ELEVATE your STORY

workshops & consults for unscripted & documentary teams

Hazel’s storytelling courses are worth their weight in gold. Valuable for all members of the team from Researcher to Series Producer. Hazel’s clear, concise, and thought-provoking story breakdown arms you with all the tools you need to unleash your creativity. We all came away with a clearer sense of our episode narrative, episode structure and with a clear understanding of how we could launch our story missiles - and bring them in to land in a brilliantly crafted conclusion.

Susanna Handslip | Series Producer | Offspring Films

Over 15 years experience delivering storytelling training & consulting with a wide range of unscripted programme teams & documentary makers

Bespoke story & scripting sessions for production teams making award winning series for BBC, Apple, Discovery, Netflix, Amazon, Sky Nature, Channel 4…

Expert trainer for European & UK wide schemes including Documentary Campus Masterschool, the Screenskills Series Producer programme, Factual Fast Track (Wales & West, Scotland), BBC Studios Assistant Producer Programme

Author of Creating TV Formats: from Inception to Pitch

Hazel is the story whisperer! I have worked with Hazel on many projects and at all stages of production.  Sometimes it is at the start to help structure our story,  sometimes during production to help us untangle the threads and sometimes during the  edit for an objective and clear view from the audience perspective. She has a knack for putting her finger on the problem and a way of finding elegant solutions.  She has saved our productions a fortune in preventing edit overruns or poorly thought out film shoots.

Steve Greenwood | Series Producer | BBC Natural History Unit

Ways we could work together

If you have a new commission or have a team heading out on a shoot or into the edit:

Production story days - bespoke story sessions for episode teams to create or strengthen engaging storylines and find solutions to any story problems. Designed to inspire creative & engaging stories & develop series & episode outlines - fast. A mix of practical questions, exercises & discussion to develop the best stories at the start of production or before filming or heading into the edit. Can work with an entire series team or episode teams or individuals

Follow up story sessions for individual episodes - 1-2-1s with PDs or with the episode team going over outlines & scripts. I’ll help you shape your story (according to how you want to tell it) and help you address any story problems

If you run a training scheme for unscripted at any level or are looking for a general story workshop:

Story workshops - This interactive, practical workshop is designed for everyone working in the factual areas from formats to natural history, magazine shows to  feature documentaries. Whether you’re planning a shoot, heading into an edit, pitching a project or finding a new way in to a narrative this course will equip you with all the necessary story skills. You will explore all the key elements of factual storytelling including:

  • defining your characters, clarifying roles and identifying the right conflict or challenge

  • building scenes and sequences to maintain tension & layer in information while keeping it visual & driving to the best ending

  • exploring emotion, setting, tone & world to enhance your story

  • choosing the right frame, promise & theme

If you’re stuck with, or want a fresh eye on, your unscripted series or documentary:

Script or story consult - get my suggestions on how you can strengthen your story or if you want me to help storyline your episode or series or have story problems in the edit

Script polish - been working on that script for days / weeks / months and can no longer see it? Hand it over to me for some fresh input

Option 4: something else?

If you’re looking for something else around storytelling, writing for the edit, developing ideas or formats then let’s chat.

Story is crucial but there’s a lot of assumed knowledge. This training is designed to give people the story skills to engage an audience & the confidence to keep building their own craft.

  • The team really enjoyed the day and found it super useful.... The more senior members of the team came away incredibly motivated, said it was the refresher they needed and despite their experience it has prompted them to reappraise some of their approaches to our stories and character driven narrative.’

    Vanessa Coates, Showrunner, True to Nature

  • In an industry where it is assumed that producers understand how to construct, structure and script content, Hazel's one day storytelling course … is an invaluable resource.  This training is as useful to development producers as it is for those working in production. It develops skills, builds confidence and improves output.  Factual Fast Track is a nations and regions development scheme for established producers, and every single one of them across two cohorts have found this course invaluable: 

    ‘I found it really valuable to take a step back and think about how I put a series together, not only for helping myself tell a great story but also how I go about pitching the idea in the first place. Hazel's story checklist of questions should be applied to every idea a development team has before a deck is created’

    ‘I will now always ask myself what promise I am making to the audience and re-ask it during the process of making a series.’

    Hannah Corneck: Programme Director Factual Fast Track (Wales & West)

  • My team has a renewed sense of the importance of story and the elements which can help them tell not just a good story, but an engaging one which will connect with audiences in a personal and meaningful way. 

    The production team and the commissioners of our films who took part, now have a set of tools they can use to help them refine their ideas, define their story and explore the elements that can really lift their projects. 

    Hazel was a patient, engaging and engaged storyteller. I'm excited to see how my team now approaches film-making, and I took away a lot that I will be able to apply when reviewing scripts or edits. I really would recommend this course - it just energised us all as filmmakers.

    Gerald Strother, Executive Producer, Twig Education

  • It was a great pleasure and super useful in so many ways - editorially above all, but also good as a team-building exercise and getting everyone involved.

    Annabel Hobley, Executive Producer

  • Hazel’s sessions, whether they are on how to make a format work, or how to unpack the story you are seeking to tell, are always spot on. She is a charismatic trainer who runs fun and engaging workshops, and people always come away feeling inspired. Highly recommended.

    Kathryn Ross, TRC Media

FAQs

  • Yes! In fact most teams I work with have a mixture of people who are new into the industry and people who may have been working in it for 20 years (or longer).

    Story is something that you never stop learning about. You can always find new ways in or different methods of doing things or get reminded of things you’ve forgotten. With every project you have to start again so doing a story session can act as a nudge or reminder or let you look at each project in a different way. Someone on a course may be learning things for the first time while someone with more experience may be considering how to apply it to their current project.

    I’ve worked with people at every level of the industry from apprentices to commissioners.

  • I’ve never been an SP or an Exec so I can promise I won’t be trying to do their job! I offer something different. I would say that it’s often award winning SPs or Execs who bring me in when they know what I offer as they are also good at knowing when their team needs a new perspective or they want to bring them all together around some key training.

    I offer distance as I only come in a few times across a production. I only focus on the story (rather than editorial, financial & practical areas which SPs & Execs also have to focus on) & come from the audience perspective as I’m not normally an expert in the area you’re covering. I’m also an experienced story consultant & facilitator so I can also ask questions in a different way.

  • These are live courses. There are no recordings available for these courses. I do not agree to any of my courses being recorded.

    I also don’t send my slides - primarily because they are often just pictures with one word on them to remind me what I’m talking about. I do send handouts with the exercises from the course & a summary of what we covered.

  • Yes! A copy of the handouts we use during the workshop will usually be sent within a week of a course taking place.

  • All sessions take place at your workplace (organised by you) or on Zoom if online.

  • This depends on numbers, the style of workshop required, the number of sessions & amount of preparation & travel involved so please contact me to discuss.

  • No. You can just do an initial story training workshop or a script session pre edit. If you book multiple sessions at the start you will get a reduced price to reflect that & it means we can keep building & exploring throughout the process.

  • It depends on the type of workshop & what you’re looking to get from it.

    If you book a session for a production team then I will work with the whole team regardless of size.

    However do note that the larger the course, the less time for individual feedback & discussion so it depends on your priorities. I often suggest booking 1 or 2 days as a team get together at the start & then booking shorter individual sessions afterwards. These individual sessions can also be done online after those initial sessions, making them more flexible time wise as well as more cost effective. I’m always happy to discuss best options.

  • I understand that production schedules change on short notice. I would ask that once you’ve booked me you get in touch as soon as anything changes & we can arrange an alternative date. If it’s within two weeks of the date booked then I would charge a cancellation fee unless arrange a mutually agreed new date.

  • I specialise in natural history, archive, history, arts, sports & science documentaries & have an interest in features & formats. I also work with documentary makers making feature length documentaries.

    I don’t work with true crime or current affairs.

  • The majority of my work is with production teams who have just received a commission but I’m always happy to work with development teams as well.

    Development teams can book a story session as inspiration for ideas or to help create development docs or pitches. I also run courses based on the development process described in my book ‘Creating TV Formats: from Inception to Pitch’. It’s always worth talking through what you’re after to see if we suit. I’m trained in creative facilitation so can also run ideas/ story sessions for your team.

  • I sometimes work with individuals on theatrical length documentaries. And I often consult with individual producers on teams that I work with. If I do work with individuals it’s usually with people I’ve already met on courses so they understand how I work and what they will get from a consult with me. It’s always worth asking.

    If we’re not a good fit, I’m happy to point you towards other story consultants who may suit your needs better.

  • Good question. There’s no one answer. It doesn’t come with a standard job description & every story consultant I know works differently & has a different background. I approach it from an interest in story & from working across multiple forms of media from books to radio to tv. I also come from a coaching and training perspective where it’s all about encouraging your confidence & skills for whatever project you’re working on.