I really believe that shooting stories with our final edit in mind is super important. You can have the best idea, and the best access, but if you don't have the shots to piece together the story, you're gonna lose your mind in the edit. So in this video, I share 10 of my favorite habits that help me save days in the edit. Enjoy :) Follow Austin Meyer's socials: Youtube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Website WHO AM I? If we haven’t met yet before - Hey 👋 I'm Austin Meyer and I am...
Jan 27, 2025•13 min
Finding the perfect documentary film idea is like being in the world's biggest scavenger hunt! Here are 14 tricks that I use to find my story ideas. Follow Austin Meyer's socials: Youtube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Website WHO AM I? If we haven’t met yet before - Hey 👋 I'm Austin Meyer and I am a documentary filmmaker based in Berkeley, California. I'm a National Geographic Explorer and my work has been featured by HBO, Hulu, Apple TV, The New York Times, National Geographic,...
Jan 20, 2025•11 min
A set of rules and principles can be incredibly useful to help guide our decision making in the world of documentary filmmaking. That's why, when I saw award winning documentary director Victor Kossakovsky write up the 10 rules he follows in his filmmaking, I had to check them out. In this video, I share those 10 rules, respond to them, and say which 3 have been most helpful to me in my career. Follow Austin Meyer's socials: Youtube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Website WHO AM I?...
Jan 13, 2025•9 min
Interviews are the backbone of so many documentaries. They are also very challenging to nail. Especially when you are working as a solo shooter or in small teams, like I do a lot, the amount of things that can go wrong can feel overwhelming. In this video I go over 5 mistakes I see documentary filmmakers, which, if you keep in mind, can dramatically increase the odds that you'll walk away from your next interview feeling good! Follow Austin Meyer's socials: Youtube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Faceb...
Jan 06, 2025•14 min
Planet Earth III, the world's premiere natural history documentary series, is back with its third installment, presented and narrated by Sir David Attenborough. The series represents five years of work. The eight episodes comprise 134 total shoots across 1,904 shooting days and took place in 43 countries across six continents. In this episode, I interview executive producer Mike Gunton and freelance cinematographer Prakash Matada about the making of this remarkable series. the creative director ...
Jan 08, 2024•1 hr 45 min
Our Great National Parks is a beautiful five-part Netflix documentary series that invites viewers to experience nature in the world's most iconic national parks. Today on the podcast, my guests are executive producer James Honeyborne and series producer Sophie Todd. James Honeyborne is the creative director of Freeborne Media, having previously worked as an executive producer at the BBC Natural History Unit where he oversaw some 35 films, including Blue Planet II. Sophie Todd works on everything...
Apr 13, 2022•48 min
Vera Krichevskaya is a documentary filmmaker from Russia who co-founded TV Dozhd (TV Rain), which is the only independent private television channel in Russia. Her most recent documentary titled “Fuck This Job,” is an incredibly timely story that documents the ten-year journey of that television station that made it one of the top media targets of Putin's government. In this conversation, Vera and I discuss what it’s like to be an independent documentary filmmaker in Russia, what happened when t...
Mar 29, 2022•45 min•Ep. 50
The Oscars are coming up on March 27, 2022. To preview the documentary feature category I am joined this week by IndieWire's editor-at-large, Anne Thompson. In this episode we talk about each of the nominated documentaries, reflect on the snubs that missed out on the big show (I see you, The Rescue and The First Wave), and give our predictions on what documentary will take home the Academy Award. Follow Anne Thompson on Twitter Watch this episode on Youtube...
Mar 22, 2022•32 min
This week on the show my guest is Luc Forsyth, a cinematographer from Canada who has worked on films for Netflix, National Geographic, HBO, Showtime, ESPN, and many more. In this conversation Luc and I discuss the lessons he learned as a photojournalist that have helped him develop as a cinematographer, how to think about investing in gear and networking as an up and coming DP, and how he covers a scene as both a single operator versus working on larger production teams. Watch this interview on ...
Mar 16, 2022•1 hr 5 min
Dawn Porter is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has appeared on HBO, PBS, Discovery, and Netflix among others. She has had two feature documentaries premiere this year -- John Lewis: Good Trouble and The Way I See It. Good Trouble explores late Congressman John Lewis’ pivotal role in the Civil Rights movement and decades of political and social activism on important issues including voting rights, immigration laws, and much more. The Way I See It is about photojournalist Pete So...
Dec 10, 2020•56 min
On today’s episode I sit down with the team behind the hit Netflix documentary, and one of my personal favorite films of the year, My Octopus Teacher. Co-directors Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, as well as cinematographer Roger Horrocks, take us behind the scenes and under the water to reveal how they crafted this incredibly moving story about a filmmaker's unlikely connection with an octopus. Pippa Ehrlich, based in South Africa, is a natural history filmmaker and award-winning environmental jou...
Oct 15, 2020•1 hr 4 min
Jeff Orlowski is the director of the newly released Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma, which explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations. He also served as director, producer, and cinematographer of the Sundance Award-Winning and Oscar short listed films, Chasing Ice and Chasing Coral. In this conversation, Jeff and I discuss where he got the idea to make The Social Dilemma, why his team decided to use the unique sty...
Sep 18, 2020•43 min
Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss are co-directors of the newly released documentary, Boys State, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was awarded the Grand Jury Prize. The film, which is now streaming on Apple TV+, is a political coming-of-age story, examining the health of American democracy through an unusual experiment: a thousand 17-year-old boys from across the state of Texas gather together to build a representative government from the ground up. High-minded ideals collide w...
Aug 21, 2020•45 min
Tayo Amos is a director and filmmaker from the Bay Area now currently living in Los Angeles. After double majoring at Stanford, Tayo went on to earn her MFA in Film Production at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, where she focused on Directing. She is the winner of USC’s First Look Faculty Award for Excellence in Directing, and her thesis film, “On The Clock” screened at the Cannes Film Festival. In this conversation Tayo and I discuss her experience and key takeaways from USC film school, what qu...
Jul 23, 2020•57 min
My guest today is Devin Concannon, who was one of 4 editors on ESPN’s mega-hit 10 part documentary series, The Last Dance. The Last Dance revolves around the career of Michael Jordan, with a particular focus on his last season with the Chicago Bulls. The project itself is a beast of an endeavor.. we’re talking 10 episodes, over 100 interviews, and according to director Jason Hehir, 10,000 hours of footage to sift through: that includes every game from every main character they had and every news...
Jul 09, 2020•56 min
Meena Harris is a lawyer, activist, and the founder of the Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign, a female-powered organization that brings awareness to intersectional social causes. And now Meena is also an author, with her new children’s book titled Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea, set to debut on June 2nd. The book is based on a true story from the childhood of Meena’s mom, Maya Harris, and aunt, Kamala Harris. In it, two sisters make a difference in their community by dreaming big, organizing across d...
May 21, 2020•46 min
Laurel Chor is an award-winning freelance visual journalist and National Geographic Explorer from Hong Kong. In 2019, she worked with the New York Times, National Geographic, Getty, AFP, Reuters, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, NBC News, the Telegraph, and many more. Laurel also has a lot of experience as a text reporter and video journalist. In the past, she was the Asia reporter/producer for VICE News Tonight on HBO. In this conversation Laurel and I talk a...
May 07, 2020•50 min
Rerunning an episode of the Say It Loud show, in which host and photographer Raul Espinoza invited me on as a guest to talk about my documentary filmmaking, why I am drawn to human-centered stories, and my mission that drives everything I do. -- Austin Meyer is a documentary filmmaker, photographer, and podcast host. He is a National Geographic Explorer and the 2015 winner of the New York Times International Reporting trip with Nicholas Kristof competition. His work has been published by The New...
Apr 21, 2020•33 min
Max Romey is an adventure filmmaker and water color artist who, for the past few years, has documented the sport of trail and ultrarunning for Salomon TV. What is it like to film a 200 mile race circumnavigating Lake Tahoe as a one-man production crew? Why is the success of a running film determined by much more than just keeping up with, and filming, a runner? In this conversation, Max and I dig into those questions and much more to learn how he has become one of the premiere filmmakers in the ...
Apr 16, 2020•51 min
Henry Maillet is a photographer whose stories focus on conservation and development. After serving for two years as Peace Corps Volunteers in Paraguay, Henry Maillet and his colleague Jeff Wong decided to stay in the country for the adventure of a lifetime. In partnership with WWF, they rowed a handcrafted wooden rowboat down one of the continent's last remaining free-flowing rivers. Over the course of six months the team covered 1,300 km and visited a wide range of riverside communities, from t...
Apr 03, 2020•27 min
Patricia Vidal Delgado is a film director and writer from Lisbon, Portugal. Only recently having graduated from the MFA program in Production/Directing at UCLA, Patricia has already been featured in some of the world's most prestigious film festivals. Most recently, Patricia's first feature film, La Leyenda Negra, which also happened to be her UCLA thesis project, made its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The film was also a Top 20 Finalist for the Roy W. Dean Grant. In this convers...
Mar 05, 2020•53 min
Francesco Lecce-Chong is the music director for the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Eugene Symphony where he has been dedicated to innovative programming, commissioning new music and engaging in community outreach. Described by critics as a “fast rising talent in the music world,” Francesco has conducted orchestras around the world, including the San Francisco Symphony and New York Philharmonic. . In the conversation, Francesco and I discuss what is wrong with the classical music industry and how he...
Feb 20, 2020•1 hr 5 min
Nirupa's Artwork Nirupa Rao is a Botanical Illustrator and a National Geographic Explorer from Bangalore, India. In beautiful and precise detail, Nirupa uses watercolor illustrations to record and celebrate the unique flora of India. As a National Geographic Explorer grantee, Nirupa just published a children’s book called "Hidden Kingdom—Fantastical Plants of the Western Ghats" that will help young readers explore the wonderful world of plants. In 2019, Nirupa participated in a Plant Humanities ...
Jan 30, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Nicholas Kristof is a columnist for the New York Times, an author, and a 2-time Pulitzer prize winner who covers humanitarian crises at home and around the world. In this conversation, Nick and I talk about how he came up with his wild idea to invite university students (me in 2015) into remote communities and conflict zones, how he builds compelling stories around individual characters and statistics, his new book Tightrope (out today!), and what he hopes his legacy will be as a journalist. . F...
Jan 14, 2020•38 min
Happy New Year! In this special edition of the podcast, I am reflecting on my past year's storytelling journey. I distill the lessons I have learned, discuss my goals as a filmmaker, and reflect on the experiences that impacted me most this year. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast in 2019. I hope you learned something, felt entertained, and that it helped you on your own storytelling journey. Follow Austin Subscribe to Austin's newsletter Get the Austin Meyer Private Podcast for Post...
Dec 31, 2019•1 hr 14 min
Paul Bessenbacher, or PB, is an esteemed composer for film and TV, and also the lead of the band Opus Orange. His music has been featured on TV shows like Broad City, Grey’s Anatomy, and The Detour, national ads for Apple, Google, and Samsung, feature films and documentaries, and is the theme song for this very podcast! In this conversation PB and I talk about the musical and life lessons he learned from studying classical piano at a conservatory, why he doesn't consider himself a quote, creator...
Dec 27, 2019•54 min
Seamus Harte is the cofounder of Only People Media, a media company that helps people working to change our world by making media to share their story. Seamus also teaches story at the Stanford Design School, where he has taught classes such as creative gym and movie design. In this conversation, Seamus and I talk about how he is found his unique voice as a storyteller, how working on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus developed his directing skills, and why prototyping early and often should ...
Dec 12, 2019•1 hr 19 min
Forrest Gander is a poet, novelist, and essayist based in Northern California, whose most recent book of poems, Be With, was awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. In this conversation, Forrest and I discuss the life changing moment that made him forego a safe and stable career to pursue life as a poet, what he thinks makes a poem not just good, but great, and why poetry continues to be such a significant art form for allowing people to express themselves and process both the beauty and tra...
Sep 19, 2019•55 min
Charlie Phillips is the head of video at The Guardian. Before working at The Guardian, Charlie was deputy director at Sheffield DocFest and an editor at FourDocs. In this conversation, Charlie and I discuss the trends shaping the documentary industry, what kind of access and consent lead to great films, and what qualities make a film stand out from the crowd as one that The Guardian wants to commission and share with the world. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to Austin Meyer's Newsletter for ...
Aug 01, 2019•49 min
Trapped in Qatar Benjamin Best is an award winning investigative reporter, filmmaker, and author whose reporting focuses on the dark side of sports: illegal betting, match fixing, corruption, organized crime, and the human rights violations that are often a byproduct of major sporting events such as the World Cup and The Olympics. In 2011 Benjamin Best was awarded CNN's journalist of the year award, he is multiple time winner of Medium Magazine's journalist of the year, and in 2016, was awarded ...
Jul 18, 2019•1 hr 12 min
