From never seeing a movie until age 19 to becoming an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Conrad Weaver has followed stories into places he never expected them to take him. Eventually, one of those stories took him across America on a bicycle.
Conrad Weaver's path to filmmaking is an unlikely one.
After growing up with almost no exposure to movies, he discovered filmmaking as an adult and eventually built a career as a documentary filmmaker, earning an Emmy Award along the way.
His work increasingly brought him face-to-face with difficult human stories.
While making Heroin's Grip, his documentary exploring the opioid epidemic, Conrad rode alongside first responders and witnessed the human consequences of the crisis firsthand. One fatal overdose call stayed with him.
It also raised a different question.
What does repeatedly witnessing trauma, death, crisis, and human suffering do to the people whose job requires them to keep showing up?
That question became PTSD911, Conrad's documentary examining the psychological and emotional toll of careers in firefighting, EMS, law enforcement, and emergency communications.
Then Conrad decided to take the film directly to the people it was about.
Together with his friend John, he set out from Oregon on a coast-to-coast bicycle journey, screening PTSD911 for public-safety audiences along the way and using the trip to continue the conversation around first-responder mental health.
Thousands of miles later, they reached Maryland.
But the journey had become about more than distributing a documentary.
Conrad had changed, too.
That experience became the foundation of his new book, Into the Storm, which chronicles both the physical journey across America and the internal journey taking place along the way.
In Episode 8 of The DOHP Signal, Derek O. Hanley sits down with Conrad for a wide-ranging conversation about his unlikely path into filmmaking, Heroin's Grip, the experience that led to PTSD911, earning the trust of first responders, taking a documentary into public-safety communities, crossing the country under his own power, and what happens when the stories we pursue begin changing us in return.
This is a conversation about filmmaking and first responders.
But it's also about curiosity, purpose, endurance, meaningful work—and following an important question far enough to discover where it leads.
Connect with today's guest:
Website: https://ptsd911movie.com
Website: https://www.conradweaver.com
Website: https://firstresponderwellness.co
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conradweaver/
Connect with DOHP:
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Website: https://dohp.net
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thatsDOHP
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thatsdohp
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About The DOHP Signal
The DOHP Signal is a long-form conversation platform exploring operational life, leadership, authenticity, systems, storytelling, and meaningful work. Host Derek O. Hanley sits down with founders, educators, first responders, veterans, creatives, and leaders to uncover the experiences and ideas that shape how people build trust, navigate complexity, and perform under pressure.
Signal over noise.
Learn more about DOHP, embedded visual storytelling, educational resources, photography, books, and media projects at https://dohp.net