Jon Reiss Says: Do It Yourself!

Named one of “10 Digital Directors to Watch,” by Daily Variety, Jon Reiss has directed three feature films most recently Bomb It about graffiti, street art, and the battle over visual public space throughout the world. His experience releasing Bomb It with a hybrid strategy was the inspiration for writing Think Outside the Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution in the Digital Era, the first step-by-step guide for filmmakers to distribute and market their films. Reiss will be conducting a workshop from July 31^st to August 1^st all about DIY distribution, at the San Francisco Film Society. BTB spoke with Reiss via Skype last week while he was in Melbourne, Australia.

How did you get started with DIY filmmaking?

Jon Reiss is the author of Think Outside the Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution in the Digital Era

I guess I got started with DIY filmmaking back in the San Francisco punk rock scene. That’s how I got into film in first place. At the time, I was an Economics major at Berkeley and was a planning on getting a PhD in Economics at Stanford but somehow ended up living in a rat-infested loft in San Francisco shooting punk rock bands.

[I went] to Paris to show the videos and I thought, “Why not go to the rest of Europe?” So, I started booking tours throughout Europe and that was really my first experience with DIY distribution. It was also my first experience with creating events and using non-traditional venues — that I’ve now come to champion — which is, I believe, the future for independent films.
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Tags: Bomb It, digital distribution, DIY, Jon Reiss, trans-media

Open Call Deadline Two Weeks Away!

Hurry hurry hurry! If you need funding for your film, don’t miss the deadline for Open Call funding on Friday, August 6, 2010.

Open Call provides completion funds for single nonfiction public television programs on any subject and from any viewpoint. Projects must have begun production as evidenced by a work-in-progress video. Open Call funding is only available to independent producers who are citizens or legal residents of the U.S. and its external territories.

One question we get asked by many filmmakers concerns the previously completed work and work-in-progress requirements. If you’re still cutting, here are some tips on what to submit and what we’re looking for when we do our evaluations.
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Tags: funding, Open Call, programming, work-in-progress

Independent Producers Get Hooked Up Digitally

Producers and filmmakers convened in Boston last month for the annual CPB/PBS Producers Workshop. The program, started 10 years ago by veteran WGBH producer Judith Vecchione, has trained more than 190 producers from some 40 states, and ITVS has participated in every class since the beginning. ITVS’ Senior Programming Manager, Richard Saiz, spent an entire day giving feedback to producers at the workshop. Matthew Meschery, Director of Digital Initiatives at ITVS, was also on hand. He co-facilitated a workshop on new-media and filed this report.

From the Producers Workshop in Boston

This was the first time I had attended the Producers Workshop in any capacity and it was also the first year they designated an entire class on the broad subject of new media. I was thankful for being invited and thankful that the Workshop’s Director, Judith Vecchione, WGBH, and CPB recognized new media as an integral part of a producer’s training in working with public television. Oh yes, and I was thankful for the air conditioning in the WGBH building (I had forgotten just how humid New England can be in the summer).

The session was co-facilitated by myself, Dave Peth, interactive producer at WGBH and Dan Sonnet, interactive producer for PBS. We decided to structure the first part of the session as an overview, covering a wide range of topics from trends in trans-media storytelling, to social media (a formal debate of the pros and cons of Facebook and Twitter), to digital distribution, to games (you’d be surprised how much documentary producers know about digital games). We then spent the latter half of our three-hour session discussing some new media projects that the producers were working on. Projects ranged from a role-playing game to an episodic web series, to a user-generated content campaign. It was exciting to have producers share their ideas with us and their peers so openly and accept honest and constructive feedback considering this is a relatively new discipline for all of us.

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Tags: boston, CPB, digitial media, documentary, judith vecchione, matthew meschery, PBS, producers workshiop, wgbh

ITVS LINCS Funding: Deadline June 18

Looking for film funding? Don’t miss out on LINCS, which provides matching funds up to $100,000 for single non-fiction public television programs on any subject and from any viewpoint, in partnership with a public television station.

The deadline for LINCS submissions is Friday, June 18, 2010. Due dates are not postmark deadlines and all materials must arrive at ITVS by 5:00 PM PDT.

Find more information about guidelines and how to apply >>

Have additional questions about LINCS? Email jonathan_archer@itvs.org or call 415-356-8383 x284.

Looking for advice on how to create a more compelling proposal? Click on the “continue reading” button below to get some insider tips.
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Tags: funding, LINCS

The BAVC Producers Institute Extends Storytelling Into the Digital Realm

Wendy Levy, director of the BAVC Producers Institute

Filmmakers, do you know your alternate reality from your augmented reality? If not, you may want to get a glimpse into the future of documentary film by checking out what’s going on at The Bay Area Video Coalition’s Producers Institute for New Media Technologies.

The Producers Institute is a 10-day residency for independent producers who, in collaboration with teams of strategists, technologists, and NGO partners, develop and prototype multi-platform projects related to their documentary projects. Now in its fourth year, the Producers Institute has gained recognition as an incubator for cutting-edge content and thought leadership in public and social interest media. That’s why we’re especially excited that four producers are participating this year with projects related to their ITVS-funded films: Pamela Yates, Granito (Open Call, 2009); Roland Leguiri-Laura, To Be Heard (Open Call, 2008); Nicole Newnham and Maren Grainger-Monsen, The Revolutionary Optimists (Open Call, 2009); and Jehan Harney, Dream of America (Diversity Development Fund, 2008).

This year, ITVS staffers were lucky enough to attend some of the events and activities, including the day of final presentations. By then, producers’ eyes were bleary from a full week of non-stop brainstorming, whiteboarding, designing, wire-framing, and developing their prototypes. Despite the frenetic schedule, the producers presented some impressive work that ranged from the aforementioned alternate reality and augmented reality game prototypes, to geo-targeted mapping projects, to mobile social applications, and much more. Videos of the final presentations should be posted soon, but to learn about the specific project proposals, you can click here. To get a re-cap of the week from the archived Twitter feed and to see more pics, click here.

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Tags: BAVC, digital, producers, Producers Institute

Hey Filmmakers – The LINCS Deadline is on June 18th

Hey filmmakers — the LINCS deadline is on June 18, so if you haven’t already contacted a potential station partner, now is the time to do so.

Do you have questions about LINCS funding and how to successfully partner with a public television station? Recently ITVS Director of Programming Erica Deiparine-Sugars and LINCS Production Manager Robby Fahey joined DocuMentors for their ongoing expert interview series Doc Talks. The ITVS team revealed strategies for a successful LINCS application and station partnership.

Also joining the conversation was filmmaker Monika Navarro, whose film Lost Souls (Animas Perdidas) was funded by LINCS and was produced in association with WGBH-Boston. Lost Souls aired this season on Independent Lens.

Listen to the LINCS Doc Talks interview here >>

Tags: documentary, film, financing, funding, independent film, Producer

Lessons from the IndiesLab: Digital Survey in Review

IndiesLab Director Davin Hutchins

This month, IndiesLab is launching a new feature, “Lessons from the Lab,” a regular blog with new marketplace data and observations about what’s working and what’s not in the digital space for indies. This month, we are building on the knowledge gleaned from our 2009 ITVS Digital Survey which polled nearly 1,000 independent filmmakers about their attitudes and strategies towards digital distribution and promotion. Here’s what we found:

Survey Finding: Only one in five respondents generated any revenue from digital distribution, and those who did reported income in the low four figures.

Lab Report: Although it is true that the revenue we are seeing for the average-performing film is very modest. The overall revenue generated by our library is increasing as a result of careful branding under the newly created “PBS Indies” brand, the addition of high-quality titles, and the growing consumer adoption of devices suited for long-form viewing, like iPads.

A few of our films have broken out. These exceptionally good films share another characteristic: filmmakers who thought about digital distribution and promotion from day one. Their production workload included managing a blog, growing a Facebook page, building a Twitter following, and creating digital enhancements as part of production activities. Our survey indicated that nearly 40 percent of producers have a blog, and 35 percent of domestic producers use Twitter, compared to 23 percent of international producers.

Lesson: Keep in mind, the people who follow you during production will be the film’s future marketers and market. If you wait until broadcast to think digital, you lose valuable audience-building time.

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Tags: digital distribution, documentary, independent films, Social Media

Looking for Film Funding? The New ITVS.org is for You!

If you’re a filmmaker, we’d like to thank you — you’re the reason we exist.

After all, ITVS was created by indie filmmakers.

The biggest hurdle for any independent filmmaker, as you well know, is financing your project. If you’re looking for funding, the current state of the world can seem bleak and confusing.

But fear not! The funding section on our new ITVS.org site is designed make it easier to understand our application process, and is designed to demonstrate more clearly what kinds of projects we’re looking for. We’ve made the process more transparent, and have made it much easier to find the right person to contact to discuss your application. We’re also improving and enhancing our online resources to help you construct a more successful proposal.

Also, we’ve made it simpler to discover where you can find ITVS’s Programming staff in person. Right next to the funding information you will now be able to see upcoming events, conferences, festivals, and workshops that we will be attending or hosting. You will find it here first. What better way to get the edge you need for a successful application?

Tags: documentary, film financing, film funding, filmmakers, independent film

Our New Website: What’s in it for ITVS Filmmakers

If you’ve been funded by ITVS, you’re already familiar with the resources we bring to bear in support of your project. The new ITVS.org takes it one step further, putting our reach and resources into your hands directly.

It’s all about leverage, and ITVS.org offers new ways to engage your audience. For the first time ever, you will be able to post your own screenings, making ITVS.org an extension of your current marketing efforts. (You should have received an email last week explaining how to post your screenings. Contact us if you need it resent.)

The new “Related Films” feature (at thew bottom of each film overview page) allows like-minded fans of other similar films to discover yours, and by linking your film’s page to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, we enable you to attract and engage these new fans, building a base you can convert when trying to fund your next project.

In addition, your film pages are also now a one-stop shop for all your promotional materials, turning ITVS.org into the perfect electronic press kit (EPK). Just point your adoring press to ITVS.org and you can be sure they receive all the info they need for that great review.

Got questions? Post them here in the comments and we’ll answer them.

Tags: documentary, film funding, filmmaker resources, filmmaking, independent films

Ask Programming: FUTURESTATES

ITVS programming staff answer questions from filmmakers about the funding process:

Q: I recently discovered the FUTURESTATES website, and I’m really enjoying the films. How did ITVS come up with the idea for this project?

A: The long answer could fill a chapter in a book. But here’s the short version. ITVS has a long history of supporting independent narrative filmmakers, from TV Families in 1993, to the more recent Goodbye, Solo by Ramin Bahrani (airing nationally on Independent Lens on June 1st – check local listings). Back in the day, American Playhouse broadcast independent narrative films on PBS, but over the years it has become a lot harder for narratives to find a home on public television. Independent Lens remains one of the only national series to broadcast independent fiction films on PBS. Without guaranteed distribution on public television, how could ITVS continue to support narrative filmmakers in a way that made sense in the world of public media?

To help answer this question, ITVS convened two “Drama Summits” in 2007/2008, one in Los Angeles and another in New York. We brought together key stakeholders: writers, directors, and producers; academics; distributors; and media arts organizations. We learned a lot from this process, with discussions focusing on funding models, distribution obstacles, and new media opportunities. But one lesson stood out: Because of the broad scope of ITVS programming, narrative filmmakers found it difficult to know how to approach us with projects that fit our mission. They wanted clearer content guidelines. They wanted more direct cultivation and funding of narrative projects. It was clear we all needed a new way of working to create films that fit everyone’s needs, including the new generation of public media audiences.

At the same time, along with many other public media organizations, ITVS was exploring ways to help filmmakers take advantage of the rapidly expanding world of online distribution. Already, a few full-length films were streaming on AOL True Stories and Snag Films. So it was perfect timing when the Programming Department proposed an online series, inviting narrative filmmakers to create short films specifically for the web. Eighteen months later, we have season one of FUTURESTATES streaming online, with season two in development right now. By asking filmmakers to explore the direction of our society by projecting their stories into the near future, ITVS was able to fulfill two important goals at the same time — creating a home to showcase the work of narrative filmmakers, and creating a place online for a wide audience to engage with the ideas that public media does best.

Tags: film fundding, filmmaking, FUTURESTATES, producers