Morgan Neville, the director of “Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in Two Pieces,” loved movies and writing as a child, but when he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, he didn’t know what to do with his interests. He felt that “writing seemed too serious” and “movies seemed too frivolous” to get into show business, but once he started working on his first documentary, “Shotgun Freeway: Drives Through Lost LA,” he knew he had found his lifelong passion.

“I remember two weeks after I started my first documentary, I sent my parents a note saying, ‘This is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life,’” Neville said. “I knew right away that documentary was all these different things that I loved, the storytelling, the writing, the research, the interviewing, everything.”

As part of Variety’s Virtual FYC TV Fest, Neville joined Andrew Jarecki, director, executive producer and writer of “The Jinx – Part Two,” Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz, directors and executive producers of “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” and Justin Wilkes, president of Imagine Entertainment and producer of “Jim Henson Idea Man,” for a documentary panel discussion. Senior TV features editor Emily Longeretta moderated the conversation.

Documentaries come in all shapes and sizes in the streaming age. Whether it’s a five-part limited series like “Quiet on Set” or a two-part feature like “Steve!,” documentarians have more control than ever over how they organize their films. For “Idea Man,” Wilkes and his team set out to make a single film. They did this so they could emulate Jim Henson’s innovative filmmaking techniques and follow the natural three acts of his life.