Flying thousands of feet up in the air, Zoey Tur documents the lives in Los Angeles from her helicopter with her then-wife, Marika Gerrard, by her side. The chops of helicopter blades echo as she shares each protest, car chase, and community uproar — reminiscing on it all one last time. 

Filmmaker Matt Yoka depicts the chaotic balance of the personal lives and careers of Tur and Gerrard in his latest documentary, Whirlybird. Through interviews of the couple, their two children, and co-workers, Yoka blends in archival footage of the reporting that made the couple known for their helicopter coverage of events like the O.J. Simpson car chase and the Rodney King riots. The film explores not only the world of L.A. that the reporting duo covered, but also the unpredictable life story of the breaking news journalists themselves. 

The film's core is the final helicopter ride marking the end of the Los Angeles News Service, which Gerrard and Tur co-founded. At the time, Gerrard is behind the camera, and Tur, who was not yet out as a trans woman, grasp onto each memory collected from up in the air. 

“Maria says at the beginning of the film that her life is told through other people's stories,” Yoka says. “I wanted to put a frame around their story: How did they get to that last flight?” 

Yoka went through over 3,000 beta tapes that amounted to about 2,000 hours of footage of the couple’s marriage, children and breaking news chases. The documentary and footage show how the two grew together as journalists through their relationship, as well as how their dedication to the industry impacted their personal life. Tur’s hunger for the next breaking news story brought her to the highest of highs but was followed by an imminent crash that put her connection to her family at risk. 

“The most historical or influential work that they did, they did together,” Yoka says. “So I didn't have to think so much about a balance because there wasn't a balance.” 

The documentary originated from Yoka’s research while pursuing a master’s degree at USC Annenberg. As a Los Angeles native, he wanted to understand the history of the city and document it in a way that did it justice. Over time, it led him to Tur and Gerrard. Instead of going too deep into the history, Yoka wanted to highlight the relationship between the two and root L.A.’s history in an emotional story. 

The project took a total of six years to complete, four of which were spent understanding and getting close to the family. 

“I was able to do preliminary interviews with them, I was able to catalog the archive, and all of that largely before I even sat down for these master interviews that you see on screen,” he says. “So by the time I sat down with them, I'd already had a relatively clear vision of where I wanted the story to go.”

As Yoka got closer to the final project, he did extensive interviews and laid down two and a half hours of what he calls a “radio edit” that shaped the entire story, then found where archival footage could replace pieces of the interview. He co-edited the documentary with Brian Palmer to seamlessly blend the oral story shared through interviews with the visual one. 

“I found their interviews to be so compelling — that tension between the present and the past — that I didn't want to just remove all of their interviews, but find that balance,” he says. 

The balance, or lack thereof, of Tur’s work life and personal life leads to a heartwrenching reflection of the award-winning journalist in her last interview with Yoka, where she explores the depths of her regret, pain and isolation, as well as her love for her family. 

“It was one of the most intense experiences of my life to go there with her and I'll be forever grateful for her commitment to exploring her past,” Yoka says. 

The documentary uncovers the not-so-balanced life of Tur and Gerrard, leading away and back towards their last helicopter ride as journalism powerhouses. As the clip continues, tension rises. Yoka said that the complicated journey the two experienced will hopefully bring emotion to a retelling of Los Angeles’ history. 

“I hope that it gives audiences the opportunity to just reflect on anything that's important to them in their lives, whether it be the city that they live in, the history, or their relationship to news or their relationship to people in their life — family members, spouses, co-workers,” he states. “I hope that they feel like they're given the space to do that.”