The fact of the matter is this storytelling is really really hard. People do not say that

enough. You know, I don't care who it is if it's Judd or if it's Ira or if it's anybody

I work with. At some point you're in the room and you've had you just sitting there like

this and you're like, I don't know how to solve this thing, you know what I mean? And that

happens all the time. And I think the difference is that the good people just keep fighting

through it.

Joe Beshenkovsky is the Emmy award-winning editor behind this American life. His films

include Objectified, Cobain Montage of Heck and Judd Apatow's The Zen Diaries of Gary

Shandling. On this episode we go deep into what it takes to tell a great story. Every creative

can get something out of this but specifically I want all you filmmakers out there to stick

around and listen to this entire episode. There are dozens of takeaways and gems that

you can start implementing today. Some of these storytelling techniques that we cover,

why it's important to have subjects speak from a place of authority, why it's important

to trim out the fat, to never repeat yourself, organizing your projects and keeping your audience

guessing but not confused. There's a very fine line and a very fine balance that you have

to go down as a filmmaker and as an editor. And Joe is a true master. If you watch any of

his documentaries, you can see in the editing. Now it may take a professional to be able

to see the nuances but his style just carries you through and he pulls you through the film

in a way that's not so obvious and it's a true art and I don't think we give enough credit

to editors for the work that they do on both films, TV shows across the board. So again,

not just for filmmakers, storytellers in general. I think you're going to love it and it's just

cool to see behind the scenes at some some great films and documentaries to see that other people

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