Maggie Bowman ’96 will be giving a CarlTalk at Reunion about her work as a documentary filmmaker. She spent some time with Andre LaMere ’96 talking about all things film (with some great Carleton ties).
You have generously agreed to give a CarlTalk at Reunion this summer. As a filmmaker, you have told so many stories; how will you go about selecting the words you want to share at Reunion?
I’m thinking: what are the questions I’m wrestling with that I’d like to be in conversation with my smart and thoughtful classmates about? For me, where my brain is spending time today is on questions about the broader evolution of the documentary genre. In the streaming era the commercial interest in documentary and documentary-ish content has exploded. How has this influx of dollars and eyeballs affected the pipeline of films being made? You’ve got a long history of films that I would describe as values-based filmmaking (think Hoop Dreams, 1994 or more recently Minding the Gap, 2018) and then you’ve got content that I see as being the purely the product of commercial entertainment entities and their priorities (think Tiger King, 2020). What does this trend mean for filmmakers, and more broadly, for society?
For those of your classmates who have young people in their lives who may be interested in filmmaking, any advice you’d give to them, or to your 22-year-old self?
The answer is uniquely Carleton related. As my career was transitioning from union organizing to fledgling filmmaker, and I was in Northfield for one of our Reunions, I asked Professor John Schott if he would meet with me. I had regrettably never taken a class with him, but had heard great things and knew I wanted to pick his brain. He generously spent time with me over coffee at Blue Mondays. He gave me two pieces of advice that have stuck with me and that I share with others: (1) faced with the choice between a junior (perhaps more entry-level) role on a film with a filmmaker you really respect and a more senior role on a project that is less meaningful to you – prioritize the former. Or, alternate between the two as needed to pay the rent. I have had to work on many “bread-and-butter” projects over the years to feed myself, but it was my early years spent learning the craft from those I admired, even while doing something like transcribing interviews, that shaped my path; and (2) if you’re most interested in directing and producing, learn sound recording. Not only is a very in-demand skill that can provide a steady stream of income as a freelancer, but it will also give you the flexibility to play multiple roles at once on your own shoots and keep the footprint of your crew very small. I took John’s first piece of advice, but unfortunately not the second! But I do think it’s a solid tip, so I like to share it with others starting out. And it’s never too late for me to hone my sound recording skills!
Anything you’d like to share about current projects?
We are in a time of huge change in the film industry, and I’ve been focused on organizing and advocating within the industry to make filmmaking more equitable and economically sustainable as a profession. For example, there was recently a merger between MGM and Amazon Studios that received a lot of public and regulatory scrutiny. As the industry consolidates, filmmaker voices need to be at the table with the regulatory bodies overseeing these transactions to educate them on the day-to-day realities of working in this field. Nonfiction production is about 100 years behind the fiction sector in terms of unionizing and collective action, so we have our work cut for us to get a seat at those tables. If you think about the volume of content that is being created, we need to ask questions about the trends in that context, such as, “Is this good for the consumer and our society?” For example, since the mid—2010s, a highly disproportionate amount of documentary content has been about crime – do we want more variety? Should we have more variety? Is this trend towards homogenization squeezing out other important filmmaking stories?
A few films (documentaries and non—documentaries) that have stuck with you (good, bad, otherwise — but in some way has stuck with you) over the course of the last couple of years?
Fiction: I Will Destroy You and Reservation Dogs
Non—Fiction: Softie, Landfall, Writing with Fire, and Wuhan Wuhan
From an outsider’s view, filmmaking seems very personal and documentaries are often serious, eye-opening, provocative, and sometimes very heavy. How do you balance (or do you balance) filmmaking on gritty, serious topics with the light—hearted side of work and life?
Well, you might find me on my couch watching Gossip Girl. It’s a great question, as it’s a bit of a joke in the industry about how serious we are. Truth be told, there aren’t a lot of comedic documentaries (there are some). After an intense shoot, I’m a big believer in processing what you’ve just experienced, focusing on holding onto what serves you, and doing your best to let go of what doesn’t – but it’s true – documenting heavy subjects impacts everyone involved in the production. I’m also trying to learn more about being trauma-informed in my work to make sure that film participants are not re-traumatized through their involvement. There’s a powerful movement in the industry right now to center the well-being of documentary protagonists more.
What song, when you hear it, immediately transports you to your Carleton days?
The obvious answer is Like a Prayer. But there is one more song that brings me back to first-year 3rd Hue. My roommate, Yuri, had this cool boombox that doubled as an alarm clock and you could program it to wake you up with any song from a CD that you chose and it would gradually increase in volume. Yuri chose Solsbury Hill. So, I woke up to a progressively louder blasting of Solsbury Hill many a morning.
Find out more about Maggie and her work at https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggiebowman1/