From Murder Cases to Music Legends: Ethical Documentary Filmmaking with Oscar-winning Producer Caroline Waterlow

I often recommend documentaries as a good way for people to learn more about others who they might not have a lot of experience with. But not all documentaries are created equal. There are so many decisions involved in ethical and responsible storytelling.

In this behind-the-scenes episode, Dr. Michael Baran interviews Oscar, Emmy, and Peabody award-winning documentary film producer Caroline Waterlow. Caroline isbased in New York City and has been working in the documentary film industry for almost 30 years. She produced such award-winning documentaries as OJ: Made in America, STAX: Soulsville, U.S.A, Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae, and so many more. In this episode, Michael and Caroline talk about a wide range of fascinating issues: (a) ethical representation in documentary filmmaking, (b) rapidly building a culture of inclusion and safety with project teams, (c) bias and inequities faced by women in this industry, (d) building trust with people, (e) fascinating behind the scenes details about the making of the documentaries, and so much more. She ends by giving us a teaser of her upcoming work, dealing with themes of sex, AIDS, body positivity, and public access TV in New York City.

Resources mentioned:

Caroline Waterlow IMDb page

OJ: Made in America on Netflix

Stax: Soulville USA on HBO

Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae on Hulu

Cameraperson on HBO

Subject on Prime Video