Looking In: An Update from ITVS Production

Managing Director of Production Richard O’Connell, provides the first in a series of updates on some of the latest initiatives for independents at ITVS.

Welcome to the first in a series of updates on the production side of the public media world at large — in particular at ITVS, where our production team is working with filmmakers on more than 150 programs scheduled for public television. Topics will range from technology advances to marketing strategies and trends, and to ITVS policies.
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Tags: funding, ITVS, Open Call, orientation, Production

Filmmaker Notes from Orientation, Summer 2011

Filmmaker Brad Lichtenstein attended ITVS’s latest producers orientation for Open Call funding and was kind enough to share his notes.

We’re producers. We’re used to 13-hour days, right?

Actually, I heard nary a complaint. Instead, what I heard was praise and genuine joy for an opportunity to be with fellow filmmakers in an atmosphere of celebration and camaraderie.

Take day one of orientation, for example. After a breakfast that included vegan granola (it is San Francisco, after all), we were whisked away into workshops and meetings that were all about the money. Financial reporting. Budgeting. Contract negotiation. It was a lot to absorb and my brain was mushy by 5PM when we gathered to walk over to the Dolby Lab.

Dolby’s screening room is not what I expected from the millions of promo trailers I’ve seen and heard in movie theaters — you know, the ones that culminate in something like the sound of broken glass shards raining over you. The room is like a 1970s revival of a 1920s deco theater — but the sound is pristine.

Every film’s five minute cut was great, from the story of America’s first gay bishop to the story of a family trying to do Christmas without products from China. ITVS had prepared a program to hand out and staff introduced each film. Filmmakers did Q&A. I felt deeply respected and maybe even a little coddled as they introduced our film, As Goes Janesville, one of several that received funding after multiple tries.

Most importantly, the evening reflected the sincere support ITVS conveyed all week. Not only did they successfully create a supportive, collegial space for us to balance contract numbers with content ideas, but they helped us understand how we fit into their broader mission.

Just look at us and our film topics. We are from New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Bay Area, Milwaukee, Austin. We are Jewish, Chinese, African American, Native American, Indian-British, LGBT. We are old and young, men and women, veteran and emerging. We — and the staff of ITVS — are truly diverse, fulfilling a mission originated in the 80s to respond to a report by the Carnegie Foundation that bemoaned a public media system without innovation and diversity. No tokenism here. ITVS is serious about supporting a wide array of filmmaking voices.

The only buzzword as potentially hollow as diversity is innovation. But ITVS is serious about substance in this area too. We learned about FUTURESTATES, short fiction films that imagine a social problem as it plays out at some point in the future. And we learned about Project 360 enhanced, an innovation initiative that supports ITVS filmmakers in creating technology projects that address issues raised by their films, from games and apps to anything you can imagine. Companion websites are so two-thousand and late.

I had not expected to see the intensive three-day orientation through the lens of age, but somehow that’s how it came into focus for me. I had been around ITVS before, first as a producer at Lumiere Productions throughout the 90s, then in 2005 as part of the LINCS initiative with my film, Almost Home. Many of the ITVS staff are still here from each of those times. I chuckled at the references they used during presentations. While one of the more “mature” (as in my age) staff members used a Tom and Jerry reference, another who was likely born around the time I started working in film referenced He Man, a character I had to look up on Wikipedia to discover that it was a popular cartoon in the early eighties.

But this observation is trivial compared to the change I noticed since I was here five years ago. Last time around there was tension over the contracts and especially over distribution strategies. Five years ago filmmakers in my LINCS group felt overwhelmed, even a bit assaulted, by the sheer size and demands of the ITVS contract and what was perceived as a lack of concern for festival and theatrical releases.

But this time workshops and one-on-one meetings made the contract transparent and understandable. What’s more, ITVS’s lawyer (whom I shall not name here) is a kind, gentle, dare I say, baby-faced man who makes contracts go down like honey. And ITVS is light years ahead of other outlets with whom you may have negotiated when it comes to distribution. Instead of arguing over release windows, the entire team is ready to work with filmmakers to devise a strategy that helps our films reach audiences through festivals, PBS broadcast, outreach and community engagement activity and public relations. We met with each department over the course of three days. If anything, I felt like I would struggle just to keep up with ITVS’s support for our film.

I wish I could be more critical, if not ironic. Yet I can’t. The orientation days were long, yes, but they were lovely and I left energized to make our film and very happy to know a fantastic bunch of filmmakers well. I wish I could find something to complain about. Okay, I know, the room we were in most of the time had no windows. C’mon ITVS, can you work on that?

Tags: brad lichtenstein, film funding, funding, independent filmmaker, Open Call, producers orientation

Funding Deadline: Open Call Applications Due July 29

The deadline for ITVS’s biggest funding opportunity, Open Call, is in two weeks on Friday, July 29. Last month, we announced our new digital application process, but it’s worth reiterating some main points to help you on your way. Read on…

1. Read the How To Apply page. Some requirements have changed, particularly regarding previous work samples and the work-in-progress.

2. Create an account. You can do this any time, and complete the application over the next two weeks. We encourage you to start the process early. You can save your progress and return any time up to the deadline.
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Tags: application, digital application, film funding, funding, independent filmmakers, Open Call

Open Call Funding Application Goes Digital

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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Tags: application, documentary, film funding, funding, grants, independent producers, indie funding, ITVS, Open Call, public television

Live Chat: All About Open Call

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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Tags: film funding, funding, independent film production, ITVS, money, Open Call, programming

From Low Budget to Gold Statuette

ITVS-funded Girls on the Wall recently picked up an Emmy

Filmmaker Heather Ross recently picked up an Emmy for her film Girls on the Wall, which was a recipient of ITVS’s Open Call. Ross fills in the picture for BTB on the journey that led to the award.

Six years ago, I moved to a faraway city and started shooting a documentary with the naïve idea that the rest of the pieces would fall into place. The film, Girls on the Wall, followed a group of teenage girls in prison as they took on an unlikely task — writing and staging a musical, using their lives and their crimes as the story.

It ended up taking about five years to make, and I had to rely on almost everyone I knew, and many I didn’t, to get it out into the world. Last weekend, this little film got a big shot in the arm: it won an Emmy.
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Tags: Emmy, girls on the wall, ITVS, Open Call, women's empowerment

Granito Makes Good Use of the Past

A Scene from Granito

Granito is a story of destinies joined by Guatemala’s past, and how a documentary film from 1982 — When the Mountains Tremble — became forensic evidence to help prove a genocide case against a military dictator.

In Granito, the characters sift for clues buried in archives of mind and place and historical memory, seeking to uncover a narrative that could unlock the past and settle matters of life and death in the present. Like a crime thriller where the narrative is revealed step by step, this epic film travels between present and past, uncovering evidence of massive crimes and bringing accountability to the present.

The film, by Pamela Yates and Paco de Onis, was selected during last year’s round of Open Call.

Watch the producers of Granito answer questions about the film below.

Tags: documentary, granito, ITVS, Open Call, PBS, public television

Shop Talk: Q & A with Programming

Q.  My last program was funded by ITVS several years ago. I see that the Open Call guidelines state that I am not eligible to apply if I am not “up to date with reporting requirements.” How do I find out if I am current or not?

A.  If you have previously received production funding from ITVS, your ancillary income reporting requirements were laid out in your original agreement. Please revisit this to understand your requirements. You should also contact the business finance staff if you have questions about your ancillary income reporting status or about the steps you need to take to come up to date.
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Tags: ask programming, documentary, funding, ITVS, Open Call, PBS

Notes from Orientation: Producers Learn the Ropes at Camp ITVS

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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Tags: documentary, feature film, film funding, filmmakers, ITVS, Open Call, orientation, producers, short film

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