Surprise for Director of New Muppet Documentary

Happy Saturday! First off, tomorrow is the last day to get half-off on our documentary seminar series.

This weekend also marks the release of filmmaker Frank Oz’s wonderful documentary, Muppets Guys Talking, which debuted one year ago at the SXSW Film Festival.

Since this was his first documentary, Director Oz was in for a big surprise in post-production. As he tells Inside the Magic, “It’s hard in the editing, because in the big movies I have a script, a story. I shoot that and then I edit. But in documentaries, I realized, it flips. You just shoot and then later on in editing you have to find a story… That’s the hardest part and that’s what takes time. That was a big surprise for me. It’s tough.”

While Oz is right that documentaries are often scripted in the editing room, his “just shoot and edit later” approach brings to mind one of the biggest mistakes I see with first-time filmmakers. (This is not to say Oz made this mistake.)

Too often, by the time they employ a story consultant, emerging directors have shot hundreds of hours. They don’t know how to find the story in post-production. Or maybe there never was one. This is one of the problems we address in our Accelerated Post program.

But recently, I’ve been happy to work with three directors who had the insight to think through story structure during pre-production.

For example, in film called Replaced about the vast field of Artificial Intelligence, I helped the director Dee McCrorey hone in on a few key themes about which she felt most passionate. We then vetted her research-to-date to select specific characters and institutions that would illustrate those themes.

Her next step is getting access. Then, armed with the knowledge of what it takes to film a story, she can re-envision her film’s structure if necessary. Perhaps, as planned, her film’s themes will be supported by character anecdotes. Or, maybe she’ll be surprised by unearthing a herculean AI quest.

Bottom line: she won’t be hunting for a story in the edit room.

To learn more about envisioning story structure from the get-go, check out our popular documentary seminar series today.