The Territory
Before the work, the questions. These are the territories Strictly Fiction plans to map: the human stuff, the uncomfortable stuff, the stuff everyone recognises and almost nobody says clearly.
Documentary Satire
Satire has always told truth through laughter. Documentary has always hunted truth through observation. Documentary satire does both at once. It points the camera at real life and lets reality make the joke.
Not scripted absurdity. Not mockumentary. The world, caught at the right angle, held just long enough to become uncomfortable. Then funny. Then true. The camera doesn't need to lie. Reality is already strange enough.
Recurring Themes
Not what people say they do. What they actually do when nobody's scoring them. The gap between stated values and lived reality is where we start.
What lives beneath how people present themselves. Self-delusion, defence mechanisms, the stories we tell ourselves to stay comfortable. Examined without cruelty, but honestly.
The invisible rules everyone follows and nobody wrote down. Norms, rituals, hierarchies: the systems that shape behaviour without anyone consciously choosing them.
The things widely understood and rarely said. Not controversial. Just honest. The observations that land like a punch because they're accurate, not because they're provocative.
Reality needs no embellishment. It needs the right frame and enough patience. We find situations where the world is already funnier, stranger, and sadder than anything scripted.