Cold War in Philly: Joe Amodei Directs His First Documentary

What happens when a film distributor with more than 40 years in the business finally makes his own documentary?

Joe Amodei grew up in Philadelphia watching the Flyers with his parents, sisters and brothers. From the family living room, he watched the team he still calls his heroes beat the Soviet Red Army on January 11, 1976. After decades of releasing other people's documentaries, he decided it was finally time to make his own. Cold War in Philly tells the story of that game and of the players who are still Philadelphia heroes 50 years later. Joe calls it a love letter to them.

In Episode 283, Christian Taylor welcomes Joe back, this time as a first-time director. He explains how he got access to a legendary NHL team: a cousin who works with the Flyers alumni, and a man named Brad Marsh who runs the alumni group and told the players Joe was a good guy. Before he interviewed anyone, Joe spent almost a year on contracts with the Flyers, Comcast and the league. He got the players on camera, including Ed Van Impe and Bernie Parent, who have since died. He retells the film's story of arena announcer Lou Nolan swapping Kennedy half dollars for Soviet pins with the Soviet team's minders, and shares stories that didn't make the cut, like the Soviet players leaving with every towel and bar of soap.

The film took two and a half years, mostly because Joe made it while running Virgil Films, a mistake he won't repeat. He kept it under $250,000, the same ceiling he gives every documentary filmmaker. It opened in Philadelphia and sold out every screening, so six planned screenings became 17 in July alone. Then Joe tells, for the first time anywhere, why the film ends with a photo of him and Morgan Spurlock. When Joe found the project, he offered it to Spurlock to direct. Spurlock turned it down and told Joe to direct it himself, and when Joe said he wasn't a director, Spurlock said, "Yes, you are." Spurlock died not long after. The episode ends on why the work is worth it: players thanking Joe in tears, and the daughter of the Flyers' broadcaster Gene Hart hearing her father call that game for the first time in 50 years.

Full disclosure: since 2022, Joe's company, Virgil Films, has distributed Christian's film The Girl Who Wore Freedom, and it sponsors Documentary First, including this episode.

WATCH THE FILM

Cold War in Philly: Flyers vs Russia 1976 is available to rent or buy on Amazon, Apple TV and Fandango at Home, with links on the film's site: https://coldwarinphilly.com

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How to get access to a famous team or organization through its alumni association
• Why a built-in audience helps an independent film succeed
• What to budget for a documentary, and why Joe kept his under $250,000
• The two things Joe says it takes to finish a film: passion and willpower

CHAPTERS

0:00 Becoming a First-Time Director

2:42 Where the Idea Came From

5:08 How Do You Get Access?

9:33 Capturing Heroes in Time

13:04 Structuring the Documentary

21:20 The Grind of Production

28:11 Selling Out Theaters

36:06 A Promise to Morgan Spurlock

38:32 Was Distribution Hard?

41:37 What Should a Doc Budget Be?

44:48 Passion and Willpower

47:38 Is Filmmaking Worth It?

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do you get access to famous people or organizations for a documentary?

Go through the alumni association. Joe Amodei got access to the Philadelphia Flyers players through the team's alumni group, which handles former players' appearances. Nearly every major sports team has one, usually run by one or two people. Find that person and earn their trust, and they can open the door to the whole roster. Then be ready for separate contracts with the team, the owner and the league, which took Joe almost a year.

How much does it cost to make a documentary?

For an independent documentary, Joe Amodei's rule is not to spend more than $250,000, and he kept his own film, Cold War in Philly, under that line. Christian Taylor frames it as knowing what the film can realistically earn back before you set the budget, and understanding the market you are spending against. A built-in audience and disciplined spending give a documentary a real chance to earn its money back.

What makes an independent film succeed now?

A built-in audience, Christian Taylor says, and Joe Amodei agrees: "Always." Cold War in Philly had Flyers fans waiting for it, and its theatrical run sold out. But Joe adds a caveat: people asked him who would watch beyond Flyers fans, and he went ahead anyway. Many viewers have since told him they aren't even hockey fans. If your gut says go, he says, still think about it, but that doesn't mean you don't do it.

What does it take to finish a documentary?

Two things, according to Joe Amodei: passion and willpower. Passion for the story carries you through a process that will not be easy, and willpower keeps you going when the edit stalls and the work isn't moving as fast as you wanted. You owe it to your investors, your subjects and the people who gave up their time to sit for you. His advice is simple: you can't give up.

What should you look for in a film distributor?

Christian Taylor describes what makes Joe a distributor worth trusting: he answers calls and emails, pays his bills on time, sends the reports that are due, and is honest. She says that basic reliability is rarer than it should be in the business, and it's what separates a distributor you can trust from one you can't.

DOCUVIEW DÉJÀ VU PICKS

From the Virgil Films slate, Joe highlighted She Was Here, about the young actress from Poltergeist, and Broken Brothers, from Jeff Levine, a future Documentary First guest.

SPONSORED BY VIRGIL FILMS ENTERTAINMENT

https://virgilfilms.com

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ABOUT THE GUEST

Joe Amodei

Founder of Virgil Films and Entertainment; director of Cold War in Philly

Joe Amodei has worked in film distribution for more than 40 years, starting in home video retail in Philadelphia. In 2000 he became president of USA Home Entertainment (Traffic, Being John Malkovich, Gosford Park), and he went on to create Virgil Films and Entertainment, whose releases include Super Size Me, Restrepo, Forks Over Knives and Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me. He won a 2020 New York Emmy for The Real Bedford Falls: It's a Wonderful Life. Cold War in Philly: Flyers vs Russia 1976 is his first film as a director; he also produced it and co-wrote it with Irv Slifkin.

Virgil Films: https://virgilfilms.com

Cold War in Philly: https://coldwarinphilly.com

Virgil Films on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virgilfilms

Virgil Films on X: https://x.com/VirgilFilms

Virgil Films on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VirgilFilms

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 DISTRIBUTION SERIES

• Episode 128, Joe's first visit, from a video store to Super Size Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6zHmPe97nI
• Episode 194, five film business tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRVSc0YRizE
• Episode 198, Cannes part one, the film market: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mUqEAz87js
• Episode 199, Cannes part two, why documentaries are hard to sell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiJfjJIuMY0
• Episode 216,...