The Story
Lab
How to find, shape and strengthen stories drawn from real life.
A live storytelling masterclass for directors, producers, editors, writers and anyone trying to discover the story inside real people, real events and imperfect material.
RESERVE YOUR SEAT↗Real life does not arrive in acts.
It arrives as fragments, contradictions, memories, footage, interviews, accidents and possibilities. The work is not imposing a formula. The work is discovering the architecture the material can actually hold.
This class teaches you how to see it.
FIND THE ENGINE
Identify what actually creates forward movement—and why subject matter alone is not a story.
NAME THE PROBLEM
Diagnose the storytelling problem hidden inside the material before reaching for structure.
CONTROL INFORMATION
Decide what the audience knows, when they know it and what each revelation changes.
BUILD FROM REAL LIFE
Shape unruly events without forcing them into a formula they cannot honestly support.
MAKE THE MIDDLE MOVE
Use escalation, contradiction, character function and evidence to prevent narrative drift.
DESIGN THE LANDING
Create an ending that resolves the right question and leaves the audience with meaning.
A working room for story.
Film breakdowns that expose the decisions beneath the finished work
Practical diagnostic tools you can use on your current project
Live structural exercises using real material and real constraints
Audience questions and a closing story clinic
Documentary is our primary laboratory, but the principles apply anywhere someone must shape meaning from real life.
Twenty years of finding the film inside the footage.
Jon Connor is a Philadelphia-based documentary editor whose work has premiered at Cannes and appeared on HBO and Netflix. The Story Lab turns two decades of edit-room problem solving into a practical framework for anyone responsible for making a story work.
CANNES PREMIERE · HBO · NETFLIX · 20+ YEARS IN THE EDIT
Choose your seat in the room.
Launch pricing for the first Story Lab. Ticketing fees may apply.
Cost should not keep the right people out of the room. For access questions, email jonjconnor@gmail.com.