The following is an extract from Jessica Edwards‘ book Tell Me Something, which collects together advice on non-fiction filmmaking from 50 of the world’s most prominent documentarians, in which two-time Oscar nominee Lucy Wakler shares her wisdom. Tell Me Something is also available as an e-book.

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This piece of advice has been my lifeline, my mantra, my toehold on sanity and encouragement, the bandage for when I am kicking myself so hard I can’t stand up.  It was told to me by Barbara Kopple, the legendary two-time Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker. One of my greatest strokes of luck in life was that she came to teach for a year at my film school. The graduate film program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts is entirely fiction — or it was in my day — with this one exception. And that one class I took changed everything. In that tiny class we also had the insanely talented future Oscar nominees Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein and future Oscar winner Keiko Ibi. I’d say it wasn’t a coincidence, but an outstanding instructor who inspired us all in Barbara.