Story Frame 6 – Art & Coffee

What happened after the bowl of chili with the nun & the monk – and before a bowl of soup with author Madeleine L'Engle

A handful of days later, Michael was sitting in my kitchen. Over mugs of hot black coffee, he described the work he was offering me as a freelancer.

He was in the process of making a film on Thomas Jefferson. But the problem with making a documentary about someone from the 1700s and 1800s, he explained, is the scarcity of images in the pre-photography days. Known in film and television production as “B-roll,” these are supplemental or alternative visuals that are intercut with the main shot to cover or illustrate narration and on-camera interviews.

Having earned enough college credits in Art History to have had a minor in the subject, I was excited at this new prospect. I got to work immediately.

Back then, doing art research meant spending hours at the library pouring over catalogs, art books and other reference materials – all of which I was able to do either with the kids in tow, or while they were in preschool or school.

Michael and I met every week or two — either at his documentary workshop or at my kitchen table and always over cups of hot coffee. Each time, I’d show him photocopies of the images I’d been able to find at art museums and universities in various collections in the US as well as in Europe. And each time, he’d bring me a new list of sections of the documentary he needed ‘covered,’ along with a paycheck.

It wasn’t grand pay, but I was acquiring a new skill set and I loved it. I especially enjoyed dealing with history and art museums in Europe. I couldn’t believe this good fortune had come about from getting lost and taking a chance on speaking to someone who had on a pair of nice shoes.

One hundred and ten images later, the work came to an end. Loving the work as I did, I had been dreading that moment.

Fortunately, Michael had another idea.

“Would you be interested in doing storyline development for another film we’re working on, one that’s already funded?” Michael asked the next time we saw one another. I wasn’t quite sure what storyline development was, but I liked the sound of it so I said yes, hoping I’d be able to figure it out along the way.

That weekend, still high on the possibilities of what storyline development might entail, I bundled the kids into the car and headed off as usual to see what was available in the surrounding neighborhood yard sales.

“Which way shall we go?” I asked them. It was Zoë’s turn to ride shotgun with me up front that morning.

“I know,” she said, with all the confidence of her six years on this earth. “I’ll follow my nose to the right, and you follow your nose to the left.”

I think I actually laughed out loud hearing that. It sounded a lot like how I was trying to navigate my new career.

What to read next: Story Board 7 – Cinderella at the President’s Ball