How to Become a (Really Good) Documentary Filmmaker

A few days after Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, I got a call at my Washington, DC home from a panicked producer in LA, begging me to do some short pieces about the 9/11 tragedy. She needed something to show on the Emmys® to acknowledge the attack, and the broadcast was just a few days away. I don't know how she found me, but I explained that I was not a news producer. She persisted. Somehow the desperation in her voice and the desperation of the tragedy coalesced, making it difficult, if not impossible for me to say no. So off I went, taking a colleague with me for support, not at all sure how to proceed. My background was in long-form documentaries: projects that take months or years to complete, not quick turnaround packages. But I was already on board, so I would just have to go for it.