If your project is based on a historical event, typically I’d start by reading the relevant books, periodicals, government records and primary source documents, checking the sources’ sources and curating the anecdotes and relevant true story information for the screenwriter into an easily digestible, all inclusive bible.

Those format within that bible can include but are’t limited to - timelines, character biographies, and brief histories of complex socio-cultural shifts that will help you accurately craft the world and feeling of your film or television project.

Curious what that process looks like in more detail?

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I’ve searched through thousands of pages of court transcripts for that one perfect line spoken in court to inform a dialogue pass, hunted through hundreds of primary sources - everything from diaries and letters to vote tallies in the Republican National Convention of 1880. If your project is in the science fiction or fantasy space, having someone to consume and collate the related concepts and prior narrative examples in the genre concisely is a massive benefit. Let me get in the weeds for you.

If you know exactly which dense or obscure informational rabbit hole you need someone to go down and come back up with a concise report of relevant findings, I’m your guy.

Another critical service we offer is identifying and pre-interviewing expert consultants who can speak directly to the specific focus of your story - whether that’s former law enforcement, activists, academic experts or local advisors.

It can be an extremely time consuming process finding the right expert to inform your story. You want someone who can speak to what they know and share stories and insight that will add authenticity to your project, not someone looking to tell you the movie they’ve always wanted to make of their experience. Sourcing, interviewing and managing expert consultants is a key logistical process that if handled properly, will save you time and effort and help you make the most of those who you lean on for first person information.

I’ve traveled on location to organically source stories from locals and experts into a Humans of New York-type photojournalism essay to inform the writing process of a pilot, liased with the principal subjects of a biopic and identified background consultants for internationally based projects.

Sometimes the information we need for a project simply isn’t available online or in print. Sometimes, you just have to show up and find the feel of the place.

That’s is exactly what I did in the summer of 2022 for writer Mike Makowsky and director Harry Bradbeer, Emmy award winning creatives who had a vision for a television show set in the Idaho . I traveled on site to speak with mayors, a Native American tribe, sheriffs, bar flys, bar owners, chefs, waiters, passerby, city council members, unhoused people and the manager of a cobalt mine to draw out the sort of organic, on the ground stories you can only discover in person.

The focus of the project was to get a feel for the Idaho panhandle that could inform their development process of a pilot. I produced a 60 page document mentioned above pairing 35mm and 120mm film photos with short descriptions of the places, people, conflicts and myths I encountered. They had the rough take, I found the real world information needed to help develop that take into a pilot.

I can plan a trip for you, plan a trip for us, or go on site locally within LA county to find the real world information you need using an investigative journalistic methodology.