Don’t Miss the Deadline for the 2013 CPB/PBS Producers Academy

Posted on December 10, 2012 by ITVS Staff

The deadline for the 2013 CPB/PBS Producers Academy at WGBH is Friday, December 14, 2012. To apply for this intensive training program in public broadcasting, please visit the official website.

For the past 11 years, CPB and PBS have offered a Producers Academy that provides intensive training in public broadcasting production. Many talented individuals have emerged from this workshop, finding success on various public broadcasting platforms.

25 individuals will be offered the opportunity to go to this year’s workshop at WGBH-Boston from Saturday March 30 through April 5, 2013. The goal of the Producers Academy is to encourage a diverse and talented group of producers to create new and greater programming achievements in public broadcasting. The firm deadline for interested applicants is Friday, December 14, 2012.

This weeklong seminar is free and open to media makers nationwide who want to develop skills and connections in public broadcasting. Over the seven-day period, participants can expect to attend intensive courses that cover a wide range of production skills, building on the expertise that has made PBS a well-known and respected American cultural outlet. Continue reading →

American Film Showcase Heads to Monterrey, Mexico

Posted on September 11, 2012 by ITVS Staff

By Claire Aguilar
Vice President of Programming, ITVS

ITVS’s Claire Aguilar participated as a film expert at the American Film Showcase in Monterrey, Mexico in August and conducted a two-day workshop at the Escuela Adolfo Prieto.

The American Film Showcase is an international cultural diplomacy initiative, a partnership between the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts (SCA). The purpose of the Showcase is to bring people together worldwide through film, showcasing award-winning American films to international audiences through events worldwide. Filmmakers and film experts discuss the films and conduct workshops to international audiences of festival participants, students, and the local communities.

Filmmaker Steve James during his workshop.

I had the pleasure of participating in the showcase as an expert and conducted two workshops for filmmakers and film students in Monterrey, Mexico, with an invitation from the US Consulate in Monterrey. I was accompanied by filmmaker Steve James, who screened his latest film The Interrupters – about a group of “violence interrupters” in Chicago who try to protect their community from the violence they once employed. Steve screened The Interrupters as part of the Monterrey International Film Festival, and to various community groups, including at-risk youth, violence “interrupters” in Mexico, and social aid workers.

Monterrey is Mexico’s third largest city, located in the Northeast foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range. It is a large and sprawling city that is Mexico’s 2^nd richest, a commercial center filled with many multi-national corporations and is also rich in history and culture. It also is the locus of many ongoing drug cartel battles – the Mexican drug war has touched many places in Mexico but has particularly affected Monterrey. It was interesting to see The Interrupters - an American film about violence, drugs, and economic struggles – with many parallels to the violence around gangs and drugs in Mexico. But it was also interesting to see how audiences in Mexico saw the similarities of universal conflict in the world and were fascinated in how these conflicts could be resolved at home. Continue reading →

Five Insights on Hacking Films from the Software Developers Who’ve Done It

Posted on August 17, 2012 by ITVS Staff

by Adnaan Wasey
Originally published on the POV Blog

Somewhat fresh off their own Hackathon, POV’s Adnaan Wasey offers filmmakers, developers, and designers some of the advice POV was given for reinventing the documentary for web.

Before the POV Hackathon got underway, mentors and veteran engineers shared with the teams some advice born of experience. Here’s what they were told…

Understand why there are barriers to communication between filmmakers and developers. Each group’s ambitions inherently put them at odds. While filmmakers and creators are thinking about how they can bring novelty and uniqueness to their content, developers are thinking about rule sets and doing all they can to limit exceptions. Each group must understand that these contrasting philosophies could be at the root of a conflict.

Aim for a “minimum viable product.”Teams should set goals around the absolute minimum set of features that serves to show off their intents. The goals must be achievable in a short time frame because without a working prototype it will be difficult to learn how the product will actually be used.

Never forget your audience. How will users discover the product you are making? As one mentor noted, “Serendipity is not a use case,” meaning users need to be able to intuit how to interact with the product (once they’ve found it). Continue reading →

Crowdfunding: What to Keep in Mind When Considering Broadcast on Public Television

Posted on June 14, 2012 by ITVS Staff

By Ines Hofmann Kanna
Production Manager, ITVS

An ITVS Production Manager offers insight on crowdfunding for potential public television broadcasts.

”I worried about asking friends and family for donations,” says Alicia Dwyer, director of the ITVS-funded documentary Xmas Without China. “But I came to feel most excited about our crowdfunding as I realized that we do have a base of supporters who want to connect with our creative process, and many folks seemed to enjoy being a part of supporting us during production, however small [...] their contribution.”

Many filmmakers have done as Alicia has. They have turned to the not-so-new-anymore phenomenon of finding funds in a large crowd of people — smaller amounts of money rather than large checks from just a few sponsors. Alicia’s team successfully raised over $15,000 in the allotted time frame and used it to keep their production going. As grant money and (corporate) sponsorships are harder to secure, this grassroots-level approach has helped many other producers get started, keep afloat, or even finish their films. ITVS appreciates this resourcefulness of independent filmmakers working today. Continue reading →

How to Pitch Like a Pro: A Tribeca Guide

Posted on May 2, 2012 by ITVS Staff

By Claire Aguilar
Vice President of Programming, ITVS

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. Continue reading →

Reaching an Audience on Multiple Screens

Posted on April 30, 2012 by ITVS Staff

ITVS’s Rebecca Huval discusses research, news, and trends that come out of ITVS’s IndiesLab.

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. Continue reading →

Muslim Stories Marinate Hawaiian Style

Posted on April 25, 2012 by ITVS Staff

Filmmaker Justin Mashouf was one of six filmmakers invited to the Diverse Muslim Voices Exchange, hosted by the Doris Duke Foundation of Islamic Arts and ITVS. He offered BTB this roundup of the Exchange, held April 3-5, 2012 in Hawaii.

The Diverse Muslim Voices Exchange was held at the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art at Shangri-La.

Collaboration is the best teacher and earlier this month, my classroom was a recreated 17th century Mughal garden overlooking the crisp blue ocean in Honolulu. Life is tough. I was fortunate enough to be included among the six filmmakers working on Muslim themed documentaries invited to fly to out to Hawaii for a 3-day meeting of the minds at the Diverse Muslim Voices Exchange. The event was hosted by The Doris Duke Foundation of Islamic Art at Shangri-La, the residence of the late Ms. Duke, which houses one of the world’s most unique private collections of Islamic Art.

We were invited to workshop and pitch our stories to funders from Ford Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute, Black Public Media, and the Center for Asian American Media. I had come to pitch a film I have been researching for four years about men who convert to Islam in prison and their journey transitioning out of incarceration. Continue reading →

Looking In: An Update from ITVS Production

Posted on March 19, 2012 by ITVS Staff

By David Eisenberg
Production Manager, ITVS

An ITVS Production Manager offers insight on rights clearances, which can turn out to be some of the most consistently underestimated items in project budgets.

Working with archival material has always been one of the most challenging aspects of planning a documentary project. Locating the correct third-party material, identifying the appropriate rights-holders, and negotiating clearances for broadcast and other rights is often a challenge. And for a number of reasons, rights clearances are some of the most consistently underestimated items in project budgets.

In recent years, the rights landscape has become even more complex, especially for independent producers. Demand for archival material for use in Hollywood TV and film, as well as advertising has grown. As a result, many materials that have been until recently held in smaller collections are now only accessible through large, for-profit rights holders, who can be tougher to deal with. Continue reading →

NAPT Announces 2012 Open Call for Media Makers

Posted on February 24, 2012 by ITVS Staff

The Native American Public Telecommunications announced March 16th deadline for proposals.

The NAPT Public Media Content Fund will support video projects with significant Native involvement – particularly compelling projects that profile Native American leaders for the series Native Word: Stories Past & Present.

“The purpose of the Content Fund is to increase the diversity of voices in public media,” said NAPT Executive Director Shirley K. Sneve (Rosebud Sioux). “There are very few avenues open to documentary filmmakers, and NAPT believes that our organization has a great responsibility to support the creation, promotion and distribution of Native media. NAPT also believes that support from NAPT can help open other doors for various forms of other funding.”

Projects in any phase of production are eligible to apply for funding with NAPT. Awards for research and development range from $5,000 to $20,000, awards for production or completion can be up to $100,000 and New Media awards range from $5,000 to $20,000.

Learn more about the 2012 Public Media Content Fund here.