Heading north out of Johannesburg, the roads constrict quickly. Within ten minutes, highways become lonely strips of cracked tarmac. High-rise buildings are soon replaced by reservoirs of orange dust. As the sun goes down, the only light left is the headlight of a distant car before it vanishes over the horizon.

As we arrive in the town of Groblersdal, some 200 kilometres north-east of the South African capital, there’s a sense of calm. It’s late, and tomorrow morning we’ll begin filming. We’re here to capture the story of a charity using technology to improve the lives of the children in Limpopo province. We’ve prepared for everything, and yet, I feel nervous.

So many things could go wrong. That beautifully crafted storyline we’d developed could be discarded almost immediately. We’re dealing with real people and real environments. Maybe a car breaks down. Maybe someone on the team is taken ill. Before turning in, I take one more look into the nighttime and realise something. Preparation gets you only so far. Now is the time to rely on the trust and the passion of the team that got us here.

The story of Ndlovu Care Group and ServiceNow was born out of passion. But it was also born out of curiosity. Could we find that balance between preparation and unpredictability? That invisible line between holding back the tide and letting it sweep us along.

The goal for everyone involved in this project was to tell a good story. And while that’s simple, it’s not easy.

Four weeks before we arrived in South Africa, every call between us and the team at Ndlovu Care Group was a joy. I couldn’t contain my excitement when thinking of ways to tell their story. Soon enough, this passion spread. They began to open up. Let us in a little more. We discovered the only real thing that makes a good story: the people behind it.

Creating customer stories is always a challenge. But an exciting one, filled with discovery. To do it well requires the ability to empathise with people, understand their desires, know when to roll the camera, and when to cut it. Again, sounds simple, but it’s a lifetime of learning. Practice for long enough, and these skills become almost reflexive when you find yourself in the presence of a great character, setting, or story.

This project was filled with so many instances of happenstance. Times when you had the instinctive feeling that something was happening that contributed to the story. We couldn’t plan for it; all we could do was notice it and be ready to capture it. This is the discovery part of this business that should always be embraced.

Toward the end of filming, we found ourselves on the road with Hugo, one of the film’s main participants. The sun was going down as the truck ripped up the now familiar orange dust. We’d captured everything needed to tell a good story, but we weren’t finished. As we passed a youth club, the sound of kids playing football could be heard from a floodlit park. That’s when I remembered what Hugo had said weeks ago.

“At the end of a tough day, I come and watch the kids play football. These are the kids we’ve helped. I just sit here and watch them enjoy themselves.” Before we headed away from the youth club, I asked Hugo to stop the truck so we could see it for ourselves. Hugo quickly got out and took his seat beside the kids. The pride on his face as he watched the fruits of his labour was powerful. He wasn’t acting. He didn’t need to. Before long, the camera was rolling.

At the end of day, when you’re telling a story, the key is knowing what to include and what to leave out. Pour your passion into a project, and the story will come to you.

This small, seemingly insignificant scene became our opening scene. It became symbolic of the charity’s ultimate goal to help every young person out of poverty. But had we not developed a passion for this story, had we not been so enamoured by it, we wouldn’t have stopped the car that evening. We were driven by a desire to know more, and show more, and feel more of this incredible story.

Storytelling isn’t a complex thing. When you have a passion for a story, you can’t help but make a good one.