Whatever your personal history, I guarantee with a little digging you’ll find a library of related books, articles, essays, and films. Authors, academics and screenwriters pride themselves on being experts on their topics of interest, often spending years learning everything there is to know about a certain event, period, or era, in order to paint an accurate picture in their prose. Reading or watching their works can prove incredibly helpful, especially if you weren’t alive to experience those events/that era first-hand.
Don’t be afraid of contacting said authors/academics/screenwriters directly (okay Spielberg probably won’t write back, but others just might!). When I discovered a book on the Brazilian Ambassador Souza Dantas—the man who, I learned, was responsible for granting my grandfather a Brazilian visa in ’41—I emailed the author. Fábio and I corresponded regularly—he was remarkably helpful, and was even kind enough to track down some of my family records at the National Archives in Rio. How about that? All because I sent him a nice email, explaining my project and telling him I’d like to learn more about his book.
