Filmmakers James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte on their new documentary series, The Big Conn

James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte are Emmy-nominated
documentary directors and producers for the HBO documentary series,
McMillion$. Brian and James return to Cinepod to talk about their
latest documentary, The Big Conn, now airing on Apple TV+. The Big
Conn is a four-part documentary series that tells the unbelievable
true story of larger-than-life attorney, Eric C. Conn. Conn stole
over half a billion dollars from the government and taxpayers in
the largest Social Security fraud case in United States history.
Conn got away with it for more than 10 years before two
whistleblowers told the FBI what he was doing and Conn went on the
run. Documentary filmmaking has grown and elevated as an art over
the years, and James and Brian take a cinematic approach to the
form. Their previous documentary series, McMillion$ had a thread of
comedy throughout, with such interesting characters that it
reminded them of a Coen brothers movie. For The Big Conn, Brian and
James took a similar approach. They dive deep into Eric Conn's
life, using comedy to hold the audience's interest, but underneath
it's a very serious exposé about the broken American Social
Security system. To put together such sprawling stories, James and
Brian create a story outline, determine who the interviewees should
be, interview the characters, write a script and then decide where
they need to put in animated graphics, archival footage and
recreations during the editing process. Talented cinematographer
Jeff Dolan has worked with the team for years, shooting both
interviews and recreations on The Big Conn and McMillion$. Brian
and James planned out and put together a guide for lighting and
shot composition for the look of the interviews, based on shots
from scripted movies they love. The Big Conn is a 4-part
documentary series currently airing on Apple TV+. James and Brian
have a podcast to accompany The Big Conn, diving deeper into the
story and subject matter.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-big-conn-the-official-podcast/id1621583098
Fun Meter, James and Brian's production company:
https://www.funmetermedia.com/ Instagram: @funmeterofficial James
Lee Hernandez: @iamthejlh Brian Lazarte: @bdlazarte Find out even
more about this episode, with extensive show notes and links:
http://camnoir.com//ep169/ Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras:
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