Gary Parker(VI)
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Producer
"Bull Durham" analogy. I'm the Crash Davis of entertainment: maybe the most experienced screenwriter and filmmaker you never heard of. I make the hardest of films -- serious documentaries for a mass audience -- in the impatient arena of television. I've worked as an Emmy-winning writer-producer for PBS, Nat Geo, Discovery, History, Animal Planet, Smithsonian, and major production companies on five continents. More than 400 films (IMDb lists a fraction) -- and not one flop. A hard record to match.
During Discovery Networks' documentary heyday, I spent five years as its resident script doctor. My job: boost profits by boosting ratings. I did. Most filmmakers are stronger with a camera than a pen. Most of the rough cuts that crossed my desk needed surgery. I didn't give drive-by notes; I waded in and fixed the problems, and with the filmmaker's endorsement to boot. Then my work was judged by an unforgiving standard: the Nielsens. I not only hit the target, I typically surpassed it -- sometimes astronomically. Not ... one ... flop.
Drama directors start with a story, then shoot. In documentaries, I'm typically forced to create the story after we shoot. I start with thousands of raw shots, facts, and sound bites. Shot by shot and line by line, I winnow that chaos to crack the code of structure: where to start, where to end, and how to arrange what comes between. I make thousands of choices about words and pictures, sound and music, guided solely by my gut. As writer-director John Sayles says, I'm "thinking in pictures." I have more experience as a film writer than most directors, and more experience as a filmmaker than most writers -- and more hours as a script and film doctor than maybe anyone.
My career in docs has given me a Midas Touch for drama: adaptation. I turn riveting books into Emmy- and Oscar-caliber scripts that can be shot on fat-free budgets and yield hefty profits. I've adapted fiction but largely stick to the bankable genre of inspiring true stories. Among my scripts: a true NASA drama to rival "Apollo 13"; a true POW thriller to rival "The Great Escape"; a true Cold War drama to rival John le Carre; a real-life "Rain Man" drama based on Daniel Tammet's acclaimed "Born on a Blue Day"; the greatest submarine mission ever; the "Hidden Figures" of the U.S. military; a pilot based on James Kaplan's definitive biography of the original American idol: Sinatra; a rom-com that taps the lucrative, global audience of "Downton Abbey." In development: a limited series drawn from history that makes "Game of Thrones" look like child's play; a real-life "Master and Commander" with a teenage hero; a civil rights mystery to outshine "Selma"; a "House of Cards"-esque diplomatic thriller; and dozens more movies and series.
The difference between a documentary and a drama is who's in front of the camera. The challenge remains the same: entertain the viewer and reward the investor. I do. What story can I tell for you?
(See my interview with NPR's Scott Simon on my LinkedIn profile.)
During Discovery Networks' documentary heyday, I spent five years as its resident script doctor. My job: boost profits by boosting ratings. I did. Most filmmakers are stronger with a camera than a pen. Most of the rough cuts that crossed my desk needed surgery. I didn't give drive-by notes; I waded in and fixed the problems, and with the filmmaker's endorsement to boot. Then my work was judged by an unforgiving standard: the Nielsens. I not only hit the target, I typically surpassed it -- sometimes astronomically. Not ... one ... flop.
Drama directors start with a story, then shoot. In documentaries, I'm typically forced to create the story after we shoot. I start with thousands of raw shots, facts, and sound bites. Shot by shot and line by line, I winnow that chaos to crack the code of structure: where to start, where to end, and how to arrange what comes between. I make thousands of choices about words and pictures, sound and music, guided solely by my gut. As writer-director John Sayles says, I'm "thinking in pictures." I have more experience as a film writer than most directors, and more experience as a filmmaker than most writers -- and more hours as a script and film doctor than maybe anyone.
My career in docs has given me a Midas Touch for drama: adaptation. I turn riveting books into Emmy- and Oscar-caliber scripts that can be shot on fat-free budgets and yield hefty profits. I've adapted fiction but largely stick to the bankable genre of inspiring true stories. Among my scripts: a true NASA drama to rival "Apollo 13"; a true POW thriller to rival "The Great Escape"; a true Cold War drama to rival John le Carre; a real-life "Rain Man" drama based on Daniel Tammet's acclaimed "Born on a Blue Day"; the greatest submarine mission ever; the "Hidden Figures" of the U.S. military; a pilot based on James Kaplan's definitive biography of the original American idol: Sinatra; a rom-com that taps the lucrative, global audience of "Downton Abbey." In development: a limited series drawn from history that makes "Game of Thrones" look like child's play; a real-life "Master and Commander" with a teenage hero; a civil rights mystery to outshine "Selma"; a "House of Cards"-esque diplomatic thriller; and dozens more movies and series.
The difference between a documentary and a drama is who's in front of the camera. The challenge remains the same: entertain the viewer and reward the investor. I do. What story can I tell for you?
(See my interview with NPR's Scott Simon on my LinkedIn profile.)
