Documentary First

Society

Documentary First

by Christian Taylor

The only podcast dedicated to the craft and business of documentary filmmaking — from people who actually do it. Hosted by Christian Taylor, award-winning director of The Girl Who Wore Freedom and 270+ interviews with documentary filmmakers. Every week, Documentary First delivers two formats: long-form interviews with filmmakers behind HBO, Netflix, and PBS docs, plus The Deep Dive — solo episodes exploring the deeper lessons behind each conversation. Craft, business, and honest perspective for working and aspiring documentarians. New episodes weekly. Subscribe and review on Apple Podcasts.

100 episodes

EN language

All Episodes

1

Episode#05: THE DEEP DIVE With Jake Schroder - "What Francesca Bridgerton and a D-Day Veteran Both Discovered About Grief"

14:53 Mar 19, 2026

2

Episode 273 | D-Day Leadership Academy: Jake Schroeder on WWII Veterans, Normandy & Redefining Success

58:36 Mar 12, 2026

3

Episode#04: THE DEEP DIVE With Quinnolyn Benson-Yates - "The Gift of Failure — Courage Is a Muscle"

16:30 Mar 5, 2026

4

Episode 272 | Quinnolyn Benson-Yates on Epic Bill: Failure, Reinvention & the Filmmaker’s Endurance

1:08:51 Feb 25, 2026

5

Episode#03: THE DEEP DIVE With Joe Amodei - "Finding The Good Guys"

17:11 Feb 19, 2026

6

Episode 271 | Joe Amodei on Documentary Distribution: Budgets, Genres & Building Your Audience

1:05:47 Feb 13, 2026

7

Episode#01: THE DEEP DIVE With Jeffrey Roth: Staying Present When the Dream Becomes Real

7:22 Feb 5, 2026

8

Episode#02: THE DEEP DIVE With Charles Olivier: What They’ll Remember — Sticky Storytelling

16:13 Feb 5, 2026

9

Episode 270 | Charles Olivier on Editing "Surviving Ohio State" for HBO

57:31 Jan 29, 2026

10

Episode 269 | Egyptian “Indiana Jones”, Zahi Hawass, Director Interview of “The Man With The Hat”

1:15:28 Jan 15, 2026

11

Episode 268 | Peter Kelly’s Archaeological Adventure in the Turks and Caicos

37:15 Jan 1, 2026

12

Episode 267 | Alan Govenar’s New Film, “Quiet Voices in a Noisy World”

1:00:28 Dec 18, 2025

13

Episode 266 | Emmy-Award Winning Producer, Susan Lacy, “Billy Joel: And So It Goes” Interview

59:37 Dec 4, 2025

14

Episode 265 | Harvesting the Power of Connections: “The Price of Milk” Docuseries Filmmaker Interview

1:03:14 Nov 22, 2025

15

Episode 264 | Billy Joel: Telling the Story Behind the Musician (with Jessica Levin)

1:09:28 Nov 6, 2025

16

Episode 263 | Crowdfunding for Filmmakers — Lessons from the UnScarred Campaign

49:40 Oct 23, 2025

17

Episode 262 | Why Josh Roush Made “Long Lonesome Highway: The Michael Parks Story”

45:20 Oct 9, 2025

18

Episode 261 | Doc First Members Have Entered the Chat

1:02:50 Sep 24, 2025

19

Episode 260: "Saving Private Ryan": How to Really Listen to a Veteran - Part 2

56:34 Sep 11, 2025

20

Episode 259 | “Saving Private Ryan”: How to Really Listen to a Veteran - Part 1

55:55 Aug 27, 2025

21

Episode 258 | "Saving Private Ryan": Corey Johnson (D-Day, Camaraderie, John Williams) - Movie Rob Minute #131, Part 2

51:46 Aug 14, 2025

22

Episode 257 | HBO Max "Billy Joel And So It Goes" Interview with Executive Producer, Steve Cohen - Part 2

48:22 Jul 24, 2025

23

Episode 256 | HBO Max "Billy Joel And So It Goes" Interview with Executive Producer, Steve Cohen - Part 1

44:12 Jul 16, 2025

24

Episode 255 | Creating Unique Soundscapes -- Scoring for Documentary Films w/ Panu Aaltio

47:09 Jul 2, 2025

25

Episode 254 | "Saving Private Ryan": Corey Johnson's Cameo & Our WWII Documentary Journey - Part 1

51:04 Jun 18, 2025

26

Episode 253 | Revitalizing Communities: The Heirloom Project with Josh Nowell & Jim Rasberry

54:45 Jun 5, 2025

27

Episode 252 | Inside Acting with Corey Johnson: From the Stage to the Screen and Beyond

52:35 May 22, 2025

28

Episode 251 | Corey Johnson on Hollywood Acting, Documentary Narration & Storytelling, Part I

48:59 May 8, 2025

29

Episode 250 | Blake Lively’s Hollywood Harassment Showdown – with Entertainment Lawyer Anne Easton

59:07 Apr 24, 2025

30

Episode 249 | How Greg Fitzpatrick Became a Stuntman, Part 1

50:52 Apr 10, 2025

31

Episode 248: Deep Talks with an Entertainment Lawyer - Part 1

55:17 Mar 26, 2025

32

Episode 247 | Eric Gardner, Director of ”Confessions of a CEO”

59:43 Mar 14, 2025

33

Episode 246 | Liz Carpenter, Mover and Shaker in US Politics - Part 2

32:43 Mar 6, 2025

34

Episode 245 | Liz Carpenter, Mover and Shaker in US Politics

48:59 Mar 1, 2025

35

Episode 244 | Film Entrepreneurship w/ Teddy Cannon

57:17 Feb 22, 2025

36

Episode 243 | Q&A With East Coast Filmmaker Robin Hamilton

40:52 Jan 30, 2025

37

Episode 242 | Interview with Mt. Everest Explorer: Alex Harz

44:29 Jan 16, 2025

38

Episode 241 | "A Remarkable 2024" Retrospective Company Update

42:26 Dec 20, 2024

39

Episode 240 | Documentary First's Next Steps w/ Jake Taylor

1:01:12 Dec 5, 2024

40

Episode 239 | A Fresh Take on Renaissance Man, Leonardo da Vinci - PBS

59:23 Nov 19, 2024

41

Episode 238 | Documenting a Viral Country Music TikTok Trend, “Fancy Like Walter Hayes”

59:19 Nov 14, 2024

42

Episode 237 | Making a Hit Mini TV Series feat. Evan Wise

49:22 Nov 6, 2024

43

Episode 236 | Conversations with Christian, Part 2 (Free Patreon Episode)

22:20 Oct 25, 2024

44

Episode 235 | The Girl Who Wore Freedom Dream Team - Part 3

33:46 Oct 10, 2024

45

Episode 234 | Finding Your Champion, Part 2

49:25 Sep 26, 2024

46

Episode 233 | Finding Your Champion, Part 1

51:33 Sep 12, 2024

47

Episode 232 | How “To Dye For” Came to Life

1:02:51 Aug 28, 2024

48

Episode 231 | Escaping Twin Flames Interview w/ Cecilia Peck and Inbal B. Lessner

57:51 Aug 22, 2024

49

Episode 230 | Normandy Trip Update feat. Peyton Rabb

55:40 Aug 14, 2024

50

Episode 229 | The Girl Who Wore Freedom Dream Team, Administration (Part 2)

54:34 Jul 31, 2024

Select an episode