[charnick]

Originally Posted by rogermaris

I think you have to first figure out who your audience is. Is this a dry, investigative documentary primarily tailored for the collecting community? Or is your goal to make something more suited for the festival circuit? I feel the biggest mistake would be trying to make something for both audiences that ends up satisfying neither of them, so I would recommend choosing one and focusing on it fully. The following advice assumes you're looking to make something for a broader audience:

Documentaries that explore esoteric subcultures like this walk a razor's edge. In my opinion, they tend to work best when the filmmaker comes from the perspective of an outsider. As an insider, I think you risk taking the issue too seriously -- which sounds counter-intuitive because it IS a serious issue with millions of dollars at stake that I personally care about very much. But to an outsider the whole thing sounds comical. You'll need to take off your collector hat and think about how to make this into something that will not just inform but also entertain.

I think the best reference for a documentary like this is King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. It's similar in that it explores a scandal in the vintage gaming community. It does a great job of highlighting the absurdity while simultaneously making you care about the outcome and the people involved. The audience takes it seriously while at the same time not taking it seriously.

For better or for worse, this hobby is full of colorful characters, who will no doubt make interesting documentary subjects. I think you should focus not just on the details of the scandal, but also the emotions and personalities of the people involved. The tricky part is doing it with sensitivity/dignity so that in addition to being entertained, the audience cares about your subjects and the outcome of the investigation.

Now, if you just want to make something for the card collecting community, I would approach it more like a Michael Moore style documentary, which means taking everything a lot more seriously. But because of the inherently absurd nature of this scandal, I don't think outside audiences would find this approach credible. That being said, if your goal is to make something that will inform card collectors, then this is probably the way to go.

Lastly, if your goal is simply to summarize the issue and help people digest it without doing any Michael Moore-style investigative work yourself, then I would recommend doing it as a print article as I don't think the documentary medium would really add anything. A thorough write-up would have the same effect of informing the public while also being MUCH easier to produce.

Thanks so much for this very well thought out response! This is definitely the fine line one needs to walk when figuring out the story of these scandals. The project as I currently envision it is primarily focused on the people involved, not just the main players like Brentsy, Moser, Orlando, etc., but to some extent the BODA personalities who have committed their time and energy so tirelessly to this monumental task. One could go down the road of investigative expose, but I'm not a journalist, and I don't want to make a Dateline NBC episode or something that is only for the collecting community.

I've been lucky to play festivals like SXSW, and my films are focused on human issues and the personalities involved. I've told multiple people on the festival circuit that I'm not Michael Moore either, and the overwhelming response from programmers has been "thank god." LOL! King of Kong is a good comp for something like this, and I think there's a good way to shine a light on the evildoers in our hobby, while still telling humanistic stories that can have a larger appeal.

Most likely nothing will come of this, but as I mentioned earlier, I've been wanting to do something that combines my love of collecting and filmmaking for a while now, and thought this might be worth pursuing. Thanks again for your thoughts, this is really great and hopefully we can all keep the conversation moving forward after the holiday and see what possibilities lie ahead.