January 27, 2016

Greetings from Sundance, where the docs are stronger than ever! If you’re gearing up for the ITVS Open Call, consider joining the ITVS webinar “Creating Strong Work Samples” tomorrow, January 28th. Register at: ovee.itvs.org/screenings/qy5fp Want some personalized help making your grant proposal as competitive as possible? I’m offering select filmmakers a free phone consultation to discuss how we can help you meet the Feb 5th ITVS deadline with your best proposal.

It’s a jungle out there in distribution land. So says Jillian Spitzmiller, an award-winning filmmaker who successfully designed a hybrid distribution plan for her latest documentary Still Dreaming. Having worked with Jillian over the years, I can’t think of anyone more qualified to show other filmmakers how to leverage new online opportunities to reach your audience while keeping more revenue. Check out her new film distribution workshop “How To Sell Your Film.” Held February 13th in Santa Fe, this content-packed seminar will help you navigate today’s complex distribution landscape. Register by Jan. 29th for the early-bird discount. As a favor…

January 24, 2016

I’m headed to the Sundance Film Festival to schmooze and be inspired by world-class documentaries. Last year our director/client Chad Gracia won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize. This year, I’m looking forward to being inspired by director panelists such as Morgan Spurlock, Werner Herzog, and Joshua Oppenheimer—and meeting visionary filmmakers with works-in-progress. If you’re going, let me know. If not, consider live-streaming some of the fabulous off screen panel discussions. You can watch The Power of Story and Cinema Café panels at: www.sundance.org/festivals/sundance-film-festival Aiming to apply to Sundance this Fall? Let us help you complete your own compelling documentary…

January 20, 2016

Creative conflicts in the edit room are fine, as long as they don’t deteriorate into personality conflicts, which can cost you big time if you have to start over with a new editor. If you missed Tuesday’s seminar on this topic, go to Navigating the Director/Editor Collaboration. At New Doc Editing, our strong editorial relationships ensure that post-production runs smoothly. We not only match directors with an experienced editor, we also provide ongoing oversight from a seasoned story consultant–at no extra cost to you. Our team recently wrapped a rewarding collaboration with director Larry Shogbamimu, director of State of Expectation,…

January 16, 2016

Today’s excerpt from Editing the Character-Driven Documentary shows you how to navigate the director/editor relationship. Documentaries are only as good as the relationships that allow them to be made, according to Nancy Kates, who directed the HBO biography Regarding Susan Sontag. This is usually thought of in terms of one’s relationships with interviewees, but it’s just as true among members of one’s film team, especially one’s editor. Watch my popular seminar on this topic (taught live at the San Francisco Film Society) on You Tube, or download here.  

January 12, 2016

I’ll be speaking again at this year’s Esalen Inspirational Film Festival, and I’d like to invite you! Slated for April 10-15, this week long group immersion is unlike any other film festival I’ve been to. Eating and sometimes soaking alongside fellow attendees, we’ll watch films that empower and enrich the human spirit. This year features filmmaker Lucy Walker (Waste Land, Crash Reel) and others who explore positive psychology in film and the power of entertainment to create social change. (As a side note, I finally watched the last episode of AMC’s Mad Men in which Don Draper has a transformational…

January 11, 2016

I’m often asked, “How do you edit a documentary with multiple protagonists?” Today’s excerpt from Editing the Character-Driven Documentary shows you how. Your first decision: choose whether to checkerboard (weave together) your protagonists’ storylines, or “clump” them (tell one at a time, consecutively). Usually, checkering your characters’ stories is preferable because it creates a more integrated film, as in the Oscar-winning documentary Twenty Feet From Stardom. But sometimes the various storylines are so complicated that telling one entire tale after the other is the only way to provide clarity, as in the Sundance hit Iraq in Fragments. Learn more about…

January 2, 2016

Happy New Year! I invite you to join me in a New Year’s resolution to deliver your documentary in 2016! I’m opening up my Finish Your Film program to new applicants. Don’t let your story become dated or your issue irrelevant. The single most effective way to fast-track your film this year is to hire a good editor. Remote editing is common today; and if you insist on hiring an editor who lives close by, you’ll really limit your options. Here’s how it works. First, we’ll schedule a free consultation to find out your needs. Then we’ll introduce you to…

December 31, 2015

Happy New Year! If your New Year’s resolution includes finishing your documentary in 2016 this year, please email me to talk about how we can make your vision a reality with one of our talented editors. I’m also happy to announce that Editing the Character-Driven Documentary (normally $200) is now available for free. Filmed live at a weekend seminar at the San Francisco Film Society (it repeatedly sold out), this six-part tutorial shows how character-driven documentaries can be as gripping as fiction films, if structured with screenwriting techniques. Today’s excerpt (module 4 of 6) will guide your shooting, so you…

December 18, 2015

The Sundance Film Festival is a month away, and Hot Docs, Sheffield and Silver Docs’ deadlines are coming up soon! (Hot Docs 2016 late deadline is January 6.) If your work-in-progress isn’t quite as gripping as it could be, I currently have a finishing editor with stellar storytelling abilities available for the next eight weeks. To inspire you, consider the case of The Russian Woodpecker. Around this time last year, we helped director Chad Gracia tweak his character-driven documentary late in the game, just before submitting to Sundance. Chad’s film went on to win the 2015 Sundance World Cinema Grand…