9 Rules for Creatives From Documentary Filmmaker Ken Burns
It takes time — lots of time — to make something great.
Ken Burns is an American documentary filmmaker and producer known for his distinctive style of using archival photographs, music, and first-person narratives to bring historical events and figures to life.
Over his career, he has produced numerous acclaimed documentaries, including Baseball (1994), The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014), and The Vietnam War (2017).
Ken Burns is considered one of the foremost documentarians in the United States and has received multiple awards and honors for his contributions to the field of documentary filmmaking.
What can you learn from Burns? Probably more than you’ll ever need to know, but here are a few things that stood out to me…
1.
Creative work is a distillation process. “We make maple syrup. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. That’s pretty much what we want to do [as documentarians]. We are distilling the essence of all that we have collected. You have to collect more than you need.”
2.
Know which lane you’re in. “Steven Spielberg and I obey the same rules of storytelling. The only difference is that he can make shit up and I can’t.”
3.
Don’t put too many limits on yourself. “It’s all part of the tenacity and the perseverance and constant investigation. If you limit yourself to one research period, one writing period, one shooting period, one editing period, one finishing period, you limit the possibility of discovering what makes the film better. Why wouldn’t you want to do that down to the very end? [Why wouldn’t you] be open to the very end?”
4.
Your work should be personal. “What you’re looking for is a story which is firing on all cylinders, an engine that’s attractive in its ability to contain a lot of power,” observes Ken Burns. “The engagement of that will also hold up a mirror to you.”
5.
There really is no formula. “I can’t say ‘Here are the twelve steps you need to make a perfect film,’” admits Ken Burns, “but I can tell you that keeping an investigative curiosity going delivers you stuff you never thought you’d get.” Burns likes to jump between phases to keep the work fresh. He doesn’t necessarily focus on research, then filmmaking, then editing. Research will often creep its way into the story throughout the process, over and over again. “Filmmaking is always 110 symphonic, that is to say, it’s multiple instruments working at the same time.”
6.
Welcome in the chaos of the work. “In each production,” says Ken Burns, “my molecules are completely rearranged. That’s a good thing. Making a film is like confronting a million 120 problems. It’s industrial manufacturing of anxiety. There are things that will go wrong and that’s human.” He continues, “The biggest thing you can do is anticipate and welcome the inevitable problems that will occur. Permit that to be an exercise in transcendence. Take out the reaction and transform the seemingly negative energy. It’s patience of process.”
7.
Understand greatness takes time. A lot of time. “We substitute convenience and speed for process,” cautions Ken Burns. “Everyone wants to have it done and I get it, but what you really want is to keep that scaffolding up long enough that you’re sure the building is gorgeous and will stand by itself. It takes time and you have to do that. Have faith in the process.”
8.
You only learn by doing. “How to be a good interviewer, a good writer, a good cinematographer — all of those things happen in the field,” says Ken Burns. “It’s about jumping in the deep end. If we’re too cautious, we miss the key ingredient. There’s a human act of faith that takes place and has to bridge the gap between the objective truth and the kinds of facts that amount to a larger truth about how we approach our art.”
9.
Just start. Right now. Today. “The conversation is meaningless unless you start. Find something that speaks to you.”
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Want more? All of these quotes help make up my first book about the craft of writing, Ink by the Barrel — Secrets From Prolific Writers. Get your copy for free, right here.
