Get Close: Lean Team Documentary Filmmaking
by Rustin Thompson

Now available from Oxford University Press

In this book, I encourage new and veteran filmmakers to make artistically rewarding documentaries at a fraction of the runaway costs of making these films today. The book helps you learn the skills to take creative risks, to find your authorial voice, and to spend less time making each film so you can make more films. This book emboldens you to pursue documentary filmmaking for the joy of it.

“Smart, to the point and full of important info. It will be helpful for all kinds of filmmakers – those starting out or those wanting to change their practice. A great book.”

Debra Zimmerman, Executive Director, Women Make Movies

Lean Team Pro Tips

Lean Team Pro Tip #4: Curiosity or Passion?

Rustin Thompson2019-03-09T17:52:13+00:00

In Lean Team Pro Tip #3, I wrote that "I always keep my goals as a lean team documentary filmmaker front and center when asking" what kind of film I want to make. "If I [...]

Lean Team Pro Tip #3: Visualize Your Film

3crowncreative2019-03-04T17:50:12+00:00

First you'll visualize the kind of film you want to make, and then you'll be tempted to define it. Where does it fit within the myriad of sub-genres of the documentary form? There are environmental [...]

Lean Team Pro Tip #2: Eliminate Barriers, Get Close

3crowncreative2019-03-04T17:51:02+00:00

It seems obvious, doesn’t it? Getting close in documentary filmmaking literally means putting your body and your camera as close to what you’re filming as possible. But it also means getting emotionally close to your [...]

Docs in Review

Harvest Season

Rustin Thompson2019-04-03T17:49:31+00:00

Harvest Season Director/Bernardo Ruiz Watched at Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival Rating 2.5/5 This ITVS-funded, made-for-Independent Lens documentary should be commended for its timely and much-needed positive portrait of Latino entrepreneurs and laborers. While Trump [...]

Ya Me Voy (I’m Leaving Now)

Rustin Thompson2019-04-03T16:40:06+00:00

Ya Me Voy (I’m Leaving Now) Director/Lindsey Cordero, Armando Croda Watched at Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival Rating 4/5 Felipe has been working and saving money for the last 17 years, much of which he [...]

306 Hollywood

Rustin Thompson2019-04-03T19:55:51+00:00

306 Hollywood Director/Elan Bogarín, Jonathan Bogarín Watched on P.O.V. Rating 1.5/5 Insufferably twee and annoyingly impressed with itself, 306 Hollywood is an excruciating experience to sit through. I knew this when I walked out [...]