Tim Gray of the WWII Foundation: Why These Stories Can't Wait

Why would a TV sportscaster walk away from a 15-year career to make films about World War II?

For Tim Gray, it started at six years old, with his first book about the war. He spent about 15 years doing sports on the six and 11 o'clock news, in Michigan, Washington state, Florida, New York and Rhode Island, and left in 2004. His father, a former journalist, asked if he was nuts. Tim made his first film in 2006, taking five veterans back to France, and in 2011 the World War II Foundation became a nonprofit. By the time of this conversation, 27 of his films were airing on American public television.

In Episode 106, from the show's early co-hosted days, host Josh Lindsay, Christian Taylor and Jason Rugg talk with Tim, who Christian called for advice when she set out to make The Girl Who Wore Freedom. His email back said he'd talk to her as long as she wasn't asking him for money. He also told her raising money would be the hardest part. It still is, he says: "I haven't heard no this often since I was dating in high school."

Tim talks about why every film starts with one rule: get to the veteran, get to the survivor, before anything else. He has lost great interviews when someone passed away two days before the shoot. He builds each film from the sound bites first so his narration stays out of the way, because, as he says, you learn "when not to get in the way of the story being told." He gives the films away free, so nothing stands between a student and the story. And he tells the story behind the film that affected him most, walking into a gas chamber at Auschwitz with survivor Izzy Arbeiter.

WATCH THE FILMS: Tim's documentaries are at the World War II Foundation.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How 15 years in TV sports taught Tim to write on deadline
• How the foundation gets narrators like Gary Sinise, Liev Schreiber and Tom Selleck
• Why Tim looks for donors with a family tie to the war
• His advice for first-time filmmakers: find a story nobody has told
• Why he lays down the sound bites before writing a word of narration
• Why interviews come first, sometimes years before the film
• How filmmakers share footage, like the Dick Winters interview in Hang Tough
• Why the foundation gives its films away free
• How virtual reality and a cardboard viewer can put a student on Omaha Beach
• The promise Izzy Arbeiter made to his father

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Who is Tim Gray of the World War II Foundation?

Tim Gray is a documentary filmmaker and the founder and president of the World War II Foundation in Rhode Island. He was a TV sportscaster for about 15 years before he left in 2004. He made his first World War II film in 2006, and the foundation became a nonprofit in 2011. He writes, produces and directs the films and hires experienced crews for the technical work.

How does the World War II Foundation fund and share its films?

Tim Gray says the foundation raises all its money up front, from corporate and individual donors and sometimes grants. Then it donates the finished films to American public television and makes them free on its website for students, educators and the public. Its mission is education, he says, so it doesn't want a barrier between the viewer and the story.

What advice does Tim Gray give first-time documentary filmmakers?

Find something nobody else has done, he says, or find a way to do it differently. You can shoot a documentary on a smartphone today, so it doesn't have to be a Ken Burns feature. And keep going: he compares it to the soldiers on Omaha Beach, who couldn't turn back. "Just keep moving up forward and off the beach."

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ABOUT THE GUEST

Tim Gray is the founder and president of the World War II Foundation. Before that he spent more than 15 years as a TV sports and news anchor and reporter, including weekend sports anchor at Channel 10 in Providence from 2000 to 2004. The foundation lists 47 documentaries he has written, produced and directed, and 7 Regional Emmy Awards. His narrators have included Tom Brokaw, Gary Sinise, Liev Schreiber, Tom Selleck, Dan Aykroyd, Matthew Broderick, Jim Nantz, Luke Bryan, Bill Belichick and Damian Lewis. He founded a World War II film festival in Normandy and holds a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island. Tim's bio

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

• Dick Winters: Hang Tough: WWII Foundation
• A Promise to My Father: WWII Foundation