Most festivals prefer to program shorter documentaries, so keep that in mind. If the final film is for festival distribution, be aware that most festivals define “short” versus “feature” very specifically – often over/under 45 or 50 minutes. And so on.īut if distribution is not set, there might be some decisions to make about the final scope of the project, based on the breadth of the subject matter, how much source material is available or actually shot, and the best distribution opportunities in the marketplace.
A one-hour episode of a documentary series on A&E runs 42:54. For example, a one-hour documentary broadcast on PBS requires a total runtime of 56:46. If you already have distribution, it’s usually prescribed in the delivery requirements, down to the second. What kind of project are you making? Is it a five-minute short, a two-hour film, a ten-hour series like Making a Murderer, or something else? Most documentary productions will have some notion of what they intend from the start, but not always. Here are some general steps to consider when writing documentaries. Instead, the documentary screenwriter considers a topic, evaluates the available media on that topic, and then conforms “reality” and “facts” into something contained, comprehensible, and satisfying – three things that facts and reality typically lack. So essentially, it’s the reverse of writing fiction for film and television. The major difference between the two kinds of writing is that most documentary writing is performed after some or most of the film has been shot. But there are some fundamental differences in approach. Many of the narrative skills for traditional screenwriting are also applicable when writing non-fiction. Every year there are dozens of terrific documentaries released and hundreds of hours of non-fiction television programming – everything from Ancient Aliens to American Masters. We’re living in the golden age of documentaries, and there’s never been more opportunity. By Ken Aguado ( an entire universe of media that’s sometimes overlooked by aspiring screenwriters: writing for documentary films and non-fiction television programming.