History Erased
Broadcaster
History Channel Canada
Production Company
Timeline | Feb 2018 - Oct 2019
Role | Writer & Producer
History Erased was a 12 documentary episode series I worked on from start to finish in various roles. The series showcases the history of innovation in different countries, exploring everything from engineering, medicine, philosophy, and politics to music, sculpture and cuisine.
Genesis
In 2016, Cream Productions created a three-episode series that examined Canada's history of innovation. Entitled, "The World Without Canada", the mini-series laid the foundations for the 'world without' genre and helped bring about History Erased. The series is a celebration of human achievement meant to entertain and inspire. I worked as a story editor and researcher on the original series then transitioned to Story Producer, Writer and Story Editor for History Erased.
Pre-Production
Pre-production is the phase where we do everything necessary to prepare for filming. I led many brainstorming sessions with the team, guided the researchers, the creation of pitch documents, and helped source experts to interview. The office space became a sea of post it notes.
Once we had a loose idea of the shape of each episode, we gave the research and creative outline to a writer. I worked as a writer and directly with the series producer to re-write and give feedback to other writers. Notes flew back and forth until we had a solid draft script to guide the interviews with experts and craft the dramatic scenes for each episode.
The first episode of the season, Italy, I researched, wrote and story edited.
I've included details of this process and clips below!
Production
Our team interviewing Francesco da Mosto
in Venice
Our shoot schedule was non-stop during production! I helped produce the documentary portion while the series producer focused on the drama and set up for post production. I flew with the crew over North America and Europe to field produce.
Field producing is all about ensuring everyone - your crew, location owners, and interviewees - are happy and have what they need to execute. You're there to manage, organize, troubleshoot and are the main point of contact between the office and crew. Our schedule was tight but we managed to interview over 60 experts in just a few weeks.
Post-Production
After we finished filming the interviews and drama, we jumped into the edit suite. I worked as a story editor on two of the episodes and as a producer across most of the others to ensure consistency across the series. Each episode of History Erased consisted of interview clips, dramatic sequences, GFX, and a vast number of archive and broll images and videos.
story editor = writer + visual story teller
In many movies, and historically, the story editor is often the director. On a busy tv series with multiple edits rolling, story editors are brought on board. Story editors work along side editors to take everything that's been filmed, collected or created for the program and piece it all together. It involves script writing and visually laying out the episode or film. Here are some of the steps I take when story editing a documentary!
Fill in the original script with the real interviews. The editor lays it out.
Trim to the length of time you need. Make cuts and rewrite script as needed.
Read all interview transcripts and select lines that help build the story.
Work with the editor & archivist to select & add visuals; archive, b-roll, & GFX.
Deliver a rough cut to the project executives. Get notes, re-edit, as needed.
Italy Episode
Researcher | Writer | Story Editor
I worked from start to finish on the Italy episode. To give you a glimpse into its evolution, I've included a short section about Italian scientists Alessandro Volta and Luigi Galvani from the 5th act. Click on the documents below to see how the program progressed on paper then check out the clip below!
Episode Trailer
Research
Pre-Production
Script
Post-Production
Script
History Erased Clip: Galvanized
Outcome
Helping to create such a massive series with many moving parts and team members was seriously rewarding, not only because we produced a great program that was well received by audiences, but because everyone involved was passionate and proud of their work.
I learned a lot about leadership in stressful situations, was able to really challenge myself and also see a TV series from first meeting to final narration recording and colour correction. Having a strong understanding of every team members' role and actually performing many of them is an invaluable experience that lets anyone be a better and more empathetic leader. I'm thankful to have had a chance to learn this lesson first hand on History Erased.
