"Bull Durham" analogy: I’m the Crash Davis of film -- maybe the most experienced screenwriter and filmmaker you never heard of. I make the hardest films – serious documentaries for a mass audience – in the impatient arena of television. I’ve worked as an Emmy-winning writer-producer for PBS, Nat Geo, Discovery, History, Animal Planet, Smithsonian, and major production companies on five continents. More than 400 films (IMDb lists only a fraction) -- and not one flop. A hard record to match.
Story is the key to success. I know story. After writing and editing hundreds of nonfiction stories during my print career, I spent five years at Discovery Networks as a resident script doctor during its documentary heyday. My job: boost profits by boosting ratings. I did. Most filmmakers are stronger with a camera than a pen. Most of the rough cuts that crossed my desk needed surgery. I didn’t give drive-by notes; I waded in and fixed the problems – with the filmmaker’s endorsement to boot. Then my work was judged by an unforgiving standard: the Nielsens. I not only hit the target, I typically surpassed it -- sometimes astronomically. Not … one … flop.
Drama directors start with a story, then shoot. In documentaries, I’m typically forced to create the story after we shoot. I start with chaos: thousands of raw shots, facts, and sound bites. Shot by shot and line by line, I winnow that chaos to crack the code of structure: where to start, where to end, and how to arrange what comes between. I make thousands of choices about words and pictures, sound and music, guided solely by my gut. As writer-director John Sayles says, I’m “thinking in pictures.” I have more experience as a film writer than most directors, and more experience as a filmmaker than most writers – and more hours as a script and film doctor than maybe anyone.
My career in docs has given me a Midas Touch for drama: adaptation. I turn riveting books into Emmy- and Oscar-caliber scripts that can be shot on fat-free budgets and yield hefty profits. I’ve adapted fiction but largely stick to the bankable genre of inspiring true stories. Two dozen scripts and counting, including a true NASA drama to rival "Apollo 13"; a true Cold War drama to rival John le Carre; a true POW thriller to rival "The Great Escape"; the greatest submarine adventure ever – a mission that changed history; a real-life "Rain Man" drama based on Daniel Tammet’s acclaimed "Born on a Blue Day"; the "Hidden Figures" of World War One; a pilot based on James Kaplan’s definitive biography of the original American idol – Sinatra; a fictional rom-com that taps the lucrative, global audience of "Downton Abbey." In development: a real-life "Master and Commander" saga with a teenage hero; a limited series drawn from history that makes "Game of Thrones" look like child’s play; a civil rights mystery to outshine "Selma"; a "House of Cards"-esque diplomatic thriller; and dozens more movies and limited series.
The difference between a documentary and a drama is who’s in front of the camera. The challenge remains the same: entertain the viewer and reward the investor. I do. What story can I tell for you?