These are pretty amazing times for documentary filmmakers. Not only have the popularity of documentary films increased exponentially, not only are there far more resources available these days to doc filmmakers, but the distribution platforms that are out there are plentiful, not the least of which are the Netflixs, Hulus, and Amazons of the world. And now, these distro platforms have opened the doc playing field to the long form, the docuseries.

And for episode #71 we speak with Gary Kout, producer of Netflix series, Flint Town, about the journey that Flint Town took from a short film to a full-fledged Netflix-budgeted documentary series.

Topics Discussed

• how a short film became a full-fledged Netflix docuseries
• how a distro platform like Netflix can best be approached
• how a company like Netflix decides to fund a docuseries project
• how Netflix makes editorial decisions with a filmmaker
• tips on selling your docuseries to Netflix

5 Tips for Producing Your Docuseries

1. Killer Pitch
2. Sizzle Reel
3. Don’t Make Reality TV
4. Secure the Rights to the Story
5. Be Friendly, Don’t Be Their Friends

Related Resources

° NY Times Op-Doc, Policing Flint

Check out the short film that became the Netflix docuseries, Flint Town:

https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000004953212/policing-flint.html

° Watch the trailer for Flint Town

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfNURrdgWTU

° Watch the T. Rexdocumentary trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkHGARt38Gw

Sponsors & Thank You’s

Free Music Archive – Special Thank You to recording artist, Dlay who supplied music for this week’s episode of TDL. You too can download his music or other artist’s music by going to Free Music Archive today!

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