As storytellers, documentarians, and investigative journalists, we are also world builders: actively shaping the future and seeding change through the questions we raise, the histories we document, and the fresh perspectives we gather. If you are curious about world building and how you might integrate this immersive, collaborative practice into your own project’s impact campaign, consider this a primer. In this interactive workshop, Tony Patrick will walk you through the basic tenets of a world building session, wherein a group of participants—similar to a writers’ room—connect with each other and collectively envision the future of XYZ organization/industry/city/or institution, unlocking a blueprint for actionable change, consensus, and problem-solving in the process.
To ground the workshop, independent filmmaker Grace Lee will draw on her documentary-slash-investigative podcast series, Viewers Like Us, as a timely, real-world case study that originated as a 500-word provocation. Grace and her collaborators will embark on a world-building process of their own this fall that reimagines a more equitable, inclusive, and creatively vibrant future for PBS.
We welcome you to bring a project brief (whether already launched or a work-in-progress) or creative block you are confronting to reflect on as part of this workshop. There will be time for questions and open discussion, and an opportunity to learn how to apply world building to your own work, by drawing on the collective intelligence of your networks.