Ep. 285 l How to Make a Documentary With No Film School: 5 Lessons

Who finishes your film if you can't?

This episode is about how to make a documentary with no film school. 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 that put him in an emergency room twice in three days. 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 it
• Why twenty years as an intelligence analyst turned out to be a filmmaking advantage
• Why Andre deliberately hired a crew who knew nothing about Gwynn Park, the region, or basketball
• The cold call that landed Hall of Fame coach Tubby Smith
• What a fiscal sponsor is, and how the Southern Documentary Fund made donors want to give
• How a three-hour conversation in a Brooklyn coffee shop with writer-director Marquis Smalls became his production blueprint
• What two heart attacks in three days taught him about succession, and what he changed the week he got out
• How AI reenacted a co-protagonist who had died and left almost no footage behind
• Why announcing the film on Instagram is the thing that made him finish it
• What NIL deals, unrestricted transfers, and year-round travel ball are doing to community public schools

THE FIVE LESSONS

• Lean into your superpowers
• Get comfortable taking calculated risks
• Get creative about filling gaps
• Plan for your absence
• Use 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, and credits Brooklyn writer-director Marquis Smalls, who drew him a blueprint over three hours.

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. With over 25 years of distribution experience, Virgil has released Super Size Me, the Oscar-nominated Restrepo, Forks Over Knives, To Die For, Seven Yards, and Speed is Expensive. If you are a filmmaker having trouble with distribution, talk to Virgil. https://virgilfilms.com

ABOUT THE GUEST

Andre N. Jackson is a first-time documentary filmmaker based in Fairfax, Virginia. He wrote and directed "Beyond Banners." He spent twenty years in the private sector in technology and security, including work at Capital One and Amazon and a brief stint at the Department of Homeland Security, and he worked as an intelligence analyst on cybersecurity and terrorism issues related to national security. He is a 1998 graduate of Gwynn Park High School, the subject of his film. He came to filmmaking with no film school and no industry connections.

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.

The film follows an intertwined father-and-son story, Howard Matthews and Steve Matthews, and widens into a portrait of what community-based youth sports used to be and what the commercialization of high school athletics is doing to it. Produced and edited by Daniel Bowie, with animation and motion design by Henry Gretzinger. Historian Ida E. Jones of Morgan State University asks the question Andre names as his favorite line in the film: "What is it about community that makes us community?" It also features Hall of Fame coach Tubby Smith, Wake Forest star Randolph Childress, who broke ACC records, sportswriter Neil Greenberger, who spent twenty years at The Washington Post and led its local sports section, and archival footage The film is headed to the festival circuit.

Website: https://beyondbannersdocumentary.com

Instagram: @beyondbannersdocumentary

ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST

Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the craft, the business, and the truth of filmmaking. Host Christian Taylor is an award-winning documentary filmmaker,...