We take our projects out to everyone and we just try to find the right home. You have been exclusively working with Netflix for five years. So, it wasn’t a conscious decision, it was more, “Oh this an interesting world to explore.” With every project you have this opportunity to (create) life experiences and to learn and by doing that you’re creating something that allows the audience to go on that journey as well and this was definitely one of those cases. I am always following what’s interesting to me. Do you consider it a departure from your previous nonfiction work? This film was very different from your recent docs in that it’s a very personal story told mainly by one man. So, for most of the two years we filmed in Portugal we would hire him. And in Portugal there’s a guy who has been there forever and knows it like no one else. In Hawaii we worked with a longtime surf cinematographer named Mike Prickett. We quickly were introduced to the small group that specialized in (filming big waves) We were really fortunate to get plugged into that network. Was it difficult to find cinematographer who could capture Garrett as well as other surfers on the gigantic waves they surf? My biggest fear is setting up a project without really knowing what it is and being beholden to that when the form may be more successful, or the project may be more successful in a different form.
In development I work independently just so that I can understand what the project is. How did HBO feel about it turning from a one-off docu to a docuseries?Īt the time we went to HBO we were going out with it as a six-part series. There had been so much documentation of this story – and it wasn’t just Garrett’s story, but it was his story as well as the evolution of this small town in Portugal that lent itself to something that I felt warranted the time.
So, that’s when I took a step back and felt like we were more in series territory than we are in feature territory.
In this case, we started with a feature and the first edit was six hours long. As we got closer to finishing, I felt that the feature was stronger. For “Fyre” we cut that as a four-part series and a feature at the same time. Was all the archival footage why you decided on making the docu six episodes?Įvery project is different. From that we were able to make something that was bigger in scope than we originally intended. So, we were able to access a lot of footage that had chronicled his experiences over the years. Something we came to learn is that surfers document their lives quite extensively. How long did you work on “100 Foot Wave”? It didn’t matter whether he was a surfer or in some other sport, I just thought Garrett was interesting and that was the jumping off point. He just seemed like an interesting character to spend time with. He had his own take on things and his own way of doing things and that was appealing to me. I did an initial Skype call with Garrett, and he didn’t seem like what I considered the typical surfer. I’m very, open-minded to exploring a subject to see if I can find something that resonates with me with the hopes that it could connect to a larger audience. The one thing I’ve learned though is that you never know where a great story could be. I wasn’t particularly attracted to surfing or surf culture films. Then we started developing the materials and took it out and HBO. It was an idea that he had, and he brought to me. I was actually approached by the producer, Joe Lewis. Did HBO approach you with the idea or was it your idea? “100 Foot Wave” is your first project with HBO. Smith spoke to Variety about “100 Foot Wave,” having a knack for choosing zeitgeisty doc material and his upcoming project about the celebrated Downey father-son duo. He made a handful while pursuing commercial directing the next 15 years, turning back to documentary work when Spike Jonze approached him with never-before-seen footage of Jim Carrey playing Andy Kaufman. It was a notable accomplishment for a feature documentary debut, and Smith’s second film overall, but at the time the director said he had no desire to make another documentary.
The director won a grand jury prize in 1999 at Sundance for “American Movie,” and scored a distribution deal just under one million dollars with Sony Pictures Classics, a large chunk of change for a documentary at that time. Smith’s recent output reflects a renewed focus on documentary filmmaking after years of mostly concentrating on commercial directing to the point of burnout.