A legacy film, or a heritage film, is a professionally produced documentary video that captures your loved one's stories, memories, and life history on camera, in their own words. It's not a slideshow or a tribute reel. It's a real film: a sit-down interview conducted with thoughtful, customized questions, shot with cinema-grade equipment in a comfortable, familiar setting. The result is a living record that future generations can watch, hear, and feel, long after the person is gone.

The Captured Interview is the foundation of everything we do. It's an on-camera interview with your loved one, lightly edited to flow naturally, and delivered as a complete standalone film. The Legacy Documentary goes further: it weaves that interview together with family photos, home video archives, candid footage and licensed music to create a documentary-style film. Both are meaningful. The right choice depends on your goals and timeline.

Not at all. While many of our films feature older adults whose stories are at risk of being lost, there's no minimum age. In fact, the best time to do a legacy film is when someone is sharp, energetic, and full of life, not when illness or age has begun to take its toll. Tomorrow is never guaranteed.

This is something we handle with care and honesty. Significant memory loss can make it difficult to build a full documentary-style film. The narrative structure that makes a Legacy Documentary so powerful relies on your loved one being able to share stories and reflect on their life. That said, getting them on camera is still deeply meaningful. If your loved one is living with dementia or advanced memory issues, ask us about our presence-focused filming option — a gentler session designed simply to capture their voice, their face, their mannerisms, and whatever moments and memories do surface. For families navigating this, we're happy to have an honest conversation about what's possible and what would serve you best.

t starts with a conversation. We'll get on a call to learn about your loved one -- their life, their stories, any topics that matter or should be handled carefully. From there, we build a custom set of questions. On shoot day, we come to you (typically the subject's home or a family member's house), set up our professional gear, and spend 60–90 minutes in conversation. We do all the work. Your loved one just talks. After the shoot, we edit the footage into the final film and deliver it privately via a secure Google Drive link you can share with family or download to keep forever.

We start with a set of around 50 questions and customize them based on what we learn in our intake call and intake form. The interview typically moves from "historical" questions — childhood memories, family background, formative experiences — into more reflective, emotional territory: lessons learned, values held, what they want future generations to know. We begin with comfortable, easy questions and move gradually toward the ones that matter most. Families are always invited to contribute questions they want asked. This is collected on the intake form. 

We come to you. Every Florida Legacy Films production is shot on location at the subject's home, a family member's home, or another meaningful setting. We bring professional cinema lighting, cameras and audio equipment to make your loved one look and sound their absolute best. If the space is small or has constraints, just let us know in advance and we'll plan accordingly.

For a Legacy Interview, you can typically expect your finished film within 6 weeks of the shoot date. A Legacy Documentary takes longer given the additional editing involved — family photos, home video archives, music licensing, and color grading all take time to do well — and generally runs 8-12 weeks. We'll give you a specific timeline when we book your project so there are no surprises. If you have a deadline like a birthday, a reunion, a holiday, let us know upfront and we'll do our best to work backward from it.