What If You're Not Actually Failing? Deep Dive on Ep. 272 with Director Quinnolyn Benson-Yates

What if failure isn’t the enemy, but the training ground?

That’s the question Christian Taylor explores in this episode of Documentary First: The Deep Dive, sparked by her conversation with filmmaker Quinnolyn Benson-Yates about the documentary Epic Bill. Bill Bradley lost his video rental empire to Netflix, went bankrupt, went through a divorce, and then rebuilt himself through extreme endurance athletics. His mantra? “Courage is a muscle.” And “Show up and suffer.”

In this deeply personal episode, Christian connects Bill’s story to her own struggles as a filmmaker, podcast host, and business owner, and to the ancient wisdom of the Stoics, Scripture, and some of history’s greatest examples of failure-turned-triumph.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why “courage is a muscle” is backed by actual science
• The mental tennis lesson that changed Christian’s relationship with failure
• What Thomas Edison and Michael Jordan understood about reframing failure
• How the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” wouldn’t have happened without a crushing 10-3 defeat
• What the Stoics and James 1:2-4 agree on about trials and perseverance
• Christian’s honest confession about feeling like a failure, and choosing to keep going

Key Quotes:

• “I didn’t fail. I found out 2,000 ways how not to make a light bulb.”, Thomas Edison
• “I’ve failed over and over and over in my life. And that’s why I succeed.”, Michael Jordan
• “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”, Marcus Aurelius
• “Valuing the courage to try again is a radical concept.”, Quinnolyn Benson-Yates

Featured Documentary: Epic Bill, directed by Quinnolyn Benson-Yates. Now streaming on Amazon and Apple TV. PBS nationwide distribution.

Resources Mentioned: Vic Braden’s Mental Tennis • The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday • Miracle: The Boys of ’80 (Netflix) • James 1:2-4, Romans 8:28

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.

Hear the full interview: Listen to Episode 272 of Documentary First for Christian’s complete conversation with Quinnolyn Benson-Yates about Epic Bill, seven years of documentary filmmaking, and the PBS distribution journey.

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