Why I Love Documentaries

People talking.

That's why I love documentaries.

I love to hear people talk to each other.  I love to hear the sound of actual speaking.
As I child, I used to love hearing the sound of the rain and the shower.
Water hitting the ground.
I used to love hearing people talking in the background,
overhearing the adult conversations
at parties my parents used to go to.
Or when they would make us go to bed early as kids,
I used to love to image what was going on
downstairs.
I love talk radio.
I love talking.

So documentaries are people in real time,
in real space,
who are living their lives unfiltered.
I suppose that's what I want to do
as a narrative storyteller,
as a writer of fiction.

Why not just make documentaries?

I love to control the elements too much.
And I love to make up the words
that sound real.
I couldn't make people talk the way
I want to.
That's spontaneous.
More to the point, it comes
from them.
That's what I like about it.
It is entirely theirs.
I can't interfere with that and be effective.
But I can control
what other people say
so that it comes from me.
I like it when the words
come from someone, uninterrupted.
Even in a documentary, because I would be framing it,
I would want to control it.
So that's why real sounding fiction is better.

But I could watch documentaries for hours and hours on end.
That's because they are just information and I am not
trying to edit or look for story problems.
I am just enjoying.

I'm interested in stories.
Pure stories.
There are films and TV shows that take me out of my head, but
usually they firmly plant me in my head
because I'm thinking about what
I would say differently
or what I would do differently.
It's too hard to just watch something
for enjoyment.

Documentaries are a chance for me to just
get out and go somewhere else.
I don't have to pay attention in a critical way.

Maybe the reason I don't want to make documentaries
is that if I made documentaries then
I wouldn't enjoy them anymore.

I am grateful for documentaries of all kinds.
I am grateful for Netflix.
I am grateful for HBO Go.
I am grateful for information to enter my brain.
I am grateful for inspiration.
I am grateful that I am learning patience.