Documentary First

Documentary First

The craft and business of documentary filmmaking — from people who actually do it. Documentary First is a weekly podcast for working and aspiring documentary filmmakers who want honest, in-depth conversations about how documentaries get funded, made, and seen. Hosted by Christian Taylor — award-winning director of The Girl Who Wore Freedom (25+ international awards, distributed through Virgil Films, Swank, and Canal+) — the show draws on 270+ interviews with documentary filmmakers, editors, producers, distributors, and composers across HBO, Netflix, PBS, and the independent doc world. Past guests include Ken Burns, PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning editor Charles Olivier (HBO's The Jinx, The Redeem Team), and Emmy-nominated director Nick Bruckman (Netflix's Minted). Every week, Documentary First delivers two formats in one feed. The main show features long-form interviews exploring how filmmakers approach their craft, navigate distribution, and build sustainable careers. On alternating weeks, Documentary First: The Deep Dive takes a single insight from a recent guest conversation and goes further — drawing on psychology, philosophy, and real-world experience to uncover the deeper lessons behind the work. Documentary First is the only podcast in the documentary filmmaking space hosted by a working filmmaker with active projects in production and an archive of 270+ conversations spanning every corner of the industry. If you make documentaries or want to, this is your show. Topics include: documentary directing, documentary producing, documentary distribution, film festival strategy, fundraising for documentaries, storytelling craft, documentary cinematography, documentary editing, film music and scoring, sound design for film, entertainment law for filmmakers, archival footage and rights clearance, and building a sustainable career in nonfiction filmmaking. New episodes every week. Subscribe and leave a review! Instagram: @documentaryfirst | Facebook: @documentaryfirst | X: @Doc_First | TikTok: @documentaryfirst | YouTube: @DocumentaryFirst | LinkedIn: documentaryfirst | documentaryfirst.com

Episoder(286)

Episode 22 | Q&A with Christian

Episode 22 | Q&A with Christian

In this episode, host of the podcast Josh Lindsey asks director Christian Taylor a series of questions to better understand what went on at the Normandy focus group screening of The Girl Who Wore Free...

9 Aug 201918min

Episode 21 | Social media

Episode 21 | Social media

Social media is an important part of promoting any project, but particularly films. In this episode, we meet Anne Evans, our first social media lead and sister of Director Christian Taylor. Anne share...

2 Aug 201916min

Episode 20 | Screening

Episode 20 | Screening

What does it take to run a focus group screening? In this episode, Director Christian Taylor shares how the eleven screenings were planned for Normandy to gather feedback from the five-hundred people ...

26 Jul 201915min

Episode 19 | Eleventh Hour

Episode 19 | Eleventh Hour

Director Christian Taylor is in France preparing to screen the film, but the drive doesn't work. In this episode, we celebrate the first focus group event of The Girl Who Wore Freedom in Normandy, Fra...

19 Jul 201917min

Episode 18 | Mississippi Screening

Episode 18 | Mississippi Screening

In this episode, Director Christian Taylor shares an update after visiting Mississippi and screening for veterans with dramatically moving results. Because we've been so busy with that, we're also rea...

12 Jul 201923min

Episode 17 | Post-Focus Group

Episode 17 | Post-Focus Group

In this episode, Director Christian Taylor shares an update after running a focus group for The Girl Who Wore Freedom in Normandy for D-Day Celebrations. Because we've been so busy with that, we're al...

5 Jul 201917min

Episode 16 | Next

Episode 16 | Next

Director Christian Taylor looks ahead to the next steps for “The Girl Who Wore Freedom” and speculates about what it will be like to watch the film at the first focus group events.

28 Jun 201917min

Episode 15 | Bilingual

Episode 15 | Bilingual

Working with footage and audiences that represent at least two distinct languages is no small task. Director Christian Taylor talks about the complexity of subtitling and her project’s tight turnaroun...

21 Jun 201916min

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