Finding the story worth telling
Before you write the brief, you need the right story.
StoryCompass works with purpose-driven organisations to uncover the real people, insights and lived experiences that make your work matter.
We dig beneath assumptions, surface the unexpected, and help you shape the story that genuinely deserves to be told - not the one you think you should tell.
You’ve got the stories
– they’re just not where you’re looking.
Everyone agrees that stories shift understanding better than facts. Yet purpose-driven organisations struggle to unearth the character-led stories that actually connect and shift understanding.
What's missing is the story-finding stage.
Too often teams default to easy-access case studies and copy what's been done previously, ignoring the unique stories they're sitting on.
Here's what I've learned from 20 years in documentary:
Curiosity builds connection, connection builds trust, and trust is how you access the stories that genuinely resonate. The stories that shift understanding often require digging - they're never the ones that come up from a standard call-outs or respond to polished requests. Finding stories that move people - not just tick boxes - needs an outsider's curiosity and a documentary approach.
Why StoryCompass?
We use the same rigour and curiosity we’ve applied to award-winning documentaries:
asking the questions that reveal insights
finding accessible paths through complex subjects
uncovering the human story that connects
StoryCompass is a great fit for:
• a non-profit that needs to demonstrate impact in a way people can feel, not just measure.
• a professional body that needs authentic stories to influence policy or showcase member work.
• a purpose-driven organisation struggling to identify the stories that would actually shift understanding.
Examples of how this might look:
• a short film sharing the stories behind your “harder-to-reach” case studies.
• a digital series that engages audiences in why your work matters.
• a podcast sharing the stories and insights rarely heard within your profession.
• case studies that illustrate the complexities and depth of your work.
How it works:
Stage 1. Story Finding
We start by understanding your organisation, goals, and audiences. Where possible we like to get involved early in - before ideas get filtered, narrowed or distorted by confirmation bias.
Our StoryDive is a risk-reducing, cost-effective method of providing you with your most powerful stories for different formats and angles and approaches you haven’t considered.
Through workshops or conversations across your teams and beyond (i.e. not just marketing and comms) we discover where your experts and stories are hidden. The people on the frontline often have the most powerful stories, but they rarely find their way to the comms team.
What you walk away with:
a raft of story ideas and approaches, showing different ways and formats to communicate your purpose and impact.
OR If you're set on a story…
We start by understanding why - to ensure we capture your vision and find the right approach to fulfilling it.
Stage 2. Story Development
We shape the winning idea into a full treatment - working out the structure, format, contributors, tone, and narrative arc. This becomes the blueprint for production.
What you walk away with:
a detailed treatment including a break down of the format and contributors – ready to brief internal teams or external production partners.
Stage 3. Story Delivery
You choose how to bring the stories to life: work with your in-house team, your preferred production partners, or use our full production services depending on your time and budget. Either way, we stay involved - whether that's managing the entire process, providing editorial support or just to ensure consistency in support for any lived-experience contributors.
What you walk away with:
a finished short film, digital series or podcast – or a supported production process that ensures the story stays authentic from start to finish.
Whether you’re starting with an idea or need help finding one…
How the process has worked in practice:
Sustainable Fibre Alliance
The SFA wanted to demonstrate their practices and work on the ground. We spent a week filming with nomadic herders, keeping the setup simple and the process open. Rather than explaining welfare standards, we focused on how herders live alongside their animals – their daily routines, their children's affection for the goats, and their deep connection to the land. That approach conveyed far more about animal welfare than any code of practice could. The resulting films were later featured on Johnstons of Elgin’s website.
Evergreenland
For an agricultural machinery company working in Mongolia, we created (from the UK) a production plan for ongoing video and podcast content – designed to share the changes, challenges and opportunities shaping arable farming. The aim was to help their team build a blueprint for a sustainable pipeline of stories that capture how farmers are adapting to a rapidly changing agricultural landscape.
No matter what the subject, format or goal is. It’s the stories about people that engage.
Our Experience
StoryCompass' Founder, Fiona Jones, is a BAFTA-nominated documentary producer with 20 years' experience developing and producing for BBC, Channel 4 and National Geographic.
After two decades in documentary and TV, I’ve learned that the real story always hides beneath the first answer. Curiosity is how you get to the interesting stuff – the kind that stays with people.
After managing communications for an international sustainability non-profit, she realised these documentary skills were exactly what purpose-driven organisations needed but weren't well served by traditional production companies.
For more info visit About Us.
What others say…
"Fiona took the time to understand our business and the challenges we face in an emerging market. As well as giving us detailed video and podcast ideas and production plans, she showed us how to gather insights from our customers to shape future content. The plan and briefs she provided were tailored to our resources, while still being ambitious for our growth."
Batkhishig Baival,
CEO Evergreenland
“Fiona goes the extra mile to deliver fascinating characters, employing real journalistic diligence to uncover original worlds and the best in class storytellers.”
Rebecca Papworth,
CEO Cancan Productions
What a conversation can uncover
Sometimes the best place to start is just a chat.
Join our mailing list or get in touch to arrange a call.
