Fieldnotes

From the intersection of storytelling, entrepreneurship & social impact.

Notes from the studio: how the films get made, the partners and places behind them, and what we’re learning in the field.

Students on the Williams College campus, from the Capital Campaign Series Method · LatestSeptember 8, 2026 · 3 min read What a capital campaign film series actually isOne film per fundraising pillar, built from interviews, launched across the campaign calendar. How Williams and Brooks did it.Read the post

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Method, field and film.

A pre-K classroom, from Starting at ZeroDocumentarySeptember 8, 2026 · 2 min readHow to host a Starting at Zero screening, and what happens at oneMore than 100 communities have used the film to open the case for early childhood investment. Here is how they did it.Read the post Hands holding freshly harvested kelpImpactSeptember 8, 2026 · 2 min readWhy seaweed is the story of our timeKelp grows a foot or two a day, needs nothing from us, and can feed, fuel, heal and de-carbonize. That is a film.Read the post Sailing the Whitsundays, from the Qantas campaign filmFieldSeptember 8, 2026 · 2 min read24 hours in the Whitsundays: shooting a destination film in a dayOne day in May 2014, a Qantas campaign with Tourism Queensland, and the documentary instinct that makes a place feel real.Read the post An interview subject on cameraMethodSeptember 8, 2026 · 2 min readDocumentary-style interviews: how we get people to open upClients say their interviewees feel like they have known Willa forever within minutes. That is not luck. It is the method.Read the post 'Starting at Zero' film virtual premiereDocumentaryAugust 12, 2020 · 2 min read'Starting at Zero' film virtual premiereThe invitation to the August 12, 2020 virtual premiere, presented with the Ounce of Prevention and The Hunt Institute.Read the post From the Firestarter Interactive reelFieldMarch 29, 2020 · 2 min readA new website, and a trip back to the archivesEleven years of projects, year by year, and the collaborators who made them possible.Read the post The pathway from public radio to Firestarter InteractiveOriginMarch 15, 2020 · 5 min readThe pathway from public radio to Firestarter InteractiveAn unpaid internship at New Hampshire Public Radio, the Salt Institute, a year of waitressing, and the founding of the studio.Read the post First feature documentaryDocumentaryMarch 13, 2020 · 2 min readFirst feature documentaryAnnouncing Starting at Zero: Reimagining Education in America, and the phone call that started it.Read the post The Backstory: how I stumbled into storytellingOriginMarch 10, 2020 · 6 min readThe Backstory: how I stumbled into storytellingAn Italian thesis on Tuscan olive oil, eight farms, and the moment interviewing became a form of activism.Read the post

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What is Firestarter Fieldnotes?

Fieldnotes is the Firestarter Interactive journal: notes from the intersection of storytelling, entrepreneurship and social impact. Posts cover how our films get made, the projects and partners behind them, the documentaries, and what we’re learning in the field.

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