Documentary First Podcast Por Christian Taylor arte de portada

Documentary First

Documentary First

De: Christian Taylor
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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.comDocumentary First, all rights reserved. Arte Ciencias Sociales
Episodios
  • Episode 6 I The Deep Dive with Erik & Chris Ewers: Quiet Desperation—Competence vs Self-Knowledge

    Episode 6 I The Deep Dive with Erik & Chris Ewers: Quiet Desperation—Competence vs Self-Knowledge
    Apr 2 2026
    Henry David Thoreau wrote that most people lead lives of “quiet desperation.” But what did he actually mean - and what does it look like inside a successful career?That’s the question Christian Taylor explores in this episode of Documentary First: The Deep Dive, after her conversation with Erik and Christopher Ewers—two brothers who just directed a three-part, three-hour PBS documentary on Thoreau. The film is narrated by George Clooney, with Jeff Goldblum voicing Thoreau, Ted Danson as Emerson, and Meryl Streep voicing several women in Thoreau’s life. It’s executive produced by Ken Burns and Don Henley.What struck Christian wasn’t the star-studded cast or the prestige credentials. It was a quiet confession from Erik - Ken Burns’s senior editor for 33 years - who admitted that despite decades of career confidence, he didn’t really know himself. He described himself as “lost and wayward.” And it was his own documentary about youth mental illness that finally woke him up.That led Christian back to Thoreau’s famous line and to a realization: Thoreau wasn’t describing unhappy people. He was describing people who don’t even know they’re suffering. People whose competence has become the hiding place.What You’ll Learn:Why competence can mask a total lack of self-knowledge - for decadesWhat Thoreau actually meant by “quiet desperation” (it’s not what most people think)How Erik Ewers’s own documentary became the mirror that showed him himselfThe connection between Thoreau’s grief, Christian’s grief, and the impulse to strip life down to what’s realA practical challenge for filmmakers and creators: rest is where the seeing happensThe Core Idea:Your craft can take you everywhere - except inward. The stories we tell have the power to tell us something back, but only if we’re paying attention. This episode explores what happens when the noise finally stops and we’re left standing on honest ground.Featured Guests:Erik Ewers – Director, Editor. Ken Burns’s senior editor for 33+ years. Multiple Emmy winner. ACE Eddie Award winner (The Roosevelts, 2015). Based in New Hampshire. Has worked on nearly every Burns film since The Civil War (1990). Co-director of Henry David Thoreau (PBS, 2026), Hiding in Plain Sight (2012) and The Mayo Clinic (2018)Christopher Loren Ewers – Director, DP. 20+ years behind the camera. World-class cinematographer. Has been shooting for Burns and Florentine Films since The Vietnam War. Commercial clients include Apple, Coca-Cola, Stella Artois, Volvo and Peter Millar. Based in the NYC metro area.Christopher Ewers Commercial WorkAbout Henry David Thoreau (PBS):A three-part, three-hour documentary – the first full-length documentary biography of Thoreau. Executive produced by Ken Burns and Don Henley. Narrated by George Clooney. Voices by Jeff Goldblum (Thoreau), Ted Danson (Ralph Waldo Emerson), Meryl Streep, and Tate Donovan. Henry David Thoreau premied on PBS on March 30 and 31, 2026. Available now on PBS and wherever you stream PBS content.Henry David Thoreau Series TrailerPart 2 of the interview with Erik and Chris Ewers drops April 9 - covering PBS funding realities, AI and the industry, and how they landed Jeff Goldblum, George Clooney, Tate Donovan and Meryl Streep.Resources Mentioned:Henry David Thoreau (PBS, 2026) - available on PBS and PBS Documentaries on AmazonHiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness (PBS, 2022)Walden; or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau (1854)About The Deep Dive:This companion podcast airs on alternate weeks from the main Documentary First podcast. Every other week, Christian takes one idea from a recent conversation and explores it more deeply - examining what it means, why it matters, and what to do about it.Hear the full interview:Listen to Episode 274 of Documentary First for Christian’s complete conversation with Erik and Christopher Ewers about the Thoreau documentary, working with Ken Burns, and the brother dynamic behind the filmmaking.If you’re enjoying the show, please subscribe and leave a review! For more in-depth discussions, early releases and extra content, support our Patreon.
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    16 m
  • Episode 274 I I Didn't Know Myself - Erik & Chris Ewers on Ken Burns, PBS & Thoreau

    Episode 274 I I Didn't Know Myself - Erik & Chris Ewers on Ken Burns, PBS & Thoreau
    Mar 26 2026

    What does it take to build a filmmaking career inside Ken Burns's world — and what happens when the hardest part isn't the craft, but learning who you are?

    Erik and Christopher Ewers are brothers who co-direct for PBS under the Ken Burns banner. Erik has been Burns's senior editor for 33+ years. Chris is a DP who's shot for Apple, Coca-Cola, and Tiffany & Co. Their latest project: Henry David Thoreau, a three-part PBS documentary series executive produced by Ken Burns and Don Henley, narrated by George Clooney, with Jeff Goldblum voicing Thoreau, Ted Danson as Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Meryl Streep. Henry David Thoreau premieres on PBS March 30. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

    In Part 1, you'll learn:

    — How Erik ended up working for Ken Burns through a real estate deal involving window treatments and carpets

    — How a 22-minute visitors center film became the doorway to a three-hour PBS series

    — What it's really like to co-direct a documentary with your brother (even Ken Burns couldn't do it with his)

    — How Chris balances high-end commercial work with documentary filmmaking to sustain a creative career

    — The challenge of filming Walden Pond with only two usable photographs of Thoreau

    — Why knowing yourself is the most important skill a filmmaker can develop — and Erik's deeply personal story about discovering that through his own film


    Part 2 drops April 9 — covering PBS funding realities, AI and the industry, and how they landed Jeff Goldblum, George Clooney, and Meryl Streep.


    Listen & Follow:

    Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/documentary-first/id1455445556

    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Fz1Sf7yLfw7e1nVEyWKN9?si=3DbMud2mTxunJH3jJBvMZQ

    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DocumentaryFirst/podcasts

    Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/5b96bccc-e1a0-4fae-970d-6d357a6ee306/documentary-first


    This episode is supported by Virgil Films Entertainment.


    About the Guests:

    Erik Ewers — Director, Editor. Ken Burns's senior editor for 33+ years. Multiple Emmy winner. ACE Eddie Award winner (The Roosevelts, 2015). Based in New Hampshire.

    Christopher Loren Ewers — Director, DP. 20+ years behind the camera. Commercial clients include Apple, Coca-Cola, Tiffany & Co., Stella Artois, Volvo. Based in the NYC metro area.


    About Henry David Thoreau (PBS):

    A three-part, three-hour documentary — the first full-length documentary biography of Thoreau. Executive produced by Ken Burns and Don Henley. Narrated by George Clooney. Voices by Jeff Goldblum (Thoreau), Ted Danson (Ralph Waldo Emerson), Meryl Streep, and Tate Donovan. Henry David Thoreau premieres on PBS March 30. Available on PBS and wherever you stream PBS content.

    Christopher Ewers Commerical Work

    Henry David Throeau Series Trailer


    Connect:

    Ewers Brothers Productions

    Christian Taylor on X

    Christian Taylor on Instagram

    Christian Taylor on LinkedIn

    Documentary First on X

    Documentary First on Instagram

    Documentary First Productions

    Linktree
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    52 m
  • Episode 5 I THE DEEP DIVE With Jake Schroder - What Francesca Bridgerton and a D-Day Veteran Both Discovered About Grief

    Episode 5 I THE DEEP DIVE With Jake Schroder - What Francesca Bridgerton and a D-Day Veteran Both Discovered About Grief
    Mar 19 2026

    In Bridgerton Season 4, Francesca Bridgerton stands in the middle of her husband’s funeral and says something no one expects: “I want to feel joy.”

    Eighty years earlier and four thousand miles away, a D-Day veteran stood on Utah Beach watching children play in the water where his friends had died—and said something just as unexpected: “That’s why we came.”

    In this episode of Documentary First: The Deep Dive, Christian Taylor connects these two moments to a discovery C.S. Lewis made in his grief journal A Grief Observed—and asks what it all means for the stories we tell as filmmakers. The answer surprised her. It might surprise you too.

    What You’ll Learn:

    1. What 20+ D-Day veterans told filmmaker Jake Schroeder when he asked if it was disrespectful to play on the beaches where men died
    2. The C.S. Lewis line that connects grief, praise, and joy—and why filmmakers need to hear it
    3. How Bridgerton Season 4, Episode 7 modeled a radically different response to loss
    4. G.K. Chesterton’s 1908 concept that reframes everything: why joy might be bigger than the pain
    5. Christian’s challenge to filmmakers: What if we gave our audiences permission to dance?

    The Core Insight:

    C.S. Lewis noticed that his grief wasn’t bringing him closer to his wife—it was cutting him off from her. Only in moments of least sorrow did she come rushing back, vivid and whole. He realized there are different modes of loving someone you’ve lost: grief focuses on the absence, but praise focuses on the fullness. And when love takes the form of praise, joy shows up inside it without being forced.

    That’s what Francesca Bridgerton discovered at John’s celebration of life. It’s what Anthony Malin was doing when he watched children splash on Utah Beach and wept. Same love. Different mode.

    Plus:

    1. Christian’s personal story of losing her mom and finding A Grief Observed
    2. Why the most powerful story we can tell might not be about the suffering—but about the moment after
    3. How The Girl Who Wore Freedom approaches joy in the soil soaked with blood

    Featured Guest:

    Jake Schroeder—Founder of the D-Day Leadership Academy, former professional musician and youth sports director. Jake brings high school students to Normandy to learn leadership through the stories of D-Day, and has spent years taking veterans back to the beaches where they fought.

    References Mentioned:

    1. Bridgerton Season 4, Episode 7: “The Beyond” (Netflix)
    2. C.S. Lewis — A Grief Observed
    3. G.K. Chesterton — Orthodoxy (1908)
    4. Jake Schroeder / D-Day Leadership Academy
    5. The Girl Who Wore Freedom (Christian Taylor’s film)
    6. Anthony Malin — D-Day veteran, LST driver, Utah Beach

    About The Deep Dive:

    This companion podcast airs on alternate weeks from the main Documentary First podcast. Every other week, Christian takes one powerful idea from a recent conversation and explores it more deeply—examining what it means, why it matters, and what to do about it.

    Hear the full interview:

    Listen to Episode 273 of Documentary First for Christian’s complete conversation with Jake Schroeder about D-Day, leadership, and what veterans can teach us about purpose.

    https://open.spotify.com/episode/4lp6cdjyyd52omtOQB6Tz8?si=88968b4ec2794312

    If you’re enjoying the show, please subscribe and leave a review!
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    15 m
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