The life and career of independent investigative journalist Amy Goodman and her work on the news program Democracy Now! is examined in in Directors Carl Deal and Tia Lessin’s new documentary, Steal This Story, Please!

Set against some of the most consequential stories of our time—from the war in Gaza to the global climate catastrophe—the film follows the intrepid Goodman as she becomes a leader in the movement for independent media that amplifies voices excluded from the mainstream and faces off against forces trying to silence her.

Following the DGA Special Projects Committee’s Documentary Series screening in Los Angeles, Deal and Lessin were joined onstage by Goodman for a discussion about the making of the film during a conversation moderated by Special Projects Documentary Series Subcommittee Chair Ondi Timoner (Last Flight Home) and discussed everything from the film’s structure, to the DGA’s support of non-fiction storytelling, to mobilizing audiences in a time of political uncertainty.

Asked how they encapsulated Goodman’s full life and career, Deal explained, “It wasn’t easy because Amy does a daily show, an hour every single day covering anything that’s happening in the world of consequence so, it really is hard to whittle it down to a handful of stories. We had to find ways to reveal some about who this amazing woman is and how it is that she’s able to do what she does. So that was the question we asked with every scene, ‘how does this tell us something new about Amy that we didn’t know before?’”

Lessin added, “We also wanted to capture Amy’s lightness of being. You know, it’s not something you would see on camera. In the morning show when she’s delivering the news, she’s matter of fact, serious, rigorous. Off camera, she’s just got this joy and, as Dave [Amy’s brother] says, 'pure love and essence' and we really felt that. But we also wanted the audience to open up and laugh a little bit, so it was really nice to hear you guys take in the lighter moments.”

Deal and Lessin also expressed their gratitude to the Guild as documentarians. Deal said, “I do want to say it’s really hard these days to make documentaries, as many of you know. And we couldn’t sustain our practice if it weren’t for the DGA.”

Goodman, echoed Deal’s sentiment and said, “I just want to say thank you to the Directors Guild of America and to Carl Deal and to Tia Lessin, because their work on this has been really eye-opening and inspiring. It’s their craft, their genius, their compassion that really brought together something that we, next week, will be celebrating 30 years of Democracy Now!”

Deal & Lessin’s other directorial credits include the Academy Award-nominated documentary Trouble the Water and Citizen Koch. Lessin’s directorial filmography also includes the documentaries Behind the Labels and The Janes co-directed with Emma Pildes. Lessin has been a DGA member since 2020. Deal joined the DGA in 2022.