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The Documentary Handbook
Documentary films have enjoyed a huge resurgence over the last few years, and there’s a new generation of filmmakers wanting to get involved. In addition, the digital revolution has made documentaries even more accessible to the general filmmaker.
This brand new, fully-updated edition of The Documentary Film Makers Handbook features incisive and helpful interviews with dozens of industry professionals, on subjects as diverse as interview techniques, the NBC News Archive, music rights, setting up your own company, the Film Arts Foundation, pitching your proposal, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Documentary Channel, the British Film Council, camera hire, filmmaking ethics, and online marketing and distribution.
The book also includes in-depth case studies of some of the most successful and acclaimed documentary films of recent years, including The Cove, Babies, At the Edge of the World, Last Train Home and many more.
The Documentary Film Makers Handbook 2nd Edition is an essential resource for anyone who wants to know more about breaking into this exciting field.
Read the book
Read chapters from the Documentary Filmmakers Handbook, second edition.
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The Documentary Film Makers Handbook is a continuation of the best selling series on narrative film, The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook. Written by Genevieve Jolliffe and Andrew Zinnes, The Documentary Film Makers Handbook pulls no punches and is THE ultimate guide to making your doc!
ISBN: 9781441183675, 528 Pages
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Contents
Training
American University - Pat Aufderhiede
Berkeley School of Journalism & documentary – Jon Else
Documentary Center - Nina Seavey
Sundance Labs – Cara Mertes
Legal
Setting Up A Company - Stephen Sheppard
Fair Use - Michael Donaldson
Music Rights - Brooke Wentz
The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers – Thomas A. Crowell
Research & Development
The Documentary Doctor - Fernanda Rossi
Finding Your Subject - Mark Harris, Kees Bakker
Ethics Researcher - Rosemary Rotondi
Archives - Nancy Cole; Proposals - Morrie Warshawski
Open Pitching - Michellea McClean
Fundraising - Carol Dean
Organizations
IDA – Michael Lumpkin
IFP-NY - Milton Tabbot
Docuclub - Susan Kaplan & Mary Kerr
San Francisco Film Society
Women Make Movies - Debbie Zimmerman
DOCULINK, The D Word
Documentaryfilms.net
Doc Writing
Storytelling – Andrew Zinnes
Documentary Storytelling – Sheila Curran Bernard
Writing a treatment
Writing narration
Funding Bodies
Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund
Paul Robeson Fund - Ron Hanfd
ITVS - Claire Aguilar
NY State Council for the Arts - Karen Helmerson
California Documentary Project - Susana Loza
NEH - Michael Shirley
NEA - Ted Libbey
Niche Funding bodies – Hartley Film Foundation
Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund
Chicken and Egg Productions
Broadcasters
WGBH - Denise Diianni
HBO - Nancy Abraham
Discovery Networks – Kevin Bennett
PBS – Paula Kerger
The Documentary Channel
National Geographic Channel - Heather Moran/Juliet Blake
MTV - Lisa Hackett
Sundance Channel - Christian Vesper;
CBC Documentary Unit/TransCanada Development Fund- Jerry McIntosh
The Documentary Channel - Michael Burns
Production Companies
National Geographic Feature Films – David Beal
POV - Simon Kilmurry
Independent Lens - Lois Vossen
Cactus 3 – Julie Goldman, Krysanne Katsoolis, Caroline Stevens
NFL Films/ NFL network - Steve Sabol
Areitis/ Reality TV – Paco Aguilar
Global Perspective
EDN - Cecilia Lidin
Channel 4 - Simon Dickson
The Channel Four BritDoc Foundation
Maxyne Franklin
Shooting People - Jess Search
BBC Storyville - Jo Lapping
ARTE; TV-2 - Mette Hoffmann Meyer
Finnish Film Foundation - Miia Haavisto
Israel & Palestine - Philippa Kowarsky
Thailand - Thunska Pansittivorakul
Mexico - Elena Fuentes
South America - Amir Lubacki
Australia - Wendy Halloway
Egypt – Tahani Rached
Saudi Arabia – Danya Alhamiani, Dania Nassiet
Eggdancer Productions; Nordic – Tobia Janson, Hanna Bjork Valsdotter
Italy – Raffaele Brunetti/ Italian Doc Screenings
Production & Post
Producer - Agi Orsi
Insurance - Kent Hamilton
Animation/CGI documentary
Producing the Non Profit Doc – Becky Rolnick
HD Camera Equipment – Cortney Webb/ Image Craft
DSLRS – Vincent Lafloret
DP - Joan Churchill
IMAX DP - Greg MacGillvray
Production Sound - Alan Barker
The Travel Doc Host - Ian Wright
The Lab - Russ Suniewyk
The Digital Lab - Larry Schmitt
The Editor - Paul Crowder
The Composer - Miriam Cutler
The Sound Mixer - Mark Rozett
Film Festivals & Marketing
Full Frame Film Festival
Silverdocs - Patricia Finnernan
Sundance - Caroline Libresco
HotDocs – Stephanie McArthur
Sheffield Documentary Film Festival – Charlie Philips
Film Festival World/documentary
IDFA - David Tiegler
The Producer’s Rep - Josh Braun
The Publicist - David Magdael
Marketing – Sheri Candler
Designing Your Website
Sales & Distribution
The Sales Rep - Jan Rofekamp/Film Transit
The Distributor - Zeitgeist Films
DVD Distribution - Ellen Capon
Education Distribution - Cynthia Close, DER
Boutique Distribution – BuzzTaxi Communications Natalie Vinet
Indie Theater - John Vanco
Museum Distribution - Bo Smith
Brave New Films - Robert Greenwald
DIY Distribution – Peter Broderick
Mediarights.org - Katy Chevigny
Distribution Models – Jon Reiss
Blogging – Around The Block (Doug Block)
IndieFlix, FilmBuff, Alive Mind, KinoSmith, SnagFilms
The Long View
The Detective - Nick Broomfield
Listen Up! - Michael Apted
Queen Of The Doc - Barbara Kopple
Seek The Truth - St. Clair Bourne
Actual Reality - R.J. Culter
Case Studies
Monica and David
The Cove
Paper Promises
Bad Writing
Babies
At the Edge of the World
BBC Earth
Hard Knocks
Marwencol
For Once in My Life
Last Train Home
12th & Delaware
Diary of a Times Square Thief
The Kids Grow Up
Short Documentary - Bout;
Short Documentaries – Eva Webber
Sean McAllister – Japan; A story of Love and Hate
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Review
Creative Screenwriting -Documentary Handbook
Review By George Lawrence
Whether you're an utter novice or a seasoned veteran of the nonfiction film genre, this massive compendium on the nuts and bolts of documentary filmmaking offers a wealth of information and insights. What's more, it's a lively and engaging read, owing to the dozens of interviews with documentary filmmakers—including more than a few giants in the field—who provide real-world war stories and inside dope.
For the longest time, it seemed documentary filmmakers took more risks and received less notoriety than their peers in any other film genre. They put their lives, careers, and personal finances on the line to bring stories to the screen that inform, challenge, and entertain the masses, but other than a few minutes on the Oscars telecast each year, documentaries went mostly unnoticed by the unwashed masses. The Werner Herzogs and D.A. Pennebakers and Errol Morrises of the world were doing amazing work, yet reaching only a select and selective audience.
But with the mega-success at the mainstream multiplexes of recent docs like An Inconvenient Truth, March of the Penguins, Super Size Me, and Michael Moore's works, suddenly nonfiction film looks like not only a vital calling, but perhaps also a viable one. Still, making documentaries is not something anyone should jump into without thorough preparation and planning, but where can an aspiring filmmaker turn for sage advice? Fortunately, Genevieve Jolliffe and Andrew Zinnes' The Documentary Film Makers Handbook has arrived at precisely the right moment, when the genre is growing in recognition and interest in the field is growing fast.
This 560-page volume, which is really more of a bible than a handbook (it barely fits in your hand anyway, and it's damned heavy), is jam-packed with information and real-world stories that illuminate the long, hard-fought process of getting a film made. Every step is covered, from finding a topic and choosing a documentary sub-genre, to raising money, creating a budget, pitching to broadcasters, assembling a crew, interviewing techniques, docu-drama versus straight documentary, film festivals and distribution, music rights, stock footage, the IMAX format, shooting overseas, and the ethics of documentary filmmaking. There's even information on what to do if you're arrested while shooting in a foreign country (as happened to co-writer Jolliffe when she was directing the feature film Urban Ghost Story). No stone is apparently left unturned, and for producers, directors, writers, directors of photography, and on down the line, this is a definitive compendium that will benefit novices and experienced pros alike.
"Long gone is the notion that docs can only be stuffy and boring," Jolliffe and Zinnes proclaim in their introduction. That theme permeates the entire book, the bulk of which is composed of more than 100 interviews with filmmakers and others in all facets of documentary filmmaking. Some of the genre's heaviest hitters are here, including Nick Broomfield (Kurt & Courtney), Michael Apted (14 Up, etc.) and Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, U.S.A.). The interviews are presented in the question-and-answer format, and are deceptively informative; many begin with a simple question such as, "What does documentary filmmaking mean to you?" and quickly segue into the nuts and bolts of filmmaking, instructive anecdotes, practical how-to information, and big-picture discussions about the role of the documentary filmmaker in the media and society. Many of the hurdles faced by documentarians, who often must shoot at a moment's notice, are world's away from the bloated-budget world of their mainstream Hollywood counterparts; and some are quite similar, such as the struggle between art and commerce—or, in this case, between the filmmaker's passion for the material and the marketplace's willingness to fund certain projects but not others.
"The reality is you choose the subject that you think you can get done next," says Eugene Jarecki, director of Why We Fight. "And that's a tragic thing to say. There are other things that I was dying to do, but this was the one in an increasingly complicated world of national security and international relations, that was a natural to pitch to the world community. It's also something that I really cared about."
THE WRAP UP
It's been 30 years since movies like Hearts and Minds, the unflinching examination of the Vietnam War, raised expectations about what documentaries can accomplish. A book like The Documentary Film Makers Handbook is long overdue, and an essential tool to help new and future generations of filmmakers continue to raise expectations and challenge audiences to reconsider the world around them.
