Documentary Film Production 101

Yesterday was educational. Met with Cath, my daughter's producer friend, who over a glass of sparkling water in a Leederville cafe, gave me a potted education in the process by which documentaries are made. To Cath's way of thinking the idea needs some more development before it would be likely to be taken up as a commercially viable project but she gave some helpful ideas on possible "hooks" on which such a project could be based.
More importantly she outlined who locally might be able to be involved and some of the costs and pitfalls associated with documentary making so in all a profitable afternoon.
Perhaps most important of all, the discussion with Cath got me thinking more about a variety of aspects of the project, all of which is useful because the more I think about it the further the journey is likely to progress. I'm often refer to myself as "an ideas man" meaning that I get ideas but don't always pursue them. I'm lazy. I like to come up with the idea but when it comes to the hard work of progressing it... that doesn't always happen. (One of my ideas once was to sell ideas to other people. Never did it, but a top idea. See how my thinking works?)
This journey is one idea though that I am determined to follow through. My bets are hedged a bit in that what I am committing to is to recreate Edward's trip. That I will do. The incidental bits as to how I record it are still up for debate but in talking to Cath I'm pretty sure I will be able to film it on some level. Whether that be a "home movie" or a full fledged documentary, only time will tell.
As a side issue to my thinking about the trip, I have thought about the many other descendants of Edward Ogilvie and wondered whether I should try and track some down and see if I can find anyone else who is interested in taking this journey with me. Co-incidentally Cath mentioned that one of the principals of a local production company is an Ogilvie. Might he be from the same line of Ogilvie's? Won't that be a spooky co-incidence? As Edward had 8 daughters most of his descendants don't carry the Ogilvie name but who knows?