Every story makes claims about the world — about who people are, how institutions work, what binds communities together, and why it matters. Those claims deserve to be grounded.

Grounds for Fiction is a social science research consultancy for filmmakers, documentary producers, and novelists who take that responsibility seriously. We bring nearly a decade of ethnographic fieldwork, cultural analysis, and institutional research to the stories you're trying to tell — so that what reaches the screen or the page is not just compelling, but true in all the ways that count.

We work at the intersection of rigorous scholarship and narrative craft. Whether you're developing a documentary about civic life, a feature set inside an American institution, or a novel that needs to get the sociology right, we offer the kind of research that doesn't just fill gaps — it deepens the story itself and the message it aims to convey.