Co-Producer, Co-Editor

I helped craft an award-winning documentary feature about a truly unique American.

Production company Sound & Vision approached me with a situation they were in: They were six months into post on a fascinating biographical doc feature. It wasn’t entirely taking shape and they needed to get something submitted to festivals in two short months. Would I be able to come on board and help bring this film home?

The film profiled Daryl Davis, an African American pianist who spent his free time befriending klansmen and other white supremacists. It was a fascinating film with a lot of elements already there. I came on as co-producer and -editor and helped shape it into a solid festival cut.

We were excited at the news our film had been selected by South By Southwest, but I had a strong feeling we needed to round out the film with a few more interviews to make this film truly work. I found Michael Wood, Jr, a former Baltimore police officer and anti-corruption advocate who would make the perfect conversation partner for Daryl, and the team flew out to Baltimore for the sit-down.

The conversation between Wood and Davis was enlightening as expected, but Wood had also brought two Black Lives Matter activists with him, and the ensuing conversation between two generations of black Americans became an intense, gripping, and unexpectedly heated affair.

I spent the ensuing month carefully editing their discussion into a digestible and comprehensive scene, and the extra trip to Baltimore quickly became the climactic centerpiece of the film.

Accidental Courtesy went on to win a special jury prize at South By Southwest and air on PBS’s Independent Lens and Netflix. In its small way, Accidental Courtesy entered into the national conversation at a pivotal time and I’m especially grateful to have worked with director Matt Ornstein to elevate a good project into one that reached further.