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 TIPS on HIATUS

Rustin Thompson2020-05-05T17:47:53+00:00

Hi all, I'm putting all further Lean Team Pro Tips on hold during the pandemic. It doesn't make sense to promote a way of filmmaking urging you to get close to your subject material when [...]

Lean Team Pro Tip #8: Evaluating Your Project’s B-Roll

Rustin Thompson2019-12-04T18:20:08+00:00

As of this writing in December of 2019, I’m excited to see a new film I’ve only read about it (I don’t count seeing the trailer; I’ve stopped trusting that trailers will ever accurately convey [...]

Lean Team Pro Tip #7: Evaluating Your Project’s Story-Part Three

Rustin Thompson2019-09-16T00:08:00+00:00

The next step in evaluating your project is to think about who (or what) your main character or characters will be. As I wrote in Lean Team Pro Tip #5, a character doesn’t always have [...]

Docs in Review

What You Gonna Do When the World’s On Fire?

Rustin Thompson2020-06-14T22:14:45+00:00

What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire? Director/ Roberto Minervini Watched on Amazon Rating 3.5/5 Roberto Minervini, an Italian filmmaker fascinated by an America that most of us never see in other [...]

Midnight Family

Rustin Thompson2020-05-19T00:06:18+00:00

Midnight Family Director/ Luke Lorentzen Watched on Amazon Rating 3/5 “Terrifying and exhilarating.” –The New York Times “Fast-paced mayhem.” –Indiewire “Profound and thrilling.” –RogerEbert.com “Eye-opening.” –Rolling Stone This is not a knock against director [...]

Caniba

Rustin Thompson2020-05-02T22:12:29+00:00

Caniba Directors/ Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel Watched on Criterion Channel Rating 2/5 This text below appears on the Criterion website accompanying the streaming version of Caniba: In 1981, as a thirty-two-year-old student at the Sorbonne [...]