Never Be Done: The Richard Glen Lett Story was the first feature-length project Tigheland produced. It’s a documentary about Richard Glen Lett — a man who spent decades in prison and came out the other side determined to build something meaningful. The film follows his journey from incarceration to redemption, and it was one of the most challenging and rewarding projects I’ve ever worked on.
I want to break down what it took to make this film, because it’s a very different process from the commercial work we’re known for.
Finding the Story
Documentaries don’t start with a script. They start with a subject and a question. With Richard, the question was simple: what does it take to rebuild a life after prison? But the answer was anything but simple. The more time we spent with him, the more layers we uncovered — his relationships, his setbacks, the moments where he almost gave up.
The early stages were all about access and trust. Richard had to let us into his life in a way that most people wouldn’t be comfortable with. That trust didn’t happen overnight. It took months of conversations before cameras ever rolled.
Shooting on a Documentary Budget
This wasn’t a commercial shoot with a client budget behind it. Documentary budgets are lean, and Never Be Done was no exception. We ran a small crew — often just two or three of us — and relied on natural light more than we would on any commercial set. The gear was whatever we could carry and set up quickly, because documentary moments don’t wait for you to build a lighting rig.
That constraint forced us to be better shooters. When you can’t control the environment, you have to be fast, adaptable, and ready to capture what’s happening in real time. A lot of the best moments in the film happened when we weren’t expecting them.
The Edit Was the Hardest Part
We shot over 200 hours of footage. Turning that into a coherent 90-minute film was the hardest part of the entire process. In commercial work, the edit is relatively straightforward — you have a script, a shot list, and deliverables. In documentary, the edit is where you actually write the story.
We went through multiple cuts. Entire sequences got dropped. Story arcs we thought were central turned out to be distractions. The structure of the film changed fundamentally three or four times before we landed on something that worked. That’s normal for documentary, but it tests your patience.
What It Taught Me
Never Be Done taught me more about storytelling than any commercial project ever has. When you’re following a real person through real events, you can’t fake the emotional beats. The story either works or it doesn’t. There’s no b-roll montage that can save a weak narrative.
It also taught me the value of patience. Commercial production moves fast — concept to delivery in weeks. Never Be Done took years. The willingness to stay with a story that long, to keep showing up when there’s no client deadline pushing you forward, is a different kind of discipline.
The film released in 2020 and you can find it on major streaming platforms. It’s the project I’m most proud of, and it’s the reason Tigheland exists the way it does today. Every commercial we shoot benefits from the storytelling instincts we built making that documentary.
Want to see more of our work? Check out our portfolio or get in touch.
