Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos Third Edition

As Alan Rosenthal states in the preface to this new edition of his acclaimed resource for filmmakers, Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos is “a book about storytelling―how to tell great and moving stories about fascinating people, whether they be villains or heroes.”

In response to the technological advances of the last six years and the demands of cable TV stations like Discovery and A&E, Alan Rosenthal reconsiders how one approaches documentary filmmaking in the twenty-first century. Foregoing theory and hardware, Rosenthal tackles the day-to-day problems from initial concept through distribution, emphasizing the research and writing approach. 

He offers examples of interviewing, narration writing, and the complexities of editing. Simply and clearly, Rosenthal explains how to write, direct, and produce the documentary, whether film or video. New aspects of this third edition include nonlinear editing techniques, a complex budget example and its analysis, plus a chapter on “Staying Alive,” which details how European and U.S. stations approach documentary and how the Internet can help filmmakers find new markets. A new chapter has been added to address the growing genre of family films.

Alan Rosenthal, a professor emeritus of communications at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, is a documentary filmmaker with more than fifty films to his credit as writer, director, or producer. His books include Succeeding as a Documentary Filmmaker: A Guide to the Professional World and From “Chariots of Fire” to “The King's Speech”: Writing Biopics and Docudramas. His docudrama The First Fagin, about the transportation of convicts to Australia in the nineteenth century, was invited for special feature presentation at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2012.