As the market for documentaries expands, so does the challenge to create memorable, compelling films. Story and structure are the most important (and least expensive) tools available. This guide shows how to make stronger, more compelling documentaries through improved storytelling techniques. It offers a writerly perspective to filmmakers at every stage of production, from concept and treatment to shooting and postproduction. It is intended for the novice as well as the experienced filmmaker and is applicable to a wide variety of documentary styles and forms.

Documentary Storytelling fills a critical void on the bookshelf, offering an in-depth guide to story and structure as they apply not to Hollywood screenplays but to documentary films. Story is what turns a subject or an idea into a film; it's what keeps an audience watching a topic they might never have thought would interest them. Written for anyone working in documentary, this book offers practical advice for all stages of production. It's filled with real-world examples drawn from the author's own career and from the experiences of some of today's top documentarians.

*Offers in-depth analysis and tools for applying concepts of story and structure to documentary material

*Interviews with well-known filmmakers give unique perspectives on nonfiction filmmaking

*Covers a wide range of documentary styles

ary filmmakers as well as anyone who uses information and evidence to portray real events. But the value of this book goes beyond its service to story tellers; the consumers of documentary films and all journalism can benefit by more fully understanding the narrative structures that we all use to construct order and meaning in the world."

- Pennee Bender, Media Director, Center for Media and Learning, City University of New York, The Graduate Center

rning, City University of New York, The Graduate Center

Media and Learning, City University of New York, The Graduate Center

rs; the consumers of documentary films and all journalism can benefit by more fully understanding the narrative structures that we all use to construct order and meaning in the world."

- Pennee Bender, Media Director, Center for Media and Learning, City University of New York, The Graduate Center

'Bernard is keenly aware of the power of persuasive images, and her insistence on complexity and integrity is a consistent theme throughout the book.'

- The Independent

"What a valuable aid to documentary filmmakers. The importance of a topic won't cut it if the story isn't told well and Bernard's book cuts right to the chase."

- Paul Stekler, producer/director of "George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire"

"Sheila Curran Bernard's Documentary Storytelling is an essential, pragmatic, common-sense approach to making non-fiction films for the student and/or first-time filmmaker, based on the author's deep awareness of documentary film history and theory, and her intimate knowledge of how today's most important documentarians formulate their works."

- Gerald Peary, film critic, The Boston Phoenix

"Sheila Curran Bernard's ability to dissect a wide range of narrative approaches and explore the elements that make dramatic stories so compelling

make this guide invaluable for documentary filmmakers as well as anyone who uses information and evidence to portray real events. But the value of this book goes beyond its service to story tellers; the consumers of documentary films and all journalism can benefit by more fully understanding the narrative structures that we all use to construct order and meaning in the world."

- Pennee Bender, Media Director, Center for Media and Learning, City University of New York, The Graduate Center

Sheila Curran Bernard is an Emmy- and two-time Peabody Award-winning filmmaker whose credits include series and film development, writing, producing, directing, and editing. She has worked in a range of nonfiction styles and is credited on more than forty hours of nationally broadcast documentaries as well as films released theatrically and internationally. She works as an executive story editor, writer, and consultant, and is currently spending a semester in residence at Princeton University as the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow in American Studies, Lecturer in the Council of the Humanities.

The only book that shows how to strengthen a documentary using storytelling techniques