Lessons For Making A Personal Documentary

Personal documentaries can be powerful, and especially meaningful to the filmmakers themselves. But there are often four big hurdles to overcome.

The first challenge directors face is gaining perspective because the material is, understandably, close to home. If that’s you, it helps to refer to yourself in the third person when conceiving the film. When talking with colleagues, you might even use the terms “Filmmaker John (fill in your name)” vs. “Character John” to help keep perspective.

Second, directors frequently have trouble seeing their own story arc. This is different than the material being too close to home.

I’ve learned that unless the filmmaker is finished living their story, they’ll never be able to frame it. At some point, you have to say to your Filmmaker Self, “My story ends here.” Otherwise, wait a few years to make your film.

Third, it’s very tempting and nearly impossible to make your quest (the protagonist’s “object of desire”) the making of the film itself. Such storytelling logic is circular. “This is a film about how I set out to make a film.”

Instead, make the film about your quest to understand or achieve something. Then it’s OK to refer to challenges that come up in the filmmaking process. Our collaboration with filmmaker Tiffany Shlain on Connected, a hit at Sundance and winner of 17 awards, reveals organic ways to do this.

The final challenge (which is actually the first) is for filmmakers is to make the case—first to oneself, then to one’s audience—as to why you should be in the film. What’s your unique credential or story that can illuminate a larger story or issue?

This challenge relates to filmmaker Doug Block’s Rule #1 of Personal Documentary Filmmaking: “Don’t make it all about you (even though, of course, it’s all about you).” He continues, “Audiences watch a personal doc with a built-in resistance and even resentment.”

While working with filmmaker Bonnie Rich on her award-winning comedic documentary Life is Rich, we used techniques to mitigate against the charge of narcissism, including self-deprecating humor and making her character the fall guy.