Ex-JW Documentary on a $20,000 Budget

What do you lose when you make a film about the faith you left?

Making a documentary about the Jehovah's Witnesses meant first-time filmmaker Scott Homan had to spend about $20,000, shoot for ten days and work through a long edit, all while expecting pushback from the organization. His film, Witness Underground, follows musicians who built their own music scene inside a culture where, as Scott describes it, bands and fame were off limits.

In Episode 102 of Documentary First, host Josh Lindsay, Christian Taylor and Jason Rugg talk with Scott Homan, director of Witness Underground and co-founder of Banana Island Films. Scott found the show by searching for documentary podcasts, binged every episode, and became one of the first listeners to write in and say it had helped him avoid some of the mistakes Christian made on her first film.

Scott explains how he built the film from five long interviews rather than a script, letting a friend ask about the religion while he asked about the music, then handing a mountain of footage to a remote story editor who gave him a two-and-a-half-hour first cut. He talks about growing up with a lighter experience of the religion than most, playing in a band in high school, leaving, and reconnecting with the musicians years later through a 48 Hour Film Project in Vietnam. He also explains what it means to be shunned, why the people in his film have already lost so much, and why he decided to go public anyway.

Then the conversation turns practical: the tools that got a micro-budget documentary finished during the pandemic, the festival course he wishes he'd joined sooner, and why Christian tells filmmakers to think about the business of their film first. The episode opens with team news, as Hunter Taylor leaves the Normandy Project for Navy officer school and Ben Feithen steps in, plus a film update on distribution, a coming Patreon and an invitation from a veterans group at L'Oréal.

WATCH THE FILM: Witness Underground is on Amazon, Apple TV and Tubi.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How to build a documentary from interviews when there is no script
• Why each person got two interviews, one on the religion and one on the music
• How a remote story editor turned hours of footage into a first cut
• What it took to make a feature for about $20,000 in ten days of shooting
• Why a small, skilled crew matters even when you can do every job yourself
• How shunning works, and the risk of being sued for telling the story
• Descript, Amara and Google Drive: the tools behind a remote, micro-budget edit
• Why you should move your opening credits to the end
• Why Christian says to plan the business of your film first
• Scott's three tips for first-time filmmakers

CHAPTERS

0:00 Hunter Leaves and L'Oréal Calls

9:11 Meet Director Scott Homan

14:56 What Is Witness Underground?

19:56 Scott's Own Story in the Faith

22:27 Interviews, Editing and a $20,000 Budget

25:51 Shunning and the Fear of Lawsuits

31:08 Dark Nights of the Soul

35:36 Descript, Frame.io and Amara

40:05 Festival Strategy That Works

51:36 Next Projects and The Brave Dutch

57:03 Scott Reviews The Girl Who Wore Freedom

1:00:16 Three Tips for First-Time Filmmakers

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is Witness Underground about?

Witness Underground is a documentary by Scott Homan about musicians who grew up inside the Jehovah's Witnesses and built their own music scene there, where, as Scott describes it, being in a band or chasing fame was off limits. In Scott's logline, they "push the boundaries until they hit the bars of the cage they are in." Scott, who also left the religion, tells the story through five of them.

How do you make a documentary on a micro-budget?

Scott Homan shot Witness Underground in ten days and says he had about $20,000 into the whole feature. He ran lighting, sound and two cameras himself, then gave the footage to a remote story editor. He used Descript to cut early versions from the transcript and Amara, a free nonprofit tool, for captions. He says his biggest challenges were the tiny budget and not having a skilled crew on set.

How do you make a documentary without a script?

Scott Homan didn't write Witness Underground; he interviewed five people for about three hours each. A friend asked about the religion from an outsider's view, then Scott took over for a second interview about the music, which became the personal thread. He let the footage sit for six months, then a story editor built a two-and-a-half-hour cut that he trimmed over about seven sessions.

What happens to people who leave the Jehovah's Witnesses?

According to Scott Homan, people who leave are often shunned. He says he has had silence from family for about ten years, and some of the people in his film have had little contact with family for years. He says Witnesses are taught that talking with those who have left puts their own relationships and their hope of living forever on a paradise earth at risk.

What should a first-time documentary filmmaker do first?

Scott Homan's advice: shoot a trailer early to test the idea and help raise money, find the people online who already care about your subject and talk with them, and plan your film festival strategy, synopsis, logline, poster and trailer long before the film is finished. Christian Taylor adds that filmmakers should think about the business and who will buy the film first.

LISTEN AND FOLLOW

Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts: https://pod.fo/e/6a8c8e

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@documentaryfirst

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Rate us, share an episode, or get our free guides: https://documentaryfirst.com/pages/support

CONNECT WITH DOCUMENTARY FIRST

All platforms: https://linktr.ee/doc1st

Christian Taylor on LinkedIn

ABOUT THE GUEST

Scott Homan

Director, Witness Underground; co-founder, Banana Island Films

Scott Homan grew up in the north woods of Wisconsin and made his first two documentaries at 17 in a high school film program. He ran camera and audio for a Channel 7 newsroom and studied photography in Minneapolis during the move from film to digital. He then spent seven years in Ecuador and Vietnam, where he and two friends started the production company Banana Island Films in Hanoi. Witness Underground won Best Documentary Feature at the GenreBlast Film Festival.

Website: https://witnessunderground.com

Banana Island Films: https://www.bananaislandfilms.com

ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST

Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Descript, for transcript-based editing
• Amara, free captions and translation
• Frame.io, for review and notes with collaborators