Topic: New Challenges

Writing a documentary focused around archival footage is a huge change of pace for me. Besides the sheer volume that I need to write, I had to immerse myself in a subject I knew almost nothing about.

FOOTBALL… and the political and business scheming of the NFL.

Even though I was essentially adapting a book (Glory For Sale). I had to distill that information into a 90-page script. I needed to learn enough about the subject that I could cut and trim useless information, and highlight the most important information.

Beyond that, “Glory For Sale” was published in 1998. Meaning I needed to bookend the documentary with information I researched on my own. Some major players in the story had died between ’98 and 2017.   History has a slightly different outlook on the Browns-Ravens “debacle” than it did in 1998 when the wound was so raw.

I was able to distill the story into a few main characters, and from there I just followed up on their activities post-1998.  Covering “Glory For Sale” was an almost herculean task, but I learned a lot in the process.

TOPIC: TIME MANAGEMENT

Time management has been an issue for me this semester. On top of my work at Bancroft, I’ve had to produce/direct my senior project, Keep up with my film photography class, and everything in-between.

Luckily, I write on my own schedule anyways, so I’ve been able to work a lot at night, and on weekends.  Bruce is pretty lenient with my schedule, so I pop in every once in a while (usually on a Wednesday or Friday) and work a little from “the office.”

Overall, it was nice to have an internship that let me take on the work at my own pace. If I was required to be at the office a certain number of hours a week, I don’t know how I would have survived. Writing for Bancroft wasn’t an afterthought at all, but it was great to be able to take it at my own pace.

I generally write at night before I go to bed, or on the weekends in the morning before I go do something for the day. Some days I cram if I know I’m going to be busy, some days I write a little bit every couple of hours.

I’m sure “real life” work has a little more of a deadline. But I think I’m doing okay for someone who has so much going on in the classroom too.