Yesterday I attended the ‘Structuring your Doc’ workshop by Dr. Fernanda Rossi. Folks this is a wonderful workshop to participate in. A bit spendy, but then she comes all the way from the east coast to spend a whole day with you and share her wisdom based on her vast experience of doctoring documentaries. The best part is that she does not throw big words and industry terms at you and leave you more muddled than you already were. She actually comes up with solutions. And she uses simple and fun interactive games and exercises to explain concepts of structure. Also her explanations are peppered with anecdotes from her experiences. During that 7 hour period she engaged us in a few interactive exercises, made us create a documentary with little storyboards, had us watch a half hour doc. and dissect it and reviewed and doctored two trailers. The best part was that I met doc. filmmakers from different backgrounds. A grandma, a cabinet maker and whole lot others who were in the middle of making their own docs. It was a Sat. well spent. I bought her book, Trailer Mechanics. Heard good things about it. She’s also available for private consultation. So if you’re experiencing filmmaker’s block, this might be a good time to call the doc.