Eckhart Tolle on Transformational Documentaries at GATE
I feel excited and “on purpose” as I write this newsletter, just hours after attending the amazing StoryCon conference about making transformational films. And I was delighted to meet up with many of you in Los Angeles!
Sponsored by the Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment (GATE), the StoryCon conference was packed with Hollywood creatives who confirmed what I’ve been writing about for two years: a groundswell of transformational films is jelling into what I called the “new documentary movement”.
What are transformational films? The kind that can bring tears of joy to your eyes, which is what happened to me as I listened to speaker Jean Houston. A leader in the human potential movement, Houston talked about the need for filmmakers like you to evolve a new story for the plant.
If you’re skeptical and woo-woo resistant, don’t worry. According to GATE co-founder and comedian Jim Carrey, “This kind of entertainment doesn’t have to be a bore.”
I’ll be sharing with you many insights related to story structure that arose at the GATE StoryCon in the coming months.
For now, here are three highlights:
1. What are transformational films? Hollywood producer Marta Mobley defined transformational films as “media that inspires, educates, and provides insight into how humans can become healthier, more loving and fully actuated human beings.”
You may be wondering if Mobley’s call for stories that, in her words, “focus on triumph rather than tragedy” lack drama or realism. Not to worry. Bring on Eckhart Tolle.
2. A giant in the personal and spiritual development field, hunched over Eckhart Tolle (“The Power of Now”) spoke at 1 AM to a rapt Beverly Hills audience about what story consultants like me refer to as the “inciting incident”.
“Something goes wrong,” said Tolle, “and that’s the lifeblood of most movies.”
Making transformational documentaries doesn’t mean eliminating challenging moments when “something erupts”, in Tolle’s words.
Here’s the kicker, according to Tolle: “Human consciousness would never evolve if nothing went wrong.”
So it’s not about removing difficulties from our films. It’s about mindfully portraying how our characters respond to life’s obstacles.
And how do we “mindfully portray” character arc? Dara Marks knows.
3. I was delighted when Dara Marks took the stage. Author of “Inside Story: The Power of the Transformational Arc”, Marks is a story consultant like myself, but for narrative films.
Like me, she believes that a traditional story arc that focuses only on “what is going on in the exterior, outer world” is essentially a masculine model.
This fixation on the concrete protagonist’s desire provides a meaty plot, but the story arc can, in Mark’s words “feel artificial rather than organic”.
Marks called “the other half of the story,” involving a mythological feminine descent and metaphoric death experience, the “transformational arc of character.”
Some of you will recognize this parallel arc from my seminars as the protagonist’s psychological “need” (to grow), as distinguished from the protagonist’s concrete “desire” (to get).
How do you construct this psycho/spiritual transformation when your characters are real human beings rather than actors?
It’s time for a mindful sales pitch.
You can learn how to chart character transformation in my online home study course, “Editing the Character Driven Documentary”.
My teachings are pretty much in line with Mark’s screenplay lore; only my work about structuring character arc through a “midpoint” is tailored for documentary filmmakers.
Right now you can get this popular seminar for free when you purchase “The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your Documentary”, my most comprehensive online seminar:
https://newdocediting.com/products/
It comes with a money-back guarantee.
I’m very excited to have found my tribe and grateful for my mission to help transformational filmmakers craft soulful documentaries! If you were at GATE StoryCon, please let me know what you thought.
