Zurawski v Texas: How to make a successful social issue doc in 2024
**UPDATED WITH PROJECT NEWS** Now that social issue documentaries are DOA for big platforms, what does success look like for a documentary on abortion?
**PROJECT UPDATE * The film is now available on Jolt.
From producer Blye Faust: “The film will be live on the site through April 20, 2025 and widely available to viewers in the US and Canada (Together Films is currently representing the film for sales outside of these territories). Our hope is that as many people as humanly possible see the film and spread the word so that true impact – both in Texas and beyond – can be achieved.”
Note to Readers
A few years ago, as I was stressing out about a project that was in a very dark place, I came up with this phrase, “Every doc is a nightmare wrapped in a rainbow.” Making docs can be soul crushing. But the process can also be one of the highlights of your life, and your film can end up changing the world.
This series will feature interviews with filmmakers who currently have films out in the world to unpack the process of making a doc from start to finish. I am particularly interested in asking them about the climate for releasing films this year against the backdrop of this moment for the documentary business and the world at large. Some of the driving questions will be: Where did the idea for your film come from? Where did you find the money? How did the film get out into the world? What were your hopes and dreams for this film and how did it end up?
Zurawski v. Texas
Today we are delving into Zurawski v. Texas, a feature documentary from the Texas based film team of Maise Crowe and Abbie Perrault. Trust me: this film is as intense, intimate, and high stakes as it gets. But even though it premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in September 2024 and got rave reviews from critics and audiences alike, no major distributor wanted to buy it. So, the film team has organized and paid for it to be distributed so far. And amazingly they did all of this on a very short timeline. Development began in 2022 and production began in April 2023! For those who don’t know, this is a pretty efficient timeline for an independently made documentary.
In many ways, Zurawski v Texas is a classic of the documentary form. It takes a story ripped from the headlines and clouded by politics – this one is about a group of women suing to block Texas’s 2022 abortion ban – and uses the form of observational documentary filmmaking to reveal the human stakes behind the headlines.
The most harrowing scene in the film is the funeral for a baby named Halo, who was born with anencephaly, a fatal birth defect. Typically, when families receive this diagnosis they are offered the choice to end the pregnancy so as not to prolong the suffering and physical risks to baby and mother. But because of the abortion ban in Texas, the only thing Halo’s mother was offered from her doctor was a prescription for antidepressants. Baby Halo died just four hours after birth.
Another Film on Abortion?
Even though this is a subject that deserves all of the attention, as an avid doc watcher and pro-choice mother, I admit that I’m not super motivated to see documentaries on this subject. Yes, I know Roe v Wade was overturned and women are dying. But do I really need to see a feature-length documentary about it?
Well, yes. Yes, I did need to see this film.
As the film reveals with depth and humanity, I had not deeply considered the weight of the Texas ban. Through Maise’s camerawork (she is both the DP and director) her observational style bring us inside the lives of those the law impacts. We watch intimate discussions between husbands and wives, doctors and patients, and grandparents and children, in a way that is haunting and reveals the cruelty of this ban. Feature documentaries give space to this kind of emotional subtlety and depth in a way news stories simply cannot.
So why didn’t anyone buy it if it is so good?
Sometimes when I hear filmmakers complain that no one bought their film and they claim censorship, I roll my eyes. Because you know what? Some films, even political ones, are not compelling. Not every film gets a distribution deal.
But Zurawski v. Texas is good, really good. The story is character driven, timely and broadly relevant. And it is a loss that it didn’t have wide distribution before the election for the public discourse. (Sigh. I know I am probably preaching to the choir here!!)
But here is a something important for everyone to know (if you don’t already).
Even when a major platform buys your film, that does not mean that they will promote it and get it to audiences.
Just because (fill in the blank) major company buys your project that does not mean they will promote it. There are countless filmmakers out there who have sold a project for heaps of cash to a big place only to see it vanish into the ether or not have the impact they had hoped for. For example, Errol Morris himself recently made the film Separated with NBC News Studios and Participant (rip). MSNBC bought the film but said they wouldn’t release it until after the election. From Vanity Fair Errol Morris’s Trump Immigration Doc Is Reportedly Being Held Until After the Election:
“Although such a documentary seems timely given the upcoming presidential election, NBC bosses have reportedly made the decision to air the documentary on MSNBC on December 7, despite acquiring it on October 1. Morris expressed his disappointment with the decision on X, suggesting that the release of Separated is intentionally being delayed. “Why is my movie not being shown on NBC prior to the election? It is not a partisan movie,” he recently posted. “It’s about a policy that was disgusting and should not be allowed to happen again. Make your own inferences.”
So you see there is no documentary yellow brick road.
Especially now, you have to build your own road to get the film to audiences.
Here is how Zurawski v Texas was able to create a pathway to success, on their own terms
Zurawski v Texas is the second collaboration between Maise Crow and Abbie Perrault on abortion. They previously teamed up for the acclaimed 2012 documentary Jackson, which focused on the last abortion clinic in Mississippi. I was curious to find out why they wanted to make another documentary on this subject. Here’s what they each shared with me when we recently talked…
Maise: “When it was clear during the oral arguments (Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health 2021) that it would be shocking if the Supreme Court didn't overturn (Roe), Abbie and I started talking, and what we wanted to know was what does a post Roe America look like? And I, for one, could not imagine what it was going to look like…”
Abbie: “Maise and I are both women of reproductive age in Texas. So the stakes are very real for ourselves and also for our community… people are at risk of dying… so it didn't feel like, oh, we've already touched that subject. This (ban) is an unprecedented development in the country.”
So as filmmakers committed to this topic, in 2021 Maise and Abbie started discussing how to find a story that would capture post-Roe America.
This is a common situation in documentaries.
You want to make a film on a topic you care about, but you need an actual story.
To find that, you need to find real people in the real world doing real things.
And then you need to ask for permission from these real people, who usually are going through difficult circumstances to agree to be filmed without being paid. (Well, sometimes people are paid. But that is a topic for another time.)
And then you need to raise money to pay for the filming.
Another reality is that an initial shoot might not lead anywhere.
So this is the very challenging process of starting a documentary.
Back to our brave and committed filmmakers…
Maise and Abbie were pushing forward on both fronts in 2022 as the Supreme Court weighed its decision on Dobbs. Through Maise’s manager, they had connected with two production companies Hidden/Light and Story/Force. Both companies had seen Jackson and were interested in making a post-Roe film with Maise and Abbie.
On the day Roe was overturned – June 24, 2022 – Maise and Abbie were in the field.
Maise recounts that day:
“I was in Mississippi the day that Roe was overturned. I'm there doing a story for an episode of this American Life, but I'm also filming. We thought maybe the documentary would start the day where it was overturned. And then I remember getting on a call with Hidden Light and Story Force, Abbie and myself, and at that point in time being like, okay, we're all three gonna, like, go in this together and make this film.… And so they allowed us to really lean into the development phase, the creative development while they were fundraising. And so that's the genesis of this.”
Raising money and the Return on Investment
Producer Blye Faust of Story Force explained how she was able to raise money while Abbie and Maise focused on creative development. “At the time we started,” Blye explains, “we were embedded in the Jackson Women's Health Organization. … They were in the eye of the storm… This is history in the making. Let's figure out where the story goes from here. So I reached out just initially to a couple of trusted partners. People who had funded some other things for me. They jumped on immediately and gave some seed money to get started filming and start capturing and following the story wherever it may lead.”
I was interested to ask Blye how she approached investors. She says, “I think most people who are investing in documentaries in the current marketplace go in with an understanding that the likelihood of them making their money back is very, very low. … I think though we still have an obligation as filmmakers to try and maximize the ability for profit and to repay investors. But I think with this issue, with this story, I think the feeling was that of any story right now in the independent, impact driven, social impact driven documentary space, this has the potential to cut through, because it is so vital.”
A quick peak at Story Force’s slate of projects reveals that they have a very savvy business model. While they produced this film and social issue doc The Grab, they also produced more populist fare for Amazon in the form of doc series Shiny Happy People (about the reality tv family, the Duggars) and Lula Rich. In this day and age, having a varied diet of projects means some will be income generating and others about impact or prestige. While building a slate of projects can be difficult for an indie director, it can be translated into doing some commercial work along with social issue docs. It is also the only means of survival right now!! (Um, hi, I am a doc producer writing a substack.)
A Courtroom Thriller
After filming potential storylines around the country, the team decided to focus the film on the case of Amanda Zurawski, who was suing the State of Texas and was represented by The Center for Reproductive Rights. I asked Maise and Abbie how they were able to get such intimate access to the legal team and the plaintiffs, including baby Halo’s mom, Samantha Casiano.
Maise: “I would just start by saying that the access to this film really began with making Jackson… The Center for Reproductive Rights was the legal team that represented that clinic… Sandy Keenan (the Center’s comms person) and Molly Duane (senior attorney leading the Zurawski case) knew that stories were what was going to change hearts and minds and that this lawsuit was, yes, to challenge the laws, but it was also to change hearts and minds. And so that was part of their strategy. And I think that when we approached them about making this film, they saw an opportunity. So because they had such deep trust in us that translated to their plaintiffs and they were willing to introduce us to their plaintiffs. … And they had already put their names on the lawsuit. So they knew that they were going to be public.”
“And for Samantha [Halo’s mom], she had wanted to be anonymous until the day she gave birth to Halo. She was so traumatized and horrified by the experience that she wanted to make sure nobody had to go through what she went through. She was being told time and again that what she experienced wasn't real. And that what was happening to her was not real. And so, she said, ‘Okay, you think this isn't real?’ Then, obviously you need to see what's happening. And I think that's, that's really been her ethos through this whole process, was like, ‘What can I do to ensure that Texas, that the world, sees what is happening?’”
“And she has never wavered. For us, I have never cried so much as a filmmaker doing my job, as I did the day of Halo's funeral. I was sobbing behind my camera the whole day, and it was incredibly sensitive and something that I think we'll forever stay with Abbie and me. Throughout making the film, we were continually revisiting with Samantha, like, you know, the questions of like, are you sure you're comfortable with this? Is this what you want to be doing? And it never changed.”
The Yellow Brick Road for Zurawski v Texas
After the film premiere at Telluride, there were no offers from major platforms. “We all know, and we've seen, there's been lots of articles written on this. There is no marketplace for anything that is deemed quote unquote political,” Blye said. "When the project started two years ago - before everything really imploded – we actually did pitch it to streamers thinking that of anything out there, THIS story might actually cut through... and once we had our finished film, we still believed we had a chance in light of how the film plays cinematically (a dramatic courtroom thriller) as well as the fact that we were covering one of the biggest social issues facing our country today. I’m not sure we ever thought we would sell for bidding war money – but we did think we would have a fighting chance to find a streamer willing to at least take this up and put it on their platform."
So the team took matters into their own hands and decided to maximize impact for the film by screening it at more than thirty festivals; holding impact screenings in Texas, Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada, and Florida; licensing the film for community screenings; organizing virtual watch parties; and Oscar qualifying the film in theaters in NYC and LA.
But this means two things: a ton of work, and instead of making money from distributing a film, it costs money to show it. Maise and Abbie have criss-crossed the country to attend countless events as they also worked to raise the money to fund the release. Blye explains, “It has been a monumental undertaking. We are lucky in that we have StoryForce, we have HiddenLight, we have Maisie and Abbie, and we have this whole team and infrastructure. But I gotta tell you, it has been extraordinary. The amount of hours and the human capital that has gone into this. I can't imagine how most films are able to do it without that infrastructure in place… We've had to raise all the money ourselves, not just for the production, but for the marketing of the film.”
The Whole Enchilada
The story of Zurawski v Texas is the story of many documentaries today. Film teams have to handle everything from finding a story and negotiating access, to raising money and coming up with a distribution strategy, to promoting and distributing the film.
This is the new normal for social issue docs. There is not another way to do it. At least not YET.
P.S.
News from doc land….
Sympathy for the Assassin is a global phenom, actually. Now who is a making the movie?? The story of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s murder in Manhattan is going to a be doc series for sure. Who will make it? After my IG post asking the same question, I got a DM from a producer that it is ALREADY being pitched by the Boston Globe… Read Taylor Lorenz's User Mag post about the populist outrage that is fueling the social media sympathy for the assassin. Do you remember the assassination of Shinzo Abe? Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, was assassinated on July 8, 2022. The shooter has become a folk hero in Japan because of the same kind of populist discontent that we have for the United Health Care CEO. They say history rhymes, well so does the present!!
How a Billionaire’s ‘Baby Project’ Ensnared Dozens of Women also seems like doc catnip. Who is gonna make this one? It reminds me of Spermworld, a doc I produced while at NYT for FX. Directed by Lance Oppenheim, we went into the world of unregulated baby making and learned along the way how unregulated the whole industry is. The New York Times Magazine also published this shocking story An I.V.F. Mix-Up, a Shocking Discovery and an Unbearable Choice that would also make a great documentary because it has both a tragic and surprisingly beautiful story.
The announcement a few weeks that Picture Motion was bought by Publicis caught my attention. Publicis is a global communications and marketing company that works with some of the world's largest brands. Picture Motion is a social advocacy and cause marketing company. We have all heard that brands are interested in moving into the documentary space and could be a new significant source of funding for our work. So I wonder how this acquisition will impact our field? If you have worked with a brand on a doc please reach out! I want to write more about the potential for serious documentary filmmakers to make work paid for by brands so looking for folks to share their experiences!!
Here are a few non-doc reccs…
I have major news fatigue. But I also don’t want to bury my head in the sand. So right now I am appreciating journalism that takes a deep dive approach. This episode of On the Media about Kash Patel offers the fascinating backstory on Trump’s pick to lead the FBI. He seemed like an average lawyer until he was radicalized by being humiliated for not wearing a tie in court. This stranger than fiction story is worth a listen.
I have been reading Popbitch for 10+ years. It is a tongue in cheek UK based gossip newsletter that features crazy tales about the rich and powerful (who I have mostly never heard of) doing thinks like drinking and doing coke at private clubs in London. But they were also one of the first to report on the Murdoch phone hacking scandal. So it is a great mix of high/low with a heavy dose of British humor. Case in point they end each newsletter with a joke. Here is the most recent one.
Old Jokes Home:
My therapist says I have a preoccupation with vengeance.We'll see about that...