Documentary First

Virgil Films founder Joe Amodei shares the hard truth: $250K is your budget ceiling, traditional marketing no longer is effective, and you must build your own audience.Joe has distributed films from the VHS era through streaming. In this episode, he breaks down which documentary genres actually sell (true crime, health/wellness, and ones that make us feel good—not adventure docs anymore), why 90% of his acquisitions come through referrals, and what separates films that make money from films that don’t. Plus: the 2025 Oscar nominations and Joe’s surprise announcement!DocuView Déjà Vu:Train Dreams, 2025, 102 mins, Watch on Netflix, IMDB Link: Train Dreams (2025) ⭐ 7.5 | DramaThe Alabama Solution, 2025, 117 mins, Watch on Disney+/Hulu, HBO Max, IMDB Link: The Alabama Solution (2025) ⭐ 7.8 | DocumentaryWhat You’ll Learn:• The maximum budget for an indie doc that can actually recoup ($250K—tops)• Which genres sell: true crime → health/wellness → inspirationalWhy adventure/mountain climbing docs have stopped workin