Consider Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened (2019). While ostensibly about a music festival, it became a definitive text on the "fake it 'til you make it" Silicon Valley/Hollywood crossover culture. Watching wealthy millennials eat stale cheese sandwiches on a flooded island was cathartic for audiences who are tired of being sold lies. No recent film better exemplifies the power of the modern entertainment industry documentary than Investigation Discovery’s Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV .

However, the competition has also raised the bar for archival access. To stand out, modern documentaries must secure unprecedented access. The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+) gave Peter Jackson access to 60 hours of unseen footage, resulting in an eight-hour epic that felt less like a documentary and more like a time machine.

In an era where the line between reality and performance is increasingly blurred, audiences are craving authenticity more than ever. We have grown tired of the carefully curated Instagram feeds, the sanitized press junkets, and the guarded "get-to-know-me" talk show interviews. What we want is the truth.