"Bull Durham" analogy. I'm the Crash Davis of entertainment: maybe the most experienced screenwriter and filmmaker you never heard of. I make the hardest of 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 a fraction) -- and not one flop. A hard record to match.
During Discovery Networks' documentary heyday, I spent five years as its resident script doctor. 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, and 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 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. Among my scripts: a true NASA drama to rival "Apollo 13"; a true POW thriller to rival "The Great Escape"; a true Cold War drama to rival John le Carre; a real-life "Rain Man" drama based on Daniel Tammet's acclaimed "Born on a Blue Day"; the greatest submarine mission ever; the "Hidden Figures" of the U.S. military; a pilot based on James Kaplan's definitive biography of the original American idol: Sinatra; a rom-com that taps the lucrative, global audience of "Downton Abbey." In development: a limited series drawn from history that makes "Game of Thrones" look like child's play; a real-life "Master and Commander" with a teenage hero; a civil rights mystery to outshine "Selma"; a "House of Cards"-esque diplomatic thriller; and dozens more movies and 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?
(See my interview with NPR's Scott Simon on my LinkedIn profile.)
خلاصه داستان: این مستند دارای 11 اپیزود می باشد. در اولین اپیزود یک دید عمومی درباره مناطقی که در 10 اپیزود بعدی قرار است به آنها پرداخته شود، داده می شود. درهر کدام از 10 اپیزود بعدی به بررسی یکی از بوم های طبیعی روی زمین و جانورانی که در آن ناحیه زندگی می کنند، می پردازد. در این مستند رفتارهایی از حیوانات که تا پیش از این دیده نشده بود به تصویر کشیده شده است، مانند: تعقیب گوزن توسط گرگ ها از بالا، بچه خرس های گریزلی که برای اولین بار از غار بیرون می آیند، حمله ناگهانی صدها شمشیرماهی و…
