UNCHARITABLE

Ray Bradbury once said, “We all have our stories to tell…only one apiece.” I’ve spent most of my life in movies and TV, folding as much as possible of that “one story I have” into whatever I’ve written or directed.

In narrative films or TV, you get to pick or write a script of your story with actors playing the characters. In documentaries, it slowly emerges (if you’re lucky) out of all the interviews with real people; the endless hours you spend in an editing room; the countless dead ends you find yourself confronting, until you finally stumble (if you’re lucky) upon what feels right.

For me, finding the story of Uncharitable was especially challenging, because it involved a big and important idea – with detailed instructions – about how the non-profit sector could become so robust and powerful that it could actually change the world. From the start, nearly seven years ago, I understood that this was going to have to be a film that was bigger than just the ideas and story of my friend, Dan Pallotta; I had watched him from afar as he worked to change the world for the better and then was destroyed for his massively successful efforts.

As I dug into production, I came to understand that the story was even bigger than the destruction of so many others – Steve Nardizzi, Jason Russell, Roxanne Spillet, who also mounted monumental successes in charity, only be brought down by small-mindedness and outdated ideas.

And it was even bigger than nearly everyone else (ten million people) working tirelessly (and generally thanklessly) in the charitable sector – real people with huge hearts, great hopes, and a willingness to work 24/7 to confront what they felt in their bones was profound injustice and the needless pain of their fellow human beings. Through rough cuts, a pandemic, and more interviews I came to see the outlines of a story of not only the damage done to the 99.9% of the wonderful folks trying their best to help others, but the damage done to the very concept of charity.

And that’s when the story of Uncharitable came into synchronicity with the “one story” I seem to have been charged with telling – a story that always starts with heroes setting out with the best of intentions, only to be struck down, devastated, and left with a sense of meaningless and despair. Something that, yes, I’ve had to wrestle with a bit in my own life, along with so many others who have struggled far more than me. In fact, pretty much all of us have been forced into some version of this story post-pandemic; caught in a new war every few years, school shootings, climate instability, nuclear annihilation, economic disparity, family strife, endless battles between right, left and center, and so on and so on, with a sense that as a species it looks like we’re doomed.

Upon realizing all this, I came to suspect that I might have something really important (and yes, exciting) to tell. A story. Not only involving a critical idea about the reasons for why the charitable sector has been hobbled since its beginnings and how it can finally be unleashed, but how human beings with flaws, dreams and bravery can face down destruction, cynicism and malice to bring about profound and life-saving change to a world that so desperately needs it.

That was a movie that I’d want to watch and that’s the movie I hope I’ve directed.