Announcing the Living Docs Project with Mozilla

ITVS and Mozilla have launched the Living Docs Project, a collaboration that supports independent producers to develop interactive documentaries.   

The ‘web documentary’ genre has matured and evolved greatly in recent years, thanks in large part to technological advances that empower creators with more robust production and storytelling tools (see examples here and here). This got the folks at ITVS and Mozilla’s Popcorn Project talking about how they could work together to explore the space between traditional documentary and the social web. 

Mozilla’s Popcorn project is an innovation lab that brings together filmmakers and developers to re-imagine and create interactive cinema online. The  innovation team develops demos and productions that spin off into software projects like Popcorn.js, a JavaScript library for HTML5 video. Mozilla’s commitment to building open web tools is an ideal compliment to ITVS’s ability to convene talented filmmakers and give them the opportunity to use the latest technology.
› Continue reading

Tags: documentary, ITVS, mozilla, new media

Keeping Up with the Digital Distribution Joneses

Tags: digital distribution, distro, IndiesLab, internet, Nielsen, startegy

Use Geo-Targeting Early and Often

Managing Editor of Independent Lens Brooke Shelby Biggs offers advice on how to geo-target relevant information to your Facebook community.

If your film is screening in Chicago, how much sense does it make to just post that fact on your film’s Facebook fan page, where most of your fans are probably not from Chicago? Not much, for a couple of reasons.

First, as we know from a previous Being Social column, only about 25 percent of your fans will see any given post. That means only 25 percent of your fans in Chicago are likely to see your announcement. That’s not effective, and it looks pretty ham-fisted to your fans who live nowhere near Chicago.
› Continue reading

Tags: brooke shelby biggs, Facebook, geo-targeting, Independent Lens, new media, Social Media

If You Facebook in the Forest Does it Make a Sound?

Managing Editor of Independent Lens Brooke Shelby Biggs offers advice on how to trigger and track engagement on Facebook.

A common misconception about Facebook is that however many friends or fans you have, they will all see each of your posts. This is simply not the case. In fact, only about one of every four of your posts will be seen by a given fan. And it isn’t because Facebook has some dark ploy to censor you, despite the viral rumors to that effect that surface every few months.
› Continue reading

Tags: brooke shelby biggs, engagement, Facebook, Social Media

First Things First: Pick the Right Platform

By Brooke Shelby Biggs

We will be offering weekly tips for independent filmmakers and public media entities on getting the most out of social media. Visit BTB Thursdays for some good advice for your Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking strategies.

No matter if you are a filmmaker, a station, or a public media brand, the very first place to start is by creating (or switching to) a Facebook page. Note, I say page, and not group or profile. This is an absolutely crucial distinction.

A Facebook profile is designed to be the outward-facing real estate for an individual human being. In fact, brands that use profiles rather than pages are in violation of Facebook’s terms. While Facebook has not yet shut down brands using profiles, they have made clear that it is within their rights to do so, and it’s not worth the risk.
› Continue reading

Tags: brooke shelby biggs, Facebook, filmmaker tips, multiplatform engagement, Social Media, tips, Twitter

Catch ITVS Films and Staff at the Silverdocs Festival

The Silverdocs Film Festival and Conference kicks off Monday June 20 in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Known as the “pre-eminent documentary festival in the U.S.,” Silverdocs is a seven-day international film festival and five-day concurrent conference that promotes documentary film as a leading art form and supports the work of independent filmmakers.

Silverdocs kicks today in Silver Spring, Maryland and both ITVS staff and films are well represented:
› Continue reading

Tags: documentary, film festival, filmmaker, funding, independent, ITVS, Silverdocs, Washington DC

Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund Announces Grantees

The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund provides finishing funds to feature-length documentaries which highlight and humanize issues of social importance from around the world.

Starting four years ago as a partnership between Gucci and the Tribeca Film Institute, the fund aims to humanize socially important issues from around the world that aren’t receiving attention from the mainstream media. Over the past four years, the fund has supported 30 films.

This year, nine projects have been chosen as grantees, with three earmarked for money from the fund’s inaugural Spotlighting Women Documentary Award which highlights the courage, strength of character, and compassion of women from around the world. For a complete list of the grantees, visit www.tribecafilminstitute.org.

Congratulations to the filmmakers!

Tags: documentary, film, gucci, New York, Tribeca

Note to Independent Producers: Be More Social!

By Jonathan Archer

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.
› Continue reading

Tags: Facebook, funding, independent producers, indies, ITVS, PBS, producer tips, Social Media, the weather underground, Twitter

Get ITVS’s New A-to-Z Guide to Producing for Public Television

Calling all independent producers: The latest edition of the ITVS Production Manual is now available for purchase at www.itvs.org.

What kind of music rights do I need to clear for my film? What is E&O insurance and how do I obtain it? What do I need to consider regarding financials and reporting to funders? How do I use social media to do outreach for my film?

Attention all independent producers: Get the answers to these and other useful questions in the latest edition of the ITVS Production Manual: An A-to-Z Guide to Producing for Public Television, now available for purchase at www.itvs.org.

Learn about the process of getting your film to broadcast and beyond with sections on insurance and financial considerations, new media rights and clearances, public broadcasting distribution, publicity, social media, community engagement, and much more.

The 2011 edition of the manual is the culmination of years of industry experience — offering a collection of practical information contributed by ITVS staff and independent producers, as well as distributors and colleagues from media organizations and the public television field.
› Continue reading

Tags: filmmakers, funding, PBS, producers, Production, public television, resources

Call for Entries from imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival

The submission deadline for the 12^th annual imagineNative Film + Media Arts Festival is June 1, 2011.  This year’s festival runs from October 19-23, 2011 in Toronto.

imagineNATIVE is an international Festival that celebrates the latest works by Indigenous peoples at the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio and new media.
› Continue reading

Tags: canada, film festival, imagine native, media arts, Native American