Tag Archives: film funding

Open Call Funding Application Goes Digital

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As ITVS moves into its 20th year, the organization’s largest funding initiative, Open Call, is making the switch to digital. Starting this summer, all materials must be submitted online, including video.


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.
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Deadline News Indies Can Use

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One of BTB’s chief responsibilities is to keep an eye out for news the independent producer can use. With that in mind, we asked our Programming Department to highlight upcoming deadlines for us — featuring funding opportunities, festival deadlines, and other things you may find helpful. These will be for both U.S. and international producers … Enjoy and good luck!


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.

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Film Arts Forum: Igniting the Classroom

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San Francisco Film Society presents a panel discussion on educational media

The 2011 series of the San Francisco Film Society’s Film Arts Forum kicks off with a focus on educational media: the filmmakers that produce it and the teachers who use it. Experts in media education from ITVS’s Community Classroom, local production companies and schools will share their stories of and experiences with making films that are great educational resources, as well as the strategies and tactics they use to engage students through media. Tonight’s event will be streamed live on the Film Society’s website, starting at 7:30 PM PT.

Live Chat: All About Open Call

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Attention all filmmakers! We are days away from the Open Call deadline of this Friday, January 7, 2011.

Earlier today, ITVS Senior Programming Manager Richard Saiz spent an hour fielding questions from Open Call participants in a live video chat. Watch a replay of the event below (much easier to see if you make it full-screen).

Review the application details here and get your questions ready for Richard at noon Pacific on Wednesday. Once you provide your login info, start submitting your questions so we can get to as many as possible.
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Deadline for INPUT 2011: Dare the Future

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INPUT (International Public Television) is an organization that brings together producers, media professionals, and broadcasters from around the world for a weeklong showcase of content and discussion each year, creating a forum  “where the rules of broadcasting are challenged and redefined.”

U.S. INPUT is now accepting American submissions for INPUT 2011: Dare the Future in Seoul, Korea. The deadline is Nov. 5, 2010 and there is no entry fee! For more information check out: www.scetv.org/input.
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Emmy Winner Geoffrey Smith on The English Surgeon

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Filmmaker Geoffrey Smith won an Emmy Monday night for The English Surgeon

Filmmaker Geoffrey Smith has made more than 22 films throughout his career and has collected numerous awards for his work. On Monday night, he picked up an Emmy for The English Surgeon, his film about a British neurosurgeon who confronts the dilemmas of the doctor-patient relationship on his latest mission to Ukraine. The documentary was supported by ITVS International (speaking of, the deadline for our 2011 International Call has been changed to December 10, 2010). Smith spoke to BTB about the Emmy, the film, and the ITVS funding that helped from the start.

First off, congratulations on the Emmy! What can you tell us about Monday night’s event in NYC?

Thanks! It was very wet in New York City. Central Park looked very British and so I felt right at home. It was great to see all of my colleagues.
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Filmmakers’ Work Showcased at TedxChange

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The Revolutionary Optimists, from filmmakers Nicole Newnham and Maren Grainger-Monsen

ITVS-funded filmmakers Nicole Newnham and Maren Grainger-Monsen will have some of their latest work presented this Monday, September 20th at the TedxChange event in New York. Co-hosted by TED and the Gates Foundation, Monday’s event will showcase a short film extracted from the filmmakers’ upcoming feature project, The Revolutionary Optimists.

The documentary is currently in production and profiles Amlan Ganguly, a lawyer-turned-social entrepreneur who has made significant impact in the poorest neighborhoods of Calcutta by empowering children to become leaders in improving health and sanitation.

Monday’s event, convened by Melinda French Gates, will feature some of the world’s most inspired thinkers and doers and marks the anniversary of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals: Ten years in, where does the global community stand in the work to save and improve lives around the world?

Be sure to catch Monday’s event, streaming live here. Nice work, Nicole and Maren!

Deadline Change – Diversity Development Fund

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The Diversity Development Fund provides up to $15,000 in research and development funding to producers of color to develop single documentary programs for public television.

Projects should reach underserved audiences often overlooked by conventional programming. Projects must be in the research or development phase, and cannot have begun production. Producers must be U.S. citizens or legal residents.

That hasn’t changed.

But the deadline has!

The next DDF deadline is NOVEMBER 12, 2010. You can read guidelines and details on how to apply at ITVS.org. The online application form will be live from mid-September.

Good luck!

Notes from Orientation: Producers Learn the Ropes at Camp ITVS

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From orientation, producers talk shop with ITVS Production Manager Cheryl Hirasa

ITVS’s Open Call provides finishing funds for single nonfiction public television programs on any subject and from any viewpoint. Last week, ITVS hosted nearly a dozen filmmakers who were recently awarded Open Call funding. Among the troops was Andy Schocken, producer and director of photography, of The World in a Room. Here he wraps up ITVS’s crash course in producing for public television.

Somewhere between our discussion of Canadian retransmission royalties and the percentage-of-completion method of contract accounting, it hits me that I’m not at film school anymore. Looking around the room at a remarkable group of filmmakers whose work I’ve long admired, I accept that there’s a time and place for six-hour Frederick Wiseman marathons and roadtrips up Highway 1 with nothing but a Bolex and a dream. I’m here at ITVS orientation to hone my skills as a producer for public television, and this is right where I want to be.
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Ask Programming About LINCS Funding

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

Q: My proposal was declined from the last round of Open Call. Can I apply to LINCS with the same project?

A. Yes, you may apply for LINCS with the same project. The application and evaluation processes for the two initiatives are distinct and a declination in one initiative does not affect your chances in the other. There are differences between the initiatives. The most notable is that the LINCS initiative requires a producer and public television station partnership while Open Call does not. Please read the full guidelines to see if your project is a good fit for LINCS.

Q. I am putting together an application for LINCS. What makes a strong Letter of Agreement?

A. The Letter of Agreement is more than a simple contract between the filmmaker and the public television station. ITVS reviewers read an applicant’s Letter of Agreement as a reflection of the strength of your partnership with the public television station. The terms of this partnership are unique and vary for each production. However, the depth of commitment can be demonstrated in how well you lay out and articulate the obligations of the public television station and the role of the public television representative as well as the obligations of the filmmakers. Similar to your development and articulation of your program treatment, the Letter of Agreement should be one of substance.

For more guidance on crafting a Letter of Agreement >>