Hi Reddit, I’m Ezra Edelman and I am a documentary filmmaker. AMA!

After spending as much time as you have on this documentary series and spending 5 hours in studio with the LeBatard Show:

Who do you find more immoral, OJ or Stugotz?

OJ. And it's not even close.

To what extent, if any, should we view the OJ downfall as a symptom of a long career in the NFL and a brain likely ravaged from CTE?

It's impossible to know. One has to be dead before one's brain can be examined, so one will never know if O.J. suffers from CTE.

I imagine when you start a documentary, you do a fair deal of research. I also imagine, doing interviews and talking with people, you learn a lot more stuff. So, what's something new you learned while making the OJ documentary? Any information that surprised you?

Yes, there is a lot of information that surprised me.. I learned everything! As much as I knew about OJ's football career, I learned a lot more details about his upbringing and his personal life that I wasn't aware of before.

I also learned about the history of Los Angeles and the tumultuous relationship between the black community there and the police department.

Do you think OJ had the greatest fall from grace in sports history?

I think his fall transcends sports.

I appreciate the work you've done with your ESPN Films. The first two parts of the OJ: Made in America documentary have been phenomenal.

I'm wondering, did you have any direct contact with O.J. Simpson while making this documentary? Were you able to glean any insights from him directly?

No, I was not able to glean any insights from him. I wrote a letter to him in prison, I heard no response.

It's an entirely different doc, but did you enjoy 'June 17th, 1994'?

I did. I haven't watched it in a few years but I remember watching it and being taken back to my experience of that day in 1994. I also enjoyed the creative approach telling a story exclusively through archival footage.

I feel that Vincent Bugliosi wrote the best book on the Simpson trial, by leaps and bounds. Of course, Vince died recently, but did you try to get ahold of him when you were doing this project? (disclaimer: I've only seen Part I so far) If so, can you tell us about that a bit? Thanks.

I agree that Bugliosi’s book Outrage was one of the better books written about the trial. I read his book as part of my process in researching the story, but I did not have a chance to speak directly with him.

I really enjoy all of your documentaries you've done so far. Since you are a native of Washington DC would you happen to support any of the local teams around here?

Oh yes, I'm a huge Georgetown Hoyas fan, first and foremost.

I love the documentary, very interesting but I cant help but notice how dark all the interviews look from a color grading standpoint. Was that a creative choice? or Was it a function of not having a larger lighting package on set?

I didn't realize the interviews were so dark. Sorry.

What do you hope is the biggest thing people take away from watching "O.J.: Made in America?"

That the whole story is a lot more complicated than it's been made out to be and that there are a lot of sides to this story that need to be understood.

What was the hardest part of making the documentary?

Getting all of the people who appeared in the film to participate.

Hi Ezra, thanks for doing this AMA. Which documentary was the most fun to make? Where does OJ's stack up?

The most fun documentary to make was Brooklyn Dodgers: Ghosts of Flatbush, because it was about the borough I live in and was also the first long form doc I had done.

Where does OJ rank as far as fun? Last.

Was Mark Fuhrman eager and willing to be interviewed for this or did he take some convincing to appear on camera?

I would not use the term “eager” to describe Mark Fuhrman's desire to be in the film.

I love watching 30 for 30s, my favorite so far probably has to be Fantastic Lies. What is it about 30 for 30s that make them so unique? Are 30 for 30s picked by ESPN or can a director come to ESPN with a story pitch?

It works both ways. ESPN commissions projects, but they also take pitches from directors. I suggest you email Connor with your top 10 ideas of films to make.

Were there any roadblocks you came across when making this particular documentary?

I think the better question would be “Were there any roads that weren't full of road blocks?”

Love the documentary so far. My questions, is when do you realize you needed 10 hours of TV time to make this documentary?

It was a very fluid process, it started off as being 5 hours for television and grew once we amassed the amount of material that we did.

Can you tell us a little more about what it was like working with the Goldmans? I always feel like they get short shrift when it comes to all of this, and it's unfair to them, as they lost a son and brother, too. Fred in particular is very passionate in securing his son's legacy and memory. I was just wondering if you could give us some insight and little more on your general impression of them. Thanks.

Fred Goldman and the entire Goldman family suffered an unimaginable loss and I admire the extent to which he has kept Ron's memory alive.

Hi Ezra! I was wondering if you were a fan of OJ growing up, or if he was just another athlete in your eyes? How did you get the opportunity to make this film? Thanks!

I would call myself an O.J. fan growing up. In my parent's house to this day there is a photo of my two older brothers, one of whom is wearing a Lynn Swann jersey and the other is wearing an O.J. Simpson jersey. So he was very much a part of my childhood.

Hey Ezra I loved the Doc I finished the last movie at about 4:30 this morning. Do you think if OJ had not been found guilty in the civil court that he would have been able to transition back into the celebrity role or he was too far gone to be fully re-acclimated? Also do you think he started accepting his blackness after the original trial out of realizing they were the only ones who supported him (meaning he didn't really want to but he had to) or that he was just being the true OJ?

No, I don't think so. I still believe a majority of Americans would have believed in his guilt and I think the intervening year showed that he already was not going to be able to reclaim the celebrity status that he once enjoyed.

Which person surprised you the most by agreeing to talk for your documentary (or which surprised you the most by ignoring an opportunity to take part)?

I don't have an answer for the second one, and I don't have an answer for the first one either.

I mean considering the sensitivity of the material and the story, there are a lot of people that I was pleasantly surprised by their decision to take part.

Fellow Sidwell grad here! Made me feel old that my mom told be about the OJ doc before I heard about it elsewhere.

What was your initial inspiration for tackling something as complex as OJ's story? Is the timing with the recent FX series coincidental?

Yes, the timing is coincidental. We started working on our film well before I even knew that existed. As for why I tackled it... it was there.

Was there a method or reasoning behind the chronology of the story lines told? I.e. Jumping from the LA riots (detached from OJ) to OJ's abusive behavior.

There's no method. One of the challenges was how to interweave these two separate stories into one narrative and our editors did a tremendous job of fluidly weaving those two tracks together.

Ezra, My question is: Was there anybody or multiple people that you wish would've agreed to speak on camera for interviews? I assume Marcus Allen would be on this list but I was curious about others.

Of course, there were a lot of people that I would have loved to have interviewed for the film. First and foremost, Christopher Darden.

Love the doc so far.

I am just curious if you have any thoughts on the expectations placed on OJ from the black community to use his platform to bring to light bigger issues? I found myself feeling bad for OJ because he was getting all of this pressure to represent people that shared his skin color, but he didn't want to be defined by his skin color.

Everything I have to say about that is in the film.

My two favorite 30 for 30s are 4 Days in October and Requiem for the Big East. What are yours?

The Two Escobars, are the best 30 for 30s that's ever been made and my favorite.

how do you feel about the impact your doc is having on a new generation of people that may not have known, in depth, the details surrounding this man's life?

I'm much more engaged by the generation of people who will learn about a history that surrounded OJ and his life in LA than I am about OJ himself.

Who is your favorite athlete?

My favorite athlete of all time is Allen Iverson.

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You never know.

What motivates you to create such amazing documentaries? When did you know you wanted to be a filmmaker?

My motivation is to simply tell a good story. As far as when I decided I wanted to be a filmmaker there was no one day, it was not a childhood dream. I just continued to work and evolve as a storyteller to get to where I am.

Of all the people you interviewed for the O.J. doc, which was the hardest/ most emotional to question? Was it just as hard for you to get through as it was for them?

No. I'm pretty sure it was much harder for the interview subjects than it was for me. It is their life and their experiences, and I was very sensitive to that fact.

What would you say the most influential docs were to you?

And if you can, what do you think are some "must see" 30 for 30 films? Besides your great ones of course.

There's so many docs that I've watched that have been great. Certainly docs before the 30 for 30 franchise related to sports that I was really taken by were Hoop Dreams and One Day in September.

Hi Ezra! Thanks for doing this AMA! What was the pre-production process like on OJ: Made In America? How much research went into the script? Did you pull in any particular partners to make this as realistic as possible?

There is no script since it's a documentary.

The pre-production process was intense and thorough though - there's a lot of research to comb through, especially the archival footage. Our team of producers did an incredible job gathering all the material that went into the film.

One thing that rings very true in the documentary series is the underlying and sometimes explosive anger of the people in LA at that time, especially within the black community. When you were working with people who experienced the riots first hand and lived the trial through their televisions, was there a lasting resentment to this day? Do they compare citizen/police relationships then and now as better or worse, or simply the same? Thank you for your reply.

I can't speak for a group of people. I think what I would say is citizen policing, to use that term, is an ever evolving question, and there's still, as evidence by the high profile incidents of the last two years, a huge problem in America.

What are your thoughts on the FX series and how do you think the retelling using actors differs compared to your documentary? How did the actors do with regards to the real people that you researched and/or interviewed?

I'll tell you my opinion when I watch the series.

What was your initial reaction when ESPN approached you to do the series? Did you have any reservations?

I had many reservations. I didn't think there was anything more that could be added to this story.

If you were stranded on a desert island, and could only pick one person from your films to help you get off the island, who would it be?

That's a good question. I'm going to with Barry Scheck

Any other doc subjects you want to do outside the world of sports?

There are no specific docs at the moment that I'm thinking about.

Are you going to recruit KD to the Wizards?

If Kevin Durant wants to call me up, I will happily tell him why he should sign with the Wizards.

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I don't have a specific answer to that question, but I think you would find that the percentages of athletes who act out would be commiserate to that of the general population.

Just finished the entire series. Parts three to five were exhilarating. Great job.

My question is, 1) what were you doing during the chase? and 2) what were your impressions of the trial as it was happening at a young age, versus your perceptions as it stands now after all the research you did for thus documentary?

Thanks in advance.

During the chase I was at my parent's house in Washington D.C., there were friends of mine who came over to watch game 5 of the NBA finals. We turned on the TV and we saw OJ in the Bronco. It was surreal, to say the least, and then after a couple of hours of watching it, I went downstairs and went to watch the game.

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Nope.

Was the goal from the start to not have a narrator track, or did that become a reality as the interviews came together?

The goal was always to not have a narrator. In this case, it was even more important because I felt like the stories should be told exclusively through the voices of those who lived it.