Source-linked memory
Every claim, theme, contradiction, and question leads back to the exact passage that prompted it.
Documentary story memory · For MacRemember what
Remember what
the film knows.
Bring transcripts, field notes, research, and participant records into one private story memory. Find the thread, verify the source, and know what to ask next.
In development for macOS
01:12:08
We kept copies because no one believed the records would last.
01:12:17
The first box went missing before the hearing.
01:12:31
That was when we started keeping a second ledger.
Connected threadWhy the community made its own record
3 sourcesNext interview
Who handled the second ledger, and where is it now?
Grounded in 3 source passages01 A quiet place to follow the evidence.
01 / Why it exists
A documentary can take years. Its memory should last just as long.
The important thing is rarely in one place. It lives in a transcript, an editor’s marker, a field notebook, an archival box, or something a participant asked you not to forget.
Documentary Ledger keeps those fragments connected—without separating an insight from the evidence behind it.
02 / What it protects
Every story has a source.
Helpful enough to notice the loose thread. Humble enough to show you where it came from.
Questions for what comes next
Turn what you have already learned into sharper follow-ups, missing coverage, and the next interview brief.
Private by design
Use on-device language models so sensitive interviews and participant records can remain on your Mac.
03 / The working rhythmFrom what happened
From what happened
to what comes next.
Documentary Ledger follows the real rhythm of nonfiction work: gather, connect, question, then return to the field or the edit with a clearer purpose.
- 01↘
Gather
Bring in transcripts, field notes, research, debriefs, and participant records.
- 02↘
Connect
See people, claims, events, themes, and disagreements across every source.
- 03↘
Question
Surface what is unresolved and prepare the strongest next conversation.
- 04↘
Carry forward
Export grounded briefs and story notes into the tools your production already uses.
04 / Built on restraintThe filmmaker
The filmmaker
remains the author.
The model helps organize memory. It does not decide what is true, who is reliable, or what your film should say.
No uncited answers
A confident sentence without evidence is not useful documentary memory.
No truth machine
The app shows where sources agree or differ. The filmmaker makes the judgment.
No cloud required
Your material should not have to leave your computer to become more useful.
05 / From one production to anotherMade by filmmakers,
Made by filmmakers,
for filmmakers.
Documentary Ledger grew out of the work of researching, producing, and finishing independent documentaries. Our filmmaking includes This Is Not a Draft, an award-winning feature about post-9/11 veterans and life after war.
Supporting this independent app keeps the tools improving—and helps us fund the stories we are here to tell.
“We build the tools we want beside us in our own productions.”
Meet the filmmakers behind the appKeep hold of the thread.
Documentary Ledger is in development for macOS. The first release is being shaped around the real work of independent documentary teams.