Documentary Filmmakers and Mental Health

Last week I emailed fifty filmmakers with whom I’ve recently worked. I wanted to check in about their progress since our last story consultation.

Happily, a handful reported they had finished their docs! That includes Nitsan Tal whose “8000 Paperclips” received this lovely review in The Jerusalem Post: “…a delicately crafted and touching story”.

But many filmmakers said they’d made little progress since Covid-19 hit. “Working in relative isolation for so long, I’m wondering if anyone would be interested in this subject matter besides the people involved,” said one filmmaker.

Last year D-Word founder Doug Block said something that is doubly true during Covid: “Unfortunately, the mental health aspects of documentary filmmaking are rarely discussed in our public square, reinforcing the loneliness many feel.”

Well, I’m here to say you’re not alone, and here’s some good news: “Documentaries are on fire,” according to sales agent Stacey Parks who is working the virtual MIPCOM this week. “The demand for works in progress and completed docs and doc series is heating up both domestically and internationally,” she says.

So even if you can’t shoot right now, check out these free resources to stay purposeful:

Start Logging Your Footage (Quickly)

Join D-Word and Doculink documentary communities

Watch an Editing Seminar filmed live

Re the Editing Seminar, filmmaker Paul Chirila emailed last week to say “it really lit up my imagination” as he finished editing a doc short.

On a personal note, I remember in 1994 when HIV treatments weren’t advanced enough to save my late mentor Marlon Riggs. I was inspired by the documentary “Common Threads” (1989). Amidst the grief, the filmmaker posited that someday, this hell would be over.