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Twent Percent Discount on TV Cutdown or Story Consultation
December 12, 2023
We have one opening left in December for a story consultation or a TV cutdown. I’m offering 20% off to fill this spot! Learn about rates here.
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Black Friday Sale on Documentary Seminars
November 24, 2023
This holiday I’m offering something new… You can buy The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your Documentary for $50 (formerly sold for $297.97). I’m also including for free: – My most popular seminar: “Editing the Character Driven Documentary” (do not buy from this page, just read it); – Tutorial on Trailer Editing: Seven Essential Rules; – Tutorial: Cut Until It Bleeds (how to cut down a string out or feature doc). Click here to buy The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your Documentary for $50 and receive the other seminar and tutorials for free. This offer comes with a 100% money-back guarantee!
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Thanksgiving Sale on Documentary Seminars
November 21, 2023
Happy Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Day (the day after Thanksgiving). I’m offering my documentary seminar The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your Documentary for $50 (formerly sold for $297.97). Click the “Add to Cart” button. I’m also including for free another online seminar Editing the Character Driven Documentary (but do not purchase from this page to get the $50 sale price.) You can download both seminars and keep them forever. This offer comes with a 100% money-back guarantee. And I’m adding a free surprise bonus tutorial! Here’s what Emmy-Award-winning director Paige Bierma had to say about The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your…
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Got Editorial Questions for Blog Talk Radio? Plus Webinar Recording!
November 13, 2023
I’m delighted to be interviewed by fundraising expert Carole Dean about documentary storytelling on Blog Talk Radio. Please join us on WED, Nov 15, at 9 a.m. PT. We’ll be discussing AI’s effect on documentary editing as well as solving common editorial problems. If you have an editorial question, please email by TUE along, and I’ll do my best to answer it! Also, here is the link to watch last week’s informative webinar with Keith Ochwat. The techniques for “cut till it bleeds” apply to any kind of cutting, not just for an hour-long cutdown of a feature film. I…
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New Six-Month Distribution Intensive Presented by Jon Reiss and 8 Above
November 9, 2023
I work editorially with hundreds of filmmakers as they become ready for the next step: distribution. So I was thrilled to find out about an offering from distribution consultant Jon Reiss which many of you will want to investigate. The Six-Month Distribution Intensive is a weekly, six month immersive program. Jon is a distribution innovator who helped create and run the IFP/Gotham Distribution Lab. A few years back, I had the pleasure to work with Jon to distribute my own feature documentary American Visionary. He was always available, strategic, and, frankly, visionary! He opened up new vistas of distribution with…
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Editing Webinar is Nov 2 – Register Now
November 1, 2023
As a reminder, register now for “Editing and Leveraging an Hour-Long Cut for PBS, the Classroom and Conferences.” The webinar is Nov 2nd at 1pm PT. Can’t make the time? Register anyway. We will be recording the webinar for playback only for those who have registered. I’ve spent 4 days preparing for this webinar, and I’ll teach several new concepts. Join us!
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Keith Ochwat Hired Us To Cut Down His Feature
October 31, 2023
Happy Halloween! I’m co-presenting a webinar with brand new material! Join us on Nov 2 at 1pm PT for “Editing and Leveraging an Hour-Long Cut for PBS, the Classroom and Conferences.” I’ll be teaching new techniques on how to cut down your feature film to generate revenues through foreign sales, conferences, classrooms, and public television. Can’t make the time? Register anyway. We will be recording the webinar for playback only for those who have registered. My co-host, Keith Ochwat of Show&Tell, asked us earlier this year to edit a “TV hour” from the first feature documentary he’s acquired, My Ascension,…
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Webinar on Making an Hour-Long Cut for PBS, the Classroom and Conferences
October 25, 2023
I’m excited to offer a webinar entitled “Editing and Leveraging an Hour-Long Cut for PBS, the Classroom and Conferences.” I’m co-hosting with one of my favorite people, Keith Ochwat from Show&Tell. Join us Nov 2 at 1pm PT by registering here. I’ll be presenting fresh material with several examples from features we’ve cut down. In the last two years, we’ve helped several docs go to NETA with a TV-hour cutdown, including Baba Babee Skazala, a documentary about Ukraine airing on PBS. “We couldn’t imagine a way to further cut from a feature-length documentary to an even shorter TV edit without…
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Rule of Threes
October 9, 2023
Here’s a terrific editing tip that I learned from a fellow journalism teacher at UC Berkeley. Have you ever heard of the “Rule of Threes”? I’m not talking about the composition principle of dividing your frame into thirds horizontally and vertically. “Rule of Threes” originated as a writing tenet. It means that three of something is better than two of something. Why? Because “three” creates a rhythm (in the shortest amount of time), whereas “two” does not. In film editing, try using three consecutive elements such as three photographs, three brief news clips, three consecutive soundbites, and three text cards…
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Prune Until It Pops
October 2, 2023
Earlier this year I consulted with Bay Area director Mark Decena on a documentary called “Farming While Black”. I silently wondered, “Why have I never heard about Black farmers?” Reviewing the rough cut, I realized it was an important topic integral to the founding of America. In 1910, 14 percent of U.S. farmland was owned by Black farmers. Today, it is less than 2 percent. Why the attrition? What can be done? And who’s doing it? The cut was taking too long to answer these vital questions. I knew that pruning the repetition and irrelevant tangents would make the remaining material pop. But how…
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