With the success of long-format cult-exposé documentaries such as Hulu’s “Stolen Youth,” HBO’s “The Vow” and Netflix’s “Wild Wild Country,” it’s not surprising that both Amazon and Netflix greenlit competing docuseries about Twin Flames Universe – an alleged online love cult run by YouTube influencers Jeff and Shaleia Divine.
Amazon’s “Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe” is being released on Oct. 6, a month before Netflix’s “Escaping Twin Flames.”
“Desperately Seeking Soulmate” is based on journalist Alice Hines’ 2020 Vanity Fair article about the “always online, all-consuming world of Twin Flames Universe.” The article and subsequent docuseries, which Hines leads, takes a deep dive into the alleged online love cult, which is still active. Created by Jeff and Shaleia, Twin Flames Universe sells online classes that guarantee to match each member with their “soulmate.” The three-part Amazon docuseries examines how Jeff and Shaleia met and formed the online community as well as how they encourage rabid pursuit of exes and attempt to influence members’ sexual orientations and gender identities.
PvNew spoke to “Desperately Seeking Soulmate” director and two-time Emmy winner Marina Zenovich, (“Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,” “Lance”) about society’s obsession with cult docus, loneliness and the possibility of taking down the Twin Flames Universe.
Did you read the Vanity Fair feature and want to make this doc or did Amazon approach you about the project?
Amazon approached me and I think they did because I did a very successful documentary series on HBO Max before it became Max called “The Way Down” (about cult leader Gwen Shamblin.) So, yes. They approached me and I was intrigued.
What was it like to make another cult oriented docu?
What’s interesting about working in this genre is that I feel like I’m a cultural anthropologist. I think the reason there are so many cult docs is because there are a lot of cults in this country and the stories of the people and how they get involved in these cults are really fascinating. You want to help people get out of them and understand how they got lured into it.
Would you agree that “Desperately Seeking Soulmate” is a docuseries about an alleged cult as well as film about loneliness?
Oh, completely. I’ve been married for a lot of years, but I remember the loneliness of being alone. Not that there’s anything wrong with being alone, but I remember loneliness. I think people are desperate to connect, not only with a partner, but with a community. I think what groups like this do is prey on that very human desire to find love and to be in a community.
Jeff and Shaleia Divine’s Twin Flames Universe is still very much alive and well. Do you think this docuseries will take them down?
Taking a group like this down is really hard because everything is done so secretively. But who knows? Maybe this will.Unless I’m mistaken, there are no laws that can help cult survivors. I think that’s really the next step with something like this. Instead of shining a light on all these different groups, it’s about lawmakers writing a bill that protects people (involved in cults) because they have no protection.
You didn’t do an interview with Jeff and Shaleia, but they are featured throughout the docu via footage Alice Hines shot as well footage from their Twin Flames Universe group sessions. Are you worried about them taking legal action?
You have no idea how much research, prep, and fact checking that goes into making something like this for any network because you don’t want to get in trouble. It’s a very fine line when you are trying to expose something.
You did interview several former members of Twin Flames. Did it take a lot of convincing to get them to tell their stories on camera?
The process is hard. Some people want to talk and others don’t. I think with something like this, there is shame involved. There’s embarrassment. They were doing things for the right reasons, but somehow they got sucked into something. I think part of what kept them (in Twin Flames) is the community, because we lack community in our culture. So, people are looking for a place to be with like-minded people. But what normally happens, whether it’s a cult doc or not, is people feel so good after telling their story. It’s closure for them. They’re afraid to feel vulnerable, but then once they do it, it feels good. And they are helping other people by telling their story.
Netflix has made a docuseries on the exact same topic. Was that stressful?
It’s very common that there are competing projects. I don’t like it. The only time I had another competing project was the Robin Williams documentary I made (“Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind”). Alex Gibney was also making one about him. So, I just called Alex, and he said, “how far along are you?” And I said, “Oh, I’m way far along,” and then we merged projects. He produced, and I directed. But I don’t want to be doing something that someone else is doing. It’s hard enough to do the project, let alone being a competing project. But I have to tell you, this is becoming more and more common. This is where the market is at. It’s very hard to get money for projects that people don’t think are commercial.
“Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe” is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
