ITVS’s Claire Aguilar attended the 11th annual Tribeca Film Festival this past April, participating in the Tribeca Film Institute’s Filmmaker Pitch Workshop and acting as a juror for the Tribeca All Access Documentary Program.

Tribeca Film Institute Industry Meetings

For the past five years, ITVS has participated in the Tribeca Film Festival in many different capacities, from the funder of films selected for the festival (this year included Stephen Maing’s High Tech, Low Life, Beth Murphy’s The List, and Jerry Rothwell’s Town of Runners), to hosting special screenings of ITVS films (FUTURESTATES), ITVS’s involvement in this iconic festival is always varied and exciting.

Two special events this year included participation in Tribeca’s Interactive Day (attended by ITVS’s Karim Ahmad) and Tribeca All Access, a year-round initiative that supports the careers of filmmakers who hail from communities traditionally under-represented in the film industry. Tribeca All Access has been a successful and groundbreaking industry event, fostering and supporting diverse filmmaking voices through industry meetings, development support, and mentoring.

(L) Yoruba Richen (director), The New Black and (R) S. Leo Chiang (director), Outrun

This year I was honored to participate in the 2012 Tribeca All Access Documentary Program as a juror for the Documentary Creative Promise Award.  The award gives one documentary film $10,000 for its creative potential, innovation, and promise as a compelling and unique film.  My fellow jurors included Julie Goldman, Eugene Hernandez, Debbie Zimmerman, and Jean Tsien. Out of the five films proposed this year, the award went to Yoruba Richen’s The New Black. Congratulations to Yoruba and her producers Yvonne Welbon and Angela Tucker on the Creative Promise award!

I also participated at the Tribeca Film Institute’s Filmmaker Pitch Workshop, which gathered TFI’s newly-minted filmmakers with industry pitch producers in order to help formulate their pitches for their upcoming industry meetings. This event, held at the Hotel Griffou restaurant, known for its darkly romantic Eyes Wide Shut-like décor, was designed to help producer teams practice their pitches with industry mentors.  Along with producer Julie Goldman and director Dawn Porter, I helped the teams guide their pitches and offered feedback for the week’s industry meetings. Included in our group were Two Children of the Red Mosque with Hemal Trivedi (director), Mohammad Naqvi (co-director), Whitney Dow (producer) and Jonathan Goodman Levitt (producer); Desert Stars with Raouf Zaki (director/producer) and Frank McDonnell (producer); The Human Experiment with Dana Nachman (director/producer), Don Hardy (director/producer), and Chelsea Matter (producer); and Outrun with Leo Chiang (director) and Johnny Symons (producer). The producers and directors did a dry run of their pitch and showed materials, either a trailer or selected scenes.   It was a fantastic opportunity for producers to rehearse their pitch in a supportive environment consisting of their peers and other industry professionals offering feedback, a great method to break the ice before launching into a pitch and also a beneficial networking opportunity.

Two Children of the Red Mosque Team: (L to R) Jonathan Goodman Levitt, Hemal Trivedi, Whitney Dow, and Mohammad Naqvi

I wish that we could have this rehearsal arrangement with every one-on-one pitch meeting for documentary producers but unfortunately, most opportunities often represent speed-dating with meetings only 15-20 minutes long.

Some pointers for producers for one-on-one meetings (from the other side of the table):

• Introduce yourself and clearly communicate your name and what your role is (director, producer, intern, etc.).  This may seem totally elementary, but I can’t tell you how many meetings have started without an introduction of participants. I often leave a meeting only remembering that I spoke with a man with a pierced eyebrow and blond hair…

• Prior to your meeting, do your research. Depending on who you are meeting with, you can achieve various objectives by being prepared. Know what they can do for the project – if they’re a broadcaster, go on the website and research their editorial line and parameters. If you are meeting with a funder, read their guidelines and deadlines. If it is an engagement professional or sales agent, look at their past campaigns or films.

• Don’t assume that everyone has had time to thoroughly review your materials beforehand. If they haven’t, you will want to start your pitch from scratch (including showing materials that you have already circulated).

• If you’re screening from a computer or iPad, bring headphones.  These environments are noisy and distracting so it’s very difficult to hear or concentrate without them.

• Skip the hand-outs:  business cards are good, but DVDs, one-sheets, and postcards – um, no thanks. These days if you have additional material to share, I would rather get a vimeo link rather than have to lug around press kits and DVDs all day.

• If your meeting is a follow-up meeting, then pick up where your last interaction ended.  If your meeting person hasn’t screened your work-in-progress or sample yet, don’t worry – you can ping them about it later.  Use the opportunity to give them a production update or any other news about the project since you last met.

• Last tip:  welcome the opportunity for feedback – and listen!  Remember that it is about a relationship and the key is interaction.  You can have a forceful and compelling pitch, but if you don’t leave room for a reaction, then its energy wasted.

Click here to learn more about the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. 

The following is an excerpt from the executive summary of the 2011 ITVS Digital Survey. The findings, which are available for download below, offer new trends on the digital media environment with a particular focus on independent producers.

Who put the audience in charge? Technology, demographic shifts, and a globalized economy have all shaped a 21st century media ecosystem where power has shifted away from traditional broadcasters and gatekeepers. It’s a shift that’s revolutionized where, how, and why people use media. And content makers and distributors are playing catch-up, trying to figure out ways to reach viewers, make money, and break through the deafening noise of the marketplace.

In three of the past four years, ITVS surveyed independent producers — who so often bridge the public interest, artistic, and commercial worlds — to share their opinions, knowledge, and yes, anxiety about these changes. With this most recent survey, we took the opportunity to combine their responses with other ITVS research and observations on the landscape and its impact on producers, all as part of the mission of ITVS IndiesLab, our joint initiative with PBS to test and model  independent filmmaker strategies for online distribution platforms.

VIEWERS: WHERE THEY ARE, WHERE THEY ARE GOING?

Every day, the average American watches four to five hours of television, uses the Internet for almost an hour, and views nine minutes of online video. While television consumption continues to rise and still dwarfs all other media, Internet and mobile viewing are growing fast — over 10 times TV’s growth rate — and faster yet among the younger demographic. A recent report from Retrevo found that 29 percent of Americans under age 25 get all or most of their TV online, compared with only eight percent of the entire video watching population.

What they’re watching online, however, looks increasingly like television. In the first half of 2011, one-third of Internet users watched full-length films and TV programs online, and full-length content now makes up 18 percent of online viewing, compared to 11 percent in 2009. Eight percent of online viewing is now spent on full-length movies, up from five percent two years ago, and the audience for premium online video content is expected to expand to three-quarters of Internet users in the next two years. New research also shows viewers are spending less time watching online video during the day, with online viewership now peaking around 9PM — the same time broadcasters air their most valuable TV properties.

The result: The number of Netflix Streaming subscribers nearly doubled in 2010, and cable is losing subscribers, with heavy Netflix users cutting the cable cord. For the first time it appears clear that these services are cannibalizing the TV market. And the evidence suggests more viewers are building the habit of watching their favorite films and television programs online — a trend likely to be driven faster and further with the rise of iPads, Apple TV, Roku, Boxee, Google TV, game consoles, and other devices that offer content beyond the web browser with a more seamless, “lean-back” experience.

Check out the video below as Matthew Meschery discusses the digital survey and how Public Media is uniquely positioned to respond to some of its findings. Big thanks to the 1,000+ independent filmmakers who participated in ITVS’s 2011 Digital Survey.

We’re producers. We’re used to 13-hour days, right?

Actually, I heard nary a complaint. Instead, what I heard was praise and genuine joy for an opportunity to be with fellow filmmakers in an atmosphere of celebration and camaraderie.

Take day one of orientation, for example. After a breakfast that included vegan granola (it is San Francisco, after all), we were whisked away into workshops and meetings that were all about the money. Financial reporting. Budgeting. Contract negotiation. It was a lot to absorb and my brain was mushy by 5PM when we gathered to walk over to the Dolby Lab.

Dolby’s screening room is not what I expected from the millions of promo trailers I’ve seen and heard in movie theaters — you know, the ones that culminate in something like the sound of broken glass shards raining over you. The room is like a 1970s revival of a 1920s deco theater — but the sound is pristine.

Every film’s five minute cut was great, from the story of America’s first gay bishop to the story of a family trying to do Christmas without products from China. ITVS had prepared a program to hand out and staff introduced each film. Filmmakers did Q&A. I felt deeply respected and maybe even a little coddled as they introduced our film, As Goes Janesville, one of several that received funding after multiple tries.

Most importantly, the evening reflected the sincere support ITVS conveyed all week. Not only did they successfully create a supportive, collegial space for us to balance contract numbers with content ideas, but they helped us understand how we fit into their broader mission.

Just look at us and our film topics. We are from New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Bay Area, Milwaukee, Austin. We are Jewish, Chinese, African American, Native American, Indian-British, LGBT. We are old and young, men and women, veteran and emerging. We — and the staff of ITVS — are truly diverse, fulfilling a mission originated in the 80s to respond to a report by the Carnegie Foundation that bemoaned a public media system without innovation and diversity. No tokenism here. ITVS is serious about supporting a wide array of filmmaking voices.

The only buzzword as potentially hollow as diversity is innovation. But ITVS is serious about substance in this area too. We learned about FUTURESTATES, short fiction films that imagine a social problem as it plays out at some point in the future. And we learned about Project 360 enhanced, an innovation initiative that supports ITVS filmmakers in creating technology projects that address issues raised by their films, from games and apps to anything you can imagine. Companion websites are so two-thousand and late.

I had not expected to see the intensive three-day orientation through the lens of age, but somehow that’s how it came into focus for me. I had been around ITVS before, first as a producer at Lumiere Productions throughout the 90s, then in 2005 as part of the LINCS initiative with my film, Almost Home. Many of the ITVS staff are still here from each of those times. I chuckled at the references they used during presentations. While one of the more “mature” (as in my age) staff members used a Tom and Jerry reference, another who was likely born around the time I started working in film referenced He Man, a character I had to look up on Wikipedia to discover that it was a popular cartoon in the early eighties.

But this observation is trivial compared to the change I noticed since I was here five years ago. Last time around there was tension over the contracts and especially over distribution strategies. Five years ago filmmakers in my LINCS group felt overwhelmed, even a bit assaulted, by the sheer size and demands of the ITVS contract and what was perceived as a lack of concern for festival and theatrical releases.

But this time workshops and one-on-one meetings made the contract transparent and understandable. What’s more, ITVS’s lawyer (whom I shall not name here) is a kind, gentle, dare I say, baby-faced man who makes contracts go down like honey. And ITVS is light years ahead of other outlets with whom you may have negotiated when it comes to distribution. Instead of arguing over release windows, the entire team is ready to work with filmmakers to devise a strategy that helps our films reach audiences through festivals, PBS broadcast, outreach and community engagement activity and public relations. We met with each department over the course of three days. If anything, I felt like I would struggle just to keep up with ITVS’s support for our film.

I wish I could be more critical, if not ironic. Yet I can’t. The orientation days were long, yes, but they were lovely and I left energized to make our film and very happy to know a fantastic bunch of filmmakers well. I wish I could find something to complain about. Okay, I know, the room we were in most of the time had no windows. C’mon ITVS, can you work on that?

What are the benefits of doing this?

• Faster and more streamlined communication with ITVS staff.
• Ability to track the progress of your project online,
• Promotes sustainable practices by saving reams of paper, and greatly reducing the carbon-footprint of ITVS and the indie documentary community.
• Significant cost savings with the elimination of postage and overnight mailing fees, as well as printing, dubbing, and other expenses.

The application system will be live by June 24. Some submission requirements have changed, so please go to our funding page to review the Open Call application material requirements. If you want to get in touch with the Programming Department directly, you’ll find contact info on the web.

We’re hope you’re as excited about this as we are! Let us know your thoughts on Facebook.

NALIP Latino Producers Academy
Deadline: June 8, 2011
The LPA is an intensive 10 day (Aug. 10-19) professional development workshop for Latino/a film and public television documentary producers. It is designed to support both emerging and mid-career professionals with projects in development and pre-production.

HBO NALIP Documentary Contest
Deadline June 10, 2011
HBO has teamed with NALIP to find the next great Latino documentary film.They will award $10,000 to the winner of their 2011 Documentary grant.

All Roads Film Project Seed Grants
Deadline: June 15, 2011
The Seed Grant Program funds film projects from indigenous and underrepresented minority-culture filmmakers year-round and from all reaches of the globe. The program awards up to 16 film projects annually with grants ranging from $1,000 to $10,00

The Good Pitch San Francisco
Deadline: June 17, 2011
The Good Pitch is an invitation-only event, starting with an intensive two-day campaign development workshop for the filmmakers which brings together invited foundations, NGOs, social entrepreneurs, broadcasters and other media to expand the resources aimed at maximizing the impact of social-issue documentary.

Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards
Deadline: July 1, 2011
The duPont Awards look for excellence in reporting and evidence of commitment to important stories. They encourage the submission of daily news stories and breaking news coverage as well as features, documentaries and investigative reporting. Programs must have appeared on air, online or in theaters for the first time between July 1, 2010 and June 30.

CPB/PBS Producers Academy
Deadline: July 8, 2011
The weeklong production workshop, which will be held October 15-21, 2011 at WGBH-Boston, is designed to identify and nurture the next generation of talent for public media.

SFFS Documentary Film Fund
DEADLINE: July 15, 2011
Documentary Film Fund will support riveting documentaries distinguished by compelling stories, intriguing characters and innovative visual approach. A total of $100,000 will be disbursed annually to documentary filmmakers nationwide. Letter of Inquiry period opens June 17, 2011 and closes July 15, 2011. Finalists asked to submit additional materials in August; Winners will be announced September 30, 2011.

PIC Media Fund
Deadline: July 29, 2011
The goal of Pacific Islanders in Communications is to support the development of national public broadcast programming that enhances public recognition of and appreciation for Pacific Islander history, culture, and society. PIC accomplishes this by nurturing and supporting filmmakers through its Research & Development (R&D), Production, and Completion funds.

VIFF Storyville Vancover – Call for Submissions
Deadline: August 12, 2011
The 2011 Vancouver Film & TV Forum is proud to stimulate the development, co-financing and co-production of the creative documentary by creating Storyville Vancouver, an opportunity for filmmakers based in BC and the Pacific Northwest to pitch their projects to an international forum of commissioning editors.

Linking Independents and Co-Producing Stations (LINCS)
Deadline: Open
LINCS provides matching funds (up to $100,000) to partnerships between public television stations and independent producers. LINCS funds single non-fiction public television programs and demonstration projects that include both broadcast and transmedia elements on any subject and from any viewpoint. LINCS proposals are accepted on an ongoing basis. Producers must be U.S. citizens or legal residents.

As part of ITVS Programming’s ongoing mission to serve the filmmaking community, Jonathan Archer has been seeking out filmmakers to provide their perspectives and experiences from the trenches. First up, The Weather Underground producer, Marc Smolowitz. He recently presented on a panel entitled The Power of Storytelling and was kind enough to share some of his thoughts and strategies with BTB.

Scene from The Power of Two by Marc Smolowitz

Last month, I presented at the Netsquared Meetup in San Francisco on “The Power Of Storytelling.” I decided to connect my remarks to two current labors of love — The Power Of Two — my feature documentary inspired by the life stories of twin double lung recipients; and The HIV Story Project — a new nonprofit that I co-founded in 2009.

Both projects are anchored by social issue filmmaking and wrapped around by global calls-to-action that are uniquely tied to story and character. Produced concurrently in less than two years, my starting point on both has always been a creative one: “What are the stories I am trying to tell?” and “Who are the characters I am trying to bring to the screen?”

From there, a well-developed engagement campaign combined with a broad range of interactive, cross-platform components has fueled funding, capacity, and the ability to execute.

Marc Smolowitz

In fact, these projects — and the strategies that made them possible — have confirmed for me that there is no such thing as powerful storytelling without some or all of the following “non-story” strategies in the mix:

Infrastructure & Partnerships

Good storytelling strategy should include both online and offline community elements — and it’s the job of storytellers to build this sort of dual, effective infrastructure around projects from the start.

Two ways I do this is to include the creation of engaged advisory boards and robust partnership programs, with a focus on experts and nonprofits that are vested in my film’s call-to-action. More often than not, nonprofits find great value from aligning with separately branded media programs, especially as they face growing challenges around how to use media to engage their own stakeholders.

By designing partnership programs that offer real benefit to nonprofits, the storyteller will receive unexpected benefits in kind. Early on, the onus may be on the filmmaker to prove his or her commitment to prospective partners,  to make concessions, to work that much harder to win over trust.

Over time, the terrain of partnerships shifts into equitable, two-way relationships that fuel mutual benefit, funding, story, capacity, and more. See The Power of Two partnerships page and check out how we structure our program here, which currently involves 40+ nonprofit organizations actively connected to our cause.

Calendar & Events

Many documentaries are tied to social movements that come with powerful calendar opportunities that pre-exist us as producers. It is our job to connect to that calendar of events in meaningful ways that add value. For example, April was National Donate Life Month for organ donation awareness; therefore, on The Power of Two, we put tremendous amounts of energy into pushing out our own and collaborative April initiatives — see details about “The Daily Gift,” our 1^st of its kind organ donation iPad app, which features short-form video content recorded during the making of my film.

On The HIV Story Project, we expressly launched a new nonprofit focused on HIV and storytelling back in 2009 because we were mindful that 2011 would mark the 30^th anniversary of HIV/AIDS.

Events like anniversaries drive opportunities, marketing, partnerships, engagement, funding, and story. We knew that the HIV/AIDS communities would be hungry for good content in conjunction with the 30^th anniversary, and we’re now able to offer a range of compelling story telling programs to them, including: Generations HIV, an interactive video storytelling booth, and Still Around, an 82-minute compilation featuring 15 short films that can be repurposed in different settings across a range of distribution channels.

Social Media & Real-Time Engagement

While things are changing fast, in the second decade of the 21^st century there are essentially four types of content that can be published and shared easily via online and mobile channels — text, photo, audio, and video. Powerful storytellers are able to originate and aggregate all four with some amount of frequency, with the goal of always being in front of some segment of your audience.

Long before The HIV Story Project had a website, we had a very active presence on social media. We used monitoring, dashboards, and RSS aggregation to “appear” ubiquitous and engaged with our followers in real time. While it may be tough for independent filmmakers to be truly ubiquitous, social media done right can extend the sphere of influence of a powerful story in ways that create demand, awareness, change policy, etc.

On my projects, our social media protocol is simple: always emphasize the creation of original quality content (text, photo, audio, video), and when we’re unable to, focus heavily on aggregating quality content from our partners, trusted third party sources, and like-minded storytellers.

In this way, social media becomes a shared funnel of diverse storytelling, whereby all of our voices are amplified and our brand identities take on a life of their own.

Although it some times feels like it, none of this is rocket science. In fact, every day filmmakers and storytellers are figuring out ways to innovate on the above by placing their unique storytelling handprint on these tools.

In this age of shareability, the most important thing we can do is share our ideas. We’re all experts — and at the end of the day — there are no more secrets.

Marc Smolowitz is a director and producer based in San Francisco. His feature documentary producing credits include Trembling Before G-D and the Oscar-nominated The Weather Underground, which he brought to ITVS through the LINCS funding initiative. He currently teaches digital filmmaking at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco. Follow Marc on Twitter @marcsmolowitz.

FUNDING

Jan Vrijman Fund
DEADLINE: May 15, 2011
The Jan Vrijman Fund is looking for creative documentaries and documentary events in developing countries (PDF). Funding categories include Script and Project Development, Production and Post-Production, and Other activities (including Distribution Initiatives; Documentary Film Festivals; Documentary Workshops). The Jan Vrijman Fund gives financial support twice a year. Application deadlines are January 15 and May 15. Click here for more details.

CAAM Media Fund
DEADLINE: May 19, 2011
The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) seeks provocative and engaging proposals from independent media producers with projects intended for public television broadcast. Offered once a year, this round of funding is for applicants with documentary projects at the production and/or post-production stage. Click here for more details.

SFFS/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grant
DEADLINE: May 20, 2011
The SFFS/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grant awards up to $450,000 for narrative features that significantly engage with issues of social justice. Letter of Inquiry opens April 21, 2011 and closes May 20, 2011 (Early Deadline May 13). Finalists are invited to submit additional materials June 16, 2011. Additional materials deadline for finalists is July 8, 2011. Winners will be announced early August, 2011.

TFI New Media Fund
DEADLINE: May 25, 2011
The TFI New Media Fund provides funding and support to non-fiction, social issue media projects which go beyond traditional screens -– integrating film with content across media platforms, from video games and mobile apps to social networks and interactive websites. Four to eight non-fiction projects will be accepted, each receiving $50,000 to $100,000 in funding. Submissions deadline is May 25, 2011. Click here to apply.

Latino Public Broadcasting’s 2011 Public Media Content Fund
DEADLINE: June 6, 2011 5 PM (NOTE: This is not a postmark date — packages must be received in-house by June 6.)
The Public Media Content Fund is an open invitation to independent producers to submit proposals for a program, series, or short web-based digital video (of no longer than 20 minutes) on any subject that relates to or is representative of Latino Americans that is appropriate for public television and/or one of its platforms. Click here for details on how to submit and for further details on funding categories.

SFFS Documentary Film Fund
DEADLINE: July 15, 2011
Documentary Film Fund will support riveting documentaries distinguished by compelling stories, intriguing characters and innovative visual approach. A total of $100,000 will be disbursed annually to documentary filmmakers nationwide. Letter of Inquiry period opens June 17, 2011 and closes July 15, 2011. Finalists asked to submit additional materials in August; Winners will be announced September 30, 2011. Click here for more details on the fund.

Storyville Vancouver
DEADLINE: August 12, 2011
The 26^th edition of VIFF’s Film & TV Forum runs from September 27 through September 30, plus New Filmmakers’ Day, Oct. 1. The 2011 Forum is proud to stimulate the development, co-financing and co-production of the creative documentary by creating Storyville Vancouver, an opportunity for filmmakers based in the Pacific Northwest to pitch their projects to an international forum of commissioning editors. Click here for more details and to download the submission form.

FESTIVALS

Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival
DEADLINE: May 9, 2011
The American Museum of Natural History’s Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival is the longest-running showcase for international documentaries in the United States. The Mead Festival screens documentaries that increase our understanding of the complexity and diversity of the peoples and cultures that populate our planet. Click here for details on how to submit. The deadline is this Monday, but they accept Withoutabox submissions, so there’s still plenty of time.

Media That Matters Festival ’11
DEADLINE: May 11, 2011
Got a short film you want to share with the world? Arts Engine’s annual Media That Matters Film Festival is now accepting all entries for this year’s event! Media That Matters is the premier showcase for short films with big messages.  The late deadline: May 11, 2011, and the festival will take place in the Fall of 2011. (Please Note: Your film MUST be cleared for NONEXCLUSIVE home video, educational, online, broadcast, and theatrical distribution.) Click here for more details and to submit your film.

DOCSDF 2011, 6th International Documentary Film Festival of Mexico City
DEADLINE: May 13, 2011
DOCSDF 2011, 6th International Documentary Film Festival of Mexico City will take place from September 29 to October 9, 2011. Each participant may present one or more documentaries. Call for entries are open, with a shipping deadline of May 13, 2011. Submit your documentary at www.docsdf.com

Got a tip on an upcoming deadline for filmmakers? Email us at tips@itvs.org, be sure to include DEADLINE in the subject line and we’ll include it if we can.

The deadline for International Call is December 10, 2010

ATTENTION non-U.S. filmmakers, the new International Call deadline of December 10, 2010 is sneaking up on us all. In order to prepare the most competitive applications possible, ITVS is pleased to be hosting this live chat about the funding deadline to answer questions about the application process.

Senior Programming Manager Cynthia Kane and ITVS staffers will be online to field questions in real-time starting at 5 AM Pacific (find out what time that is for you.) Please sign in below and start loading your questions. We hope to get to them all!

About the International Call: International Call provides production and/or post-production funds for single non-fiction television documentaries that bring international perspectives, ideas, stories and people to a U.S. audience. This initiative is for non-U.S. producers and filmmakers who live outside the U.S.

Find out how to apply and join our International Filmmaker Networking Group on Facebook.

The new International Call deadline is December 10, 2010

ATTENTION all non-U.S. filmmakers, the new International Call deadline of December 10, 2010 is quickly approaching.

Join us this Wednesday November 24 for a live chat here at 5 AM Pacific Standard Time. ITVS Programming Manager Cynthia Kane will be taking your questions so be sure and find out what time the chat is for you.

All questions are welcome on the application process; tips on writing a compelling treatment; what ITVS staff is looking for; what we want in a work-in-progress; what happens if you’re funded; and so forth.

Get your questions ready and log on to ask Cynthia about the International Call process. (The blog page will be live a few hours before the chat.)

About the International Call: International Call provides production and/or post-production funds for single non-fiction television documentaries that bring international perspectives, ideas, stories and people to a U.S. audience. This initiative is for non-U.S. producers and filmmakers who live outside the U.S.

Find out how to apply and join our International Filmmaker Networking Group on Facebook.

The DDF deadline is Friday, November 12

With the Diversity Development Fund (DDF) deadline approaching this Friday, ITVS Programming Manager Karim Ahmad will be taking your DDF questions today from NOON to 1:00pm PST in a live chat.

All questions are welcome on the application process; tips on writing a compelling treatment; what ITVS staff is looking for; what happens if you’re funded, etc, etc.

ITVS' Karim Ahmad

Get your questions ready and log on below to ask Karim about the DDF funding process.

About the DDF: The DDF provides up to $15,000 in research and development funding to independent producers of color to develop single documentary programs for public television. Projects should speak to the ITVS mission to serve under-served audiences with programs that take creative risks, explore complex issues, inspire dialogue and express points of view seldom seen on commercial or public television.

Find more information on guidelines and how to apply.