An extension of Jack McDonald’s Writing and Documentary Development workshop for his alumni and experienced producers.
This course, a continuation of Jack McDonald's Writing and Developing the Documentary workshop, is for those who understand the basics of the development process and want to push further into structure, storytelling, production strategies, style and writing. Students bring current projects for assessment, learn to refine their pitches, improve their treatments and polish their scripts in order to move their projects to the next level. Student filmmakers from Jack's past Advanced Development course have gone on to successfully develop projects for PBS and other networks.
Jack McDonald is an Emmy Award-winning writer and director of documentary films for National Geographic Explorer, Discovery, TLC and PBS. His films include a PBS special, West Point; Legendary Lighthouses of Hawaii for Oregon Public Television and PBS; Tornado of the Century, for the Discovery Channel; Great Palaces of the World, written and produced for TLC; and Avalanche!, written and coproduced for NOVA/WGBH. He has also written a 13-part series for the Discovery Channel, titled The Himalaya, as well as a score of films for National Geographic. His producing and story work encompasses formats from worldwide broadcast to online media, from mass audience to NGO and advocacy, working with subjects that span the sciences, humanities, and current events -- and geographically, around the world. Jack has been teaching for over a dozen years with high praise from his students.