Keith wanders LA’s Atwater Village with acclaimed producer Megan Gilbride—a co-conspirator on TOWER, A SONG FOR YOU, and DEAR MR. BRODY. We stroll the neighborhood, two old friends and frequent collaborators, outlining just how Megan's the "producer kind of crazy" and not the "director kind of crazy."

Megan’s got theories and she has opinions—and she’s got the experience to back them all up. This wide-ranging talk covers a whole lot, like… the ethics of authenticity, how the budget tells a story, community building in the doc-making space, and the difference between journalism and cinema.

Plus: creeping on a stranger's house to smell juniper trees, the Princess Bride theory of medium-specific storytelling, and why Megan won't shoot 70mm “if there's no wide shots in the fucking movie.” The producer of WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM, LOVERS OF HATE, and FATHOM makes a case for JAWS, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HARVEY MILK, ALL THAT JAZZ and the NY EXPORT: OPUS JAZZ—or as she puts it: going to church… watching movies… making fucking cinema.

Discussed Works: TOWER (2016) | DEAR MR. BRODY (2021) | FATHOM (2021) | LOVERS OF HATE (2010) | WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM (2011) | THE REASON I JUMP (2020) | THE PLEA (2024) | JAWS (1975) | ALL THAT JAZZ (1979) | THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HARVEY MILK (1984) | THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987) | NY EXPORT: OPUS JAZZ (2010) | 32 SOUNDS (2022) 

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro and Atwater Village Setup

01:00 Origin Story: The 2012 Picnic Table Pitch

03:00 What Does a Producer Actually Do?

06:00 Excellence, Financing, and Distribution as Creative Acts

09:00 Cinema vs Journalism: The Grammar of Documentary

13:00 The Psychology of Storytelling and Gut Instinct

16:00 Ethics, Authenticity, and Not Being Provocative

18:00 The State of Documentary in 2025

20:00 PBS as the Invisible Backstop

23:00 Mid-Career Reality Check and Volume Problems

26:00 Cauleen Smith's Life-Changing Question

29:00 The Space Inside the Frame

32:00 Do You Wanna Make Fucking Cinema?

36:00 Princess Bride and Medium-Specific Storytelling

39:00 Community as the Through-Line in All Her Work

42:00 Battery Dies, We're on Zoom Now

43:00 Gateway Drug: Jaws, Harvey Milk, All That Jazz

46:00 What Makes Her Say Yes to a Project

48:00 Go to Church: Watch Movies

52:00 Where to Find Megan's Work