The Atlantic Discusses Active Shooter: America Under Fire with Holzman, Saidman

Excerpt from the article: 

Showtime’s documentary series Active Shooter stands in opposition to the entertainment industry’s avoidance of an increasingly urgent subject.

A little under six weeks ago, a new eight-part docuseries debuted on Showtime. Titled Active Shooter: America Under Fire, the show—executive produced by Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman—explores the subject of mass shootings in the U.S., with each episode dedicated to a different tragedy. The goal, Saidman told me, wasn’t to advocate for any particular policy changes, but rather to “spark a healthier, more productive national conversation” about something he describes as “an epidemic.” Rather than focus on the perpetrators, Active Shooter gives space to the survivors, the family members, and the first responders who’ve endured mass shootings to speak about what it’s like. 

Two days after the first episode aired, a gunman in a hotel room in Las Vegas killed 58 people and injured more than 500, in the worst disaster of its kind in American history. Two days after the sixth episode aired, a gunman in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killed 26 people, including a 5-year-old, and wounded 20. “As producers of nonfiction content,” Saidman said, “we try to make programs that get people thinking about topics that are in the news.” It’s hard, in other words, for documentaries to be too timely. But in this case, he wondered if Active Shooter actually was. Holzman, his partner, described the confluence of news and subject as “a terrible confirmation of our thesis that there’s an urgent need to make some changes. Because it’s getting worse.”

Read full article at The Atlantic