Gold Derby interviews the director and producer of 'The Social Dilemma,' which won two Emmy Awards for documentaries

After writing Colbert on Facebook's bad day plus '60 Minutes' whistleblower interview and Seth Meyers and Trevor Noah take closer looks at Facebook's bad week, I reversed the decision I made in 'Saturday Night Live' returns after winning eight Emmy Awards.

[Tristan] Harris is one of the subjects of "The Social Dilemma," which won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming last month. This week's events might be enough to change my mind about featuring "Ted Lasso" in my next installment of Emmy coverage and look at "The Social Network" instead. Stay tuned.

I'm following through with my change of plans by featuring three interviews of the director and producer of the documentary by Gold Derby, beginning with 'The Social Dilemma's' Jeff Orlowski on illustrating the amorality of social media algorithms.

'The Social Dilemma's' Jeff Orlowski on illustrating the amorality of social media algorithms. Gold Derby senior editor Joyce Eng hosts our 2021 Emmy documentary panel series.

I think it's no accident that Orlowski compared social media to fossil fuels. His previous award-winning films are Chasing Ice and Chasing Coral, both about the effects of climate change, so he's quite well-versed in the ill effects of fossil fuels on the environment.

Gold Derby interviewed him again in 'The Social Dilemma' documentary director Jeff Orlowski: Social media is not healthy for democracy.

'The Social Dilemma' documentary director Jeff Orlowski on how he believes social media is incompatible with a healthy democracy. The Netflix program examines how social media companies rely on getting people addicted to consuming content through their platforms. Gold Derby's Charles Bright hosts this 'Meet the Experts' documentary panel.

I going to be a good environmentalist and recycle my comment on this video for my reaction.

"If you're not paying for the service, you're not the customer. You're the product being sold." I'm glad Jeff Orlowski, who has shown in "Chasing Ice" and "Chasing Coral" that he knows how to portray scientific and technological issues, understands this.

Here's the meme.


Again, still true.

The final Gold Derby interview, Larissa Rhodes ('Social Dilemma' producer) on how she was skeptical of tackling harm of social media, connects the pollution of the natural environment depicted in "Chasing Ice" and "Chasing Coral" to the pollution of the social and information environment in "The Social Dilemma."

Larissa Rhodes ('Social Dilemma' producer) describes how she was skeptical of tackling the harm of social media. Gold Derby's Charles Bright hosts this interview about the Netflix documentary nominated for 7 Emmys.

Not only does Orlowski understand the subject, so does Rhodes. As Netflix's advertising slogan for the movie states, "The technology that connects us also controls us."

Follow over the jump for post-mortems of my prognostications about the awards and my congratulations to the Emmy winners.

Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program

Allen v. Farrow (Episode: "Episode 3") (HBO)
All In: The Fight for Democracy (Prime Video)
The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (HBO)
The Social Dilemma (Netflix)
Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre (History)

While this is the only nomination for "All In: The Fight for Democracy," it might just be the favorite, as it's the only nominee that also earned a Writers Guild of America nomination for Documentary Screenplay. Out of all the documentary's nominations and wins, it's the only one from an organization that overlaps with the Television Academy electorate. I think that counts for something.

I thought "Allen v. Farrow" might upset "All In: The Fight for Democracy" but didn't like the idea. Instead, I'm glad "The Social Dilemma" won, even though I didn't call it.  Congratulations!

Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming

Allen v. Farrow – Mikaela Shwer, Parker Laramie and Sara Newens (Episode: "Episode 1") (HBO)
The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart – Derek Boonstra and Robert A. Martinez (HBO)
Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry – Greg Finton, Lindsay Utz and Azin Samari (Apple TV+)
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet – Martin Elsbury and Charles Dyer (Netflix)
Framing Britney Spears (The New York Times Presents) – Geoff O'Brien and Pierre Takal (FX)
Q Into the Storm – Tom Patterson, David Tillman, Cullen Hoback, Ted Woerner and Evan Wise (Episode: "The Storm") (HBO) The Social Dilemma – Davis Coombe (Netflix)

Lindsay Utz is a returning nominee in this category, having been nominated for "American Factory" last year. That might be enough for "Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry" to upset "David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet" or "The Social Dilemma" among the documentaries in this category.

I'm glad "Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry" didn't upset my picks and "The Social Dilemma" won.  Again, congratulations!  Don't feel sorry for "David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet." It won three Emmy Awards. I'll get to those and the rest of the nature documentary winners presently. Stay tuned.

Previous posts in this series

• Diversity one of the themes of the Outstanding Commercial nominees at the 2021 Emmy Awards
• 'The Social Dilemma' leads documentaries at the Emmy Awards with seven nominations
• 'Allen v. Farrow' leads documentary and nonfiction series at the Emmy Awards with seven nominations
• Quibi's last Emmy nominations are also Roku's first as the network was canceled but the shows were renewed
• It's Saturday night, so here are the 21 Emmy nominations for 'Saturday Night Live'
• 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver' leads Outstanding Variety Talk Series nominees at the Emmy Awards for the fifth consecutive year
• 'Hamilton' at the Emmy Awards
• Dave Chappelle's four Emmy nominations for 'SNL' and '8:46'
• 'Queer Eye' leads structured reality program nominees again at the Emmy Awards while 'preaching love, acceptance, pride, and compassion'
• 'RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked' vs. 'Below Deck' for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program at the Emmy Awards
• 'RuPaul's Drag Race' leads competition program nominees at the 2021 Emmy Awards while modeling diversity and acceptance
• 'Oslo' earned two nominations at the 2021 Emmy Awards
• Gold Derby predicts the Creative Arts Emmy Awards plus animation and drama guest acting nominees
• 'The Queen's Gambit' leads limited series at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, but can it beat 'Mare of Easttown' and 'WandaVision' on the final night?
• 'Ted Lasso' vs. 'Hacks' eclipses 'Black-ish' and 'The Flight Attendant' in comedies at the Emmy Awards
• 'The Crown' vs. 'The Handmaid's Tale' — politics and government in drama nominees at the Emmy Awards
• 'The Crown' sweeps drama series categories on final night of Emmy Awards, shutting out 'The Handmaid's Tale'
• 'The Queen's Gambit' wins limited series, while 'Mare of Easttown' and 'Halston' win the acting categories at the Emmy Awards
• 'Saturday Night Live' returns after winning eight Emmy Awards