So You Want to Work in Documentaries….Before you put all your hopes, dreams and eggs in the Documentary Film basket, there are a few things you should know about this world. Janet Torge, a documentary producer, has agreed to share some of her survival skills and walk you through her patented TOP TEN TIPS FOR GETTING YOUR FOOT IN THE DOCUMENTARY FILM DOOR.
Some of the points she discusses will open your eyes. Some of it might make you want to run in the other direction. But by the end of it, you’ll know if you’re on the right path.
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Janet Torge has made her mark in almost every aspect of documentary filmmaking. Through her company Torge Ahead Inc., she goes where the contracts take her.
Janet has produced nearly all of Josh Freed’s documentaries, including The Trouble with Experts, Life Below Zero, My Messy Life, In Search of Sleep. She was co-producer of Brian McKenna’s The Great War (Galafilm), and during the process acted as the den mother for over 200 descendants of World War One soldiers. As head of Galafilm’s Documentary Unit, she produced The Origins of Aids, Robin Hood and To Cure or To Kill?.
Torge also enjoys research and archive work because of it’s creative content and has tackled such projects as Liberty, USA (Handel Productions), and Performance (Pixcom Productions), At Your Service (Galafilm), War of 1812 (Galafilm), Jackie Robinson (Rightime Productions), The Pill (NFB), and The Life and Times of Margaret Trudeau (Kaos Productions).
Before her documentary television career, Janet worked in a variety of other media. She was a radio talk-show host on Montreal’s CFCF Radio and CBC’s Radio Noon; the Montreal “Traffic Lady” on CBC morning radio; and a columnist at the Montreal Gazette, Montreal Daily News and the Oxford Press. She has written numerous magazine and newspaper feature articles, co-authored “The Book About Sexual Assault”, published by the Montreal Health Press and recently wrote her first book, Dear Sam: Grieving the Death of My Son, published by iUniverse.
Torge also finds the time to teach prenatal classes, work as a doula and is developing Radical Resthomes, a unique living concept for boomers who see no advantage to living alone but refuse to go the Senior Residence route.