Topics Discussed

• why and how Rustin Thompson left his lucrative, exciting television news career behind for a self-made career in documentary filmmaking
• how a Lean Team Documentary Filmmaking approach can lead to a liberating way to make your docs and more of them
• the importance of understanding the essential technical aspects, but also how to inform your documentary on an emotional level as well
• Lean Team Documentary Filmmaking sound tips
• Lean Team Documentary Filmmaking editing tips

Additional Resources

GET CLOSE: LEAN TEAM DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING THE BOOK

After listening to our discussion, you might want to read Rustin’s book. I don’t blame you. After reading it myself, seeing some of Rustin’s films, and of course, having had a great conversation with Rustin, we have put this book right into our Essential Doc Filmmaking Reading List!

You can find it on Amazon or local bookstore or request it from your local library!

Trailer for Rustin Thompson’s latest documentary, My Mother Was Here

https://vimeo.com/254023296

RUSTIN THOMPSON THE FILMS

If you’re interested in checking out some of Rustin’s many documentary films, please visit his website!

Thank you to music licensing platform, Music Vine for their fresh and diverse music and for contributing the wonderful music that we’ve used in this week’s episode.

If you need any music for your doc project, we can honestly recommend Music Vine.

Want 20% off of your first music licensing purchase? No licensing restrictions or number of tracks! Simply use promo code MYDOCLIFE at checkout!

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!

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 should assume that those statements are true. This is all about our money mindset!

You see, a lot of us aren’t really wired to believe any other way. Or we’ve had an awkward – if not downright detrimental – relationship with money that most likely goes back from when we were quite young, when maybe our parents or peers were (perhaps quite unknowingly!) putting negative connotations on money. Our money mindset was developed at an early age.

It is my belief and experience that we can and should develop and re-shape our money mindset, so that we may raise the required funding for our films, and in fact, make some money from our films. Or at the very least, be paid for the hard work that we put into them!

This is followed by our conversation with true blue (collar) doc filmmaker, V. Scott Balcerek. Someone who quite literally put his money where his mouth was. And he spent over twenty years of his life doing it, with the astounding release, Satan & Adam.

Topics Discussed

• why and how as doc filmmakers we need to form better money mindsets
• understanding what your inner dialogue is telling you about money and making films
• V. Scott Balcerek shares tips on how he stayed in the game on his doc for over 20+ years
• how Balcerek rolled the dice on this film one last time when it seemed all might be lost with his main character and his story
• how coming from a blue collar upbringing shaped his desires and perseverance to see a film like Satan & Adam through

Additional Resources

Trailer for V. Scott Balcerek’s directorial debut, Satan & Adam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xShEK6bKTfo

Thank you to music licensing platform, Music Vine for their fresh and diverse music and for contributing the wonderful music that we’ve used in this week’s episode.

If you need any music for your doc project, we can honestly recommend Music Vine.

Want 20% off of your first music licensing purchase? No licensing restrictions or number of tracks! Simply use promo code MYDOCLIFE at checkout!

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!

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 the preferred way of shooting his films. And it also just so happens to be the reason that he’s been hired on such recognizable documentary series as the successful Long Way Round. And now, with his brand new film, Chasing the Jet Stream – a film that is included in the lineup of this year’s Melbourne Documentary Film Festival (MDFF) – Claudio is back dealing with the type of documentary that he is most comfortable with: a story about a unique character doing unique things in the world.

Topics Discussed

• we check in with MDFF director, Lyndon Stone, whose festival has now become one of the most respected in documentary
• how in 1985 on a break from university, Claudio von Planta, discovers his passion for doc filmmaking
• how being a skilled one person crew got Claudio von Planta his big break with the Long Way Round series
• the reason von Planta finds it important to create totally independent documentaries
• how the doc filmmaker is a different breed and one that must be entirely passionate and dedicated to their craft

Additional Resources

Trailer for DP, Claudio von Planta’s directorial debut, Chasing the Jet Stream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3mKebPj3d0

Trailer for Long Way Round series

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-0uBcnmE2M

Actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman give great testimonial to working with Claudio von Planta

https://vimeo.com/2564055

Even More Claudio von Planta!

I highly recommend checking out Claudio’s Vimeo channel. It’s chock full o’ films and clips from his incredibly impressive career as a doc filmmaker!

Thank you to music licensing platform, Music Vine for their fresh and diverse music and for contributing the wonderful music that we’ve used in this week’s episode.

If you need any music for your doc project, we can honestly recommend Music Vine.

Want 20% off of your first music licensing purchase? No licensing restrictions or number of tracks! Simply use promo code MYDOCLIFE at checkout!

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!

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 doc filmmaker, Billy Corben – director behind such docs as Cocaine Cowboys, ESPN 30 for 30’s The U, and now his latest, Screwball – it’s practically an everyday experience. Which is why he’s come up with a great three step for sussing out the viability of said great idea for a doc.

Topics Discussed

• how screenwriting classes were the best filmmaking classes for all aspects of filmmaking, including editing, shooting, and directing
• Billy Corben’s three-step process called R.A.S. for determining viability of a potential doc project
• how a bogus and manipulative meeting with baseball great, Alex Rodriguez, resulted in their latest doc, Screwball
• Billy Corben’s Hustling 101 for the independent doc filmmaker
• the conscious decision to make movies and tell the unique stories of their hometown, Miami, Florida

Additional Resources

Trailer for Screwball

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJUhgT65r8M

In Chris in Cambodia, TDL host and doc filmmaker, Chris G. Parkhurst shares some of his stories and lessons from his most recent trip filming in Cambodia, working on he and his wife, Steph’s, current documentary, Elvis of Cambodia.

In Part Nine, the last of our nine part series, Chris, discusses the importance of making partnerships and strategic relationships should be a significant part of your documentary filmmaking.

Thank you to music licensing platform, Music Vine for their fresh and diverse music and for contributing the wonderful music that we’ve used in this week’s episode.

If you need any music for your doc project, we can honestly recommend Music Vine.

Want 20% off of your first music licensing purchase? No licensing restrictions or number of tracks! Simply use promo code MYDOCLIFE at checkout!

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!

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 multi-award winning filmmaker, Alex Holmes on his latest film, Maiden, a documentary about 26 year old Tracy Edwards who set out to skipper the first-ever female crew during the Whitbread Round the World Race, a race that spans 33k miles and lasts for nine months.

Topics Discussed

• how finding this boat load of archival footage allowed Alex Holmes to tell his doc in an exciting narrative, nearly real-time fashion
• Alex Holmes gives his four elements for funding for documentaries
• details the search for archival, how to edit with it for free, and license afterwards
• how all doc filmmakers actually experience imposter syndrome
• how the first step in leading a documentary life is the hardest and most essential step

Additional Resources

Trailer for Maiden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SGpb6K9C5s

In Chris in Cambodia, TDL host and doc filmmaker, Chris G. Parkhurst shares some of his stories and lessons from his most recent trip filming in Cambodia, working on he and his wife, Steph’s, current documentary, Elvis of Cambodia.

Cambodian Singer, Sinn Sethsochhata

In Part Eight, Chris, discusses one of his final and most difficult of interviews with the granddaughter of famous Cambodian singer, Sinn Sisamouth. This segment takes a look at not only how important the interview is for the doc filmmaker, but how often, important relationships are built during with our subjects during these interviews.

Thank you to music licensing platform, Music Vine for their fresh and diverse music and for contributing the wonderful music that we’ve used in this week’s episode.

If you need any music for your doc project, we can honestly recommend Music Vine.

Want 20% off of your first music licensing purchase? No licensing restrictions or number of tracks! Simply use promo code MYDOCLIFE at checkout!

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!

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 doc projects, and ultimately to their lives as full-time documentary filmmakers. Their current film, Framing John DeLorean, blurs the lines between fiction and non-fiction narrative, using name actors like Alec Baldwin and Josh Charles, meta filmmaking, and incorporating actual behind-the-scenes footage as a significant storytelling device.

Topics Discussed

• Lessening the lag time between your doc film projects
• How meta filmmaking and using behind-the-scenes footage became an impactful storytelling device for Framing John DeLorean
• Where the blurred lines between fiction and non-fiction meet and when not to cross those lines
• By nature living the doc life is an unsure, uncertain business that you have to be okay with in order to live it

Additional Resources

Trailer for Framing John DeLorean

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIa1gn9wVNo

In Chris in Cambodia, TDL host and doc filmmaker, Chris G. Parkhurst shares some of his stories and lessons from his most recent trip filming in Cambodia, working on he and his wife, Steph’s, current documentary, Elvis of Cambodia.

In Part Seven, Chris, along with trusted friend and fixer/translator, Phon Kaseka, rides elephants in Mondulkiri province and commences filming in Kampong Thma province. This segments delves into the all-important relationship between doc filmmaker and fixer/translator.

How to Film a Drummer on a Cambodian Road

Where we share our listeners #doclives and filmmaking stories. This week’s #Doclifer Story, comes from Hasan Demirtas, who shares with us his journey to and through his first feature doc, You Name It, a film that explores three of the world’s prominent genocides.

Thank you to music licensing platform, Music Vine for their fresh and diverse music and for contributing the wonderful music that we’ve used in this week’s episode.

If you need any music for your doc project, we can honestly recommend Music Vine.

Want 20% off of your first music licensing purchase? No licensing restrictions or number of tracks! Simply use promo code MYDOCLIFE at checkout!

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!

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 recognizable tv presenters was a unique one, and certainly not without its challenges.

When Dominic Johnson-Hill traveled the world in the early 90s, China was just supposed to be a stop along the way. But then he ran out of money. So he learned the language, started a market research business, then Beijing’s first t-shirt brand, Plastered. Since then, Johnson-Hill, has become a celebrity in China and is now the host of the 24-episode documentary series, Seasons of China.

• how the seeds of entrepreneurship were sown when Dominic Johnson-Hill went broke in the middle of Beijing
• how often it is an artist or entrepreneur’s passion that can bring others onboard a project
• what it was like for Dominic Johnson-Hill to spend a year out in the provinces of China, filming on the Seasons of China series
• the filmmaker’s awareness of documenting parts of culture that may someday no longer exist
• why it’s important for the doc filmmaker to find different ways in which to connect with their interview subjects and how they can best do so

Additional Seasons of China Resources

Episode one of, Seasons of China, the 24-episode series presented by Dominic Johnson-Hill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7QvDyCi7hE&t=7s

An interview with Seasons of Change presenter, Dominic Johnson-Hill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5ddw0iO-WM

In Chris in Cambodia, TDL host and doc filmmaker, Chris G. Parkhurst shares some of his stories and lessons from his most recent trip filming in Cambodia, working on he and his wife, Steph’s, current documentary, Elvis of Cambodia.

In Part Six, Chris and Patrick travel to Siem Reap to film the first of three very important Sinn Sisamouth scenes. It is in Siem Reap, a town most noted for the famous temples of Angkor Wat, that Chris finds a local artist whom they can film depicting a Sinn Sisamouth song. And it is here, that they will first employ Chris’ carefully constructed plan to shoot the b-roll in a unique way that best tells the story of the scene.

Related Videos From the Set of Elvis of Cambodia

Behind the Scenes with Our Siem Reap Painter

Filming Sinn Sisamouth’s Champey Siem Reap

Where we share our listeners #doclives and filmmaking stories. This week’s #Doclifer Story, comes from Hasan Demirtas, who shares with us his journey to and through his first feature doc, You Name It, a film that explores three of the world’s prominent genocides.

Thank you to music licensing platform, Music Vine for their fresh and diverse music and for contributing the wonderful music that we’ve used in this week’s episode.

If you need any music for your doc project, we can honestly recommend Music Vine.

Want 20% off of your first music licensing purchase? No licensing restrictions or number of tracks! Simply use promo code MYDOCLIFE at checkout!

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!

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 documentary filmmaking communities, The D-word, which has just recently had its twentieth anniversary.

• how the one-person crew is tailor-made for documentary
• the importance of being in service of story over technical filmmaking achievements
• how Doug Block never intended to champion the personal documentary style
• the D-word having its 20th anniversary came from Doug Block’s first documentary
• how because most doc filmmakers don’t make their entire living doing docs, process becomes a very important aspect

Additional Doug Block Resources

Film Trailer for Doug Block’s, Home Page

https://vimeo.com/312993406

Film Trailer for Doug Block’s, 51 Birch Street

https://vimeo.com/15608076

In Chris in Cambodia, TDL host and doc filmmaker, Chris G. Parkhurst shares some of his stories and lessons from his most recent trip filming in Cambodia, working on he and his wife, Steph’s, current documentary, Elvis of Cambodia.

In Part Five, Chris gets violently ill in Cambodia. But his forever trustworthy traveling and filmmaking companion, Patrick, comes to the rescue. A few years later, Chris is able to return the favor. Emergency on-the-fly car driving lessons and other zaniness ensues, as we learn the value of people that you can truly trust when filming in developing countries.

Related Videos From the Set of Elvis of Cambodia

Papaya Salad and “Dirty Water”

Having Some Fun While Filming Chinese New Year in Kampot

Where we share our listeners #doclives and filmmaking stories. This week’s #Doclifer Story, comes from Scott Link, a name well-known in the TDL Community facebook group. Scott has recently finished his first documentary feature, If My Judges Are Ready? and shares with us some of his trials & tribulations.

Thank you to music licensing platform, Music Vine for their fresh and diverse music and for contributing the wonderful music that we’ve used in this week’s episode.

If you need any music for your doc project, we can honestly recommend Music Vine.

Want 20% off of your first music licensing purchase? No licensing restrictions or number of tracks! Simply use promo code MYDOCLIFE at checkout!

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!

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 crowdfunding campaigns for film companies and independent filmmakers over the past decade, worked for Indiegogo, and authored the veritable bible on the subject, Crowdfunding For Filmmakers: The Way to a Successful Film Campaign.

• How John and his friend’s early interest in film and drama led him to the world of crowdfunding
• Why doc films and filmmakers are perfect for crowdfunds
• Three of the most common mistakes first-time crowdfunding campaigns make
• How crowdfunding is about so much more than simply raising monies for your doc film

Additional Crowdfunding Resources

The book that made our crowdfund campaign

Interested in the book that everyone is talking about (and certainly we talked about on the show!)? This is literally THE resource that Steph and I used to guide us through our successful $20k crowdfund for Elvis of Cambodia.

John gives his crowdfunding TEDx Talks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGb7bQKtA3o

In Chris in Cambodia, TDL host and doc filmmaker, Chris G. Parkhurst shares some of his stories and lessons from his most recent trip filming in Cambodia, working on he and his wife, Steph’s, current documentary, Elvis of Cambodia.

In Part Four, Chris ventures out into the provinces for his first bit of filming since returning to Cambodia. And it’s the Chinese New Year. And he’s taking friend/colleague, Patrick Firouzian out to film with him. Only, they need to find some way to get to their subject’s hometown, which is not easy since most modes of transportation are shut down during the New Year celebrations. And then once there, they’ll need to stay sober enough to complete the day’s filming!

Related Videos From the Set of Elvis of Cambodia

Filming Seng Dara in his hometown of Chumnik village, Takeo province

Friend, additional photographer, and film collaborator, Patrick Firouzian, takes a break during the filming.

Where we share our listeners #doclives and filmmaking stories. This week, we visit with doc filmmaker and founder of The Charlotte Unconventional Film School, Julie McElmurry, who shares with us her experiences working on her documentary series about nuns.

Thank you to music licensing platform, Music Vine for their fresh and diverse music and for contributing the wonderful music that we’ve used in this week’s episode.

If you need any music for your doc project, we can honestly recommend Music Vine.

Want 20% off of your first music licensing purchase? No licensing restrictions or number of tracks! Simply use promo code MYDOCLIFE at checkout!

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!