I'm a man of many hats.
First and foremost, I'm a longtime documentary filmmaker. I both make my own films and help produce the films of others. Together they’ve won critical acclaim and prestigious awards at the world’s leading film festivals, and played in theaters and broadcast throughout the world.
I’m also a writer. I'm best known for making personal documentaries, and my Substack newsletter, Getting Personal with Doug Block, focuses on personal doc filmmaking, first-person storytelling and producing for film.
I’ve also worked with scores of filmmakers as a consultant, including on such acclaimed documentaries as Stories We Tell, Joan Baez: I Am A Noise and Love & Diane.
I’m also a community builder. In 1999, I founded The D-Word, a free online community for documentary professionals worldwide, and have been a co-host ever since. Based on word-of-mouth alone, The D-Word has grown to a current membership of over 25,000 doc filmmakers and industry pros from 164 countries. Since the start of the pandemic in April, 2000 I’ve hosted weekly zooms with our members that alternate between networking sessions and ones with guest experts that we record for The D-Word’s YouTube channel. Our library features over 100 recordings, which can be viewed here.
I’m also a photographer, and have my own photography website, Doug Block Photo, mostly for fun but also for profit (meaning you can buy them!).
My latest film project, The Search for Betty & Henri, has evolved into a non-fiction multimedia narrative that I’m serializing on my Substack. In it, I set out to solve the mystery behind an anonymous, 20-year old love letter I discovered by chance in a used travel book. With the help of my readers, I hope not only to find the couple but, more importantly, to return the letter to its recipient, Betty, after all these years.
