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Film & TV · MS elective · 3 credit hours · 16 sessions

Writing for Documentary

In documentary, the “writing” often happens three times: before the shoot (the proposal), during the shoot (the questions), and in the edit (the script). This course teaches students to find the narrative arc within chaotic reality. The curriculum covers writing treatments, crafting interview questions that elicit stories, and the “Paper Edit” process used to structure unscripted footage.

§ 01 By the end you can
  1. Create compelling Documentary Proposals and Treatments for funding
  2. Formulate interview questions that drive narrative storytelling
  3. Master the "Paper Edit" workflow: Structuring a story from transcripts
  4. Write effective Voice-Over (VO) narration that supports, not repeats, the visual
  5. Differentiate between Expository, Observational, and Poetic writing styles
§ 02 Sixteen sessions

The whole semester.

  1. 01The Documentary Spectrum: Writing Reality
  2. 02Finding the Story: Research & Pre-interviews
  3. 03The Logline & Synopsis
  4. 04The Treatment: Visualizing the Unshot
  5. 05Narrative Structure: The Three Acts in Non-Fiction
  6. 06The Proposal: Budget & Audience
  7. 07Writing for Grant Applications
  8. 08 · MidtermMidterm Examination
  9. 09The Interview: Designing the Question Arc
  10. 10Logging & Transcribing: Finding the Gold
  11. 11The Paper Edit: Writing with Transcripts
  12. 12Writing Narration (VO): Tone & Economy
  13. 13Writing for Hosted Docs vs. Verité
  14. 14Fact-Checking & Legal Scripts
  15. 15The Feedback Loop: Rewriting in the Edit
  16. 16Final Project: The Documentary Script/Paper Edit

Midterm around session 8. Final project briefed at session 8 or 9 and developed in stages until the juries.

§ 03 Final project

Final Project: The Documentary Script/Paper Edit

How it’s judged

Recommended reading
  1. Documentary Storytelling: Creative Nonfiction on Screen by Sheila Curran Bernard
  2. Writing the Documentary by Michael Rabiger (part of Directing the Documentary)
  3. The Art of Nonfiction Movie Making by Jeffrey Michael Bays
  4. In the Blink of an Eye (Editing as Writing) by Walter Murch
  5. Story by Robert McKee (Non-fiction chapters)
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