In 1978, as Rob Epstein was completing work on the landmark feature documentary Word Is Out, with his mentor Peter Adair and the Mariposa Film Group, events in San Francisco began to capture his attention.

For the first time in history, gay men and lesbians were coming out in droves all across the country. In response, a legislative political attack was mounted by California State Senator John Briggs who introduced “Proposition 6” onto the State ballot. The measure was intended to ban all openly gay persons from working in the public school system, for fear they might be perceived as "role models." This was something new and historic: for the first time anywhere in America, gay issues were played out in the political arena. Rob’s original idea was to make a film about this campaign and the issues and conflicts the situation presented; he began initial production on a film about “American values in conflict.”

While working on this early idea, Rob witnessed Harvey Milk emerge as the leader in the fight against Proposition 6. Harvey Milk had only recently been elected to the Board of Supervisors, San Francisco's City Council, making him the first openly gay politician in California to be elected to office. Tirelessly campaigning throughout the state, Milk debated Briggs on the issue, revealing his wit, humor, anger, and charisma to a much larger public than ever before. On the first Tuesday of November 1978, Proposition 6 went down to a resounding defeat. Just weeks later, on November 27, 1978, Harvey Milk was murdered in his city hall office, as was Mayor George Moscone, by disgruntled former Supervisor and police officer Dan White.

Standing on the front steps of San Francisco’s City Hall along with other San Franciscan’s immediately after the assassination, and marching among 50,000 San Franciscans walking with candles silently down Market Street that evening, Rob knew that his film now had a deeper focus.

By the Spring of 1978, Rob received his first production grant for what was now called “The Harvey Milk Film Project.” With this initial funding he conducted nearly 100 pre-interviews on videotape and began initial production, including a four camera shoot of the candle light march on the one year anniversary of the assassinations.

While working as an assistant editor on other documentaries (The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter) and features (Never Cry Wolf), he edited a 20-minute trailer for the Harvey Milk project. The winter of 1980 was a turning point in the development of the project. With the help of Epstein’s friend Richard Schmiechen, a New York-based filmmaker, he produced a grass-roots benefit for the project at a gymnasium in Manhattan, hosted by legendary film historian and gay activist Vito Russo (The Celluloid Closet, Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt). This event represented a significant juncture for the Harvey Milk Film Project in several respects: the trailer was a huge hit and several thousand dollars was raised that evening; the film now had the support and good will of the gay community beyond the borders of San Francisco; and, most significantly, Richard Schmiechen joined Rob as the producer of the film.

Rob and Richard spent the next two years doing research and fundraising. By summer of 1983 Rob had written a treatment for the film, and enough funds had been raised to shoot the principle interviews. Cinematographer Frances Reid was hired to shoot the interviews, and Deborah Hoffmann was hired to co-edit with Rob.

In the early of Spring of 1984 a rough-cut of the film was shown for the first time to an auditorium of friends and supporters. The response was overwhelming, and the filmmakers knew they had something special. Rob invited composer Mark Isham to the rough-cut screening to see if he would consider doing the music for the film. Rob knew Isham from the film Never Cry Wolf, which was Isham’s first film score and on which Rob worked as an assistant sound editor. Isham was impressed by the rough-cut, and agreed to do the music, eventually composing as well as performing the magnificent score himself.

When it came time to choose a narrator, Rob wanted a voice with character and one that had some connection to the story being told. Richard Schmiechen suggested Harvey Fierstein, who had just had a great success with his play Torch Song Trilogy, Fierstein immediately agreed. The first narration recording session was conducted in a closet in Harvey’s Brooklyn apartment (he’s moved since then).

In August 1984, the The Times of Harvey Milk had its premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, followed by the New York Film Festival in September. From there it went on to festivals all over the world. In January 1985 the film was awarded the New York Film Festival Critics Circle Award for Best Documentary. Several weeks later, Rob was with the film at the Berlin Film Festival when he learned that it had been nominated for an Academy Award.

The Times of Harvey Milk faced tough competition at the Oscars that year: it was thought to be a toss up between the Harvey Milk and Streetwise, a film about street kids in Seattle. If Harvey Milk won, Schmiechen and Epstein knew they had to take advantage of the fact that this would be the first gay-themed picture to be awarded an Oscar, and that they must use their 30 seconds to acknowledge the subject and content of the film, and the fact that they themselves were gay filmmakers. This had yet to be done on an Oscar broadcast and Epstein and Schmiechen felt it was appropriate and necessary given the subject of the film. The film did win; Schmiechen thanked the gay community and Harvey Milk, and Epstein gave thanks to his then "partner-in-life, John Wright, for his love and support during the six years it took to make the film, and to Harvey Milk for teaching us that it is possible to live life with a sense of social responsibility, and a sense of humor.”

The Times of Harvey Milk was released theatrically, and aired on PBS in November 1985. After the television premiere, Epstein and Schmiechen won national Emmy Awards for Outstanding informational Special and Outstanding Interviewing; and Deborah Hoffmann and Epstein won Emmys for Outstanding Editing. The film also went on to win numerous other prestigious awards, including the George Foster Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting.

In 1986, after being released from prison with time off for good behavior, Dan White committed suicide in his home. The Times of Harvey Milk has gone on to become a perennial favorite on television, home video, and in classrooms. It was voted as on of the two best documentaries of the 1980s in an American Film Critics poll, and was selected by the UCLA Film and Television Archives as an official film preservation project.