Directing Documentaries for Broadcast & Theatrical Release (In-person)
Led by RTS Broadcast and Grierson-winning Executive Producer Katie Buchanan, this 8-week course will give you the knowledge needed for making documentary films for broadcast, online or theatrical release.
Price £150
A practical course aimed at producers hoping to make the move into directing or filmmakers looking to make documentaries for television or theatrical release.
Drawing from her own experience of making award-winning documentaries, with lots of real-life examples, course leader Katie Buchanan will give wannabe directors the knowhow and confidence they need to approach making their first film.
Students will learn about every stage of making a film from coming up with the initial idea to problem-solving in the edit. Over the course of 4 weeks, they will also develop and workshop their own ideas and shoot and edit footage which they will share with the group.
Session 1
How to market yourself as a director. Making your cv work for you. Bring your own cv to workshop.
Coming up with ideas and researching them. Tips on casting and negotiating access.
How to pitch. Pitching your idea to the group.
Homework – shoot some footage showing a central character for your idea.
Session 2
Feedback on your footage.
What is your story? The importance of narrative in documentaries and how to build it.
Treatments and tasters. The inside track on how successful commissions were built.
Homework – write a treatment for your idea.
Session 3
Feedback on your treatments.
Thinking like a director. What is your stylistic approach? Is it authored or observational, unfolding or retrospective?
How to approach your shoots to make sure you get the most out of them.
Homework – shoot and cut some footage to illustrate your idea.
Session 4
Workshop and feedback on your footage.
Storytelling in the edit. The importance of preparation.
Troubleshooting and problem-solving. How to get yourself out of tricky places.
1x Universal Credit bursary place is available for this course. Please see our bursary policy.
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Tutors
Katie Buchanan
Course Tutor
Throughout a 25 career, Katie has worked to the highest editorial standards, exec producing doc series and feature-length docs often with complex access and duty of care requirements. Her films have won numerous awards including Grierson, RTS and Broadcast Awards.
Key credits include Grierson, RTS and Broadcast Best Documentary Series winner ‘The Romanians are Coming’, Broadcast nominated ‘Whatever Happened to Tony Slattery?’ and Grierson shortlisted ‘2020:The Story of Us’ with double Academy Award winner Kevin MacDonald.
Katie has worked with many emerging directors. She exec produced nine First Cut’s for C4 and currently teaches at the National Film and Television School. In 2021 Katie founded Big Sister Films, a female-focussed production company and is developing a slate of premium documentaries.