As you probably know, TV viewership today is vastly different than it was just a few years ago. There’s at least one upside. Now that viewers tend to click on their entertainment, media has become easier to track. Recent Nielsen reports paint a picture of TV homes aglow with multiple screens, and their viewing habits vary across demographics in interesting ways.

Gadget owners juggle between multiple screens. While watching a TV program, they checked email (57 percent), surfed for unrelated info (44 percent), and visited a social networking site (44 percent). In 2011, the number of laptops surpassed desktops in TV homes, making it easier to browse on the couch. The top visited websites were the usual suspects: Facebook, YouTube, Zynga, Google Search, and Yahoo! Mail.

Portable internet devices have fragmented audiences and their attention spans. Interestingly, tablets are the only digital category where males make up the majority. Tablets are mostly used at home, and used on-the-go only 30 percent of the time. They are used almost equally for books (31 percent), sports (34 percent), and news (39 percent). Smartphones, on the other hand, are a commuter’s best friend. App usage peaks among adults at 5PM as workers file out of the office to play Angry Birds. Smartphones have also penetrated a large swath of the mobile market: By the end of 2011, 44 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers owned a smartphone.

As you might have guessed, internet video watchers tend to be younger than TV viewers. The 18-34-year old and 35-39-year old groups make up a larger percentage of online than TV viewership. However, the youngest tots are still watching the older medium: 2-17-year olds make up 23 percent of TV viewers, but only 14 percent of online video viewers.

These new habits and demographics beg the question: How can we get viewers to engage with us on multiple screens at once? And how do we sustain the interest of younger viewers who are used to a deluge of media vying for their attention? Independent Television Service has responded with Project 360 Enhanced, an initiative launched in Fall 2009 to enhance documentaries with interactive experiences such as digital games, website features, mobile applications, and more.

“By creating contests, games, and multi-screen experiences, audiences become more active viewers,” said Cathy Fischer, senior content producer at ITVS. “They can engage with the content, dig deeper into the subject matter, participate, and share.”

One successful example was The Hayloft Gang. The documentary illuminates 1930s and 40s America through country and bluegrass music radio shows. To draw in musicians through online communities, Project 360 Enhanced worked with the filmmaker to encourage bluegrass enthusiasts to submit their liveliest renditions of 30s and 40s roots tunes. The winners were featured on The Hayloft Gang’s website and awarded prizes such as a Martin Vintage Guitar and a custom mandolin.

Sixty participants entered, and the contest itself received 52,898 views and 19,648 votes. “With The Hayloft Gang Contest we were able to reach audiences that may not usually watch PBS, but are fans of bluegrass and folk music,” Fischer said.

Because it’s Friday, here are some cameras made out of turtles. ? Wired Raw File

You might have heard that Hulu added 30 documentaries to its collection. Read about the exciting new lineup from @DocSoupMan. ? POV

Nostalgic for summer travel? Check out classic American West road trip photos by Walker Pickering. “Often infused with golden sunlight and blending beauty with apparent ugliness, his landscapes are both physical and psychic spaces,” writes Feature Shoot.

If you’re producing your first or second documentary, consider applying to IDFA’s summer school in Amsterdam. Submissions due by April 1st!

A documentary series called “Beginnings” launched this Tuesday on The Sundance Channel. The show explores the youthful awakenings of artists and innovators, and it kicks off with such interesting characters as graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi, actress-singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Sylvia Whitman, the owner of Shakespeare and Company in Paris. ? The Book Bench

Even if you weren’t at SXSW this week, you can still find some festival wisdom online. Here are 10 tips on shooting low budget films. ? Filmmaker Magazine

And thanks to SXSW, you can start your weekend by rocking out. Here are 17 SXSW bands available on YouTube. ? The Hairpin

Find more Indie Roundup recommendations from the archives.

Have you ever wondered what makes YouTube videos go viral? Get the answer and “why that even matters” in this insightful TED Talk that references such classics as Double Rainbow and the world-traveling Nyan Cat.

This year’s Oscars boded well for filmmakers outside the Hollywood bubble. Pakistan received its first Academy Award for Saving Face, a short documentary about the victims of acid attacks.

Even self-proclaimed “swamp rats” from Shreveport, Louisiana, at Moonbot Studios, won for The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. You can watch their 15-minute literary animation for free.

Talk about transmedia. Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden will feature the first-ever 360-degree cinema presented in a continuous format around its cylindrical exterior. Eleven high-definition projectors will broadcast the pop song “I Only Have Eyes for You” sung by 15 artists from Beck to The Flamingos.

Since the March 2011 tsunami devastated Japan, much has changed. See the difference a year can make in these striking before and after photos.

Heads up! Submissions for both the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund and the TFI New Media Fund are due on Tuesday, March 6.

If you think your camerawork is grueling, check out this short documentary about three French alpine photographers who dangle from carabiners with all their equipment.

Will YouTube’s new branded channels kill cable TV? We’re betting not, but here’s how filmmakers can stay ahead of the curve.

Subscribe to Beyond the Box and stay on the lookout for more excerpts from Sreenivasan’s conversation with Davis and many others.

Filmmaking is no cheap endeavor, and very few people have the personal means to fund their own projects. Not surprisingly, fundraising has always been closely tied to the filmmaking process. However, navigating through the large number of public and private foundations that fund media production can be as complicated and daunting as making the film itself.

Funders often have very specific requirements dictating how and why they decide to fund a particular project. A film may have to meet a funder’s mission, geographical location, cultural background, and subject matter before even being considered for funding.

Another requirement could be that, in order to receive funding, the applicant must have not-for-profit 501(c)(3) status.  However, not-for-profit status is not an easy thing to obtain, especially if a filmmaker is only producing a single film. This is where fiscal sponsorship comes in.

By the time ITVS gets involved in the production of a film, filmmakers may already have fiscal sponsorship in place, or they may be in the process of securing funds through a fiscal sponsor. We get a lot of questions on this topic. ITVS doesn’t require producers to handle ITVS funds through fiscal sponsorship, but we often engage directly with fiscal sponsors as part of the co-production relationship with our filmmakers.

Here’s how it works: A fiscal sponsorship is a formal arrangement in which a 501(c)(3) public charity agrees to sponsor your project because it fits their mission. This partnership allows you to seek grants and solicit tax-deductible donations for your film from funders that otherwise (without your association with the not-for-profit) could not give to your project. In addition, you have the support and endorsement of an experienced organization.

Fiscal sponsors usually charge a fee based on a percentage of the funding they are helping the filmmaker secure (fees usually range between 5 percent and 7 percent of said funds, but make sure to ask the fiscal sponsor about its fee structure.) This fee can include significant services, such as bookkeeping, budget tracking, generating 1099 forms, and more. These fees and services vary from organization toorganization, so make sure you do your research.

Tips

If you decide to go with a fiscal sponsor, select an organization that has a solid track record of experience and expertise. Find out from the sponsor which films have been supported by them in the past, and contact those filmmaking teams for references.

A good relationship with a fiscal sponsor can help you further develop the reach and impact of your film. A fiscal sponsor can provide a direct line of contact to the communities touched by your subject matter. They can offer promotional advice, or even put you in contact with seasoned professionals in the field.

Agreements between producers and fiscal sponsors should clearly spell out the arrangements and responsibilities of each party. These agreements must allow the producer to retain copyright and editorial and financial control of the project at all times, so make sure you engage with your legal team whenever discussing these rights.

Carefully weigh whether or not to engage with a fiscal sponsor. Some producers feel that the fees are too high for the benefits offered by the sponsor. Others welcome the idea of having an organization support them during their process and feel they have a mutually beneficial arangement.  Whatever the case may be for your project, make sure you read and compare the pros and cons of every potential sponsor and make the decision that best suits you.

Here are some of the organizations that ITVS producers have worked with in the past:

• Arts Engine

• Center for Independent Documentary

• Women Make Movies

• Documentary Educational Resources

• San Francisco Film Society

• International Documentary Association

For a more complete list, feel free contact me at jorge_trelles@itvs.org

The Oath, which is streaming free on ITVS Indies Showcase from September 11-13, follows the story of Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard, and Salim Hamdan, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay Prison and the first man to face the controversial military tribunals.

Moderated by NewsHour’s Hari Sreenivasan, Monday’s live chat will feature a panel of experts including:

• Abdul-Ghani Aliryani
Political Analyst and Co-founder of the Democratic Awakening Movement
Abdul-Ghani Aliryani is a Yemeni political researcher and analyst, who played an advisory role to filmmaker Laura Poitras in the making of The Oath. He is based in Sana’a, Yemen.

• Lt. Cmdr. Brian L. Mizer
Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Eastern District of Virginia
Lt. Cmdr. Brian L. Mizer served as Salim Hamdan’s lawyer at Guantanamo and is featured throughout the documentary The Oath.

• Laura Poitras
Filmmaker, The Oath
Academy-Award nominated filmmaker Laura Poitras has directed several acclaimed documentaries including Flag Wars (2003) and My Country, My County (2006). Her film The Oath is part of a trilogy of films about America post 9/11 and earned top honors for cinematography at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

• Andrea Prasow
Senior Counterterrorism Counsel, Human Rights Watch
Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Andrea was a defense attorney with the Office of Military Commissions. She served as assistant counsel for Salim Hamdan alongside Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer.

Join us for the event on BTB on Monday, September 12 at 11AM PT / 2PM ET.

By Sreedevi Sripathy

This month, ITVS will be re-launching our popular IndiesLab monthly blog post with Sreedevi Sripathy, Director of Broadcast and Distribution, discussing research, news, and trends that come out of ITVS’s IndiesLab.