Workshops
Be guided by an award-winning producer, director, and writer through the creation of your own documentary film.
There are no available registration dates at this time.
There’s never been a more exciting time for documentaries. At the heart of every compelling documentary, long or short, is a great idea. Bring yours to life!
Explore all aspects of beginning, shaping, and making a documentary. You’ll examine documentary genres and styles as you consider where your idea best lives. Learn how documentaries are written, beginning with a simple one-sentence logline that captures your idea, then crafting a brief synopsis to help shape and clarify your story and subject. We will screen clips and trailers from some of the most compelling and intriguing documentaries of our time, analyzing their subjects and storylines to stimulate discussion about how to focus and structure a story.
You’ll get a real-world view on the basics of development, pitching, producing, directing, budgeting, and identifying potential funding resources. We’ll also look at distribution opportunities for your project in order to tease out what makes your project special.
Workshop your project’s elements and gain knowledge under Heather’s guidance and expertise. This award-winning director and two-time Sundance-winning executive producer will share her own war stories and successes during the week that concludes with your own in-class pitch.
This week is for beginning filmmakers, directors, writers, and producers or anyone interested in the essentials of how to make a short or feature-length documentary and features one-on-one time with Heather to advise on any aspect of your documentary film.
Share This
Instructor: Heather Winters
Heather Winters is an award-winning American film producer, director, writer and two-time Sundance-winning executive producer. Heather executive produced Morgan Spurlock's Academy Award® nominated and Sundance-winning documentary, SUPER SIZE ME, and Anthony Haney-Jardine's Sundance-winning dramatic feature, ANYWHERE, U.S.A. Heather's films include Michelle Memran's, THE REST I MAKE UP (Best Movies of 2018, The New Yorker), AJ Schnack's, Convention, (IFC/Sundance Selects), CLASS ACT (Morgan Spurlock Presents), Jim Killeen's Google Me, and her directorial debut, TWO: THE STORY OF ROMAN & NYRO, about legendary songwriter and music producer Desmond Child's journey to parenthood. Television credits include assistant director on MTV's REAL WORLD and writer, production staff, and assistant to the producer's credits on over 260 half-hour episodes of the network children's animated series THUNDERCATS, SILVERHAWKS, and THE COMIC STRIP for the legendary animation production company Rankin/Bass. As an Executive Producer and Director of Production for Sony Corporation, Heather oversaw all productions and client management for Sony's Studio One. As a Creative Director, Producer, Director and Writer, Heather has created more than 50 commercials and branded entertainment projects for Fortune 500, 100 and 50 companies including SONY, VIACOM, HBO, TIME WARNER, PARAMOUNT, BLOCKBUSTER, CADILLAC, and GE.
