It seems I may have found my next subject, or subjects, for The War Project, or, rather, my subject, or subjects, found me.
Here, filmmaker Alex Jablonski talks about finding stories in documentary filmmaking.
You learn that the more force you apply the less likely you are to get the results you want and when you do hear a ‘no’ you can either drive yourself crazy thinking about how great the piece could’ve been or to trust that there’s a different piece you need to make right now.In The New New Journalism, Gay Talese, who wrote the best magazine article ever written, "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold," says:
I don't know who the characters are at the beginning, I don't know the story, but I do know the stage of the theater. I find the characters by simply showing up at the "theater." As I spend more time in there, they emerge. It's almost as if I imagine them, and then, they mysteriously appear.Most of the time, that's how it goes. Interestingly, I suspect this next story isn't so much a war story, but a love story, which is, oddly, fitting.