OK. My desk is clean. Pencils are sharpened. Videotapes are arranged alphabetically. I’m ready to write. Writing a script is hard, especially for those of us who, just as we sit down to the computer, discover a jillion other tasks to be done. Therefore, I welcome anything that makes writing easier. Last year, Final Draft, Inc., in Encino, Calif., released a program for documentary writers that really DOES make things easier: Final Draft AV (Audio/Video). Final Draft AV doesn’t prevent procrastination, but it DOES simplify the task of writing a two-column, Audio/ Video script. Most documentary
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Robert Rosen said it all: “Moving images are vital to our culture. They are a pre-eminent popular art form characteristic and distinctive to this century. They represent our history and our cultural development, and even more, they represent our collective memory, the legacy of who we were and what we thought.” Rosen shared those sage observations several years ago when he accepted the International Documentary Association Preservation and Scholarship Award on behalf of The Film Foundation in his capacity as chair of the Archivists Advisory Committee. Rosen arrived on the UCLA campus in 1974
Before I was a particularly seasoned documentary viewer, I had an epiphany. At the time, I thought it was about documentary in particular, but now I realize it’s about extraordinary filmmaking in general. It is an idea that informs my own filmmaking, and is a standard by which I judge others. It came about 30 minutes into Errol Morris’ superb film, Gates of Heaven. Upon watching this five-minute scene in the film, I realized that while great documentaries usually purport to be about something specific, they are often about something very different than their narrative pretext. Nominally, Gates
Dear IDA Members; When we last left off, we reported on the fact that Discovery Communications planned to eliminate artistic credits on broadcasts of newly commissioned documentaries, except for a five-second card at the end of the program; the credits would be listed on a Discovery website instead. Well, I am happy to report that Discovery has listened to the concerns of the documentary community. As we were going to press last month, Discovery announced that it would give producers two alternatives—end-credits as they currently exist, or a new credit plan, consisting of front-end credits
DearReaders, William Faulkner once wrote, “The past is not dead. It’s not even past” to underscore the ineluctability of history and the looming presence of the past. We might arguably say the same about our art form—how we capture what unfolds before us, how we turn that raw material into a story, then history, and how we can keep it all alive for future generations to behold. The Young and the Dead, the new film by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini that premieres on HBO on May 12, profiles the Hollywood Forever Cemetary, where an enterprising young team of cemeterians has fashioned a
Dear Readers, Monthly publications such as ours are often encumbered by long lead times, and late breaking news can wreak havoc on the production schedule—and the editorial calendar. But sometimes news flashes and long-in-the-pipeline articles can strike a magical confluence, as with this issue, in which we take a look at the relationship between the cable industry and the documentary filmmaking community. The news of Discovery Communications’ proposed policy to eliminate end-roll credits from broadcasts of newly commissioned documentaries arrived in time for IDA President Michael Donaldson to
What becomes a Hollywood legend most? In producer Robert Evans’ circumstances, it was the combination of a storied professional life at Paramount Pictures in the ’60s and ’70s and his personal life, populated by beautiful women and famous friends. It was also his spectacular and very public fall from grace—“a dive deeper than any Johnny Weissmuller ever took,” according to the producer. Starting as a New York-based fashion industry executive, then Hollywood actor, then studio executive, then producer, Evans has been a photogenic favorite of newspapers and television since the mid-50s. He’s
The IDA wants YOU! The IDA is embarking upon an exciting and valuable new program to document the lives and careers of documentary filmmakers—an oral history project. We in the documentary community know well the importance of documenting the lives of both the famous and the overlooked. In the same way that our films are in danger of deteriorating and fading away, the knowledge and experiences of documentary filmmakers will also be lost to future generations unless we move to record them now. Your thoughts and ideas should become part of the historical record, not only as a supplement to your
I first encountered IDA Founder Linda Buzzell's “baby” shortly after it was born. I had recently returned to Los Angeles after 14 years in New York learning my life’s work, mostly at CBS. Through a transplanted East Coast friend I was granted the privilege of a small office at the legendary Production Center at Third Street and La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles. In this wonderful madhouse of independent producers and production facilities, I discovered a newly formed organization called the International Documentary Association. It was an ambitious title for a handful of LA documentary
Dear IDA Members: Our Oscars® reception in March was our most successful ever, and thanks are due to Nancy Willen, Michael Rose, Richard Trank, Ann Hassett, Lynne Littman, Kathryn Galan, Jan Peppler, Richard Propper, the staff and all the volunteers. Thanks also to the Sundance Documentary Channel, the sponsor of the evening and of DocuDay. With the Academy Awards® fresh in our memory, we’re already looking ahead to next year—and this fall, since the deadline for submission of prints to the Academy for Oscar® consideration has been moved up to October 1. This means that DOCtober™, our annual