The Art of Documentary Storytelling

Karen Everett
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Documentary story consultant Karen Everett advises filmmakers on how to improve their works-in-progress.

Episodes

  1. JUL 2

    Ep. #4 Verite Structure: "Below the Belt"

    Some misguided directors think the message of “see how awful it is” will spur audiences into actionable awareness. But viewers can get paralyzed by bad news. Thankfully, when co-producers Shannon and Patricio Cohn asked me for a story consultation, they already had a name for this problem: “suffering fatigue”. Below the Belt (2022) is a well-directed, verite-style documentary. It follows four women seeking treatment for endometriosis, a painful chronic condition.  In Act Three of their film, there’s a glimmer of hope when one protagonist goes to Washington to meet  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) and  Sen. Orrin Hatch (R), whose granddaughter suffers from endometriosis. It’s an inspiring scene: the senators work in a bi-partisan way to help to fund medical research. But how could we keep viewers watching through the first two acts when the characters were suffering so relentlessly? Shannon had also identified another problem: test audiences complained of “information overload”.  And she had lost perspective about which parts were essential. How could we simplify the exposition without cutting the important stuff? Listen in as we solve these wicked problems! EPISODE 4 TAKEAWAYS ·       Three ways to mitigate “suffering fatigue” ·       Cull information overload ·       Overestimating viewer comprehension ·       Bring clarity to confusing sections ·       Use title cards to set the stakes – What’s to win? What’s to lose? ·       Importance of solution-oriented endings    QUOTABLES “Ideally the film’s intro gives viewers a birds-eye glimpse of the journey they’re about to take.” -       Karen Everett, Story Consultant   RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Film trailer and website  Director’s Bio New Doc Editing, LLC Karen Everett IMDb A Quick Intro to Integral Theory   PERMISSIONS Permission to use the content of this podcast is provided by Shannon Cohn, Producer/Director of Below the Belt. Music provided by award-winning composers Gunnard Doboze and William Ryan Fritch.

    26 min
  2. Ep #3 - The Truth Cannot Be Cancelled: Editing A Personal Documentary

    07/05/2022

    Ep #3 - The Truth Cannot Be Cancelled: Editing A Personal Documentary

    In this special episode, my staff editor and I collaborate on four calls with the director of The Boys In Red Hats (2021). He had hired New Doc Editing to edit his personal documentary, one that traversed hyper-polarized terrain. This is the story of a man who became woke—while staying true to the positive values of his conservative past. In 2019, a politically-charged video went viral. It showed students wearing red MAGA hats confronting a Native American elder in DC. The image of young Nick Sandmann staring down the weathered Nathan Phillips became “the smirk heard round the world.”  Director Jonathan Schroder, a producer for National Geographic, is himself a graduate of the prep school that the boys attended, Covington Catholic High School. We encouraged him and his co-producer to film their behind-the-scenes discussions about the film, and they agreed. This new verite footage completely transformed the rough cut into what one critic called a “refreshingly transparent” documentary. The main arc was the filmmaker’s own character transformation, which initially was confusing to follow. We clarified Jonathan's change by adding a Protagonist’s Statement of Desire in Act One, and a Protagonist’s Statement of Transformation in Act Three.  We also weighed the consequences of Jonathan's plan to show up unannounced at the door of Nathan Phillips, who so far had avoided an interview! It was a dicey directing decision. Would Jonathan be accused of an unfair ambush? In this podcast, you'll hear how a deeply-awakened director risked the wrath of some viewers by confronting an aging indigenous activist. Jonathan’s decision made a gripping Third Act climax, avowing that “the truth cannot be cancelled”. EPISODE 3 TAKEAWAYS Writing narration for a personal documentaryEstablish the film's storytelling grammar Protagonist’s Statements of Desire and TransformationThree criteria for making cutsEnhance a “talking heads” doc with animation Post-production workflow  QUOTABLES “The Boys in Red Hats is refreshingly transparent.... Few directors would expose themselves to this degree, and Schroder deserves kudos for his openness on this journey of self-discovery.” -       Roger Ebert.com “I didn’t want to shut down the director’s courage by invoking cancel culture--the fear that if he said or did something deemed politically incorrect--he’d be demonized as a character and dismissed as a filmmaker.” -       Karen Everett, Story Consultant RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Watch Film Trailer Watch the Film Director Jon Schroder’s IMDb Bio The Post-Progressive Post New Doc Editing, LLC Karen Everett IMDb   PERMISSIONS Permission to use the content of this podcast is provided by the editor, co-producer, and Jonathan Schroder, Producer/Director of The Boys in Red Hats. Music provided by award-winning composers Gunnard Doboze and William Ryan Fritch. BIO Karen Everett is one of the world’s leading documentary story consultants. Her business New Doc Editing helps filmmakers structure and edit compelling films. Karen taught editing for 18 years at the #1-ranked U.S. documentary program, at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

    37 min
  3. Ep #2 - The Deadly Denouement…Plus, Speak to Multiple Worldviews

    02/17/2022

    Ep #2 - The Deadly Denouement…Plus, Speak to Multiple Worldviews

    In this episode, I help director Vicki Lesley revamp her rough cut's slow ending. Now released, The Atom: A Love Affair (2020) is a  witty documentary about the politics of nuclear power. It was the first indie feature for this experienced BBC TV producer. Analyzing the rough cut, I discovered a powerful, story-driven documentary that loses its dramatic oomph in the final 20 minutes. It suffered from what I call “the deadly denouement”. When a film can’t find a way to wrap up,  viewers get bored.  To accelerate the ending, we explore 3 techniques that can be applied to any documentary suffering from a tedious conclusion.  I’m confident we hit on the right solution because to date, the film has received an astonishing 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes!  For me, our next task was the most exciting: how could we frame this documentary to expand to a wider audience?  How could we appeal to multiple worldviews? After all, nuclear power has been a divisive issue for decades in the West. It’s difficult for a single doc to actually change someone’s worldview--though most of us filmmakers try! When Vicki said, “I got obsessed about different worldviews,” I knew she was on to something. She wanted audiences to listen to another map of meaning--without getting so emotionally reactive that they stopped watching.  We explore an “integral” approach that speaks to the three major worldviews at play  today: traditional, modern, and post-modern (or "progressive").  Toward the end I share my own current “map of meaning":  Integral Theory culls the important values of the 3 worldviews, while critiquing their drawbacks.  From this meta-perspective, a documentary can invite viewers to understand people who live in different ideological worlds.   EPISODE 2 TAKEAWAYS Three techniques to add climactic oomph to a film’s endingExpand a film’s audience beyond the choirCombine story-driven and essay-driven structuresThe importance of a professional narratorEvolve a metaphor or motif throughout the film's arc  QUOTABLES  “The Atom: A Love Affair takes no sides, and pulls no punches in its witty and admirably objective archival account of the West’s relationship with nuclear power.”  -        New Scientist “If a documentary can simultaneously present different worldviews—and point out the beneficial values of each worldview while critiquing its disfunctions--it can do something astonishing: expand beyond its target audience.” -       Karen Everett, Story Consultant RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Watch Film Trailer Watch The Film  Director’s website New Doc Editing, LLC Karen Everett IMDb Integral Theory and Spiral Dynamics PERMISSIONS Permission to use the content of this podcast is provided by Vicki Lesley, Producer/Director of The Atom: A Love Affair.”  Music provided by award-winning composers Gunnard Doboze and William Ryan Fritch.     BIO Karen Everett is one of the world’s leading documentary story consultants. Her business New Doc Editing helps filmmakers structure and edit compelling films. Karen taught editing for 18 years at the #1-ranked U.S. documentary program, at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

    30 min
  4. Ep #1 - From Hero To Tyrant: Editing Character Transformation

    02/14/2022

    Ep #1 - From Hero To Tyrant: Editing Character Transformation

    In this story consultation, we restructure the rough cut of the innovative documentary "10 Questions for Henry Ford". Founder of the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford makes a complex protagonist. I guided the director to edit Ford’s character transformation: from a popular American hero, to an anti-Semitic tyrant, to a ghost who finds redemption. Be sure to check out this episode’s emotional conclusion! Working with director Andy Kirshner was a dream. A professor at the University of Michigan, he’s intelligent, modest, and deeply attuned to his film’s thematic statement on masculinity. Thankfully, this NEA recipient (Kirshner) had enough story sense to understand that the Three Act structure is moldable, not formulaic.  And he had the plot points--backed by archival documents--to explore the automaker’s relationship with his artistic son, Edsel.  Kirshner creatively stretches the documentary form by setting up Ford (played by actor John Lepard) as a spook who returns to Detroit one hundred years after his death. What did this troubled ghost want? Turns out, he had an outer quest, and an inner quest. The director had also intercut two plot lines, past and present. But the parallel arcs didn’t intersect. We needed to create some connective tissue. Find out how we did it! EPISODE #1 TAKEAWAYS  Adapt the Three Act Structure for a non-fiction filmWhere to position the inciting incidentUse a midpoint to edit character transformationThe outer tangible quest vs. the inner psychological questTips to shape a powerful climax scene  FILM PREMIERE 10 Questions for Henry Ford will be premiering live at the Ojai Film Festival, sometime between Nov 5-8. The film will be available in a virtual version version of the festival between Nov. 9-14. QUOTABLES  “We’re going to harness the dramatic power of the three-act structure as best we can, while sticking to the historical truth about Henry Ford.”                                            -       Karen Everett, Story Consultant RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Trailer for 10 Questions for Henry Ford Film's Website Director's Website Andy Kirshner IMDb New Doc Editing, LLC Karen Everett IMDb PERMISSIONS Permission to use the content of this podcast is provided by Andrew Kirshner, Producer/Director of 10 Questions for Henry Ford. Music provided by award-winning composers Gunnard Doboze and William Ryan Fritch. BIO Karen Everett is one of the world’s leading documentary story consultants. Her business New Doc Editing helps filmmakers structure and edit compelling non-fiction films. Karen taught editing for 18 years at the #1-ranked U.S. documentary program at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

    34 min
  • 4 Episodes

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Documentary story consultant Karen Everett advises filmmakers on how to improve their works-in-progress.

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