The entertainment industry is a messy, beautiful, predatory, and magical place. The documentary is the only medium that tries to hold all of those truths at once. The entertainment industry documentary matters because the industry itself matters. Hollywood (and its global counterparts in Bollywood, Nollywood, and K-Pop) shape our dreams, our politics, and our fashion. To ignore how the sausage is made is to be a passive consumer.

So, the next time you are scrolling through your feed looking for something to watch, skip the re-run of The Office . Load up a documentary about a failed blockbuster or a troubled production. You will laugh harder, cringe deeper, and walk away with a profound respect for the chaos we call show business.

Searching for more titles? Check out our list of the 25 most underrated entertainment industry documentaries currently streaming on Hulu and Amazon Prime.

Whether it is the tragic unraveling of a child star, the cutthroat negotiations of a streaming war, or the meticulous craft of a Oscar-winning director, the entertainment industry documentary has become a cultural obsession. But why are we so fascinated by watching a movie about making a movie?