Fake It Til You Make It With Erin Lee Carr

First Draft Episode #240: Erin Lee Carr

Erin Lee Carr is a director, producer, and writer whose upcoming four-part docuseries How to Fix a Drug Scandal will be released on Netflix on April 1st. Carr has also directed At the Heart of Gold, about the USA Gymnastics scandal, and I Love You: Now Die, about the Michelle Carter murder-by-texting trial, both for HBO. Her first feature length film was Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Witches by Roald Dahl

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV show)

Pleasantville (movie)

Moulin Rouge (movie)

David Carr, legendary New York Times journalist and author of memoir Night of the Gun

James Frey is the author of A Million Little Pieces which raised a massive public debate about truth in memoir after it was revealed that portions of the book was fabricated or wildly embellished, and Oprah confronted him. She has since apologized for that confrontation.

David Carr on The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert talking about his memoir

The New York Times Book Review write-up about Carr’s memoir

Page One: Inside the New York Times, a documentary by Andrew Rossi (who is now a mentor to Erin) featured David Carr extensively

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room a documentary by Alex Gibney, was an incredibly influential film that made Erin want to pursue documentary fimmaking

Shane Smith, founder of VICE

Erin was an office PA for the TV show Girls before she moved on to making videos for VICE

“How true crime documentaries helped Erin Lee Carr move forward after her father’s death,” Erin’s interview with the Los Angeles Times, interviewed by Amy Kaufman

Patricia Bosworth, documentarian and memoirist, author of The Men in My Life: A Memoir of Love and Art in 1950s Manhattan, Diane Arbus: A Biography, Montgomery Clift: The Ultimate Insider's Guide for the Budget Savvy

Sheila Nevins, former president of HBO Documentary Films and currently launching MTV Documentary Films

National geographic photographer Cory Richards’s 2017 SXSW Keynote speech

Erin’s editor Andrew Kaufman

Cheer on Netflix (which was optioned)

McMillions

“The Girl from Plainville,” the Esquire piece by Jesse Barron about the Michelle Carter case

Erin’s episode of Dirty Money dealing with the pharmaceutical industry

Cindy Lee, editor on At the Heart of Gold

Sarah Gibson was executive producer on At the Heart of Gold

“Still rendering,” Erin’s Medium piece which she wrote in the wake of her dad’s death

Mary Karr’s books including Lit, The Liar’s Club: A Memoir, and The Art of Memoir

Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp

In an interview with Caryn Ganz for the New York Times, Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino talks about coming to the decision to be sober. I also liked how Jenny Slate spoke about her choice to stop drinking—at least temporarily— in The Cut on Tuesdays.

Erin on Fresh Air with Terry Gross

Erin loves the Fresh Air episodes featuring Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Howard Stern

Erin recommends watching documentaries every night for a month, and diagramming them. Then, she suggests, also go ahead and diagram the careers of some of the greats, including: Liz Garbus (director of There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane, What Happened, Miss Simone? and more); Alex Gibney (director of Going Clear: The HBO Special and The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley); Andrew Jirecki (director of Capturing the Friedmans); Amy Berg (director of The Case Against Adnan Syed and Janis: Little Girl Blue); Erroll Morris (director of The Thin Blue Line and The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara)

 

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #240: Erin Lee Carr

Erin Lee Carr is a director, producer, and writer whose upcoming four-part docuseries How to Fix a Drug Scandal will be released on Netflix on April 1st. Carr has also directed At the Heart of Gold, about the USA Gymnastics scandal, and I Love You: Now Die, about the Michelle Carter murder-by-texting trial, both for HBO. Her first feature length film was Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Witches by Roald Dahl

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV show)

Pleasantville (movie)

Moulin Rouge (movie)

David Carr, legendary New York Times journalist and author of memoir Night of the Gun

James Frey is the author of A Million Little Pieces which raised a massive public debate about truth in memoir after it was revealed that portions of the book was fabricated or wildly embellished, and Oprah confronted him. She has since apologized for that confrontation.

David Carr on The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert talking about his memoir

The New York Times Book Review write-up about Carr’s memoir

Page One: Inside the New York Times, a documentary by Andrew Rossi (who is now a mentor to Erin) featured David Carr extensively

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room a documentary by Alex Gibney, was an incredibly influential film that made Erin want to pursue documentary fimmaking

Shane Smith, founder of VICE

Erin was an office PA for the TV show Girls before she moved on to making videos for VICE

“How true crime documentaries helped Erin Lee Carr move forward after her father’s death,” Erin’s interview with the Los Angeles Times, interviewed by Amy Kaufman

Patricia Bosworth, documentarian and memoirist, author of The Men in My Life: A Memoir of Love and Art in 1950s Manhattan, Diane Arbus: A Biography, Montgomery Clift: The Ultimate Insider's Guide for the Budget Savvy

Sheila Nevins, former president of HBO Documentary Films and currently launching MTV Documentary Films

National geographic photographer Cory Richards’s 2017 SXSW Keynote speech

Erin’s editor Andrew Kaufman

Cheer on Netflix (which was optioned)

McMillions

“The Girl from Plainville,” the Esquire piece by Jesse Barron about the Michelle Carter case

Erin’s episode of Dirty Money dealing with the pharmaceutical industry

Cindy Lee, editor on At the Heart of Gold

Sarah Gibson was executive producer on At the Heart of Gold

“Still rendering,” Erin’s Medium piece which she wrote in the wake of her dad’s death

Mary Karr’s books including Lit, The Liar’s Club: A Memoir, and The Art of Memoir

Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp

In an interview with Caryn Ganz for the New York Times, Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino talks about coming to the decision to be sober. I also liked how Jenny Slate spoke about her choice to stop drinking—at least temporarily— in The Cut on Tuesdays.

Erin on Fresh Air with Terry Gross

Erin loves the Fresh Air episodes featuring Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Howard Stern

Erin recommends watching documentaries every night for a month, and diagramming them. Then, she suggests, also go ahead and diagram the careers of some of the greats, including: Liz Garbus (director of There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane, What Happened, Miss Simone? and more); Alex Gibney (director of Going Clear: The HBO Special and The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley); Andrew Jirecki (director of Capturing the Friedmans); Amy Berg (director of The Case Against Adnan Syed and Janis: Little Girl Blue); Erroll Morris (director of The Thin Blue Line and The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara)

 

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!