Nick Bruckman Remembers Ady Barkan | Not Going Quietly
Om avsnittet
How do you talk about your film a week after its subject dies?
Nick Bruckman spent years filming Ady Barkan for Not Going Quietly, the documentary about the young father with ALS who took his fight for health care all the way to Congress. Ady died on November 1, 2023. About a week later, Nick sat down with Documentary First. He had done about 200 interviews about the film, he told Christian, but this was the first since Ady's passing, and he had just come back from a memorial that weekend. So before the film, he wanted to talk about Ady: one of "the most incredible civil rights leaders of our generation," Nick says, and someone whose presence made you ask whether the way you're spending your life is important.
In Episode 211, Christian Taylor talks with Nick Bruckman on her own; her co-host Jason Rugg was out sick. Nick explains why he wanted the intimate scenes at home and the activist scenes to feel like one story, because Ady's story "is about how the personal is political." He remembers the moment he knew it was a feature: Ady telling him they would get an RV, find other sick people, and roll up in their wheelchairs to members of Congress to confront them with their stories. "That to me was what the movie is about, and what all documentary films are about, which is that stories have power," Nick says. Christian, who once worked in politics in Washington, says that once you've seen Ady's personal story, you can't "other" him, whatever side of the aisle you're on.
Then the making of it. In 2018, Liz Jaff, a political consultant who had just met Ady on a plane, called Nick's company, People's TV, about a short launch video for the health care advocacy group she and Ady were starting, Be A Hero. Nick flew to Santa Barbara expecting a two-minute promo, and by the end of that first interview he asked Ady to make a movie. Ady had been diagnosed in 2016 and given two to four years to live; when Nick met him, he had about six months of speech left. Nick lived in the family's garage bedroom for long stretches so he could film dinners without a crew. He talks about funders who passed because they thought it sounded too sad, the executive producers who signed on (Bradley Whitford, who met Ady at a protest, and Mark and Jay Duplass), and how the rights were split among POV on PBS, a theatrical run from Greenwich Entertainment, and Hulu. He got Ady to the red carpet at the 2021 premiere, where the film got a standing ovation, and Ady gave him "a kind of knowing eyebrow raise." The conversation ends with Minted, Nick's film about the NFT boom, and with Nick's own story: a mother who was an opera singer, a 17-year-old with a video camera at the World Trade Center site on 9/11, a family with deep roots in disability advocacy, and the two pieces of advice he gives young filmmakers.
WATCH THE FILM
Not Going Quietly is available to rent or buy on Apple TV
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why Nick's first interview after Ady Barkan's death began with Ady, not the film
- How a two-minute launch video for Be A Hero became a feature documentary
- Why Nick lived with Ady's family to film without a crew
CHAPTERS
0:00 Meet Nick Bruckman
3:19 Losing Ady Barkan
10:24 The Personal Is Political
13:46 Empathy Across the Aisle
21:11 How the Film Began
26:18 Standing Ovation
29:51 The Dinner Table
32:03 Budget, POV and Hulu
35:19 Minted and NFTs
40:28 From 9/11 to Filmmaking
44:00 Find Your Tribe
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is the documentary Not Going Quietly about?
Not Going Quietly is a 2021 documentary directed by Nicholas Bruckman about Ady Barkan, a young father and health care activist diagnosed with ALS in 2016. After a confrontation with a senator on a plane went viral, Barkan co-founded Be A Hero and traveled the country with other sick people to press members of Congress on health care. The film premiered at SXSW in 2021, where it won the Audience Award and a Special Jury Award.
When did Ady Barkan die?
Ady Barkan died on November 1, 2023, at age 39, of complications from ALS. He had been diagnosed in 2016 and told he had two to four years to live. Nicholas Bruckman, who directed Not Going Quietly, recorded this Documentary First conversation about a week after Barkan's death. He told Christian Taylor it was his first interview since Barkan's passing, and that he had just come back from a memorial that weekend.
How did Not Going Quietly get made?
Nicholas Bruckman met Ady Barkan in 2018, when Barkan's new group, Be A Hero, asked Bruckman's company, People's TV, to make a short launch video. By the end of the first interview, Bruckman had asked to make a feature. He started filming on spec with his company's resources, later added grants and executive producers Bradley Whitford and Mark and Jay Duplass, and lived with the Barkan family for long stretches to film at home without a crew.
What advice does Nick Bruckman give new documentary filmmakers?
Bruckman gives two pieces of advice. First, get really good at one craft in or near the industry, such as editing, color correction or lighting, so you can earn a living while you're around other filmmakers. He says he was a very good editor but never a good camera person, and he built People's TV on commercial and client work. Second, find your tribe, because documentary filmmaking, he says, is a team sport.
LISTEN AND FOLLOW
Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts: https://pod.fo/e/4a7ffd
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: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetchristiantaylor
ABOUT THE GUEST
Nicholas Bruckman
Director and Founder of People's Television
Nicholas Bruckman is an Emmy-nominated director and the founder and CEO of People's Television (People's TV), a creative studio in New York City and Washington, DC that makes independent films and branded work for companies, foundations and social movements. He directed Not Going Quietly, which won the Audience Award and a Special Jury Award at SXSW 2021 and earned two News and Documentary Emmy nominations, and Minted: The Rise (and Fall?) of the NFT, which premiered at Tribeca in 2023. He produced Valley of Saints, a Sundance Audience Award winner, and co-directed the docuseries The Price of Milk with Yoni Brook.
IN MEMORY
Ady Barkan (1983 to 2023). We're grateful Nick shared Ady's story with us a week after he lost his friend.
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.
THE NICK BRUCKMAN SESSIONS
- Episode 223, Nick returns with Minted, his film about the artists of the NFT boom, and remembers Ady's memorial
- Episode 265, Nick's third visit, on The Price of Milk, getting into Tribeca and how Minted reached Netflix
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Documentary First: Conversations on Documentary Filmmaking med Christian Taylor | Documentary First finns tillgänglig på flera plattformar. Informationen på denna sida kommer från offentliga podd-flöden.