In this episode, Ron and Chris speak with award-winning filmmaker Julie Cohen. They talk about the lessons she has learned from her time making films and most notably her time making the RBG documentary focused on the world-renowned Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

To learn more about what Julie is working on you should Follow Julie on Twitter —@filmmakerjulie

Check out Storyville Films - the production company behind RBG and get the inside scoop on some of the upcoming projects. 

0:00 - 3:00 — Meet Julie Cohen, hear about her work as a journalist and what motivates her and about why accuracy is important.

[What inspires Julie to tell stories. Photography, reading, theatre, many sources.]

[Julie pulls in many diverse sources of inspiration for her drive to tell stories accurately in her documentaries.] 

3:00 - 5:15 — Hear why truth can be stranger than fiction and where her storytelling magic comes from.

[Hear the two factors Julie thinks are important to telling people’s stories and the responsibilities of a film director. ]

5:15 - 6:00 — Julie speaks about how creating documentaries for WNET connected experiences from folks of different walks of life.

[Making stories about New Yorkers for WNET.

The experience of running into previous co-workers and gaining new perspectives]. 

6:00 - 8:00 —  Julie speaks about working on the documentary RBG, things she learned. She speaks about RBG’s personality and her insights into who RBG was. 

8:00 - 10:00 — Julie shares what it was like to get to know RBG, hear what RBG’s reaction was to Kate McKinnon’s SNL portrayals in RBG-ception. 

[Scalia’s and Ginsburg’s friendship.]

10:00 - 11:30 — Chris asks if, and how, has Julie’s understanding of leadership changed through getting to know RBG. 

11:30 - 12:40 — Julie speaks about the stereotype of a leader and what children might respond with when asked what a leader looks or sounds like.

[Hear about RBG’s leadership style from Julie and how it might contrast with the current archetype of a ‘leader.’]

[Hear about leadership and stepping into power in male dominated spaces.]

12:40 — Julie speaks about the leadership qualities RBG lived that were the most impactful to her.

13:17 — Chris and Julie speak about the positive role model that RBG is for children.

[Who loves RBG? Kids do.]

[The RBG factor. Julie speaks about the RBG cosplayers.]

14:26 - 15:30 — Julie speaks about the impact of being able to tell RBG’s story had on her life and outlook on documentaries.

[A global impact of telling a story, being able to see it resonate.] 

15:30 - 16:30 — Hear Julie share some of the different people that are inspired by RBG.

[Julie speaks about learning about the type of leaders that people want to hear about. All different types of people, introverts, men, attorneys and the inspiration that it brought to people. Seeing the Women’s equality movement was important still to people and that representation matters.]

16:30 - 17:30 — Ron asks Julie about the documentarian process and the virtues of patience

[Julie speaks about the amount of time it took to tell this story, even being able to tell the story took effort and a journey.]

17:30 - 19:00 — Julie shares some insight into the film-making process and speaks about resiliency

[Julie speaks about the long process of creation and the trials and tribulations that might be faced.]

[Julie speaks about the persistence it takes to see a creative process through points of failure, technical difficulty or outright rejection.]

19:01 - 20:30 — Julie speaks about the 94 different times things can fall apart.

[Who makes a film and who doesn’t? Who can step through adversity.]

20:30 - 21:20 — Hear Julie’s perspective about the best type of cliche for any storyteller. 

21:20 - 23:00 — Julie sheds some light on her experience working on shows like Dateline. Hear what it’s like compared to documentary filmmaking work.

[Julie shares about being able to be comfortable blazing her own creative trail.] 

[The differences between working in a major network environment v. working on her own.]

23:00 - 25:00 — Chris asks about another type of leadership shown in American Veteran a documentary about Sgt. Nick Mendes.

[Hear about the impact of American Veteran on podcast host Chris Cochran; Julie and Chris have an exchange about her work on this documentary about Sgt. Nick Mendes]

25:00 - 26:00 — Julie speaks about the origins of the documentary American Veteran. 

[Hear about Julie learning about the adversity and triumph of Nick despite being paralyzed from the neck down.]

27:00 - 29:00 — Hear about what it was like to attend a Veteran’s Day  parade with Sgt. Nick Mendes 

Chris and Julie have an exchange about America and the support of its disabled and otherwise injured veterans.

30:00 - 31:00 — Julie and Chris have an exchange about why accessibility matters; they speak about impacted American veterans.

32:00 - 35:00 — Julie talks about journalistic license and some upcoming projects with Ron and Chris

[Julia a story about Julia Childs, a feminist love story about food and emotion.] 

[An upcoming film about gender race and gender identity.] 

35:00 - 37:06 — Julie and Chris share an exchange about RBG and the recognition that she deserves.