His works have often recounted tormented careers or those marked by unexpected or tardy recognition of people from the world of music and sports: the Texan singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, the band Half Japanese, and the overlooked boxer Chuck Wepner. He debuted in 1990 with the short documentary Jon Hendricks: The Freddie Sessions, which was followed by Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King (1993); The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005), which received the Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival; The Dude (2011) and the TV movie The Real Rocky (2011).