The average one-hour documentary, he said, costs $300,000 to $500,000 to produce, and it is hard to obtain financing.
In 2000, he produced, shot and wrote a one-hour documentary on the process of readying a space shuttle for flight.
Sometimes the one-hour documentary looks like a feature movie or a rock video, but almost always it is faithful to its subject.
The one-hour documentary will appear on Channel 4 in Britain.
Five 90-minute shows and a one-hour documentary were broadcast.
He added, however, that "you can't do a one-hour documentary every 5 or 10 years and believe you've even scratched the surface of black America."
His distinctive one-hour documentary will be seen on Channel 13 at 8:30 tonight.
He presented the series of five one-hour documentaries chronicling the history of Britain from 1945 to 2007.
The one-hour documentary, on Channel 13 at 10 o'clock tonight, has nothing to do with that.