Life & Work with Cindy Dorfmann

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cindy Dorfmann.

Hi Cindy, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in dark, smoky comedy clubs watching my dad perform stand up comedy around the country. I went on the road with my dad through most of my childhood which is why I probably am still on the road most of the time! My dad is a stand up prop comic and in the 70’s and 80’s in NYC he would be running from club to club doing gigs with me tagging along. I met the likes of Robin William, Eddie Murphy, Joan Rivers, Jim Carrey and a host of other amazing comedy icons from about the age of 7. Even though my dad was a performer, I was only interested in the movies and how they were made-writing them, directing them and producing them. Growing up in the 80’s on Long Island there were amazing movies to inspire me. From the age of 10, I began directing my siblings and friends in plays and drove everyone crazy! But there was never any doubt in my mind (or anyone else’s)about what I wanted to do in life- I was going to make movies! As an empath, I always had a passion to tell human stories that made people feel. I was the person at the movie theater openly weeping and carrying the weight of a film with me for days. I knew this passion was never going to go away and I would never live a “conventional” suburban Long Island life. As a 17- year old freshman at Dominican University outside San Francisco, I was living down the street from LucasFilm – George Lucas was my idol and I was convinced I was going to get a job there… but the closest I got to Mr. Lucas was a sighting at the mall.

The universe had other ideas for me. The true crime genre landed on my doorstep when I met this hip filmmaker at a party, who was directing a documentary about Polly Klass, a young girl from the Bay Area who had been brutally murdered. The filmmaker and I became friends and she asked me to help her out. Before I knew it, I was in her Mill Valley studio transcribing interviews and logging hours of film. The story was so shocking it made headline news every night for almost a year. That experience imprinted upon me the responsibility we have when telling stories about tragic events and how important it is to get it right and give the victims a voice. After I graduated, I worked at PBS for a stint and then decided to go back to graduate school and study film and screenwriting at Emerson College in Boston. One of my many jobs, was as an intern at the local NBC affiliate news station where I got my first taste of crime up close and personal and although it was exciting, I knew that I wanted to focus on film. While at school, I started making short films and my professor, who was one of the producers on the Ed Norton film American History X, encouraged me to focus on feature writing and directing after I graduated- which I did. The first half of my career was spent working in feature film development with a large Canadian production company and writing television movies for various cable networks. On the weekends, my friends and I were always shooting a short film or trying to write that new script that was going to be the one. When I finally got a bite on my script and it was optioned by an independent production company who had a deal with a major studio, I couldn’t believe my luck- I was in shock. I took my sister to Paris to celebrate with the check I received and then months passed and the movie was never made. I was crushed… How did this happen? It would be the first of many hurdles in my career. Shortly after that heartbreak, I ended up getting a job as an assistant for a famous television actor and I began thinking that maybe television could be a new path for me. My first television producing gig was on a great show called Backstory for AMC. The show went behind the scenes of some of my favorite films and before I knew it I was interviewing the actors, directors and producers of these Academy Award-winning films! Their stories of the challenges and heartbreaks they had endured to get these amazing films made re-inspired me and I started writing scripts again. After Backstory, I ended up producing a show that won a daytime Emmy for CBS and then landed on a show for the National Geographic Channel (where I met my current husband). After that show and then a show about Hurricane Katrina, I endured a tragic event that forced me to do some internal work instead of working at super warp speed without taking a breath. I had been swimming upstream for about ten years and needed a change of scenery. Was it time to leave Hollywood and my dream behind? I got married and moved to Europe. While in France, I worked as a broadcast journalist for France 24 and France O international news outlets. I traveled and met so many interesting people, I interviewed heads of state, rebels in the Arab Spring and covered African politics for a year. Even though I enjoyed being a journalist, living in France re-ignited my love for the art of filmmaking and I began shooting short films again…and then I started to shoot long-form documentaries. The universe has an odd way of moving things along when you allow it. I moved to London where the floodgates opened- stories, people and opportunities were coming at me from every direction. I focused my efforts on shooting and directing documentaries and I sold Mayan Blue a feature length documentary to the National Geographic Channel.

I was back in the whirlwind, I started selling shows, got divorced, came back to the States and re-married (yes to that guy I met so many years ago on that National Geographic Show) and together we started our production company Strong Island films. After a few years of producing true crime shows together, we were offered a job at National Geographic Studios in DC. When that show ended, friends of mine from high school, Marty Tankleff and Marc Howard who were now professors, asked us if we wanted to film their new class at Georgetown University. The class was going to be about wrongful convictions. Marty had been wrongfully convicted of murdering his parents while we were in high school and after 17 years he had been exonerated. We did produce a television show about Marty’s story for Discovery ID but this project was different. This project was a huge risk, there was no money, no network, no studio-just the two of us. My husband and I trusted our instinct that this was something we should do- so we independently financed the film. We took six months off of work, stayed in DC and started shooting these amazing 16 undergraduate students at Georgetown University while they were re-investigating wrongful convictions.

Miraculously, through their efforts, we managed to get Valentino Dixon, a man who spent 27 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, out of prison. Our film Making an Exoneree went on to win 8 international best documentary feature film awards including the Milan International Film Festival award. The whole process has been a whirlwind for my husband and I but finding a home for the film in the US has been a challenge. We did have a development deal at Apple TV and then the pandemic hit and the deal went away. The world stopped and everything changed. I believe that things happen for a reason even if we are frustrated during the process. Although the film has not found a home yet, I go back to my days on Backstory and recall all the stories I heard of these amazing Academy Award-winning films that were almost never made…it is a reminder to myself to keep pushing no matter how hard it can be to get a yes. Follow your dream and the universe will co-conspire to make things happen. This past year has been an exciting one, we are still producing television shows. My husband and I launched our first podcast Partners in True Crime which has already jumped up the charts, we signed a bunch of amazing talent in the true crime space and are currently developing several series and feature-length documentaries. We are so lucky to be able to work in this industry where anything is possible, art becomes life and magic happens. Even with all the hardships and setbacks I wouldn’t change a thing.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Thank you! I am a writer, director and producer of documentary films and television, and now a podcast host. Together with my husband, we have created an independent production company and I am proud of all the work that we do. I am known for writing, producing and directing true crime documentary films and television shows. As a producer/director, I love going into the field, working with an amazing team of people and making these stories come to life. I am tenacious and passionate about my work and I work hard to create content that I can be proud of. In addition to writing non-fiction, I have also started writing scripted content again which is really exciting because there is so much room to dive deep into characters to understand the human condition. Sometimes, I work for other production companies as a show runner or producer or even just a field director if I think the project is interesting. Our company also has a European office and they focus on independent documentaries and financing. We are also happy to announce that we have several new exciting podcasts launching in the next few months: Partners in True Crime Season 2: The Killing Hour with Doc Bonn and Partners in True Crime Season 3: Laura Brand: The Serial Killer Whisperer.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
There was time when I was working paycheck to paycheck and then everyone was laid off because of the writer’s strike. I was down to my last twenty dollars trying to get a new gig- I was so frustrated and upset and I thought ok this is it- it’s over…then the next day the phone rang and I got a great new gig and off I went into the field on a new show. Even when it feels like it’s never going to happen, even when you feel like you are done, follow your dreams no matter who says you can’t do it, who tells you no, and who says it will never happen because as long as you believe in you, work hard and are open to opportunities just hang on because anything is possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.strongislandfilms.com, www.partnersintruecrime.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/partnersintruecrimepodcast/ or https://www.teamdorfmann.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PartnersinTrueCrime
• Other: Cindy is repped by Vital Artists Agency https://www.vitalartists.com/