Best Industry for Feature-Length Documentaries: NY or LA ?

[Chris Lawes]

Hey everyone,

Would love some input/advice on a decision I'm trying to make right now. I've spent time over the years in both New York and Los Angeles and enjoy both cities (although I prefer LA's weather!) I'm trying to make a decision on where to put down longterm roots, and I'm pretty torn. The deciding factor should probably be work. I do all kinds of projects but my longterm goals are focused on feature-length documentaries (I write and produce.)

Would you agree that NY is definitely the best place to be for building a feature doc career, as many say NY is the "doc capitol" over LA? Seems like LA is growing, with IDA moving shop there, etc.

What would you suggest I do?

Appreciate any and all input from you fine folks!

Cheers,
Chris

 

[Chris Lawes]

...Come on, even if you are uninformed you can still vote your perception! Seriously, nobody's got a comment on this? :biggrin:

 

[PatrickFaith]

I voted LA, but I am not sure it matters much .... Seems like the doc guys I talk to are often in Australia, England ... Almost anywhere.

 

[George Butterfield]

If you're doing Michael Moore style "Docs" I guess you could "write" them in NYC or LA it doesn't matter, does it. Otherwise you might have to follow the story ... more work.

 

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

I think it depends on what sort of documentaries you would want to make, I just imagine that there would be more lets say interesting subjects more readily available from New York, you've also got the theatre and Washington isn't that far away or at least closer than it would be if you lived in that dump L.A.
I dunno, maybe people who actually lives in L.A. could give a better perspective but there is something about L.A. though I can't say that I've lived in New York either, if you like cars then New York probably isn't the place to live.

 

[Chris Lawes]

Well of course with docs you can do pre-production and even post pretty much anywhere to some extent, and production naturally takes place wherever your subject is. But the advantage of both NY and LA is in the networking, building a crew, brainstorming projects with different people also working in the same field, and getting funding and distribution is easier when all the distribution companies are based in your city. Definitely seems like the majority of production companies producing documentaries are based in NY, and subsequently infrastructure is well in place there. But there's also work being done in LA, tons of talented people who do both fiction and non-fiction, and then you're got the International Documentary Association (IDA) recently moving from NY to LA, etc..

Both are viable I'm just interested in hearing opinions!

 

[M Most]

you've also got the theatre and Washington isn't that far away or at least closer than it would be if you lived in that dump L.A.
.

What you refer to as a "dump" is my home and a place that I happen to love. I happen to have been born in New York and couldn't wait to leave, even when I was a kid, and even though I know many people who love living there. I don't know where you live at the moment (obviously not L.A. or N.Y.), but I wouldn't refer to it publicly as a "dump" even if I felt that way personally. Some of us really enjoy living where we do even though it might have problems we're quite aware of. The original post wasn't asking for editorial comment, he was asking for some advice in choosing a location as a base for a particular career path. He wasn't asking about theater or weekend travel destinations, he was asking about a documentary filmmaking community. You might want to show some respect. to both him and us.

 

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

I'll put it this way instead.
My perception of L.A. is that it's an industry town, more about the business of making films then actually making films where as New York is more focused on the art which is the sort of atmosphere which I believe documentaries require since they are generally more indie oriented in terms of development.

 

[Chris Lawes]

Interesting input all around. Personally I am indeed more interested in the documentary industry and "documentary culture" of both cities more than which is a better place to live - that's highly subjective. I've spent time in both N.Y. and L.A. and actually prefer L.A. simply because of the weather, the more swimmable ocean, cheaper housing, and I like the culture of the city - N.Y. can be a little intense for me at times.

But everyone will have different experience with that - I'm willing to move anywhere, London, NY, LA, SF, wherever will be best for making the highest quality projects possible longterm. I'm just not sure I'm convinced that NY is really that much better than LA in terms of finding work on docs - but I don't know enough to really say. Hence this thread Appreciate the input thus far!

 

[Rob Gardner]

It really depends on the kind of documentary you are making and what you are going to do with it. For television, I think it would be Washington DC and New York. For international work, it doesn't matter as long as there is an airport nearby. If you are doing tiny fly on the wall films with minimal crews, you need one kind of professional market. If you are doing big blue chip films with bigger crews, longer schedules and hardware like jibs, steadicams, specialty lenses and so on, then you need another market. If production values are essential, you look for one thing, if journalism or access is essential then you look for another. Mostly what you need is money, and that is an entirely different story.

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Neither? Find some place with a really low cost of living. Documentaries are a lot of editing and research. Don't pay LA or NY prices or put up with the crap from either city while slaving away 24 hours a day in your studio. If you need to travel a lot to shoot I would pick some place like Denver which is a United hub so you could fly anywhere for relatively cheap. Where you live will be mostly irrelevant since you'll never see the light of day.