Working With a Story Consultant
I get several inquiries a week about my services, so I want to share a recent client experience to give you an idea of how I work as a story consultant.
As an award-winning editor and teacher at the nation’s top documentary program (at UC Berkeley), I love to share my expertise with committed documentary filmmakers who are making a difference in the world.
And of the hundreds of filmmakers I’ve been able to help in the last 15 years, a number of them have been funded enough to hire my services over the course of their filmmaking, or at least over the entire editing process.
One such filmmaker-I’ll call him John to preserve his anonymity until his film is released-came to me early in post-production.
He had heard how I was able to help structure a documentary that was playing at a local film festival, and he came seeking direction for his own work-in-progress.
When viewing an early rough cut, I became very excited by the film’s potential. Beneath a meandering film, there lay a moving character-driven story, as well as a fascinating potential essay film.
John and I met over the course of six months, focusing our story consulting sessions on three primary tasks.
Our first task was to isolate and develop the protagonist’s quest, building in character transformation with the help of a midpoint. In this first rough cut, John’s protagonist faced several obstacles, but most of these hardships didn’t relate to the protagonist’s quest, resulting in a wandering storyline. So we had to unearth and order new obstacles.
Once this was accomplished, the film had a muscular narrative arc, to which test audiences strongly resonated.
Our second task was to figure out an organized approach to the ideas in the film. John’s documentary explored a complex topic, and we needed a simple central thesis and supporting arguments to arrange the material.
Our third task then focused on making the transitions to wed back together what were now two strong structural frameworks. By this time, John and his editor had worked with the material so much that they had lost perspective. John really appreciated the role of an outsider who could offer a fresh eye. And I felt grateful that I could help.
John is now working on his fine cut and nearly ready to send the film to festivals. I am excited and confident that his documentary will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, 2011. I’ll be buying my tickets to Park City soon!
You may be wondering, how much did this degree of story consulting cost John?
Since he used my Platinum Story Consulting Package (the highest level of service), which includes a Quicktime movie with my running commentary in real time for several cuts, as well as written notes and recorded phone collaborations, John paid close to $10,000 for consultations over a six-month period.
But … I’m excited to offer the same degree of services to filmmakers who are interested in joining my newly forming Inner Circle for much less.
For $3979, I am offering three in-depth story consultations, as well as the peer support of a tight-knit group of documentary filmmakers, group coaching calls and virtual seminars.
The New Doc Inner Circle begins next Tuesday, August 17th, and I’m only accepting five filmmakers. I have two openings left.
To find out if this service is right for you, check out: