Chinese edition 2010!

Elsevier Science & Technology China has confirmed that Documentary Storytelling, 2nd edition is being translated into Chinese for publication in China December 2010! I will be writing a preface.

A response to "Taking History Back from the 'Storytellers'"

As expected, Rick Prelinger's thought-provoking post about storytelling has gotten a number of responses, including a rather lengthy one from me. Check out the conversation!

Taking history back from the "storytellers"

From archivist and filmmaker Rick Prelinger, a thought-provoking rant (his word, not mine), on storytelling, history, and archival materials: http://blackoystercatcher.blogspot.com/2009/06/taking-history-back-from-storytellers.html

Women in the Industry (NYWIFT)

From NY Women in Film and Television, a compilation of resources on the (not good) status of women in the film and television industries. Two highlights from the work of Dr. Martha M. Lauzen:

• "Men write the overwhelming majority of film reviews in the nation's top newspapers."
• "In 2007, women comprised 15% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films. This represents a decline of 2 percentage points from 1998 and represents no change from 2006."

From the Directors Guild of America: "[O]n the 'top forty' prime time drama and comedy series in 2003-2004 ... 86 percent of the episodes were directed by Caucasian males..."

Go to NYWIFT's website for links and details.

3rd edition - let me know what you think

If you use Documentary Storytelling -- whether the first or second edition -- in your own work or in teaching others, I'd love to hear from you as I work on the third edition. I'm planning to update the case studies, add some new interviews, look at new issues (the impact of budgets and schedules on storytelling, for example) and branch out to be more explicit about storytelling in a range of documentary media (and range of lengths), for a range of purposes (not only theatrical and broadcast release, but also museum and classroom use and perhaps the use of documentary storytelling to inform policy makers, advocate for change, etc.) As much as possible, I'll be referring to projects easily available for review.

Any thoughts on this, or on what else might be useful in a third edition (to be published in the fall of 2010)? Please leave a note here (understanding that all comments and suggestions become my sole property without exception) -- and thanks!