#261 - Documentary Story Structure

How do you structure a story?

Specifically a documentary, in which the nature of the truth you are telling is fundamentally shaped by the story structure you give it?

That's the kind of question I asked veteran Frontline documentary editor Steve Audette in a hotel bar in London, one rainy night.

What unfolded was a long and detailed conversation, which turned into this long and detailed article.

Steve is an immensely articulate documentary editor and one who knows his craft inside and out, after decades of shaping detailed and difficult topics into 'character driven narratives' that both inform and enthral.

In this issue of Cut/daily we'll explore how he uses 'story boxes' to lay out the elements of the story that will form the 15 beats of an hour long TV documentary.

In what follows the normal text is Steve and the bold is me.