An Industry Case Study
Narrative | Dramatic Features
Film Name: The Line (That Divides Us)
Genre: Documentary Series
Length of film: approx.. 8 min per episode
Date: 2021
Director: Nicholas Batchelder, Sarah Phillips
Producer: Nicholas Batchelder, Sarah Phillips
Executive Producer: Small Batch Films
Writer: N/A
Cinematographer: Sarah Phillips
Editor: Nicholas Batchelder
Composer: N/A
Production Company: Small Batch Films
Budget: N/A
Financing: N/A
Shooting Format: Sony A7s
Screening Format: N/A
World Premiere: HollyShorts
Awards: 20 +
Website: https://www.smallbatchfilms.com/
The Official Trailer for The Line
Watch The Trailer for The Line directed by Nicholas Batchelder
A Short Biography of Nicholas Batchelder
Nick Batchelder is an award-winning director, writer and producer in scripted film, and has created story in a multitude of formats and mediums across the globe from Hong Kong to Portugal. He is a member of the Producer’s Guild of America and the Writer’s Guild of America.
The Nicholas Batchelder Interview
indieactivity: What is your film about?
Nicholas Batchelder (NB): The Line (That Divides Us) is a documentary travel show interviewing a wide swath of people in a non-partisan way, with the goal to bring people together rather than divide them.
Tell us about the festival run, marketing and sales?
Nicholas Batchelder (NB): This As we’ve only just recently premiered, we are very early in the festival run / marketing process. So far we have only screened at HollyShorts Film Fest, and are scheduled to screen at Bushwick Film Fest later this month. We’re excited to see where the festival circuit at large takes our home-grown docuseries.
Give the full Official Synopsis for your film?
Nicholas Batchelder (NB): We are traveling around the country interviewing a wide swath of people in a non-partisan way, with the goal to bring people together rather than divide them – to find humanizing light within the country, if you will. The point is to really elucidate that as a country, we are not as divided at our coire as we appear.
Development & Financing?
Nicholas Batchelder (NB): Our Docuseries is unscripted. Each episode follows an individual who has one thing they are passionate about that strays into the political sphere. That doesn’t mean the subject has to be super political, but for example, various subjects chat about immigration laws, vaccinations, artist grants, etc.
The idea is somewhere out there, someone could disagree with the stance that person takes, and that the subject is something that is directly related to their life. The entire first season was self financed by co-producers/co-directors Sarah Phillips and Nicholas Batchelder.
Production?
Nicholas Batchelder (NB): The whole production took place as essentially a massive road trip across the country. We’d find an interesting person in one city, meet and interview them while they lived a normal day for them, then move on to the next city to repeat the process. We found ourselves zigzagging across the country quite a bit!
The Release?
Nicholas Batchelder (NB): So far we’ve only released the first season of The Line on our website, and HollyShorts of course.
Advice from the Filmmaker?
NB: When it comes to finding a prospective documentary subject, we exercised the “would I be down to have a beer and hang out with this person” rule. And often that’s what we actually did, so much trust and vulnerability can be brought to the table when you just become humans enjoying a beer and company.
And that was the strategy to engage the audience as well when it came to a tackling controversial subject matter. It’s a lot harder to label someone in the “other” or “insert expletive here” category when you learn their views are completely opposed to your own when you already like them and enjoy their company.
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