Just finished with the white slavery project. Barnone, this is one of the most draining scripts I did. The case itself isn’t that emotionally draining – I have learned to detach and desensitize myself from other people’s pains. What is more difficult is trying to write something substantial when you have to proceed from research which is perhaps the classroom equivalent of borrowed notes. For news and documentaries, it is extremely important to experience the event itself, to be in on the hunt. Watching the news on cable or reviewing another team’s electronically gathered data don’t count. News can survive with soundbytes. But docu-realism takes hours of interviews to achieve a certain kind of veracity to it. You need depth and a sense of narrative. Otherwise, it’s like cutting class for the entire term and then cram on notes which you barely understand. You have a lot of questions to ask, but since you weren’t there, you will have to go with what you have and hope that you don’t flunk.