Documentary director Drew Xanthopoulos on the importance of storytellers
What’s the Story? is a storytelling video series dedicated to learning what truly makes a great story, told through the lens of the world’s talent and practitioners of the craft in entertainment, marketing and beyond.
Drew Xanthopoulos thinks almost anything, even the most mundane of stories, can be transformed into a great story in the hands of the right storyteller.
Xanthopoulos's feature documentary, The Sensitives, is anything but mundane. It tells the stories of people that have hypersensitivities to many things most people use every day – pesticides, perfumes and even cell phones. The heartbreakingly fascinating film, which debuted at Tribeca last year, shows the upheaval and hope of families seized by a mysterious illness.
Xanthopoulos himself is enthralled with great stories, and one of the greatest in his mind is one of the oldest. "The Book of Job is actually one of the greatest stories I've ever read. What makes it great to me is that we're aware it doesn't have a black or white, good and evil to it."
That multidimensionality in characters he says has been lost more recently, but he still feels that a great story comes from the storyteller. He believes The Sensitives is the best story he's told so far, especially since it's "attracted hundreds of people to pay money to sit in a theater and watch it."
What's the Story? is sponsored by Branded Entertainment Network (BEN), the first global network for branded product integration in the entertainment industry, across all media, including the influencer space.
Filmed at Tribeca Film Festival
If you would like to pitch someone for “What’s the Story?“, please complete the linked form.