Meet a Creative: Peter Goetz

The word vocation means a calling. Not everyone finds one. 

Peter Goetz’s career as a documentary filmmaker began with the photo essays he compiled and stories he wrote after walking away from the cloistered campus at UC Berkeley where he studied journalism and sociology. On the walkabouts, he captured the lives of disenfranchised young people on Telegraph Avenue and inner city Oakland. That early documentary work taught him how much more he had to learn.

“Dropping into subcultures gave me perspective and showed me my blindspots,” says Peter. “I learned to approach the world differently after that.”

His big break came on a commercial airline flight of all places. The guy sitting next to him was on an assignment for National Geographic about avalanche dogs. He ended up putting Peter in touch with the protection crew for the “Survivor” series. Peter took a semester off and worked on the sixth season for two months.  

As a fly on the wall on set, Peter couldn’t help noticing the similarities between the tribal dynamics of the cast and what he was studying in sociology studies: the progression from a feudal society to capitalism and eventually a corporate roundtable approach to civics. After he got back to California, he wrote his thesis on the idea. 

In a brilliant move, he sent the thesis to the Survivor executive producer Mark Burnett, who promptly hired Peter as a producer for the next six seasons. 

In their spare time, Survivor crew members would create short films and hold an informal festival at the end of production. Peter of course partook. “I guess I had always known it, but that was when I realized I might be able to pursue documentary work full time,” says Peter.    

In the years that have followed Peter became a director, producer and executive producer of note, and is now the founder of Backroads Pictures. His documentary clients include Netflix, Amazon, HBO, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, as well as Patagonia. His commercial clients include Spotify, Delta, Airbnb, Toyota, Quicksilver, and more. 

Whether the project is for a brand or a streaming service, the humanity-forward storytelling is similar, says Peter. “I believe documentary storytelling is far more effective than trying to sell a product with a 30 second spot. If you want to have an impact or celebrate a certain element of society, using branded content is the best you can do. I encourage brands to look at what their tent pole goals are and see if they can make a documentary or two about what those goals mean to society.”

All of his work would be familiar to Peter the journalism student documenting street life in Oakland.

More than anything, Peter’s films deliver an emotive response from audiences. This happens because he knows how to find compelling characters and tell their stories on a human level that makes connections. That and Peter knows how to build coherent story arcs. There’s a sense of adventure and rising action in everything he creates. “People see our work and they quickly figure out our specialty,” says Peter. “Sometimes they have a brand ambassador with a story they need help telling; sometimes we can find those people and locations. The more innovative marketing folks get that this type of storytelling is about more than immediate ROI like selling a product.”

Today, Peter carves out time to help new filmmakers from different backgrounds tell their stories. “I’m encouraged by the number of storytellers out there dedicating themselves to specific causes and pockets of societies that don’t have a voice,” he says. “We are also rolling out a feature documentary with screenings across East Africa. The film is “Searching for Amani.” It’s a feature length client film;  a coming of age story about a young boy investigating his father’s murder. It won Best New Director at Tribeca.”