documentary associate producer
The Asbestos City
associate producer on an award-winning documentary about Manville, NJ — a small town defined by asbestos, flooding, and resilience.
the film
The Asbestos City tells the human story of Manville, New Jersey — a borough shaped by the legacy of the Johns-Manville asbestos factory and brought to its knees again by Hurricane Ida in 2021. the film follows residents fighting for economic resilience, flood control, and recognition from a government that has largely passed them by.
The Asbestos City (2024) — full documentary · directed by joseph devito iii · mariano films
what i did
i joined mid-production and stayed through post. my role wasn't fixed. i contributed wherever i was needed, which ended up covering a lot of ground: research, logistics, documentation, on-set support, and editorial work.
during production, i conducted archival research: combing through historical materials and identifying b-roll relevant to the film's narrative. i managed consent forms and location permits, took behind-the-scenes photos documenting the process, and assisted the director during documentary interviews with subjects. i attended meetings with external partners around platform distribution and audience testing, thinking through how and where the film would reach the right people.
through post, i continued working closely with the director on whatever was needed, with the supplemental materials being the most sustained part of my collaboration.
key contributions
the supplemental materials are where i spent the most time and had the most creative input. working directly with the director, i helped edit two extended interviews and a promotional ad: selecting b-roll, choosing music that fit the tone of each piece, and iterating on cuts together. these weren't passive tasks, i was in the room making decisions, pushing ideas, and figuring out what each piece needed to feel right.
for each of the three pieces, the director and i worked through the edit together. we reviewed footage, discussed what was landing and what wasn't, and revised until the pacing felt right. having a collaborator to push back and offer a second perspective on a cut is different from executing someone else's instructions. i came away with a much clearer sense of what it means to really create something rather than just assist with it.
each piece needed its own emotional register. the two interviews called for something quieter and more contemplative; the promotional ad needed to carry urgency without tipping into manipulation. finding music that served the material without overpowering it meant making a lot of decisions about restraint. we needed to decide what to add, and what to leave alone.
selecting b-roll for a documentary interview is inherently interpretive. the footage you put under someone's words shapes how the audience receives them. i was responsible for identifying and pulling archival and production footage that reinforced what the subjects were saying without editorializing beyond the film's intent.
supplemental interview — ron skirkanish
supplemental interview — joseph a. brosnan
promotional ad
what i learned
joining a project mid-production means there's no onboarding, no defined scope, and no time to wait for direction. you figure out what's needed and you do it. that turned out to be one of the more useful things about this experience. operating adaptively in a professional creative environment is a different muscle than classroom project work, and i got real practice with it here.
the supplemental pieces were where i grew the most. having genuine creative input like choosing music, cutting b-roll, and pushing back on edits taught me the difference between supporting someone else's vision and actually contributing to it. i want to keep doing work where that distinction matters.