Brian Fanzo
Apr 30, 20192 min
Most thought leaders today look down upon other entrepreneurs that spend part of their day or even many hours of their week binge watching Netflix but I think the opposite.
For the past 3 years I’ve had a notebook on my coffee table or really multiple notebooks where I record different notes, emotions and thoughts while binge-watching tv. Now just to put it out there I LOVE binge watching tv shows and find its a hobby of mine that allows my brain to switch gears much in the way going to the gym for some people helps them avoid burnout.
The “tv note-taking” started with simple notes or ideas that were invoked while watching my favorite shows like Parenthood or Sons of Anarchy or Making of a Murder documentary and then I began to be more structured in my note-taking. Now when I watch shows I first watch an episode or special with the goal of consuming it as a fan but often times I go back and consume it a second or third time with the goal of studying and analyzing the storytelling.
I often break my notes into those 3 categories:
Message
Delivery
Video production
I try to define what I believe the success of the show/episode/documentary looks like it's going to be based on marketing/promo/trailer/preview before watching it.
These are a couple of things I try to pay attention to while watching:
Feeling/Emotion
Did success match what I thought
What changed vs surprised me
Who do I think the target audience was/is
A great example of this happened this past week as I took notes while watching 3 drastically different programs: Game of Thrones, Brene Brown Netflix Special and Beyonce Homecoming documentary.
I was blown away by how much I learned and how I could take something from each to improve my storytelling on my new speaker website, my podcast content and how I tell stories both on video and on stage as a keynote speaker.
On this episode of FOMOFanz I share the structure of the notes, what I look for and how I connect what I learn about camera positioning in Game of Thrones to how I will stand and position a story I plan on telling next week on stage at an event I’m speaking at.
It doesn’t matter if its a book you’re reading or YouTube channel you subscribe to, I believe storytelling is amazing because we can never perfect it and we can also be learning from the stories we consume.
I challenge you to listen to this episode and start taking notes the next time you binge watch a show!