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Three Reasons To Hire a Story Consultant
October 21, 2009
This is part 2 of my column for my San Francisco Film Society column “The Edit Room” about hiring a story consultant. A post on Doculink entitled “Story Consultants Gone Wild” points to the growing popularity of using a “story editor” (that’s proper term in the narrative world) for structural advice. This trend has grown in tandem with the large number of filmmakers who are now editing their film themselves. While the practice of editing one’s own documentary is still frowned upon among seasoned pros, the reality of funding cuts and the large influx of people using affordable digital cameras…
Read More...How A Story Consultant Saved Me, Part 1
October 20, 2009
I want to share with you a recent column from “The Edit Room”, which I write for SF360’s online documentary magazine. This is part one, and I’ll post the next two parts in the next two days, about why hiring a story consultant is a great move for your documentary film. When I was editing Women in Love, my fifth documentary, I found myself eighteen months into the editing process staring at the computer screen, wondering if I needed another shot of caffeine. I felt tired, having culled 240 hours of footage that I was in love with down to…
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How Long Will the Character-Driven Documentary Remain King?
October 15, 2009
I recently advertised at the last minute on Doculink for an assistant to help with my seminar at the San Francisco Film Society this weekend. I was relieved to get several interested volunteers. I’ve been teaching “Structuring the Character-Driven Documentary” three times per year for the last five year, and the class continues to fill up. I’d like to think that’s because filmmakers are swarming to sit at the feet of a brilliant guru, but the truth is, filmmakers understand that character-driven documentaries are getting funded, broadcast and distributed. How long will the character-driven documentary film stay in fashion? The…
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Editing Conflicts Into Your Documentary’s Open
October 14, 2009
I’m excited to see that my company’s new collaborator, a New York-based editor named Bret, has come up with a great editing gimmick to create a suspenseful open to a personal documentary we are working on. Bret has edited a introduction that teases one of the film’s central conflicts between a son (the filmmaker) and his mother. Starting the documentary with the son confronting his mother about keeping a family secret is a great way to not only reel in viewers, but also acquaint them with what the film is about. As a story consultant, I often advise filmmakers to…
Read More...Edit A Midpoint To Give Your Documentary Direction
October 13, 2009
Screenwriters frequently argue about what exactly a midpoint is. Placed in the middle of Act Two, the midpoint is often a life and death crisis, either literally to the physical body, or in the life of a relationship. But screenwriters also use the midpoint to chart character transformation. It’s this use of the midpoint that I’m employing in a documentary that we at New Doc Editing are currently editing. As senior editor and story consultant, I am directing our brilliant editor Bret to craft a scene in the middle of Act Two when our protagonist, Steve, begins to change from…
Read More...“Crude” Editor Constructs an Elegant Documentary Climax
October 10, 2009
As I recently blogged, my girlfriend Lynn and I walked out of Crude to see No Impact Man, an entertaining documentary about one man’s quest to live sustainably. However, I went back the next day to see Crude with my girlfriend Erin (a crusader for the little guy) and was pleasantly surprised to find that what I thought would be a depressing documentary was actually quite entertaining and uplifting! Director Joe Berliner’s David and Goliath story of a humble Ecuadorian lawyer taking on big oil (Chevron) reached its climax in a cleverly constructed concert scene featuring pop star Sting. Edited…
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“Race to Nowhere” is a Clever Topic-Based Film
October 9, 2009
I’m very excited to announce the premiere of Race to Nowhere, a film that I worked on as a story consultant. When I saw the first assembly last spring, the documentary-in-progress suffered from three big problems. First, director Vicki Abeles’ own strong story was only marginally present. Noting that Vicki was very compelling on camera as a concerned mom turned crusader for a more humane educational system, we beefed up her narrative arc throughout the film, making the midpoint the moment when she first realized that her kids’ insane homework schedule had to stop. Second, this topic-based film needed…
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“No Impact Man” Crafts A Great Documentary Opening Scene
October 8, 2009
After having relished a “fun documentary” last week, The September Issue, my girlfriend Lynn obliged me by going to see a hard-hitting investigative documentary, Crude. Frankly I wasn’t too hot to see what I thought would be a downer, but hey, I missed it when I went to Sundance and Director Joe Berliner is a great filmmaker. As we were buying tickets, we noticed that No Impact Man, was playing down the hall. As we watched the first few minutes of Crude, I saw that Lynn seemed tired and checked out. I whispered, “Let’s go see No Impact Man,” and…
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Do You Have a Documentary Story?
October 6, 2009
One of the first questions I ask my clients is whether their documentary film is character-driven or topic driven. If they are not sure or say “both”, my second question is “what does your protagonist want?” When appropriate, I ask them to leave their own film on the shelf for a moment and join me for a mini tutorial on story structure. I invite them to see that a story, in the screenwriter’s sense of the word, is not a profile (for example, Crumb, a slice of life look at a famous animator) or an essay (Warner Herzog’s poetic…
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Constructing a Story Arc for A Personal Documentary
October 3, 2009
I am working with a new client, a first-time filmmaker who is wisely consulting with a story editor (me) in pre-production. Her personal documentary emerges from her riveting family story of war and refugee camps. I am urging her to hone in on the protagonists’ desire in her earliest concept paper, before shooting. We are also outlining her narrative arc, keeping in mind that documentaries do not fit tidily into three acts. Having said that, I reminded her that devising a three-act structure does not mean dividing the film into three parts, and then arbitrarily labeling each part an act. …
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