“Documentary Editing” Gets Better

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of presenting with one of our community’s most inventive thinkers, ITVS Senior Programming Manager Richard Saiz, on how to generate innovative approaches to your documentary storytelling.  After the event, which was the biggest Film Arts Forum ever hosted by the San Francisco Film Society, I wanted to give filmmakers a practical tool, something you could use to generate creative approaches to your storytelling. The result?  The “Innovation Worksheet”, which is just one of the many improvements in the second edition of my eBook Documentary Editing.

The 2nd edition of Documentary Editing, which is being released today, also includes dozens of improved story-focusing exercises and worksheets that allow you to “type into” this electronic workbook. You can continually make revisions as your film comes into focus.

I remember when I was structuring my fifth documentary, “Women in Love,” I went through several storytelling approaches before I hit on the right strategy that eventually made the film a hit on the film festival circuit. Just this “revision” feature alone would have saved me hours of sorting through piles of story notes.

Which is why … although Focal Press expressed interest in Documentary Editing, I ultimately decided to publish it in an eBook format rather than a hard cover book, so you could engage with the storytelling exercises, apply the ideas in the book to the scenes and soundbites in your own film, and then revise and update the worksheets as needed.

The new edition also includes many illustrations, which make Documentary Editing colorful and easy to read. I am touched by the generosity of many award-winning filmmakers in our independent community who generously contributed images from their own films. So I’m keepin’ the chain of giving going … if you buy Documentary Editing, you’ll get an extra free copy of this highly acclaimed guide to give to your friend or colleague.

For more information and to get the latest edition of this comprehensive, unique eBook, click here.

Here’s what some award-winning documentary film editors have to say about Documentary Editing. I really like what Ken says about using the exercises during pre-production and production to save you “untold hours of frustration” in the edit room hunting for a story that’s not there:

“In simple language, Karen Everett offers a prescription for emerging filmmakers to translate their ideas into film. By following the exercises at the end of each chapter, filmmakers can save themselves untold hours of frustration, by foreshadowing some of the problems we create for ourselves from lack of foresight in pre-production and production.”

— Ken Schneider, Co-Editor of Peabody Award-Winning Regret to Inform

 

“A concise and invaluable guide to the editing process that will serve the novice and veteran alike.  Karen Everett covers everything from finding and structuring your story to hiring an editor to making a fund-raising trailer in language that is precise and inspiring.  This is an invaluable text from someone who knows.”

— Susi Korda, Producer, William Kunstler: Defending the Universe

When you go to this link and purchase the eBook, you’ll immediately get an email that allows you to download Documentary Editing.