Level 6 (UG)

Good films need good ideas – and this course will teach you how to find those great ideas! 

This course will give you the practical skills to find ideas that translate into viable stories for Documentary films (and other media such as Podcast, Radio and VR). 

It is a module suited to students from all backgrounds who want to learn how to seek out and develop ideas about other people and the world around them. Throughout the course, you will learn how to source these ideas, check their viability and find the narrative within the idea. You will then learn about research methods, finding contributors, pitching, writing proposals and planning how to develop the story further. 

This course will also suit any student who is interested in developing a career in the broader media and communication industries.   

The course is led by Lucy Sandys-Winsch, a multi-award-nominated Documentaries Director, Executive Producer and Development Producer who has made films for all the major broadcasters. She created and taught UCL’s Broadcast Documentary MA, with her students and mentees achieving great success in winning national documentary awards and gaining work in the industry. 

Level 7 (PGT)

Good films need good ideas – and this course will teach you how to find those great ideas! 

You will learn the practical skills to find ideas that translate into viable stories for Documentary films (and other media such as Podcast, Radio and VR). 

It is a module suited to students from all backgrounds who want to learn how to seek out and develop ideas about other people and the world around them. Throughout the course, you will learn how to find these ideas, check their viability and find the narrative within the idea. You will learn how to approach potential contributors to get access to film, as well as learning how to do research, find contributors, pitch, write proposals and plan how to develop your story further. 

This course is particularly well-suited to students who are studying the MA in Ethnographic & Documentary Film and the MFA in Creative Documentary as the course can be used to begin developing your grad film projects. But it will also suit any student who is interested in developing a career in the broader media and communication industries. 

The course is led by Lucy Sandys-Winsch, a multi-award-nominated Documentaries Director, Executive Producer and Development Producer who has made films for all the major broadcasters. She created and taught UCL’s Broadcast Documentary MA, with her students and mentees achieving great success in winning national documentary awards and gaining work in the industry. 

*Learning Outcomes:

Level 6 (UG)

On completion of the course, students will:

systematically understand the processes of developing a kernel of an idea into a fully-fledged idea for media production. 
	be able to find, develop, research, pitch and prepare at least one feasible documentary idea for moving image or audio. 
	have a systematic understanding of the pre-production process in non-fiction media, focusing primarily on film and audio work 
	be able to prepare and write a professional style proposal for pitching an idea 
	develop an understanding of how to analyse with depth and originality a variety of approaches to non- fiction story telling. 
Level 7 (PGT)

On completion of the course, students will:

comprehensively understand the processes of developing a kernel of an idea into a fully-fledged idea for media production. 
	be able to find, develop, research, pitch and prepare at least one feasible documentary idea for moving image or audio. 
	have a comprehensive understanding of the pre-production process in non-fiction media, focusing primarily on film and audio work 
	be able to prepare and write a professional style proposal for pitching an idea 
	be able to analyse with depth and originality a variety of approaches to non-fiction story telling. 
*Delivery Method:

The module combines lectures, practical assignments, peer reviews and group discussions, delivered across two hours a week for nine weeks. During the course students will find and develop ideas (documentary film or podcast/radio etc.) by: identifying key interviewees, gaining access, considering different viewpoints and finding the narrative. Assessment will be on practical work in this field. 

*Additional Information:

In preparation, you might like to look at one of the following: 

Brief overview of indicative readings (full reading list should be populated via Library Online reading lists)

Lees, N. 2010 Greenlit: Developing Factual/Reality TV Ideas from Concept to Pitch . Bloomsbury 

Quinn, J. 2012 This Much is True: 14 Directors on Documentary. UK: A&C Black Publishers

Rabiger, M. 2015 Directing the Documentary. UK: Focal Press 