DOCUMENTARY OR SCRIPTED?
How to tell which one your story needs.
Mike Habschmidt · Head of Creative · Updated November 2026
THE SHORT ANSWER
If the story already exists and the people in it can tell it, make a documentary. If you know exactly what has to be said, write it. Most of the films we make sit somewhere between the two, and the first conversation is usually about where.
The difference in one line.
A documentary finds its story in the shoot. A scripted film starts with the story and shapes the shoot around it.
When documentary is the right call.
When trust is the job. Employees, candidates and customers believe a coworker before they believe a narrator. When the people are the point: employee stories, recruiting, a series about a workforce or a supply chain. Made By Us, our series for Kraft Heinz, had no talking points. Farmers and plant workers said what they thought about the food they make.
When to write it.
When the message has to be exact: a launch, a rebrand, an anniversary, two minutes to explain what a company does. When one voice needs to carry it, we write the script and cast the voiceover. And when the scene doesn't exist until someone builds it. For Amazon we staged a summer's worth of neighborhoods in ten days, with cast, vehicles and locations.
Most films are both.
A narrated brand film shot on a live job site. A documentary that gets its shape in the edit. Hand Built, for Federal Motorcycle, has no narration at all. Damen Green Line was built like an anthem and shot on a working job. What we don't do is fake the place or the work.
Three questions that settle it.
Who does the audience need to believe: the company, or a person?
Does the story exist yet, or does it need to be built?
How exact does the wording have to be?
QUESTIONS
Not automatically. A documentary can need more shoot days and a longer edit. A scripted film can need cast, locations and a bigger crew. Cost follows days, people and travel, not the label.
It has a plan: who, where, and what the film needs to say. The words come from the people in it, and the story gets written in the edit.
When the story calls for them. We write, cast and direct. The places and the work are real.