Writing, directing, and producing documentary films and digital videos

FIFTH EDITION

Writing, Directing, and Producing

Documentary Films and

Digital Videos

A L A N R O S E N T H A L and

NED EC HARDT

Writing, Directing, and Producing

Documentary Films and

Digital Videos

Copyright © 1990, 1996, 2002, 2007, 2016 by Alan Rosenthal

All rights reserved. First edition 1990

Fifth edition 2016

Printed in the United States of America

19 18 17 16 4 3 2 1

Cover illustration © iStock.com/allensima

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rosenthal, Alan, [date]

Writing, directing, and producing documentary films and digital videos /

Alan Rosenthal, Ned Eckhardt. — Fifth edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8093-3458-2 (paperback)

ISBN 0-8093-3458-5 (paperback)

ISBN 978-0-8093-3459-9 (e-book)

1. Documentary films—Production and direction. 2. Documentary films—

Authorship. I. Eckhardt, Ned, 1940– II. Title.

PN1995.9.D6R65 2015

070.1'8—dc23 2015014944

Printed on recycled paper.

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of

American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of

Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.

To my wife, Tirtza, for her continuing support and inspiration

A. R.

To my wife, Didi, who continues to be the love of my life

N. E.

vii

Contents

Preface to the Fifth Edition ix

Preface to the First Edition xiii

1. Introduction 1

Part One. From Idea to First Draft

2. Clearing the Decks 7

3. Getting to Work 17

4. Writing the Proposal 30

5. Research 60

6. Shaping the Film 69

7. Beginning the First Draft 84

8. Completing the First Draft 99

Part Two. Preproduction

9. Budget and Contract 119

10. Preproduction Survey 151

Part Three. Production

11. The Director Prepares 169

12. Directing the Interview 182

13. On Location 197

Part Four. Postproduction

14. Editing 209

15. Writing the Final Narration 228

16. Finishing the Film 265

Part Five. Special Cases

17. Making Your First Film 273

18. Cinema Verité 279

19. Documentary Drama 291

viii Contents

20. The History Documentary 311

21. Family Films 327

22. Industrial and Public Relations Films 345

23. Staying Alive:

The Producer’s Role, the Web, and Social Media 360

24. Conclusion: Problems and Challenges 379

Appendixes

A: Using the Web and Social Media to Prepare for Your

Career 389

B: Select Websites 395

Select Bibliography 399

Index 403

Galleries begin on pages 145 and 259

ix

Preface to the Fifth Edition

I have always distrusted how-to books, whether they are about sex or about

making a million. The authors of such texts seem to me a bit presumptu￾ous in trying to teach you things seemingly best learned by experience.

And as in love and business, so in film. Documentary is learned by

doing, by trial and error. So this is not a book that tells you dogmatically

how to go from A to B to C. Instead it’s meant to be a companion to you

along the way, offering hints and suggestions by someone who’s traveled

the path many times. The hope of the companion is to show you some of

the pitfalls and problems of documentary and help you find good solu￾tions to the difficult but fascinating task of filmmaking.

In essence the aim of this book is to provide something that is today

needed more than ever—a one-stop-shopping book that explains in a

simple and entertaining way both the technical and the creative sides of

documentary filmmaking in the current scene.

Again, as in the first edition, the emphasis in the book is on what to say

and how to say it and how to do both of these things extremely well. This

is a book about the art and technique of visual storytelling—how to tell, in

the most effective visual way, great and moving stories about fascinating

people (both heroes and villains) and events that have changed history

for better or worse. As I very much believe that examples can help you,

I’ve referenced over one hundred films, from Nanook of the North to 20

Feet from Stardom, as examples of compelling and creative storytelling.

Looking back, I am amazed to discover this is the fifth edition of

Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Digital Vid￾eos. I can’t quite believe that. Why, only a scant few years ago, I pushed

away my word processor after completing the fourth edition. “Great,” I

thought. “Now I can rest, since my words of wisdom will be good for at

least a decade.” Well, I was wrong once again.

New equipment, new approaches, new filming methods, the expan￾sion of web possibilities and digital video, and so on have all forced me

to reconsider how one approaches documentary film and video making

today. The fruits of that thinking underpin this new edition.

x Preface to the Fifth Edition

In the previous edition, I tried to amplify key elements that were dis￾cussed in earlier editions. I enlarged the sections on editing, budgeting,

and the opportunities offered by cable TV. I also added a new section

on making your first film, paid a lot of attention to the making of family

films, and discussed the growth in popularity of the hybrid film—that

peculiar mixture of docudrama and pure documentary.

In making changes or offering new advice, however, my main drive

has been to illuminate and emphasize those areas of filmmaking that are

often neglected or that need to be reinforced.

The first area that I started totally revising was that of writing proposals.

I wanted to provide a succinct and creative way to approach the subject.

Unfortunately, most books and film schools do not provide much guidance

in this critical area. In contrast, I go into the subject in depth and offer

instructive new examples of high-end, mid-range, and low-end proposals.

To make documentaries, you need money, sometimes a little, sometimes

a great deal. It’s probably not something you’ve had to think much about at

college or film school. But in the real world, the handling of budgets is cru￾cial to the success of your film. Therefore in this new edition I’ve paid a great

deal of attention to budget planning and have given you budget examples

for short-, medium-, and high-budget TV and theater documentaries.

In the earlier editions of this book, I tended to concentrate on film

production. But we are now in a new world . . . that of digital documen￾taries. Approximately 98 percent of all documentaries are now shot on

video. The problem is that the technical world for dealing with all this

can be baffling. In the current edition, however, we’ve tried to help you

overcome all these problems. The book now explains the new choices

in digital cameras, sound systems, and editing software. We show you

how to manage the work flow from your digital camera through card

management, portable hard drives, editing software programs, and final

web posting. All this is covered in simple and clear language, with specific

references to web and social-media use.

The documentary world has also now become a web world. Our book

explains how to navigate in this confusing universe, with web-savvy

descriptions and advice, which are new to production-oriented books.

We discuss the importance of a website for your documentary, publiciz￾ing it, using social-media publicity, and making money from viewers.

Raising money for your documentary through crowd-sourced sites like

Kickstarter and Indiegogo is also gone through. These web savvy ex￾planations and advice are new to production-oriented books. We also

discuss film festivals and Withoutabox distribution.

Preface to the Fifth Edition xi

A NOTE ON JOINT AUTHORSHIP

You may have noticed that in the preceding two paragraphs I’ve sud￾denly gone from using “I” to “we,” as in “we’ve tried to help you.” There

is method in this madness. When thinking of doing a new edition, I

realized that I myself needed a great deal of help and advice if I was to

write and talk sensibly about making documentaries today. So I turned

to longtime friend Ned Eckhardt, a wonderfully experienced teacher

and filmmaker, to cowrite the new edition with me. That’s maybe the

wisest thing I’ve done in the last few years. But that decision has raised

problems in writing style.

Queen Victoria is reputed to have said, “We are not amused,” while

reflecting on a spectacle she disliked. This was the first reported case of

her use of the royal “we.” In this book we’ve gone the other way. Though

written by two people, we use the first person, as in “When I was making

such and such a film . . .”

The reason for this approach is simple. For the first editions of this

book, I decided to write in a very personal way, with a lot of personal

anecdotes. Now, even though the book is coauthored, we decided to keep

that personal approach going throughout the book. In reality, however,

the I of the book is a combined personality.

This is my fifth book for Southern Illinois University Press, and no one

could have a better patron. My thanks go to my editors Karl Kageff and

Kristine Priddy; to Bridget Brown, who took care of the small details;

and to Jim Simmons, who helped me for so many years. Finally I express

my gratitude to my copy editor, Mary Lou Kowaleski.

Alan Rosenthal

Jerusalem

What a privilege it has been to work with Alan on the new edition of his

seminal book. His voice is one of the most respected and talented ones

in the documentary world. Now a new generation of filmmakers will be

able to share his insights and inspiration. I also thank Southern Illinois

University Press for this opportunity.

Ned Eckhardt

Rowan University

Glassboro, New Jersey

xiii

Preface to the First Edition

I have always distrusted how-to books, whether they are about sex or

about making a million. The authors of such texts seem to me a bit pre￾sumptuous in trying to teach you things best learned by experience.

And as in love and business, so in film. Documentary is learned by

doing, by trial and error. This is not a how-to book. It is meant to be a

companion to you along the way, helping you see some of the pitfalls and

problems and helping you find solutions to the difficult but fascinating

task of filmmaking.

Except briefly in the first and last chapters, I have said little about

the aims and purposes of documentary. Yet this is probably the most

important question, and at some point, we all have to answer it. For me,

working in documentary implies a commitment that one wants to change

the world for the better. That says it all.

First, my thanks to all those people and organizations that let me look

at their films and burrow through their scripts. In particular, I would

like to thank Will Wyatt, of the BBC, and Leslie Woodhead, of Granada;

both gave me immense help and made this book possible. I would also

like to thank Jeremy Isaacs, David Elstein, and Jerry Kuehl, who helped

me tie up some loose ends.

Thanks are also due to the University of California Press, which al￾lowed me to publish notes and interviews from some of my previous

books—in particular, discussions with Arthur Barron, Ellen Hovde,

Sue McConnachy, Jeremy Sandford, George Stoney, Peter Watkins, and

Charlotte Zwerin.

P. J. O’Connell’s manuscript “Robert Drew and the Development of

Cinema Verité in America” was essential to me in understanding the real

workings of cinema verité, and I am grateful to P. J. for letting me reprint

discussions with Ricky Leacock and Don Pennebaker.

I am, of course, tremendously grateful to the following stations and

authors who allowed me to reproduce script extracts: the BBC, Granada

Television Limited, the National Film Board of Canada, Thames Television,

xiv Preface to the First Edition

WNET, James Burke, Kate Davis, Jon Else, Jill Godmilow, David Hodgson,

Stuart Hood, Antony Jay, Robert Kee, and Morton Silverstein.

Many of my friends assisted with this book, but six people above all

helped guide my steps. The first was John Katz, who drank a lot of cof￾fee with me and pointed me in the right direction. Later, Ken Dancyger

and Brian Winston went over different sections of the book and gave me

very constructive and detailed criticism. My debt to them is enormous,

and I also have to thank Brian for letting me reproduce extracts from

one of his scripts.

Another tremendous influence on me was Antony Jay. I met Tony

many years ago while writing another book. After talking to me about

one of his films, he showed me the teaching notes he used at the BBC and

gave me an informal half hour when we discussed script-writing tech￾niques. Tony was then acknowledged as possibly the finest scriptwriter

at the BBC and is now world famous for his joint scripting of the series

Yes, Prime Minister. That half-hour discussion was worth its weight in

gold, and I have been grateful to Tony ever since.

Unbounded thanks also to Dan Gunter, who did a superb job of copy￾editing and helped translate my native English idioms into understand￾able American speech.

My last guiding light was James Simmons, my editor at Southern Il￾linois University Press, who waited patiently through all my delays and

provided excellent advice and tremendous enthusiasm along every inch

of the way. To all six, my thanks and gratitude.