OUR APPROACH 

Sourcing deeply personal, unique and emotionally expressive materials always brings a biographical documentary to the next level. Through trust and sensitivity we build relationships with families and stakeholders, managing their archives with confidence to help make archival material the emotional heart of a biographical story. We also incorporate public archival materials to elevate personal narratives. The subject will always drive how and where we source unique materials. We get to know our subject and follow the clues their personal histories reveal. 

IMPACT EXAMPLES 

Pamela, A Love Story – Building trust with Pamela Anderson and her family was an important part of the archival process. When families feel comfortable with the filmmaking team, they are more likely to share private archives which might include home videos, personal photographs, journal entries, and unseen footage. These personal materials can bring intimacy and authenticity to biographical storytelling.

Family participation also ensures that stories are told with respect and consent. This is especially important when handling sensitive topics such as invasion of privacy and media exploitation, which were a part of Pamela’s personal narrative. [Trailer]

Luther: Never Too Much – A combination of estate access and record label access opened up a large range of unique archival materials including music videos, concert footage, raw outtakes, behind-the-scenes rehearsal footage, and some full, unseen interviews. 

Our access to Luther’s personal archive was unique and the broad scope of footage helped bring intimacy and variety. A lot of the things we ingested didn’t make it into the cut, but served as inspiration for us as storytellers. For example pulling archival clips of Harlem in the 60s allowed us to understand the world where he grew up, ultimately informing the overall visual tapestry of the film. Luther’s lyrics also served as a visual window to his story. [Trailer]

Nothing But A Winner –  For this biographical portrait of two coaches and the young men who played for them, our team didn’t have large personal archives to work with so we brainstormed creative ways to source archival footage to chronicle the rise of the legendary University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team. In addition, the story begins in the 1940s and key moments highlight the team in the 1960s and 1970s. Much of the footage from so long ago has been lost to time or lacks searchable meta data. Some of what we could find hadn’t been digitized and that extra step required time and extra fees.  

Researching projects that span several decades demands patience and creativity, but deep dives in university libraries, state archives, and smaller specialty collections can result in unearthing highly impactful materials.  [Trailer]

John Candy: I Like Me – John Candy is a beloved cultural icon. For this film, not only was there a multitude of public archival material relating to John’s career, but the creative team utilized a significant personal archive.  Directed by Colin Hanks with the Candy family producing meant access to a trove of never before seen materials, including hundreds of home movies and family photos.  

With more than 1,500 archival cues, the film relied on the archival to deepen the interview subject’s connection to John and even at times crafted more emotional layers by combining archival from his private and public lives. The film’s opening sequence illustrates this in an inspired pairing of John Candy film clips with Dan Aykroyd’s beautiful and emotional eulogy of John.  Ultimately, pairing public archival material with personal archival was an important way to connect the audience to John Candy’s story. [Trailer]

TAKEAWAYS

Connect

• Do your research, learn about your subject before diving in. 
• Use your research to find a way to connect/relate with your subject.
• Consider alternative sources and deep dives to find rare materials. Read articles and biographies about the subject to help you get creative about where to source those specialty materials. 

Collaborate

• Treat family members and friends of the subject as collaborators. Remember you’re working with and relying on people who have a deep love for the person whose story you are telling. You need their input and willingness to share deeply personal materials.  
• Share your findings and realize family members may be seeing much of the materials for the first time.  Collaboration builds trust which can only enhance your project.
• When you find non-professional materials online, always check with the family about facts surrounding the timing, possible sourcing and copyright of those materials.  They will often share more background which can lead to finding more rare materials.