Hannah Ayers and Lance Warren on the set of “An Outrage” with Dr. Andre Johnson, who spoke about the lynching of Ell Persons in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo courtesy Field Studio/George Grider)
Thanks to advances in technology and online distribution, it’s never been easier for budding Michael Moores to make and market their own documentaries. But what does it take to create reality-based films? We picked the brains of some Richmond-area documentarians: Hannah Ayers and Lance Warren of Field Studio, co-directors of “An Outrage” and the recent “The Hail-Storm: John Dabney in Virginia”; Nathan Clarke of Fourth Line Films, co-director of numerous shorts and feature-length docs, including the forthcoming film “The Funeral Home”; and Brad Johnson, a longtime DJ and the man behind El Bravador Filmworks, which has made two independent documentaries, “The Soul: R&B Radio Legends of Central Virginia” and “Hip-Hop Legends of Central Virginia.” (Johnson, a recently retired A/V tech, has also made two indie features, “3rd World Man” and “Joe’s Auto.”)
1. The Idea
“You know you have an irresistible story when you can’t stop thinking and talking and dreaming about it, and once you’ve started sharing the story with other people, they don’t glaze over or politely nod, but instead ask question after question,” Warren says.
Clarke’s documentary “The Funeral Home” tells the story of the man who runs the longest-standing African-American funeral home in San Antonio, Texas. “We were working on another project ... and we found this embalmer, James, and spent time with him, thinking we’d get some vignettes for this other film, and we quickly learned that he was a remarkable character who came across really well on video.”
Johnson was inspired to make “The Soul: R&B Radio Legends of Central Virginia” while attending a cookout. “Many of the eventual subjects were there, and I just grabbed my camera and started filming after hearing these stories,” he recalls. “I wasn’t a documentarian … but I looked at all of this good footage I got, and I said, ‘I have to do a documentary.’ ”
2. First Steps
“We surveyed the media landscape to see what films existed on the topic,” Ayers says of “An Outrage,” her film with Warren that addresses lynching. “The next steps involved a lot of research and reading, and then identifying scholars, community activists and descendants of lynching victims whom we hoped to interview.”
Clarke adds that, early on, you have to determine what kind of movie you are making. “I can make a three-minute film on just about anyone. Everyone has something interesting. But it’s rare that I can make a 10-minute film about just anyone, and it’s just really unique to find a feature-length film.”
Behind the scenes of “Hip-Hop Legends of Central Virginia” (Photo courtesy El Bravador Filmworks)
3. Funding
Fourth Line, the company that Clarke runs with co-director Tyler Trumbo, does corporate and organizational work to pay the bills. “We take a compelling story and align it to some kind of organizational or corporate value,” Clarke says. “And we use this work to fund our more personal work.”
“Our solution with ‘An Outrage’ was to self-invest,” echoes Ayers. “We saved up funds from producing videos for nonprofit, university and museum clients, and then cleared our schedules for four months so that we could focus full-time on production and post-production.” The plan worked. The duo’s latest film, “The Hail-Storm” — about a legendary African-American chef in Richmond — received up-front funding from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and The Community Idea Stations, largely due to acclaim for “An Outrage.”
Johnson doesn’t wait for someone else to fund his projects. “I wanted to get these stories out, and I made a huge dent in my savings, both times,” he says. “But it was worth it. I would do it again if I had to.”
4. On Set
“On that first day or two on location, everything is so new and fresh and amazing,” Clarke says. “But after the first two or three days, it becomes sort of normal, and you don’t think it’s so unique anymore ... but you have to somehow stay curious and keep reminding yourself that, for the audience, this is going to be new.”
“You always shoot more than you need,” Johnson says. “Now I’ve learned to make, and try to stick to, a decision sheet about what I’m going to leave and what I’m going to take out.”
5. Marketing the Film
Find your niche, the filmmakers say. “You can tap into churches and nonprofits who might want to host screening events,” Clarke instructs. “There may be organizations willing to partner with you because they want to move the needle on the issue you are addressing.”
For instance, Ayers and Warren have connected with the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance program, which now offers “An Outrage” to 500,000 teachers throughout the country. The duo recently returned from a 57-stop, 23-state tour, taking their film about lynching to universities, museums and community groups.
“I have not made any money off of anything,” Johnson says. “I did it to get the story out. A lot of people think I’m insane to do that. But I didn’t say I was going to always do that.”
