Master of Information Student Ryan Green Preserves Stories Through Film and Archives
Ryan Green is pursuing the Master of Information (MI) degree at SC&I to deepen the archival work already central to his documentary films—not as a career change, but as an augmentation of his practice.
What inspired you to pursue the MI degree?
While it feels like I’ve just started, I can now look back at 26 years in the trenches as a documentary filmmaker. During that time, I have been honing not just my style as an artist, but also the types of stories that I want to share with the world. Through that process, a particular form of documentary filmmaking has emerged: the archival film.
My 2016 feature-length documentary, "The Hollywood Shorties," remains a creative high-water mark that has continued to yield opportunities for me as a storyteller. My current role as Head of Production for a Ford Foundation-funded oral history project for Little People of America (LPA) can be traced directly back to the success of "The Hollywood Shorties." I am also knee-deep in my fifth and most ambitious archival documentary to date, on legendary country music photographer Slick Lawson.
Because of the sheer volume of Slick’s collection and its historical value, I can see that this requires professional archival expertise that exceeds what I’ve been able to attain through my own efforts. I concluded that the Master of Information degree, with a concentration in Archives and Preservation, would provide knowledge indispensable for my current and future documentary efforts.
Why Rutgers SC&I?
I did a thorough job of researching master’s programs and prioritized a few parameters. As a working dad with three young children, I could only commit to a fully online program. After studying the Archives and Preservation concentration requirements and attending the virtual information session, I was drawn to the flexibility of the MI curriculum. I also appreciated Rutgers’ three-year completion requirement; to me, that signals seriousness.
Rutgers also stood out because I was able to start building a team before coursework began. I met Shaun Illingworth, director of Rutgers Oral History Archives, at a virtual mingle, and we connected over my involvement with the LPA Oral History project. I also spoke with Professor Marija Dalbello and with Meredith Reese, who, like me, occupies the interdisciplinary space of archives and filmmaking. Those early conversations felt validating and encouraging.
What has been most meaningful?
Though I’m just a quarter of the way through my credits, I have deliberately jumped right in from before Day 1 of classes—with virtual meetups, reaching out to faculty, coursework, and looking for opportunities for involvement in student organizations. I’ve enjoyed becoming involved with SOURCE and I’m the incoming vice president for fall 2026.
Another meaningful aspect of this MI has been the ability to apply lessons from coursework in real time to the two documentary projects I’m currently working on. The academic rigor, the challenging my brain to do new things, the investing in myself and the path that I am on—all very meaningful. But probably the most meaningful and motivating aspect has been to see my three young children so excited to see Dada in school.
How do filmmaking and archives connect in your work?
As a documentary filmmaker, the source material for my practice is life itself. I always have my ear to the ground for the next story to pursue.
Archives tie into the documentary work through the ability to resurrect the stories through documentary evidence. There must be materials, bountiful materials, to support the reformatting of memories into a cohesive piece of nonfiction motion-picture entertainment: family photo albums, old home movies, correspondence, and more.
With the Slick Lawson documentary, as we explore his collection, I also view it through an editor’s lens: which among these images has a place in the documentary and where? In Slick’s case, editorial has begun even before the collection has been digitized.
How do you hope to combine these fields?
As I go through the MI coursework, I view everything through the lens of a storyteller. With each passing week in this program, I become more aware of what it means to be an interdisciplinary professional working at the intersection of documentary filmmaking and archival practice.
My main hope is that through my work I leave behind a beautiful, enlightening piece of entertainment, yes, but also that I leave the collection in a better state than when I found it: better organized, described, searchable, and protected for future generations.
What advice would you give to others?
It's very difficult to make a good documentary film, even after having made around 50 of them. Look around you and think: what are the stories you know of that, if brought into existence, would make the world a more wonderful place to live?
