This past Sunday I ran the first live doc story workshop and it was a blast. I wanted to make sure that the workshop was hands-on for the students. So, I chose an actual story for the class to focus on. Then we broke the story down together and created a working storyboard. I led a short demonstration on interviewing techniques, then had the students prep their questions for on-camera interviews with role-playing actors.
But I'm burying the lead -- like a nut. The story I picked was the strange but true story of Peanut the Squirrel. Peanut was adopted by Mark Longo after his mother was allegedly killed by a car in Manhattan. Peanut came to live with Mark in upstate NY and Mark turned the cameras on Peanut. Peanut became a Tik Tok celebrity and helped to raise a lot of money for Mark and his wife Daniela. But there was a juicy side to the story -- turns out Mark and Daniela led an active life on OnlyFans and there is evidence Mark used Peanut (aka P'Nut) to drive customers to that account.
Someone (we don't know who) dropped dime on Mark and Daniela and the state of NY's Dept of Environmental Conservation raided the couple's home and the Peanut Freedom Farm and Animal Sanctuary. Peanut bit one of the officers during the high-impact raid. Peanut was captured (along with Fred the raccoon). Both were tested for rabies and put down. A media circus ensued and lawsuits are pending.
Needless to say this made for a lively story session and we uncorked a lot of possible storylines to follow. The class really got into it and when the actors arrived in character the whole workshop turned surreal. Kudos to Space 67 in Norwalk and the Norwalk Film Festival for sponsoring the workshop.
If you are interested in learning more about the DocStory 101 workshop and would like to book a session in your town feel free to reach out via docstory911.com.
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