Team & Roles | The Spiritual Hustle

Team

Director

Maya Carmen

Maya Carmen is a documentary director and anthropologist interested in looking long enough at everyday life that it becomes wonderful and weird. She is interested in exploring the status quo through alternative lifestyles, and focusses on themes of labour, consumption, place & expression.

Producer

Oli Moir

Oliver Moir is an independent producer and multidisciplinary artist whose work spans film, television, music, and public art. From 2015 to 2025, he worked as a programmer and producer for major festivals such as Melbourne Fringe, Public Art Park, Now or Never, and the Overshared Video Art Festival, while collaborating with These Are The Projects We Do Together, City of Melbourne, and Mardi Gras Film Festival. He has been released on multiple record labels across underground electronic genres.

Cinematographer

Angie Geng

Angie Geng is a cinematographer and visual artist living and creating on unceded Indigenous land. With a background in fine arts, she has an interest in slow cinema and crafting aesthetic images that captivate audiences upon first glance but ripples with layers of carefully designed complexities - because it’s much easier to care about what a story has to say when we love the image.

Editor

Jessie Shine

Jessie  Shine is a versatile creative and video editor whose work spans across film and award nominated community television programs with RMITV in Melbourne/Naarm.

With experience in both on-set and post-production roles, Jessie has developed an intuitive sense of pacing and keen eye for visual rhythm through which she forges and refines visual narratives. This has also allowed her to become an adaptive collaborator and individual creative practitioner.

Composer

Jussie Jennsen

Jussi is a composer with a background in performing arts, first trained as a classical pianist and having experience as a child singer at Opera Australia, as well as performing (and on rarer occasions writing and directing) in a number of amateur and community theatre productions, primarily musicals.

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Story consultant

Quentin Yung

Quentin Yung is a writer and comic book creator who has film and television projects in funded development including ONE DEGREE CELSIUS, a feature-length thriller supported by Climate Spring in the UK. His screenwriting, recommended by the Black List, has also generated industry interest in Hollywood. He was selected as a finalist for the Hollywood Climate Summit’s pitchfest sponsored by NBCUniversal, and his screenplays have been accepted for submission by Disney, Warner Bros, and 20th Century Studios. As a former environmental engineer with literary representation in Australia, Quentin is interested in climate storytelling that entertains broad audiences. He is currently undertaking a Master’s Degree in Screenwriting at AFTRS, Australia’s premier film school, and is researching transmedia storytelling for climate fiction. He also advised on Good Energy’s Climate Screenwriting Playbook, sponsored by CAA Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Roles

What does each role entail?

Crew (general)

The crew works as a team to achieve the director's vision for a story. They are involved in different parts of the process: during pre-production (ideation, research, planning, permits & admin), production (shooting), or post-production (editing, sound mixing, colour grading, composition and music recording, text & graphics). They aim to use different skills to support the best version of the story.

Director

The director is involved from the very beginning of a project to the very end. They set the intention of a project - in terms of themes, tone, style and process. In documentary, they are the primary contact for participants. They ensure a cohesive vision for the project across all roles - including crew, participants, and industry.

Creative Producer

The producer is also involved throughout the entire process. They generally organise the admin side of the project, work with the director to enhance ideas, and manage relationships with crew and the industry/distribution strategy.

Cinematographer

The cinematographer works alongside the director to develop the visual language of the film - types of shots, colour palette, visual symbols and visual transitions. They then design the camera equipment that would be best suited to this style and operate it on shoots.

Editor

The editor works with the director to find the story and structure within the filmed material. They work with rhythm, pacing, patterns/repetition to enhance characters and story within a clear structure and style.

Composer

The composer works with the edited film to write and record music that brings attention to the focal points of shots and scenes, enhance the emotional arc of the film, and build coherence across the whole film.

Participants

Participants share their lived experiences through stories in interview and day-to-day with the crew. They offer their time and experiences to a film. In ethical documentary filmmaking, they will often also be involved as story consultants to provide guidance on the framing and expression of their experiences.

Participant Role

What does the director look for in a participant?

A good doco participant is...

likeable
working towards a goal or through a change
emotionally open
willing to open up their time, emotions and stories in a genuine way
aligned on the film's goals
able to communicate needs and intentions for being in a doco

Ultimately, a good story relies on a good character who we can empathise with & who takes us on a literal or emotional journey. This is the same for a doco!

What is asked of me as a participant?

Pre-production (planning)

Sign a release form & location permit
Communicate promptly and transparently
Collaborate with the director on the story, its portrayal and its locations & schedule
Do at least one filmed pre-interview

Production (filming)

Wear a lavalier microphone
Facilitate space for a camera near you (e.g. sit in a slightly different spot to usual for better light, have a spare room for camera setup)
Do normal activities and have normal interactions with a camera on you
Repeat words or actions if necessary
Answer questions or respond to prompts from the director (e.g. Can you explain what you're doing? Can you show me how you would do X?)

Post-production (editing, sound & colour)

Do a follow-up interview
Potentially do a photo shoot for promotional images
Provide feedback on the edit
Provide feedback on the process

Distribution

Hopefully attend festivals with the crew!

What sort of time commitment is it?

It's a decent time commitment, including

regular communication with the director from now until at least November next year
at least 4 hours "consulting" with the director to collaborate on the story & its depiction
at least a week where you let the camera follow you in the ways we plan together
at least three hours of interviews
at least two hours to review the edit

For reference, crew are dedicating a whole year to this project!

What should I consider before agreeing to be a participant?

You should think about...

your personal motivations for being in the documentary.
what you are comfortable sharing and what you don't want to share
what you consider reasonable in terms of mutual benefit
your availability practically
the "life of a film" after distribution - what it'll mean for you to be a public figure
Luke's experience of being a doco participant with Maya
Whether you trust the team to respect your story and time
all of the information on this site!!!

What are the benefits of being in a documentary?

Being in a doco gives you the opportunity to...

promote a topic you care about
tell stories that you don't often get to share
allow your experiences to resonate with a wide audience
capture a moment
work towards the political goals of the film
experience a film set!
build relationships with crew & beyond
mutual benefit
and likely many specific to just you

How am I safe as a doco participant?

The director and producer have a duty of care to keep participants safe. This means practical things like doing risk assessments and reducing risks. If anyone does get physically harmed while filming, it's our responsibility to care for you.

It also means having a process that is ethical. As documentary making doesn't have formal ethical codes - like, for example, journalism - each director/producer team must set the ethical code for the production. This is the whole point of this website - to be transparent with the ethical process of the film: one that is based in transparent communication, respect, and no judgement.

It's up to you to judge whether the ethical framework we're working with is something you can trust. We welcome conversation to improve the ethical approach too.

The director and producer are also responsible for mediating any interactions you might have with industry - for example, press conferences after release, or negotiating contracts or scheduling clashes between participants and distribution requests.

What agency do I have as a doco participant?

The other side of an ethical documentary practice is duty of agency. This essentially means respecting that doco participants are adults capable of consent. Some documentaries try to protect participants from all risk, but this comes with assumptions about what risk means to each individual.

The process we follow instead privileges conversation about risk. For example, this could include the director asking how you feel about talking about a difficult topic, rather than assuming you don't want to.

This process gives the agency to the participants, and operates on a basis of mutual respect.

What creative input do I have as a doco participant?

In pre-production, you have as much input as you want to give! A story is only compelling if it's authentic to the participant.

However, the final creative decision lies with the director. The director is the storyteller - they consider factors from style to audience to story structure and are responsible for the final output.

That said, my intention is to represent your story as authentically to you as possible. I include the participant collaboratively in the planning, and again to review the edit in progress. If there is anything you as a participant don't agree with, we'll have a conversation about it. If I can't convince you that it's essential to the story, we'll cut it.

What if my views differ from the director's?

It's normal that the opinions and perspectives of the participant and the director are different. The director doesn't choose a participant because they agree with them, but because the participant has a unique and compelling way of experiencing or thinking about the topic.

My practice is based in respect and authenticity. My role as a director is to portray you and your story empathetically and authentically, rather than to promote a certain view. This poetic observational style of this documentary lends itself to an impartial view by presenting scenes from daily life and allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions.

The participant is involved in writing the story, so that there can be conversations around the representation of your perspective and story.