Profile of Joe Berlinger

Netflix Originals are initially thought of as low-budget fillers for the organization. However, they have recently gained higher viewership therefore resulted in the organization to drop over an expected $15 billion this year on original content according to Hernandez from Tech Aeris. Netflix is on the road to developing its own brand identify in order to compete with companies like Disney, who once had contracts for content with them, but is now creating their own streaming services. 

In recent time, Netflix has become a great hub for nonfiction crime documentaries. A newly released Netflix original, "Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes," examines the most notorious serial killer during the 1970s, Theodore Bundy. Created by Joe Berlinger, the docuseries was inspired by a book, "Ted Bundy Tapes," written by journalists Stephen G. Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth, who recorded hundred plus hours of audio interviews with the imprisoned Bundy. The four-part docuseries features present-day interviews, archival footage and audio recordings that forms an image of Ted Bundy’s life growing up, but essentially uncovers the “why” behind his acts of crime. 

Joe Berlinger is an Academy Award and seven-time Emmy nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker. A pioneer in the genre of true crime documentaries, his work is prevalent in nonfiction film and television that bring to light social justice issues in the United States and abroad. 

When Berlinger created the documentary, he was approached by Stephen Michaud who had been a fan of his work. Michaud at the time realized that no one was doing anything with the hundred plus hours of audio recording and shared them to Berlinger. Berlinger listened to the tapes and believed it would make an amazing series and took it to Netflix, where it immediately got the green light.

In this docuseries, Berlinger aimed to get into the mind of the killer by letting Bundy narrate his own story with the audio interviews, and with exclusive present-day interviews of those who experienced a direct contact with him. Storytelling through the audio tapes gives the audience an understanding of Bundy’s charm and smarts which made the documentary intriguing. 

Within the documentary, Berlinger used scenes of a tape recorder being pressed and a photo analyzer that created a timeline of events that lead to Bundy’s death penalty. What made the documentary frightening was when it flashed a mix of photos and videos of the victim’s decapitated, the crime scene of where they were murdered, scenes of pornography, and relating it to the waves crashing in the ocean and the chemicals within our body with a black out at the end. 

This documentary was a great release for Berlinger’s upcoming feature film "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile," starring Zac Efron and Lily Collins. This film showcases the life of Ted Bundy through the eyes of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloeper, who believed to refuse her boyfriend was a serial killer. It is unknown when the film will be released in theaters.