My favorite film is "Meshes in the Afternoon," a short avant garde film directed by Maya Deren. This was the first film that I saw that was actually directed by a woman.

Crowdsourcing is an invaluable resource for filmmakers, but be prepared for an enormous amount of work.

Learning how to do some of the technical work on the film can be helpful too and allows you to start the film on your own. However, if you are passionate about an idea, just begin.

When Steve Wise told me that he intended to argue in court before a judge that an animal could be a "legal person," it seemed like a novel, possibly far-fetched idea, but the more I thought about it, the more I became intrigued.

I have always thought that if you can give viewers the sense of being there a story can be very compelling.

It's always been difficult for me to find funding for a story that I want to follow in real time. Financiers are hesitant to support a project when they don't know the outcome.

I have always felt that documentaries are an opportunity for me to witness a world that I know nothing about.