My Last Days

I worked as sound recordist on My Last Days, The CW’s documentary series profiling extraordinary individuals living with terminal illness and the remarkable ways they choose to spend their remaining time.

This kind of intimate documentary demands a particular approach to audio. The subjects are dealing with something as serious as it gets, and the production’s job — including sound — is to create conditions where they feel safe being honest on camera. That means staying invisible. A boom pole in someone’s peripheral vision, a lav that crinkles on a quiet moment, any audio-related interruption to the flow of an interview is a problem. You have to be technically sound and completely unobtrusive at the same time.

I’ve done enough interview-driven documentary to know that the moments you want are often the quietest ones — a pause, a long exhale, something said almost to themselves. The kit has to be clean enough to catch all of that without adding noise. Every piece of equipment in the bag is evaluated for what it sounds like at rest.

My Last Days ran for multiple seasons and developed a loyal audience. The subjects the series profiles have a resilience that is genuinely affecting to be around on set.