An American filmmaker and entrepreneur, he gained prominence as the director of the acclaimed documentary *Capturing the Friedmans* (2003), which explored a family embroiled in a controversial criminal case. He co-founded Moviefone, a popular film information service, which was sold to AOL. His work often examines themes of crime and family dynamics. He later directed *All Good Things* (2010) and the HBO miniseries *The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst* (2015), further establishing his reputation in true crime storytelling.