Slow is Smooth

Driving around the country interviewing people and capturing road scenes are the glamorous part of producing a real-time documentary. Hunkering down in front of a laptop is the non-glamourous yet equally important part.

I chose to spend this week in Pasco at an airbnb guest suite so I could prepare the footage and creative briefs for the first few episodes. Right now, I’m on track to interview 36 people which means we need to figure out how to fit six people per 10 minute episode.

Out of the 10 minutes, we're looking at 5-6 minutes of interview segments. What’s highly likely is each episode will have one of the six people play a larger role than the rest. That’s because it takes about two minutes to develop an emotional connection to a person on video.

But how do I make sure everyone who took time out of their life to share their story gets a chance to have their story told? My solution is to create rough cuts for each interview and publish those at the time their episode is published.

This way, each 10 minute episode weaves a cohesive narrative thread and provides you with enough of an introduction to each person for you to decide if you want to watch their full interview or not. Each interview ranges from 15-30 minutes which means you have a chance to binge to your heart’s desire when each episode drops.

What are you most interested in hearing from these interviews?

My First “Oh, $h!t” Moment

Timeout in the Tri-Cities