Episode Summary
What does it mean when someone trusts you with their story?
Access may get a documentary filmmaker through the door, but it is only the beginning. The deeper responsibility lies in earning trust, maintaining it throughout production, and making ethical decisions about another person's story long after the interview ends.
In this episode of The Documentary Life, Chris G. Parkhurst is joined by filmmakers Alan Berry and Mark Enochs, directors of Dead Man's Line, for a practical conversation about access, consent, and trust in documentary filmmaking. Drawing from their experience interviewing law enforcement, family members, journalists, and others connected to an extraordinary Indianapolis hostage case, they explore how relationships are built before the camera rolls, why keeping promises to participants matters, what happens when difficult material emerges in an interview, and how filmmakers navigate subjects who may not agree with the finished film.
Rather than offering a simple set of ethical rules, this conversation examines documentary ethics as an ongoing human relationship—one requiring honesty, humility, clear communication, and an understanding that being entrusted with someone's story carries responsibilities that can continue long after the cameras stop rolling.
In This Episode
- Why access is only the beginning of a documentary relationship
- Building trust before the camera ever starts rolling
- How honesty, preparation, and credibility help earn access
- Setting clear expectations with documentary participants
- Keeping promises when difficult material emerges in the edit
- Navigating subjects who disagree with the finished film
- The filmmaker’s responsibility to participants after production ends
- Why documentary ethics ultimately comes down to how we treat people
Chapters
00:00 – The first moment of access: how documentary relationships begin
02:00 – Building trust before the camera starts rolling
04:35 – When access becomes earned access
13:41 – Living inside the relationship with your subjects
16:54 – Setting expectations and keeping promises to participants
19:06 – Ethical decisions filmmakers face in the edit
23:31 – What happens when subjects see the finished film?
28:04 – How Dead Man’s Line made its way to Hollywood
37:04 – Loyalty, collaboration, and the long road to Dead Man’s Wire
40:19 – The ultimate trust test—and what documentary filmmakers can learn from it
Featured Guests
Alan Berry and Mark Enochs are longtime friends and the filmmaking team behind Dead Man’s Line, a documentary exploring the extraordinary 1977 Indianapolis hostage crisis involving Tony Kiritsis. Through extensive archival material and interviews with law enforcement officers, journalists, legal professionals, family members, and others connected to the case, they built the film by earning access one relationship at a time. Their experience offers a valuable case study in the practical ethics of documentary filmmaking: establishing credibility, building trust before filming begins, keeping promises to participants, making difficult editorial decisions, and accepting that not everyone will agree with the finished film. Their work on Dead Man’s Line would later contribute archival material to Gus Van Sant’s narrative adaptation, Dead Man’s Wire, on which Berry and Enochs were credited as historical consultants.
Watch Dead Man's Line Full Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUcZXVT6888
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Watch the full conversation here:
https://youtu.be/SvVx__qM4yw
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Quotes from the Episode
"The relationship really starts before you ever get in the studio." — Alan Berry
"Treating people like how you'd want to be treated goes the furthest. And then on top of it, sticking to your word." — Alan Berry
"Show up when you say you're going to. Ask the questions you say you're going to ask." — Mark Enochs
"If you're being honest about what you're saying, I think you're going to go over well. But if you're trying to BS somebody... they're going to see through it." — Alan Berry
"What we've always wanted is just for people to see it." — Alan Berry
About The Documentary Life
The Documentary Life is a podcast exploring the craft, business, and lived experience of documentary filmmaking. Through conversations with filmmakers from around the world, host Chris G. Parkhurst explores not only how documentaries are made, but what it means to build a meaningful, sustainable creative life.
And Lastly…
Stories matter. Listening matters. Human connection matters.
Thanks for spending part of your documentary life with us.
