Need help structuring your documentary?

Emmy-award winning filmmakers Marissa Aroy and Niall McKay (Sikh’s in America) worked with New Doc Editing on their two most recent films.

Whether you are working with an editor, or editing your documentary yourself, hiring a professional story consultant gives you the professional structural guidance and clarity that will save you time and cash in the long run.

Now New Doc Editing is pleased to present a new story consulting package designed to help filmmakers craft a compelling documentary film over the lifetime of the filmmaking process!

The Lifetime Documentary Story Consulting Package gives you one-on-one guidance structuring your documentary over the remaining months of your project. For example, if you’re in pre-production, we’ll start there; and if you’re already editing, we’ll begin our work in post-production and continue until your film is finished.

No matter what stage of filmmaking you’re currently in, we’ll first craft vision statements to get crystal clear on your film’s mission. What are you trying to say, and how do you want viewers to feel when the credits roll?

Next we’ll find the best structural approach to convey your vision, whether through a character-driven story or a more topic-based, essay-style film structured around ideas, rather than a protagonist’s quest. We’ll choose from among the many proven structural templates that drive commercially successful documentary films.

DETAILED STORY GUIDANCE

Then we’ll incorporate advanced storytelling strategies such as the Inciting Incident, the Protagonist’s Statement of Desire, Central Question, 3-Act Structure, Midpoint, Reversal and more.

Together we will:

- Map a clear vision of the film’s story arc with our exclusive Doc Plot Map™

- Pinpoint structural pitfalls

- Generate storytelling solutions that will keep your viewers glued

By the time you finish editing, you’ll have a tightly woven documentary with all the appeal of a good narrative film: suspense, empathy, enlightening ideas and heartfelt drama.

Build suspense: New Doc Editing owner Karen Everett explains how to adapt the three-act structure for character-driven documentary films. (Photo by Betty Bastidas, www.babphotography.net.)

CREATIVE RAPPORT

We’ll develop the rapport and creative teamwork required to take your film to the next level over the remaining months of your project. Depending on whether you are currently researching your topic (pre-production), shooting your film (production), or editing (post-production), select one of the Lifetime Documentary Story Consulting packages below.

Note that I also offer one-time story consultation packages, described in the next section. The fee for these is slightly higher, so you save if you choose one of the following Lifetime Documentary Story Consulting Packages:

LIFETIME PACKAGES

1. Lifetime Documentary Story Consulting Package, Level 1: Pre-production

Fee: $15,000

You Get: Ten Story Consultations Over the Course of Your Project. See description of Story Consultation below.

2. Lifetime Documentary Story Consulting Package, Level 2: Production

Fee: $11,000

You Get: Six Story Consultations Over the Course of Your Project. See description of Story Consultation below.

3. Lifetime Documentary Story Consulting Package, Level 3: Post Production

Fee: $5,500

You Get: Three Story Consultations Over the Course of Your Project. See description of Story Consultation below.

Description of Story Consultations

The three packages above are all based on the top-level story consulting service (Platinum Level) that New Doc Editing offers. For each consultation, you get:

- Story consultant reviews your written material and/or footage (six hour assessment)

- 75-minute recorded phone consultation

- 7 pages of typed Story Notes

- “Viewer POV”, a Quicktime file of your documentary with the Story Consultant’s commentary in real time. In other words, you will get the consultant’s first impression of your cut, much like a typical viewer’s first impression, but with the added benefit of an expert’s vantage point in identifying weak spots and trouble-shooting structural problems. You’ll see your movie playing, along with the Story Consultant’s face giving commentary at the bottom of the screen. This unique approach gives you powerful feedback for specific scenes and soundbites, as well as overall advice on your story arc.

- Doc Plot Map, a diagram of the three-act structure customized for your documentary. An extremely useful tool for structuring character-driven documentaries, the Doc Plot Map will identify your film’s inciting incident, midpoint, and the first, second and third act climaxes, as well as show you exactly how many minutes into the total running time of your documentary each of these plot points should ideally appear.

OUR GUARANTEE

All of our Story Consulting Packages come with a money-back guarantee. If you are not satisfied for whatever reason, you will be refunded the amount of the remaining packages as well as the last consultation given.

If you are interested in the Lifetime Documentary Story Consulting Package, please email me at Karen@newdocediting.com.

ONE-TIME DOCUMENTARY STORY CONSULTING PACKAGES

New Doc Editing also offers three one-time Story Consulting packages designed to help you structure your vision into a gripping, enlightening documentary.

Choose a Story Consulting Package from the three listed below:

ONE-TIME PACKAGES

1. Silver Package:  $750 Fee

You Get:

• Story consultant reviews your written material and/or footage (two hour assessment)

• 45-minute recorded phone consultation about your documentary

• 3 pages typed Story Notes

2. Gold Package:   $1500 Fee

You Get:

• Story consultant reviews your written material and/or footage (four hour assessment)

• 60-minute recorded phone consultation about your documentary

• 5 pages of typed Story Notes

* Doc Plot Map

3. Platinum Package:   $2000 Fee

You Get:

• Story consultant reviews your written material and/or footage (six hour assessment)

• a 75-minute recorded phone consultation

• 7 pages of typed Story Notes & Doc Plot Map** (if applicable)

• 12-week home study course “The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your Documentary” (previuosly sold for $499). These insightful video tutorials will show you dozens of storytelling strategies to create a compelling documentary. It’s our best educational product!

•  “Viewer POV” movie* with live commentary

*The Doc Plot Map is a diagram of the three-act structure customized for your documentary. An extremely useful tool for structuring character-driven documentaries, the Doc Plot Map will identify your film’s inciting incident, midpoint, and the first, second and third act climaxes, as well as show you exactly how many minutes into the total running time of your documentary each of these plot points should ideally appear.

** The Viewer POV movie is a Quicktime file of your documentary with the Story Consultant’s commentary in real time. In other words, you will get the consultant’s first impression of your cut, much like a typical viewer’s first impression, but with the added benefit of an expert’s vantage point in identifying weak spots and trouble-shooting structural problems. You’ll see your movie playing, along with the Story Consultant’s face giving commentary at the bottom of the screen. This unique approach gives you powerful feedback for specific scenes and soundbites, as well as overall advice on your story arc.

PROFESSIONAL GUIDANCE

One of the wonderful things about the independent documentary community is that colleagues are frequently willing to help one another. They’ll view a rough cut and offer advice at no cost. We applaud this community spirit. We also know that a colleague volunteering time will not give you the detailed story guidance that you need to edit your documentary over time.

Picture receiving an invaluable outside perspective, reassurance about where you are on the right track, trouble-shooting from assembly cut to locked picture, and the confidence of knowing exactly how to craft the next cut. Your film deserves the unparalleled value that our professional story editing services will provide.

FREE CONSULTATION

You’ll want to get clear on your story arc as early as possible in the filmmaking process, ideally, before you shoot a frame. Take advantage of our free 30-minute phone consultation today. Email us today to schedule an appointment and figure out which package is right for you.  We look forward to keeping your viewers glued to the screen!