Filmmaker Hillary Pierce moved to Austin, Texas after earning an MFA from Wake Forest University and working with two legends in the documentary world—Albert Maysles (“Grey Gardens”) and Peter Gilbert (“Hoop Dreams”). Hillary recently spoke with us about her mentors, the business side of filmmaking, and Austin’s thriving film community.
What did Albert Maysles teach you about documentary filmmaking?
It was an opportunity to learn about the subtlety of story and how profound a documentary can be if you simply spend time with people. Albert had an incredible talent for being curious and for investing time with someone while he was filming with them. Probably the biggest takeaway for me from Al was learning to love your subjects and to focus on people and focus on character over all else.
What did you learn from Peter Gilbert as an MFA student at Wake Forest University?
Peter Gilbert is a cinematographer and storyteller as well as a producer, so he understands all aspects of filmmaking and is able to share a lot of wisdom about all of those. From him I picked up a lot of practical producing knowledge and also learned how to think outside the box. He always challenged me to think about new ways of storytelling both digitally and in the material. He also, to follow up what I learned from on Albert, has a great care for his subjects, a great empathy.
How does a documentarian stand out?
By choosing great characters. There are a lot of things that interest us and there are a lot of issues that upset us, but if you can’t find a character to navigate that story, you’re not going to stand out. You stand out by choosing really, really great characters and choosing innovative storytelling techniques. The film I’m working on now, “Tower” by Keith Maitland, is a largely animated documentary, which in itself is not a new technique, but what he’s doing is collaging archival material and imagery with animation to tell the story. It’s a unique approach to what could be a fairly tired historical story about the University of Texas tower shootings.
What about the need to market and network?
It’s a constant hustle. You can’t unfortunately just make a really great film and hope that it stands on its own. Because documentary films have entered this golden age, a lot has been changing about the way we do business. If you don’t have your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in documentaries on kind of a week-to-week basis you’re not going to be able to market yourself in the best way.
Do many filmmakers have a solid understanding of the business side, not just the creative side?
I run into varying degrees of understanding. I like to think that people are good about sharing their knowledge. I’ve never been hesitant to ask another filmmaker how they’ve done something. You’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t talk to your colleagues and your peers about ways of fundraising, ways of doing business.
You have to try a lot of different things to put the funding together. There’s a misconception among young filmmakers that a crowd-funding campaign is the only way. You have to pair that with some other methods. The first question you ask is, “Who would be interested in this story and how can I reach them to raise funds?”
What brought you to Austin? What does it offer filmmakers?
Austin still has a small-town feel but you get to work on a national and international level. We have incredible worldwide film events here. On a day-to-day basis you run into fellow filmmakers all over town at social events and screenings.
I like that the Austin Film Festival celebrates writers. I think that’s a really unique niche in the festival world. They treat writers like rock stars and you get to pick their brains and listen to them talk about their process on panels and over drinks. Since 2009 I’ve volunteered there as a filmmaker liaison, which is a position that gives each filmmaker in the festival a go-to person for things like tech checks or if they just want to know where the best place to get breakfast tacos is.
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