Filmmakers and subjects gathered at the TCA summer press tour on Tuesday to speak about Netflix, specifically what Netflix can do for documentaries that movie theaters cannot.

Jill Bauer, director/producer of Hot Girls Wanted, says that Netflix is a perfect platform in terms of finding an audience over time. “There’s so much discovery on that platform in terms of documentary film.”

Liz Garbus, director of What Happened, Miss Simone?, added that Netflix created a “rebirth of interest” in her documentary subject, Nina Simone.

“The exposure that docs are getting because of Netflix and other streaming services is thrilling,” said Garbus. “Of course an Oscar or Emmy nomination gives a film a huge boost, but we’re getting those boosts on Netflix.”

According to Orlando von Einsiedel, director of Virunga, Netflix gives unscripted content creators as much freedom as the scripted side.

“The story I thought I was following changed enormously,” said von Einsiedel. “It became so much bigger than anything I thought.”

Bauer added that Netflix as a platform also gives documentaries an audience that may not actively seek out their work in a theater or film festival. For Hot Girls Wanted, that also included the film’s subjects.

“The girls in the film don’t watch films on anything but Netflix,” said Bauer, “so they get to see this full story told in a form that’s accessible to them.”

Tig Notaro, the subject of Netflix’s documentary Tig, said there were little to no boundaries to her very personal film, and Netflix used that raw style as part of the documentary’s marketing campaign.

“I didn’t think there would be any high-profile part to it, so I allowed her [Kristina Goolsby] into every aspect of my life because we’ve been friends almost 20 years,” said Notaro. “I think I also thought that because I had been through so much in 2012, that I was through all the hard knocks of life and I forgot that when life gets going, it just swings uncontrollably. In the really great fun, lighthearted moments and then also the heavy moments, I really didn’t want anybody there, but I also didn’t want to send anybody off because I knew those moments would be compelling.”

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