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Integral Filmmaking Trend, Part 2
October 28, 2018
News flash: I have a brilliant editor coming available in November, so let me know if you’re entering post! Big thanks to the many filmmakers who responded to my blog about the trend in integral documentaries. As I described in Integral Filmmaking Trend, Part 1, this emerging movement calls for directors to recognize stages of human development and think from multiple worldviews. For example, an integrally-minded director might try to understand the level of moral development of a dictator, as in The Act of Killing, directed by Joshua Oppenheimer. Another great example is At the Dragon’s Gate, a yet unreleased…
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Brilliant Editor Available Soon
October 11, 2018
We’re finishing up a PBS series, and I’ll have a brilliant editor available mid-November. In our Accelerated Post program, we can edit your documentary quickly, saving you thousands of dollars in the edit. Check out the attached FAQ to see if this ten-week timeline is right for a rich collaboration on your vision. Accelerated Post FAQ
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Documentary Editing Radio Show Now Available
August 21, 2018
I had a blast last week talking with film guru Carole Dean about documentary storytelling. Tune in to New Doc Storytelling: The Ultimate Guide to Editing. You can also download this Blog Talk Radio episode to listen to later. Highlights include how documentaries are scripted in the edit room, why character-driven docs are so popular, and how to avoid the biggest mistake filmmakers make.
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Radio Show Today on Documentary Editing
August 16, 2018
Interested in short cuts to editing great docs? Tune in live today to New Doc Storytelling: The Ultimate Guide to Editing. As a guest on Carole Dean’s Blog Talk Radio show, I’ll be teaching the art of cutting inspiring films. We’ll start at 10 a.m. Pacific time sharp! The episode will be available immediately after the show airs for those who missed hearing the live broadcast.
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Radio Show on Documentary Editing
August 13, 2018
I’m delighted to be joining my beloved colleague Carole Dean on her Blog Talk Radio Show this Wednesday. Please join us live to discuss Short Cuts to Editing: How to Accelerate Post Production. Carole and I share a passion for helping filmmakers create inspiring documentaries. So in addition to the nuts and bolts of efficient editing, we’ll also dive into broader topics, such as the art of making transformational films. Join us here on Wednesday, August 15th, at 10 a.m. PST!
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Integral Filmmaking Trend Part 1
July 10, 2018
There’s a new trend emerging on the horizon of documentary filmmaking. First, a look back. Four years ago, I sent out a call for more solution-oriented, transformational documentaries. That trend is now visible! And a newer movement is nascent. In 2017, the NEA’s report from the Documentary Sustainability Summit called for a more “open and solution-oriented” approach to filmmaking. Elevating the conversation, said IDA director Simon Kilmurry, would “build a stronger documentary field that not only survives but thrives”. Films like Godwatch, Searching for Sugarman, and An Inconvenient Sequel are solution-oriented, social issue documentaries that leave viewers feeling inspired rather…
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Correction + Sale Price Working Now
July 5, 2018
My apologies to everyone who tried to buy The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your Documentary and found that the sale price wasn’t listed. It’s fixed now so have at it here! Also, a correction. Last week I mistakenly said that director Mary Umans film Displaced is about Ukrainian immigrants. This wonderful retrieval of forgotten history is actually about Lithuanian immigrants. Sorry, Mary. We edited another film about Ukrainian immigrants called Babe Babee Skazala (Grandmother Told Grandmother) that will be out later this year, and I confused the two. Both films feature moving archival footage and strong storytelling. Check ‘em out!
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Summer Sale on Documentary Seminars
July 2, 2018
Happy early July 4th! For the next 48 hours, get 60-70% off my two most popular documentary seminars. Editing the Character-Driven Documentary is a live seminar that I taught for several year at the San Francisco Film Society. You’ll learn how to plot a narrative arc, craft suspenseful scenes, and structure docs will multiple protagonists. Get this seminar for $77.97 (normally $197.97). The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your Documentary shows you how to customize proven structural templates used by award-winning documentary filmmakers. You’ll see the big structural picture with a Doc Plot Map and 3-Act Timetable, and you’ll also learn…
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The Case for Narration
June 25, 2018
I recently returned from my fourth year as a visiting story consultant for Doc Nomads. This unique film master’s degree program shepherds an international group of graduate students from Lisbon to Budapest to Brussels. Their pedagogy is strong in observational-style shooting, but I’ve often felt frustrated by a reluctance to add exposition (a.k.a. narration). To my delight, many of this year’s student filmmakers used narration with great success, enhancing beautifully-shot verite footage. Voiceover narration has been eschewed for the past few decades by many directors hoping to escape the “voice of god” that “tells viewers how to feel”. But I’ve…
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Big Congrats to Filmmakers
June 21, 2018
Big congrats to several of my hard-working story consulting clients whose docs are winning awards, delighting audiences, and screening on public television (starting tomorrow)! Director Bonnie Rich saw her personal doc Life is Rich on a big cineplex screen, reporting “the story flows so much better now—and there was still plenty of laughter in the theater”. Her film won the Audience Award at the Washington Jewish Film Festival. My Dear Children is a harrowing untold history of the pogroms that won Best Documentary at the Harrisburg Jewish Film Festival. Co-directed by LeeAnn Dance and Cliff Hackel, it was selected by…
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