Choosing a documentary topic

The challenge facing you this week is to find two great story ideas that have the potential to become a half-hour documentary project. This is not an easy task, and I would dare say that the success of the final project will be greatly affected by your choice of topic/subject. Choosing a subject is not something to be taken lightly. That said, the initial treatment will undoubtedly go through revision as it is turned into a proposal, then a shooting script and finally into an editing script.
So how does one go about selecting a story/topic/subject? I've blogged about it previously by suggesting some things to avoid. Your textbook author Rabiger has some excellent advice in the first couple of chapters (especially chapter 3). To that I would add just a few thoughts.

1. There are a thousand stories right in front of each of us--the trick is to see them with fresh eyes. Sometimes we're too close to see them clearly...kind of like a smudge on our eyeglasses that everyone else can see even though we can't.
2. Some stories come with built-in controversy (e.g., anything with political or religious overtones) and others will require that you dig a bit deeper to find the drama.
3. Remember your audience and work hard to give them reasons to care about your topic, the characters in your film, and the outcome. Are the main characters likable, or at least interesting?
4. Do the research necessary to write an effective treatment. You'll need to do more research to turn that treatment into a proposal, and still more to generate the shooting script. Research may involve library research, but more likely it will involve interviews with people close to the story/topic. Leave no stone unturned in your quest to uncover the truth. Research may yield evidence that convinces you that there is no story after all, or that the documentary cannot be made (given the available budget/schedule)...but better to find this out now than later.

As always, feel free to ask if you have any questions or if you want to bounce an idea off of me.

Life Changing

Documentaries can be powerful. Sometimes the phrase "life-changing" is used to describe the power of a documentary that packs a punch that lasts just a little longer than a large tub of theater popcorn. But for the West Memphis Three "life-changing" may be precisely the words best used to describe an HBO documentary series by directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky. This week's release of the West Memphis Three from prison--and in one case from death-row--is being hailed as a triumph for justice and credit is being given to the HBO documentaries for shedding light on the case. In addition to the documentaries, attention from Hollywood celebrities and rock stars such as Johnny Depp, Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder and Dixie Chick Natalie Maines is also being credited for the sustained media attention that has kept the story front and center.

I have no idea if the West Memphis Three are guilty as charged. Teenagers at the time, Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley were convicted and sentenced to prison for the horrific murders of three Boy Scouts in 1993. But shortly thereafter the 1996 Emmy-winning documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills brought new attention to the trial and questioned the legitimacy of the prosecution's case.  In 2000 the directors followed with Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. The third installment, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, will be shown at the Toronto International Film Festival and air on HBO. The final film in the series is being edited and the new ending will reflect the release of the three.

This is not the first time that a documentary has led to a judicial reversal. The Thin Blue Line, a 1988 "non-fiction" film by Errol Morris, had a similar effect on the life of Randall Adams. Adam has been convicted and sentenced to die for the murder of a Dallas police officer in  1976. One year after the film's release the conviction was overturned and Adams was released.

Life-changing documentary stories are not always this dramatic. Some documentaries change many lives in very small ways, but the cumulative effect may be even more impressive though not as visible. But in the end every documentary should act as a change agent on some level. Anything less would be a waste of precious time and resources.
 

50 Documentaries to See Before You Die

Hopefully you've got some time (before you die), but just in case you may want to tune into the remaining three episodes of the 5-part series from Current TV, airing each Tuesday in August. Host Morgan Spurlock (best known for Supersize Me, but also director of the new doc The Greatest Movie Ever Sold) reveals the top 50 documentaries made since 1985 and interviews directors and other key players. The show's website contains numerous clips from the series.