Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some advice from people who know how this industry works.
I’m only just starting to recover from one of the most unbelievable and traumatic experiences of my life involving my own “family.”
The story involves money, corruption, international fraud, identity theft, inheritance disputes, people who are internationally well known, and a complete family breakdown.
I know that probably sounds like every other Reddit post claiming to have a “crazy story,” but in my case, everything is documented. I have extensive evidence, and the entire case has been handled by a team of lawyers who know every detail.
Without revealing too much publicly, several people who know the full story have told me it has the potential to become a documentary, a limited series, or even a feature film.
So my question is: how do you actually get a story like this in front of the right people?
Is it possible to contact Netflix directly, or do they only work through producers?
Do I need to write a book first, or is it possible to pitch the story as a treatment or synopsis?
Should I be looking for a literary agent, a producer, or an entertainment lawyer?
Has anyone here gone through this process or know someone who has?
I’m not trying to sell the story here, and I don’t want to share any identifiable details for obvious legal reasons. I’m simply trying to understand what the right first step would be.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
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Don't copy this horrific camera work. It's amateurish, distracting and just plain stupid. Television is not Youtube. Those who use it, smarten up!
I feel confident in production, directing, and post-production, but I struggle with distribution and finding buyers.
For those who have successfully sold or distributed documentaries, what worked for you?
Any advice on approaching broadcasters, streaming platforms, distributors, or film markets would be greatly appreciated.
I’m a super newbie - sorry. Sure I could’ve googled (and I have) but would love to hear from actual people.
I want to get into doc filmmaking/interviews.
I have a Canon EOS R10 and a Osmo Pocket 3. Is this an okay start to do some doc/interviews?
What’s a good beginner light to use to accompany these cameras?
My thought process: my canon is my A camera and my osmo is my B camera at an angle. Is that the right approach?
Mostly indoor shooting but ya know just kinda fumbling along and learning as I go..
Thanks in advance!
I made Read Receipts about the loneliness no one photographs — not the empty kind, the full kind. A good night. A date that went well. The text I thought I wanted, lighting up my phone after. And the truth under it: he'll sleep with me. He just won't date me. I got real, let him see I'm not always well, and watched it close the door. The honesty that cost me the date is the same honesty this film is built on. For the woman who got the text back and still felt invisible — you're not crazy. Read Receipts. 🤍
Proof of Life was born out of a desire to hold onto something incredibly fragile: a moment of pure, unadulterated happiness. When I turned the camera on myself and my son, Guy, in the quiet sanctuary of our garden, I wasn't looking to tell a grand, sweeping story. Instead, I wanted to capture the profound beauty of the everyday. As a filmmaker, I am constantly exploring the intimacy of human connection, and this documentary is my most vulnerable exploration of that theme yet. It is exactly what the title suggests—a visual and emotional ledger that in this chaotic world, joy exists, connection matters, and for a fleeting afternoon in the garden, we were truly happy. My hope is that the film invites the audience to pause and recognize the quiet, everyday "proofs of life" in their own relationships.
I am an Engineer but these days my passion lies deep into making immersive documentaries. I use 3D tools like Blender and Unreal Engine to enact stories of the past and future. I use extensive SFXs and atmospheric music to make the quality high.
Despite all this, my extensive knowledge and experience lies in Engineering so I am having a hard time learning everything about filmmaking all at once. While I am a voracious consumer of tips, I haven't been able to find an efficient way to storyboard. I can't hire a storyboard artist, I will have to do it myself. But the imagination part is lacking. How can I get better at this?
🎬 New Memory Story is out!
This one goes back to my student days in Iran in 1986 — a road trip to the north, a Toyota pickup, a stack of forbidden cassette tapes, and one very confused Laura Branigan cassette that somehow survived the checkpoint.
It’s a funny memory, but also a small glimpse into everyday life in Iran during those years.
Watch it here:
https://youtu.be/A0RUKZQ2QTI?is=GXG9y8sUCzzQE13l
She spent the night
getting ready to be seen.
He saw a figure.
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Am intimate, unsparing
portrait of modern
dating and lonliness.
I’m a documentarian, and I have about 5 x 4tb SSDs that are at capacity. Since the prices have sky rocketed, I wanted to get some advice on getting more storage without obliterating the bank.
I was considering getting something like 2 x ~20 TB HHDs to be mirrored base storage, and just offload all my old footage from the SSDs onto them and reuse the SSDs for new footage and editing, but I don’t know which HHDs are best or what other people usually do in this situation.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Most YouTubers finish a video...
...and then publish it.
I'm trying something different.
For the past several months, I've been building a private workshop where every documentary is reviewed **before** it ever reaches YouTube.
Not by employees.
Not by editors.
By a small group of people who simply enjoy asking questions, spotting weak arguments, finding plot holes, catching confusing explanations, and making stories stronger.
Think of it like beta testing for documentaries.
Members get to watch documentaries before they're released, tell me exactly where they get bored, confused, skeptical, or excited, and help shape the final version.
If their feedback meaningfully improves a documentary, they're credited in the end credits (unless they choose to remain anonymous).
This isn't about growing a Discord server.
In fact, I'm intentionally limiting it to **25 founding members** because I care far more about quality than numbers.
I'm looking for people who enjoy comments like:
>
>
>
>
If that kind of thing sounds fun to you, I'd love to talk.
I'm not looking for fans.
I'm looking for collaborators.
Leave a comment or send me a DM if you're interested, and I'll tell you more about the project.
you've got 14 unread messages and zero people to call 📵💔 read receipts — a film about connection in the age of being perpetually online. coming after festivals.
Hi everyone,
I’ve just released on my channel, a second documentary on the Westall UFO incident, Australia’s largest mass UFO sighting, witnessed by more than 200 students, teachers, and local residents in Melbourne on April 6th, 1966.
Here’s the link to the documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vqsbptVgHU&t=2073s
For this project, I filmed on-location at both Westall and an area nearby known as The Grange, where witnesses claim one of the objects descended that day.
The documentary includes interviews with several additional witnesses to the event, including a lady Terry Peck, who says she came within roughly 10 metres of one of the craft at The Grange that day. Her description of what she saw that day is genuinely startling.
The video also explores the alleged cover-up surrounding the incident, including witness intimidation, the arrival of authorities afterwards, and claims that a teacher’s camera was confiscated after photographs were reportedly taken of the object.
If you’re interested in UFO history, credible mass sightings, or cases involving alleged government secrecy, you might find this one worth watching.
Would love to hear your thoughts once you’ve seen it.
– Project Unknown: Field Files
Hey I am a film director looking for work or to direct any short films would be great and starting up a film company and need to hire crew but have no money to do so and want to build up the film company as I am starting out with my best friend who is the producer we are the royal star studios on all socials and are struggling for crew and actors we are England placed in Brighton struggling any advice or suggestions or support would mean a lot
Many thanks Bethany c :)
Hello friends,
This is a still frame of the talking head from my first ever (short) documentary.
It follows an indie theatre company putting on their latest production. As you can see, the interview was shot during the run of the play, and is a mess.
Ive learned to live with it, but I’d love some advice on how I can make the frame look a little better, and how I can avoid making the same mistakes again.
Questions I have are:
- Do you think the clutter will be distracting and take away from the interview?
- Can you think of any way I can improve the framing (cropping, reframing etc)?
- what should I take into account the next time I’m preparing a talking head interview?
One solution my friend offered was to digitally add a poster to the wall on the left hand side to make the wall less ugly.
Thanks in advance for your help.
P.S: see my comment down below for the things I did wrong so you know what I did wrong and don’t make my mistakes 😅
For years the consoling line in every filmmaking group chat has been a version of "yes, but you can always tell it's AI. The hands are wrong, the physics are off, it's got that plasticky look." but it's pretty clear that we are on the verge of that no longer being true anymore. And even if you keen eagle eyed AI spotting filmmakers out there might be able to tell a slight difference, do you think your parents, or grandparents, or cousins, or anyone not in this industry could?
People keep saying "is AI coming for filmmakers" but that's too vague a statement, because a shampoo ad and a wedding film and a founder doc and a feature film aren't the same job just because they all happen to be moving images. Most brand/commercial work exists to create an effect — desire, status, reassurance, attention — and the audience never needed the thing on screen to be real to have the intended effect. Once you can manufacture the effect without the reality, the reality seems somewhat optional. Particularly as we know how capitalism works and if it's faster and cheaper to forego the reality, companies won't care about your Alexa mini, your vintage lenses, your cool bolt camera system, or any other nonsense that for them just becomes something that is more logistically complicated and expensive than endlessly generating whatever they want at the press of a button.
So here's the bit I'd actually like other people's take on. In terms of the commercial/brand space (ignoring scripted and unscripted which is it's own big conversation) I think the work and the filmmakers that will survive all of this are where the reality of the moment is the actual product, or the value of the film is dependent on the reality — a real person, real access, real events, the things an audience has to believe genuinely happened. Essentially, anything 'docu' style in it's principle of capturing and presenting things that are grounded in real life and the real world.
I expand on this argument and thought process, as well as looking at the facts and figures behind if this trend is actually being affirmed in the work brands are making, in this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Ifl7ItywU&t=569s
But there are so many opinions already out there on this topic, so I very much expect a tirade of heated keyboard based abuse hurled my way for adding another voice into the mix.
Hello all,
Firstly please be kind, I am absolutely new to film making really (i have shot music videos 8 years ago but nothing "narrative based".
Also, I'm aware the content may be political, this post isn't about that, please don't get political at this point.
With a bit of basic research i have got the following on its way...
Black magic pocket 4k
Canon EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM
Audio-Technica AT875R
Manfrotto Befree Live
SanDisk Extreme Pro 2k SSD
Small rig shoulder rig
Portkeys pt5 ii
4x NPF batteries large
2x standard batteries
Viltrox EF-M2 II speed booster 0.71x
Small rig top handle
Variable ND Filter (82mm + Step-Up Rings):
Lens cases and caps (various)
Flight case
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Would anyone recommend any addition bits? I do have some dynamic mics i may also take (from my live music set up), I will obviously have some "run and gun" moments but the majority will not be combat area shooting so I should have time to set up... Obviously I will be shooting in low light at times.
(For anyone wondering about the technical / security side of things I am used to being in a combat zone, i have full level 4 armour already in place in Ukraine, and will have all the permissions needed and a military escort in areas that require it, non of that side is an issue this is purely tech related)