Nick Bruckman Remembers Ady Barkan | Not Going Quietly

How do you talk about your film a week after its subject dies?

Nick Bruckman spent years filming Ady Barkan for Not Going Quietly, the documentary about the young father with ALS who took his fight for health care all the way to Congress. Ady died on November 1, 2023. About a week later, Nick sat down with Documentary First. He had done about 200 interviews about the film, he told Christian, but this was the first since Ady's passing, and he had just come back from a memorial that weekend. So before the film, he wanted to talk about Ady: one of "the most incredible civil rights leaders of our generation," Nick says, and someone whose presence made you ask whether the way you're spending your life is important.

In Episode 211, Christian Taylor talks with Nick Bruckman on her own; her co-host Jason Rugg was out sick. Nick explains why he wanted the intimate scenes at home and the activist scenes to feel like one story, because Ady's story "is about how the personal is political." He remembers the moment he knew it was a feature: Ady telling him they would get an RV, find other sick people, and roll up in their wheelchairs to members of Congress to confront them with their stories. "That to me was what the movie is about, and what all documentary films are about, which is that stories have power," Nick says. Christian, who once worked in politics in Washington, says that once you've seen Ady's personal story, you can't "other" him, whatever side of the aisle you're on.

Then the making of it. In 2018, Liz Jaff, a political consultant who had just met Ady on a plane, called Nick's company, People's TV, about a short launch video for the health care advocacy group she and Ady were starting, Be A Hero. Nick flew to Santa Barbara expecting a two-minute promo, and by the end of that first interview he asked Ady to make a movie. Ady had been diagnosed in 2016 and given two to four years to live; when Nick met him, he had about six months of speech left. Nick lived in the family's garage bedroom for long stretches so he could film dinners without a crew. He talks about funders who passed because they thought it sounded too sad, the executive producers who signed on (Bradley Whitford, who met Ady at a protest, and Mark and Jay Duplass), and how the rights were split among POV on PBS, a theatrical run from Greenwich Entertainment, and Hulu. He got Ady to the red carpet at the 2021 premiere, where the film got a standing ovation, and Ady gave him "a kind of knowing eyebrow raise." The conversation ends with Minted, Nick's film about the NFT boom, and with Nick's own story: a mother who was an opera singer, a 17-year-old with a video camera at the World Trade Center site on 9/11, a family with deep roots in disability advocacy, and the two pieces of advice he gives young filmmakers.

WATCH THE FILM

Not Going Quietly is available to rent or buy on Apple TV: https://tv.apple.com/movie/umc.cmc.jx9slzclhgarxr7lstcc4l3t

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why Nick's first interview after Ady Barkan's death began with Ady, not the film
• How a two-minute launch video for Be A Hero became a feature documentary
• Why Nick wanted the home scenes and the activism to feel like one story
• What made Nick realize there was a feature in Ady's plan
• How a documentary can build empathy across the political aisle
• Why Nick lived with Ady's family to film without a crew
• Why funders passed on a film they thought sounded too sad
• How Bradley Whitford and the Duplass brothers became executive producers
• Why Nick won't publish a budget while a film is still being sold
• How POV, Greenwich Entertainment and Hulu split the rights
• Nick's two pieces of advice: get great at one craft, and find your tribe

CHAPTERS

0:00 Meet Nick Bruckman

3:19 Losing Ady Barkan

10:24 The Personal Is Political

13:46 Empathy Across the Aisle

21:11 How the Film Began

26:18 Standing Ovation

29:51 The Dinner Table

32:03 Budget, POV and Hulu

35:19 Minted and NFTs

40:28 From 9/11 to Filmmaking

44:00 Find Your Tribe

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the documentary Not Going Quietly about?

Not Going Quietly is a 2021 documentary directed by Nicholas Bruckman about Ady Barkan, a young father and health care activist diagnosed with ALS in 2016. After a confrontation with a senator on a plane went viral, Barkan co-founded Be A Hero and traveled the country with other sick people to press members of Congress on health care. The film premiered at SXSW in 2021, where it won the Audience Award and a Special Jury Award.

When did Ady Barkan die?

Ady Barkan died on November 1, 2023, at age 39, of complications from ALS. He had been diagnosed in 2016 and told he had two to four years to live. Nicholas Bruckman, who directed Not Going Quietly, recorded this Documentary First conversation about a week after Barkan's death. He told Christian Taylor it was his first interview since Barkan's passing, and that he had just come back from a memorial that weekend.

How did Not Going Quietly get made?

Nicholas Bruckman met Ady Barkan in 2018, when Barkan's new group, Be A Hero, asked Bruckman's company, People's TV, to make a short launch video. By the end of the first interview, Bruckman had asked to make a feature. He started filming on spec with his company's resources, later added grants and executive producers Bradley Whitford and Mark and Jay Duplass, and lived with the Barkan family for long stretches to film at home without a crew.

What advice does Nick Bruckman give new documentary filmmakers?

Bruckman gives two pieces of advice. First, get really good at one craft in or near the industry, such as editing, color correction or lighting, so you can earn a living while you're around other filmmakers. He says he was a very good editor but never a good camera person, and he built People's TV on commercial and client work. Second, find your tribe, because documentary filmmaking, he says, is a team sport.

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ABOUT THE GUEST

Nicholas Bruckman

Director and Founder of People's Television

Nicholas Bruckman is an Emmy-nominated director and the founder and CEO of People's Television (People's TV), a creative studio in New York City and Washington, DC that makes independent films and branded work for companies, foundations and social movements. He directed Not Going Quietly, which won the Audience Award and a Special Jury Award at SXSW 2021 and earned two News and Documentary Emmy nominations, and Minted: The Rise (and Fall?) of the NFT, which premiered at Tribeca in 2023. He produced Valley of Saints, a Sundance Audience Award winner, and co-directed the docuseries The Price of Milk with Yoni Brook.

Website: https://nickny.com

People's TV: https://peoples.tv

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicholasbruckman/

X: https://twitter.com/Nick_Bruckman

IN MEMORY

Ady Barkan (1983 to 2023). We're grateful Nick shared Ady's story with us a week after he lost his friend.

ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST

Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers from Ken Burns to first-time directors. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide.

THE NICK BRUCKMAN SESSIONS

• Episode 223, Nick returns with Minted, his film about the artists of the NFT boom, and remembers Ady's memorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW9Zra9knk4
• Episode 265, Nick's third visit, on The Price of Milk, getting into Tribeca and how Minted reached Netflix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5-ZYwbQgh0

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Not Going Quietly on Apple TV: