Avoiding Overblown Emotion in a Settlement Documentary

When I was a student at Eastchester High School in New York, I had an amazing English/Creative writing teacher named Richard Leonard. Through his passion for teaching- and a bone dry sense of humor- he shaped my style of storytelling.

Mr. Leonard was a sworn enemy of sentimentality. He abhorred anything that beat you over the head with contrived plot lines whose sole purpose was to make you cry. I vividly recall one class where he hilariously re-enacted from “Terms of Endearment”, holding his hand to his heart and doing his best Shirley Maclaine. This was a formative moment that sucked all the sap, schmaltz and mawkishness right out of me. From then on I became a zealous LT (Leonard Trainee) and continue to fight the good fight against manufactured sentimentality.

Flash forward 30-something years: I’m now a producer of settlement videos and speaking with a client about a video his co-counsel had produced in another state. "It was awful! I don't know, you just have a way of extracting emotion in interviews that just isn't over the top. This had crying and wailing ‘I just want my son back!!’- it was too much!“

While I had a I’m-forever-greatful-to-Mr-Leonard moment, it also troubled me that so many attorneys feel that their client needs to be a blubbering mess for their damages to seem real.

I have had clients lament about their client’s demeanor in a video interview; “I kept wishing he would just break down and cry. I kept trying to get him to do that, but he wouldn’t.” “Maybe we should add sad Irish music to the background to make them seem more sympathetic.” “You’re going to need to re-edit this. I want to see more tears pouring down her face.”

More tears does not equal a compelling video.  In fact, it can have quite the opposite effect.

I recently edited a piece where the plaintiff would get squeaky when she started ugly-crying. This made her very difficult to understand and it became almost annoying to listen to.  How long do you think opposing counsel or an insurance adjuster- who hear tragic tales all day long- would sit through that?  After a few unintelligible clips, they are more likely to turn the video off and just read the reports in the demand package. You’ve just wasted thousands of dollars on a tool- that was supposed to help your client get a larger settlement- because you wanted more tears.

I’m NOT saying that emotion is taboo. In moderation, it certainly has its place. But, your video cannot be one big crying jag from beginning to end. You will just end up alienating your audience. 

So, how do you avoid having your client’s interview turn into a hot mascara-running mess?

For starters, I strongly recommend sending your interviewees a list of topics/questions that will be discussed a week before the shoot. This will alleviate any anxieties over what areas will be up for grabs. It allows your client to get used to the idea that they will have to revisit some tough moments and the emotions that went along with them. 

Once the shoot begins, and things begin to get teary right out of the gate, do not hesitate to nip it in the bud. Once it starts, it will just avalanche. Stop the interview and ask the interviewee to go drink a glass of water, have a cigarette break, go outside for fresh air, hug their dog, go throw some cold water on their face- whatever puts them back in control of their emotions. You don’t want a video starting out with red puffy eyes, tear stained faces and runny noses. Allow the emotion to surface about 3/4 of the way through the interview.

Sometimes, watching your client go into a PTSD-like state- while describing every detail of their accident- is more heartbreaking than watching them sniffle, snork, and bawl their way through it. The viewer will definitely hear their words and understand how horrible it was. 

People also prefer a client that doesn’t wallow in their pain and finds the strength to keep moving forward.

Presenting your client in a way that allows their story to be heard MUST be your main priority. If YOU start to weary of sitting through your client’s tears, I guarantee you that the other side will have a fraction of that patience.

Incidentally, Mr. Leonard taught from 1968-2000. He sent a lot of LTs out into the world. Out of my graduating class, I know of two or three people that became defense attorneys. My advice: Always produce a Settlement Documentary like a Leonard Trainee will be watching it and you will come away with a compelling presentation.

For more tips on how to plan a Settlement Documentary, please visit: www.fadetoblackproductions.com  

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