
The Documentary Life is a podcast about building a life in nonfiction storytelling. Hosted by documentary filmmaker Chris G. Parkhurst, the show explores what it really means to make documentaries—not just as a craft, but as a way of moving through the world with greater curiosity, observation, and empathy. Each episode features thoughtful conversations with filmmakers, editors, cinematographers, ... more
| Publishes | Twice monthly | Episodes | 144 | Founded | 10 years ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Listeners | Categories | TV & FilmArtsVisual Arts | |||

Episode Summary
What happens when the money runs out—but the film isn't finished?
For many documentary filmmakers, securing initial funding feels like the biggest hurdle. But as the months stretch into years, a different challenge begins to emerge:... more
Episode Summary
How do documentary films actually get funded? It's one of the most common questions filmmakers ask—and one of the least honestly answered. While conversations often focus on grants, pitch decks, and crowdfunding campaigns, the realit... more
Episode Summary
Episode 141 marks the beginning of a new chapter for The Documentary Life — not as a relaunch or reboot, but as a recommitment to the questions that matter most. After a five-year hiatus, host Chris G. Parkhurst reflects on the reali... more
Can you believe that it was over four years ago that we first began producing episodes of The Documentary Life?? Well, neither can we.
But as they say, all good things must come to an end!
It has been a great ride this here podcast over the past f... more
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I’m a relative latecomer to The Documentary Life podcast, but I am plowing through every episode from the beginning and absolutely love it. With no community or colleagues near me, the podcast makes me feel connected to filmmaking and storytelling and opens my eyes to new concepts while validating discoveries I’ve made on my own through trial and error.
I was searching for podcast to learn more about story telling in the documentary filmmaking world and “The Documentary Life” hit the spot! I have my first doc coming up this year, beyond excited but also a little freaked out since I’ve never done anything within that realm and listening to all these filmmakers in the podcast really calmed me down and took away a lot of my “fear”. Thank you, thank you, thank you! One of the best podcast channels I’ve listened to in a while!
Chris' show is really refreshing. He gets down to the details of documentary filmmaking based on his own experiences and he always has knowledgable guests on who share such awesome insights. Thanks for spoiling us with free advice on how to live our documentary lives, Chris!
Keep them coming please…really helpful!
I’m mainly a concert videographer but now I’ve shot a few short documentaries and one feature length doc. I want to really get into this genre as a really want to “Live the documentary Life” I’m about ready to stArt editing down 30 years of concert into a documentary/ compilation dvd with interviews and location videography of the places I filmed etc etc. your ep. 119 Editing for the doc. has really inspired me to start. I have until summer of 2022 to get this done.
How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.
Apple Podcasts | #247 | |
Apple Podcasts | #179 | |
Apple Podcasts | #190 | |
Apple Podcasts | #240 |
Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.
Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.
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These podcasts share a similar audience with The Documentary Life:
1. The Treatment
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3. A Slight Change of Plans
4. The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant
5. Team Deakins
The Documentary Life launched 10 years ago and published 144 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.
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Recent guests on The Documentary Life include:
1. Liz Nord
2. Ondi Timoner
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