A review of the documentary "Most Important Documentarian of Our Time" Alex Gibney. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "Inside Tracks" with Rick Smolan. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "Marion Stokes Recorded 30 Years of TV." Matt Wolf archived her life and videos. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "The Farmer's Wife" with David Sutherland. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "Oscars, Emmys, HBO & MTV" with Executive Producer Sheila Nevins. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the Oscar Short List documentary "Apollo 11" with Producer, Director & Editor, Todd Douglas Miller. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the Oscar Short List documentary "Fire in Paradise" with Producer/Director Drea Cooper. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

An interview with the Executive Producer of the International Documentary Association, Simon Kilmurry. Hosted by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "Independent Lens" with Executive Producer Lois Vossen. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "Mike Wallace is Here" with Avi Belkin. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

Westdoc Online #40 with the director of the new feature doc WHERE'S MY ROY COHN discusses how he got it made.

The Independent journalist Robert Fisk is the subject of this excellent new feature doc from director Yung Chang (Up the Yangzee) that recently had its premiere at TIFF. 

A review of Alan Zweig's 10th feature documentary "Coppers." Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "Jukin Media CEO" with Jonathan Skogmo. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A Review of the Oscar nominate documentary "Honeyland." With Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the IDA Winner, Best Feature "For Sama" with Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the Netflix Documentary Series "Making a Murderer" with defense attorney Dean Strang. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "Sea of Shadows" with Director and Cinematographer Richard Ladkani. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

Director Erik Nelson discovered 15 hours of 75 year old raw footage from William Wyler's "Memphis Belle" classic documentary and restored the original film to make a new film, "The Cold Blue." The discussion is moderated by Chuck Braverman.

Executive Producer Scott Stone has sold 50 series and 2500 episodes! How he did it is discussed on this episode of Westdoc Online with Chuck Braverman

A review of the documentary "Butterfly" with Director Casey Kauffman. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "Inside Lehman Brothers" with Director Jennifer Deschamps. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "Killing Patient Zero" with Director Laurie Lynd. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "Pipe Dreams" with Stacey Tenenbaum and moderated by Chuck Braverman. HotDocs 2019.

A review of the documentary "There Are No Fakes" by Jamie Kastner. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

Interview with hybrid, Producer, Director, Writer Documentary and Narrative filmmaker Jesse James Miller and his new doc  "I Am Richard Pryor"

A review of the Oscar nominated documentary "Lifeboat" by Skye Fitzgerald. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of Michael Dweck's Director Feature Documentary "The Last Race." Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the Oscar short list documentary, "Communion." Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the Oscar short list documentary, "Communion." Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "Different Paths to Documentary Distribution." Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "EVP Non-Fiction and Alternate Programming" with Eliot Goldberg. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "Hal" by Amy Scott. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A documentary by MARINA ZENOVICH that answers the age old question of what Robin Williams, Richard Pryor, Roman Polanski and ESPN have in common. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

A review of the documentary "We Live In Public to Mappelthorpe" with Ondi Timoner. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

He was very open, honest, and candid about the making of the film, There were earlier attempts to produce the story by other producers, but I think Tim's persistence and patience really paid off.

A review of the documentary "PBS American Masters" with Michael Kantor. Moderated by Chuck Braverman

One on one interview with Charlie Parsons, the VP of Development at the National Geographic Channel. What they are producing, and what they want.

A review of the documentary "IMAX: The BIG Picture" with  Greg Macgillvray, Stephen Low, Sean Philips & Mark Krenzien. Moderated by Chuck Braverman.

5 directors discuss their new films screening at Toronto's Hot Docs International Film Festival. They show a clip from their new documentary and the panel comments on why this new film might or might not work for their network. It is great to see all the films that will be in theaters or on tv a year from now.

The making of the new Netflix documentary series SHOT IN THE DARK with the director, DP, and exec producer and star.

Episode 9 is all about money and how to get grants. I had an epiphany recently about us filmmakers. I think there are two kinds. The kind that pitch shows to networks, and the kind that are able to write grants and get their budget in dribs and drabs from various sources.

Frank Stiefel, Oscar winner in the Doc Short category for "Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405" talks about the making and promoting the film. Frank had no networks, distribution, or any major backing for his film. After the nominations, he worried about the big time corporate backers of the other documentaries. But he tells us how he pushed forward on his own.

As it turned out I ended up with some great insights into the online business and the thinking behind these very talented online pioneers.

Steve James produced, edited, and directed Hoop Dreams, winner of every major critics prize including a Peabody and Robert F. Kennedy Award. 

Episode 5 is all about licensing clips for your documentary film project. We have a great expert panel starting with Lisa Callif who works with several attorneys including Michael Donaldson who literally wrote the book on Fair Use and intellectual property rights.

Here is that short interview recorded before the nominations with the director Mari Bakke Riise and instead of a two minute clip, I have been given permission to run the entire film.  Your friends can watch it here, or pay a very small rental fee at Vimeo on Demand 

The four new short doc nominees we have on this episode were all charming, insightful, and informative about their film and the process of making a short. The best advice might have been from Frank Stiefel who told the story of his long career in the commercial business and it seemed like he was always waiting for permission to do something. And now, making his own documentary, he didn't need permission to start shooting. 

RICHARD ABRAMOWITZ is an innovative leader with more than 35 years of experience in the distribution and marketing of independent films. His company, Abramorama, takes a personalized, focused form of film marketing and distribution that bypasses traditional film studios and their methodology, providing valuable distribution alternatives to content makers and owners.

Find out more about promoting your documentary to Oscar voters. Moderated by Chuck Braverman, produced by Julie Goldman. Recorded in December of 2018.