MediaStorm founder Brian Storm (left) and Shaul Schwarz (right) of Real Peak Films. A powerful documentary begins with more than a compelling subject. It needs a story worth following, a practical plan for making it, and a strategy for getting it seen. MediaStorm’s Documentary Storytelling From Concept to Distribution Master Class is a four-day intensive for filmmakers and multimedia storytellers who are ready to strengthen both their craft and their understanding of the business behind the work. Led by MediaStorm founder Brian Storm and filmmaker Shaul Schwarz of Reel Peak Films, the program follows the full life of a documentary project—from early concept through release and impact. Over the first two days, participants explore the foundations of effective documentary and multimedia storytelling: interviewing, sound, working with stills and video, editing workflow, design, client and partner relationships, and distribution for digital platforms. The sessions also examine the practical decisions behind a sustainable production…

I joined MSN News in the summer of 1995. A year later, I met Bill Gates for the first time when he announced to our newsroom that we would join forces with NBC News to create the MSNBC joint venture. I put together a few slideshows of the projects and people I was lucky enough to collaborate with from 1995 to 2002: https://brianstorm.com/msn-news-msnbc I became MSNBC.com’s first director of multimedia, leading an amazing team and our work in photography, audio, and video. For seven years, I had the rare privilege of watching—and helping shape—what digital journalism could become. In 1996, the web was still a wide-open frontier. News organizations were learning how to report in a medium that was immediate, visual, interactive, and constantly changing. We were building the plane while flying it: inventing ways to bring together reporting, photography, design, video, data, and emerging technology in service of a story. What…