Archive producers spend their days immersing themselves in history – cultural, political or personal, depending on the project. Yet her particular work has often been overlooked in the past, despite being central to the canon of Ken Burns and other great documentaries like this one Man on wire, 13Th, The fog of war, Apollo 11, How to Survive a Plague, They shouldn’t grow oldand so many others.
The recently formed Archival Producers Alliance is helping to address this fundamental lack of understanding about what archival producers do and how they do it. And it also alerts the medical community to the fundamental challenges posed by the rapid emergence of AI.
In the latest episode of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, we speak with APA member Debra McClutchy, who received an Oscar nomination for co-directing the archival short film The Martha Mitchell effect. She discusses where archival producers find the rarities that distinguish a historically focused film – and the potential threat and potential opportunity that artificial intelligence brings with it. She also shares insights into her archive expeditions for a remarkably entertaining and endearing documentary Swamp Dogg has his pool painteda stunning exploration of musician and singer Little Jerry Williams Jr., perhaps better known by his alter ego Swamp Dogg.
Our conversation with McClutchy was recorded in front of a live audience at Nō Studios in Milwaukee, the production hub founded by Doc Talk co-host John Ridley in his Lake Michigan hometown. At the Noh headquarters, Doc Talk also met with hip-hop artist JJ’88, star of the extraordinary documentary Songs from the holeand the film’s producer, Richie Reseda.
As ’88 openly says, “I took my own life at 15 and discovered the power of radical forgiveness and responsibility.” The radical forgiveness has to do with the 1988 encounter behind bars with the man who killed his brother. The stakes of Songs from the hole couldn’t be higher.
This is Part 2 of Doc Talk’s coverage of the Milwaukee Film Festival, which concluded earlier this month at a location known as “Cream City” (for the color of the bricks of many historic Milwaukee buildings) or, if you prefer, “Brew City” (a nickname that needs no explanation to those who have tried Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, Miller or other beers).
Doc Talk is co-hosted by Ridley (Oscar winner for). 12 years slave) and Deadline documentary editor Matt Carey. The Pod is a Deadline and Nō Studios production, presented with support from National Geographic Documentary Films.
Listen to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple.