How to plan a documentary before you shoot.

A documentary cannot be scripted the way a drama can. The people in it will say things you did not expect, the event you planned around will be moved, and the best scene in the film may happen while you are changing a battery. That does not mean documentaries cannot be planned. It means the plan has to be built for change. This is how to do documentary pre production so that when the unexpected happens, you are ready to film it.

Know what the film is asking

Every documentary starts with a question, even if you do not know the answer yet. What is it like to run the last ferry on the island? Why does this town keep rebuilding the same sea wall? Who is keeping a dying craft alive, and why? Write the question in a single sentence and keep it in front of you. It is the thing that decides what to film and, more importantly, what to leave out.

Then write a short treatment. A page or two is enough: the question, the people, the world, what you think the story might be, and the look and feel you want. It will change. That is fine. A film treatment for a documentary is a working hypothesis, not a promise, but writing it forces you to decide what you are making.

Research properly

Research is where most of a documentary is built, long before the camera comes out. Read everything about the subject. Visit the places. Talk to as many people as you can without filming them. You are looking for the story, the people who can carry it, and the moments that might happen while you are there.

Keep the research organised from the first day. Notes from conversations, articles, photos, dates of upcoming events, names and roles of people you have met. A documentary can easily gather hundreds of these fragments, and the one that matters in month three is the one you will not be able to find. Tag everything with a person, a place or a theme so you can pull it all together later.

Find and earn your contributors

The people in your film are not cast. They agree to let you into their lives, and that trust is the most valuable thing you have. Spend time with them before you film. Explain what the film is about, honestly. Tell them what you will film, how long it will take, and how they will be shown. Let them get used to you, and later to the camera, before you need them to forget it is there.

For every contributor, keep a simple record: who they are, how to reach them, what they have agreed to, what they are comfortable with, and anything you promised them. Revisit those notes before every shoot day, so a promise made in month one is still kept in month six.

Think about the shape of the cast too. Who is the central figure the audience will follow? Who offers a different view? Who knows the history? A film with five people saying the same thing has nowhere to go.

Outline the film, do not script it

Instead of a script, write a shoot outline. It is a list of what you expect the film to be made of, grouped into sequences:

• Events. Things that will happen whether you are there or not. A launch, a vote, the last day of the season, a family gathering. These are the backbone of your schedule, because they will not wait for you.
• Observational scenes. Everyday life you want to capture. A morning routine, a shift at work, a journey. Note when and where they happen and how often.
• Interviews. Who, about what, and where. List the questions you want to cover, but plan to follow the conversation.
• Material you need. Archive photos, documents, the view from the harbour wall at dawn. Anything that is not a person talking but helps the film breathe.

Next to each item, note why it matters. Which part of the question does it help answer? A sequence that does not connect to the question is a sequence you might not need, however beautiful.

Plan the shoot around what you cannot control

A documentary schedule is built in layers. Fixed events go in first, because you cannot move them. Observational scenes fill the gaps around them, on days when your contributors are free and the light suits you. Interviews often come later, once you know what the story is and what you need people to say.

Build in slack. If a drama can schedule eight scenes in a day, a documentary should expect to film far less, because real life does not run on cue. Leave days empty for the things you cannot predict. When a contributor calls to say something is happening tomorrow, you want to be able to say yes.

Keep a shot list too, but treat it as a menu rather than an order. For an observational scene, list the shots that would help you cut it: a wide of the place, the hands at work, the face listening, the detail that tells you where you are. On the day, you film what happens and check the list at the end to see what you missed.

Keep the crew small and in sync

Documentary crews are often one, two or three people, and each of them carries a lot. The director might also be the producer and the sound recordist. That makes it even more important that the plan lives somewhere everyone can see, not in one person's head.

The essentials for every shoot day: where you are going, who you are meeting, what you hope to film, the questions for any interview, and the contact for each contributor. Put them on a simple call sheet, even for a crew of two. When plans change at short notice, which they will, the change needs to reach everyone at once.

CineFlow is the creative space where filmmakers develop ideas into films, together. The research, the treatment, the outline and the shoot days can live in one project, so the director and the producer are working from the same plan when the story turns.

Let the plan change

The most important part of documentary planning is knowing when to let go of it. If the story you find is better than the one you planned, follow it. Go back to the question regularly, and ask whether it is still the right one. Update the treatment and the outline as you learn, so the plan always describes the film you are actually making.

Then review what you have filmed every few days. Note what is strong, what is missing, and what the edit will need. Add the gaps to the outline and plan how to fill them. A documentary is not planned once and shot. It is planned, shot, reviewed and replanned, again and again, until the film is there.

Ask a clear question, research deeply, earn your contributors' trust, outline instead of script, and leave room for life to surprise you. That is how you plan a film you cannot fully predict.