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What Really Works on Kickstarter
October 31, 2012
This is the final newsletter in a 3-part series on crowdfunding for documentary filmmakers. And this final newsletter is the best! Thanks to all the filmmakers who wrote in to say what worked well on the Kickstarter or IndieGoGo campaign. Today I’m sharing five tips from you! Although your campaign may have ended, your sage advice will pay it forward! First, get help, says Sarah Marder. “Have a team of people really committed to the campaign. Realize that the campaign will absorb a huge amount of time each day and that it takes a phenomenal amount of communications (much of…
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Best Kickstarter Tips
October 11, 2012
This week I’m featuring Kickstarter tips, as well as a record-breaking campaign from my Inner Circle story consulting client Ben Henterig. Since my last newsletter, I’ve received many tips from filmmakers about how to create an effective crowdsourcing campaign, which I’ll also include in the next newsletter. Thank you, everyone! If you missed last week’s tips about creating a great crowdsourcing campaign, go to: newdocediting.com/2012/09/tips-for-kickstarter-and-indiegogo-campaigns Ben Henterig’s Kickstarter campaign for “The Happiest Place: A Journey Across Bhutan” has broken several records. In fact, they reached their ambitious $55K goal within 24 hours! Now their stretch goal is $110,000 and they…
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Bold Mother Hubbard Winning an Oscar
October 5, 2012
I’m excited! I just returned from filming visionary Barbara Marx Hubbard at her home in Santa Barbara. Still in her bathrobe after her morning meditation, Barbara joined me in visualizing “Bold Mother Hubbard” winning an Academy Award! Check out this 2 min. unedited excerpt in which she talks about how she’d like to see herself portrayed in my documentary, as an example of the rising “feminine co-creator”: http://youtu.be/0xGUY9CUowU You can see the trailer and contribute at: http://www.indiegogo.com/boldmotherhubbard
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Tips for Kickstarter and Indiegogo Campaigns
September 25, 2012
I’m excited to share with you a 2-part series on how to optimize your Kickstarter or IndieGoGo campaign. I am also excited to announce that I am directing a new documentary film, “Bold Mother Hubbard: The Story and Life of Barbara Marx Hubbard”. Whether or not you know Barbara (one of the world’s leading visionaries), this is good news for you because I will be sharing along the journey real-life success stories and lessons about the process of creating a compelling documentary film. In fact, in this first of a 2-part series, I will be sharing three great ideas for…
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Bold Mother Hubbard: The Story and Vision of Barbara Marx Hubbard
September 19, 2012
I’m thrilled to announce that I’m starting a new film! Here’s my one-page concept paper. I’m currently looking for people to help produce the film, as well as an Executive Producer. Please contact me at karen@newdocediting.com if you are interested or if you know someone who is. Bold Mother Hubbard, a feature-length documentary aimed at theatrical screenings and television broadcast, follows Barbara Marx Hubbard, the world’s leading futurist, on a quest to unite 100 million people during the “birth” of a new humanity on her auspicious 83rd birthday. Currently in pre-production, the documentary’s narrative backbone will intercut two storylines. First,…
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Farewell Beloved UC Berkeley
August 22, 2012
As many of you know, I’ve been privileged to teach at the #1-ranked documentary program in the world, at UC Berkeley, for 18 years. As I write this blog, I am just one day away from taking early retirement from this beloved institution, because my story consulting business, New Doc Editing, has been so successful. What does this mean to you? First, I hope you will find some inspiration in my belief that dreams can come true. Three years ago, I believed that I could help more filmmakers through my business than at the small Graduate School of Journalism, and…
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Editing A Character-Driven Documentary
August 15, 2012
I hope you’re having a great summer! Screenwriters are free to dream up plot twists for a three-act story, but we documentary filmmakers must design scenes based on what was actually filmed in real life. These two constraints–“what was filmed” and “real life”–present special challenges. Whether a documentary editor is using a three-act storyboard or some other narrative design, how does she stay true to actual happenings when she must persuade and contort them into climaxes and plot turns? For years I’ve been answering this question through my popular weekend seminar, “Structuring the Character-Driven Documentary.” And since the San Francisco…
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Editing Your Documentary Climax Scene
July 24, 2012
The function of the third act is to ramp up suspense to a crisis that is so unbearable that the protagonist must call forth a supreme effort. Screenwriters know that at the end of act two, things should be as bad as they can imaginably get. Then in Act Three, they get even worse. This crisis, the story climax, will answer with finality the film’s central question: did the protagonist get what she desired? Sometimes the central question is answered immediately, as in The Story of the Weeping Camel. When the camel allows its baby to nurse, we know how…
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Pinpoint The Inciting Incident For Your Documentary
July 14, 2012
Have you identified the inciting incident that will launch your documentary’s story line? Pinpointing this key narrative plot point is critical to editing a great first act. First, a definition: the inciting incident is the event that throws your protagonist’s life out of balance and gives rise to their quest. For instance, when Harry Potter receives a letter inviting him to wizardary school, his guardians forbid him, but he becomes determined to go. The problem that one of my filmmaker clients recently faced in finding the catalyst event was compounded by the fact that she was making a personal documentary. …
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Vet Your Editor’s Ego
July 3, 2012
One of the biggest reasons directors fire their editors is role confusion. Either the director thinks they’re an editor, or the editor is a closet director. In the indie world, job descriptions frequently overlap, but it’s useful to envision the director as the film’s captain and ultimate creative decision-maker. The editor is the first mate, a structural navigator, and storytelling specialist. Now, since you can’t afford to get this part wrong in today’s economy, how do you trust your editor to steer the right course while you maintain control of the ship? One way to do this is to check…
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