Why Character Driven Documentary Won Oscar

I wasn’t surprised when “Undefeated” won Sunday’s Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Although I haven’t seen this character-driven documentary yet, I heard the directors talk on NPR about how they persisted in gaining enough trust to build a narrative arc over time.

Check out the inspiring NPR West report (link below). You’ll hear excerpts from the documentary, as well as what it took for directors Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin to film 500 hours, including a great climax scene, during the nine months they embedded in Memphis:

http://www.wbur.org/npr/147216621/underdog-football-team-shines-in-undefeated

Quick correction: Last week, I mentioned attending a wonderful story conference in Los Angeles. The correct name is the GATE Transformational Story Conference, and the organization’s name (GATE) stands for Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment.

Finally, last weekend I had the opportunity to teach my 2-day popular course, “Structuring the Character-Driven Documentary” at the San Francisco Film Society.

During lunch of the first day, a student said to me, “I could get in my car and go home now… and feel like I got my money’s worth.”

I continue to be thrilled how this course gets such amazing reviews (see some testimonials below). So I asked myself, what can I do get readers of this newsletter to take advantage of the online version of this course?

Here’s what I’m offering…for the next 48 hours, you can buy “Editing the Character-Driven Documentary” for half-price. Learn how to create a compelling documentary with the narrative building blocks used by screenwriters.

Click the link below to get this $197 course for $97.97. The content of this course is fresh and original.  And to remove any risk on your part, it comes with a money-back guarantee.

https://newdocediting.com/land/editingdocumentaryecourse

Here are a few more testimonials from this weekend:

“This class was better than I had imagined, more than I’d asked for, and just what I needed at this point. I’d recommend this class to people like me; relatively experienced filmmakers who could use a bump up to reset their thinking.”

– George Packard, Warner, New Hampshire

“This class was more informative than I could have imagined. It transformed my thinking and approach to making my documentary. Anyone with a story to tell or an idea to explore would benefit especially if they took the course before shooting. It helps with planning and prevents filmmakers from wasting time and funds.”

– Jen Burke, San Francisco, CA