With Dropbox as their organizational backbone, they wrangled an archive spanning footage from that 1987 Oscar night to intimate home videos into a living, breathing history. The platform became central to every stage from organizing decades of footage to sharing edits in post-production. Kopp shares how they navigated the archival labyrinth—and why Matlin’s story will stick with her.It became essential in bridging our archival research and post-production teams. We built a database in Airtable where we linked all the Dropbox files, which helped us review and make decisions about archival footage. When I needed to screen clips and determine whether to pursue licensing, I'd use Dropbox to access and evaluate them. It was really our go-between throughout the entire process.
How did you begin organizing Marlee Matlin's vast archive?
Dropbox was the essential tool we used to organize and understand the mountains of material coming in from all these different sources. Marlee's career spans from even before 1987 when she won the Oscar—there's just so much out there. We worked with our archival producers, Yael Chanoff and Jennifer Petrucelli, managing everything from never-before-seen home videos filmed by [her longtime interpreter] Jack Jason to behind-the-scenes footage from Children of a Lesser God, The West Wing, and Seinfeld.
There were just clips and clips and clips sent to us. Dropbox was the only way we could actually handle the volume of material we were working with. Then we could determine what to actually ingest into our system and what to hold off on.
And how did Dropbox fit into your post-production workflow?
It became essential in bridging our archival research and post-production teams. We built a database in Airtable where we linked all the Dropbox files, which helped us review and make decisions about archival footage. When I needed to screen clips and determine whether to pursue licensing, I'd use Dropbox to access and evaluate them. It was really our go-between throughout the entire process.
What was it like watching the collaboration between Shoshannah and Marlee and seeing them share that experience as deaf women?
Seeing Shoshannah and Marlee together was remarkable. It’s rare in film or TV to see Deaf characters interacting with other Deaf people—typically, they’re surrounded by hearing characters. That’s why CODA (Editor’s Note: Matlin’s 2021 film about a hearing child in a Deaf family, which premiered at Sundance) was such a breakthrough. Watching Shoshannah and Marlee share this deeply vulnerable, open conversation on camera felt unique. We framed it to show the microphones and setup, emphasizing Marlee’s connection with Shoshannah—someone who truly understands her experiences. It was powerful to see Marlee, who’s spent much of her career advocating for other Deaf actors, in this moment of solidarity. Emotional, beautiful, and unforgettable.