How do you get the masses to pay to see a documentary these days? American Teen used a brilliant marketing strategy by likening the documentary following 5 high school seniors to John Hughes' 1985 film The Breakfast Club. The result? I found that this documentary, like many others, is scripted just like everything else we see on the big screen…only, with slightly less-witty dialogue.
With the idea of character stereotypes in mind, filmmaker Nanette Burnstein set out to portray the "realistic" versions of the jock, the princess, the geek, the heartthrob, and the rebel. And though the film has touted a bold move away from today's TV trash-reality like The Hills, I found that American Teen wasn't really much different. We're just watching much more wholesome and interesting people in this case.
But should we fault Burnstein for this? Taking a year's worth of footage into the editing room is a daunting task, and the main point of any documentary is to tell a compelling story. Therefore, it will innately share many of the story beats displayed by any well-crafted piece of fiction - or it will fail.
Ultimately, I enjoyed the documentary quite a bit - not to mention the immense feeling of relief it gave me to know these years are far behind me. My only real complaint was that this story could have taken place in any year. I wanted it to bare more relevance to the times, as with Frederick Wiseman's superior documentary, High School (1968).
Put a camera around anybody, especially since the Surivivor era, and you have automatically altered any reality that could exist without a camera. But who cares? This story needed its villain, its hero, its happy ending.
Besides, I recall my teens being relatively boring. And I didn't live in Warsaw, Indiana.
With the idea of character stereotypes in mind, filmmaker Nanette Burnstein set out to portray the "realistic" versions of the jock, the princess, the geek, the heartthrob, and the rebel. And though the film has touted a bold move away from today's TV trash-reality like The Hills, I found that American Teen wasn't really much different. We're just watching much more wholesome and interesting people in this case.
But should we fault Burnstein for this? Taking a year's worth of footage into the editing room is a daunting task, and the main point of any documentary is to tell a compelling story. Therefore, it will innately share many of the story beats displayed by any well-crafted piece of fiction - or it will fail.
Ultimately, I enjoyed the documentary quite a bit - not to mention the immense feeling of relief it gave me to know these years are far behind me. My only real complaint was that this story could have taken place in any year. I wanted it to bare more relevance to the times, as with Frederick Wiseman's superior documentary, High School (1968).
Put a camera around anybody, especially since the Surivivor era, and you have automatically altered any reality that could exist without a camera. But who cares? This story needed its villain, its hero, its happy ending.
Besides, I recall my teens being relatively boring. And I didn't live in Warsaw, Indiana.
John Truby is the writer/director of ALL-AMERICAN BOY. It is a family drama set in the turbulent times of 1960s America. It received the Best Dramatic Film (Gold Special Jury Award) at the Houston International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Picture at the Hollywood Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter raved, "All-American Boy questions the Vietnam War as a way to contemplate a more personal and perennial crisis - what happens to the relationship between fathers and sons when an irrevocable split in values occurs. Writer-director John Truby takes a hard yet loving look at this eternal drama and makes it personal, intelligent and consistently engaging."
Truby is well known to all the major studios in the United States and abroad as one of the foremost teachers of screenwriting and story structure. The cast and crew have impressive credentials working on major films, television specials, and appearing on Broadway.
John Truby has taught his 22-Step Great Screenwriting and Genre classes to over 30,000 students worldwide. He has also worked as a story consultant and script doctor for Disney Studios, Sony Pictures, FOX, HBO, Alliance Atlantis, and Cannell Studios. In Europe, Mr. Truby has consulted for the BBC, RAI, LUX, TV4 and MTV Sweden.
