Ask the Filmmaker: How Do You Write a Documentary?

posted in: The Film | 0

A friend asked this question:

“You credit yourself as the writer and director of A Life’s Work.” Are you going to have a voice over narrator reading text you wrote?

Good question.

Robert Darden interviews Rev. Reuben Burton for his upcomng book on gospel music’s impact on the civil rights movement.

You won’t hear Liev Schreiber or Morgan Freeman reading copy that I wrote about Soleri, Tarter, Darden, or the Milarchs. So what have I written?

I wrote all of the questions and I guide the interviews so that (hopefully) the discussions relate to the film’s theme and fit in its framework, as well as to what the other interviewees have said. Then I scour the transcripts and choose the bits that work for the structure I’ve laid out. “Directing” doesn’t seem to be the right word and neither does “editing.”  I’ll admit it isn’t quite “writing,”  but the process seems to be closer to the process  of writing a nonfiction book than directing a film.

That’s my reasoning at the moment. Who knows, I may just go with only “director” when it’s done.

Thanks for your interest, friend, and for asking such a great question.

Do you have a question for me about anything under the sun? Go ahead and ask. Just leave a comment and I’ll get back to you. If you’re shy about leaving it on the blog, e-mail me directly at d a v i d at b l o o d o r a n g e f i l m s dot c o m.

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