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 The Missing LInCS: Connecting Stations, Indies and PBS 
1) Runs with scissors. 2) Plays well with others. 3) Won't share toys. If you chose the second one, you may have the kind of constitutional makeup it takes to apply for a LInCS (Local Independents Collaborating with Stations) production license agreement from ITVS. This initiative, which provides matching funds ranging from $10,000 to $75,000, was designed to facilitate partnerships between independent producers and public television stations - to the mutual benefit of both. LInCS seeks projects that have a local or regional focus and that help support the larger ITVS mission of promoting diversity in programming. Beyond the all-important funding support, what's in it for independent producers to collaborate with public television stations on their projects? For starters, a filmmaker gains entree into the public TV system (the workings of which can seem impenetrable to outsiders) and can tap the expertise of the station staff on nuts-and-bolts stuff like improving sound as well as big-picture issues like getting better station carriage. He or she may be able to use the station's equipment (such as cameras, offline editing console or a sound mixer), make use of temporary office space or be included on the station's insurance policy. At the same time, station staff can provide critical input at every step, from fundraising strategies to rough cut feedback to publicity and outreach for the completed show. Margaret Carey is a neophyte producer who profited extensively from her collaboration with KUFM/Montana PBS for her documentary, SUN RIVER HOMESTEAD. The 30-minute film, which received $23,000 through LInCS in 1999, uses postcards, archival material and source interviews to tell the story of three sisters who traveled to Montana in 1909 to stake homestead claims. The great-granddaughter of one of the sisters, also featured in the program, keeps the legacy of their independence alive by living the life of a 21st-century cowgirl. "LInCS was my shot in the dark," said Carey, who learned about the funding opportunity while trolling on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting website. "I had already applied for two other grants and wasn't planning on applying. But then a few days before the application was due my camera broke. Since I couldn't do any more shooting, I finished up the application." Not only did ITVS give SUN RIVER funding, LInCS advisers told Carey and KUFM station manager William Marcus that they hadn't asked for enough and doubled the amount of money they had requested. "I was a very inexperienced producer and director," said Carey. "I wasn't planning on paying myself much of a salary. ITVS sat me down and helped me calculate realistic costs. We could afford to do things on a much more professional level." The LInCS cash infusion paid for a still photographer, a composer, a narrator and a research assistant. It allowed for professional sound mixing, which KUFM could not do at its own facilities, as well as closed captioning. All of these improvements brought Carey's documentary up to national-level broadcast standards, and indeed PBS opted to air it. In many areas, public television stations packaged SUN RIVER HOMESTEAD with the reality-TV hit Frontier House, also set in Montana. SUN RIVER went on to win a local Emmy Award. Okay, so collaborating with a public TV station sounds like a good deal for the independent producer, but what's in it for the station? The fact is, few public television stations have the financial wherewithal or staff resources to create original programming that goes beyond what Marcus calls the "sit-down chat show." The LInCS initiative allows stations to offer in-kind contributions that ITVS then matches, allowing stations to produce programming of local or regional interest that it might not otherwise be able to offer - and with little cash outlay. "It's been my mission as director of KUFM/Montana PBS to have a real emphasis on Montana-based programming," said Marcus. "I thought SUN RIVER HOMESTEAD was a great program; it talked about Montana history, women's pioneer history. Plus we had an interest in supporting Maggie (in her development as a producer.)" LInCS does not pair up local producers and public TV stations. Indies must find partners on their own and work out the contributions and responsibilities of each collaborator before approaching ITVS for funding. In Carey's case, she had worked at the University of Montana-affiliated KUFM/Montana PBS as production assistant and associate producer while attending school in Missoula. KUFM's in-kind contribution included staffers' help in shooting, producing and editing SUN RIVER HOMESTEAD. The station also paid for the rental of selected technical equipment, funded the cost of a postcard mailing to promote the series and covered extra expenses resulting from the national feed, such as a videotech evaluation and voice-over and credit changes. It also oversaw development of the companion website. Although LInCS is well suited for up-and-coming producers and encourages the inexperienced filmmaker to work with a mentor, newcomers are by no means the only benefactors of the funding initiative. Veterans Demetria Royals (director/ producer) and Louise Diamond (producer) of Rebekah films completed BROTHERMEN with the aid of LInCS funding. The hour-long performance-based documentary weaves together interviews, music, dance, archival footage and still photography to profile the artistic achievements of five African American men. Royals and Diamond's Conjure Women had been well received when PBS aired it in 1997. The two women had already completed principal photography on BROTHERMEN and received funding from the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) and elsewhere when they pitched the project to WQED/ Pittsburgh and asked the station to collaborate with them on a LInCS application. NBPC operates a satellite office at the Pittsburgh station and WQED had served as presenting station for several consortium -backed projects in 1997, including Conjure Women. Diamond and Royal credit NBPC President and CEO Mable Haddock for laying the groundwork for future collaborations by getting WQED to pool publicity and support strategies with the consortium for these earlier productions. "Mable Haddock and other Minority Consortia have shown this commitment for a long time. It's not just about making the film, it's making sure the film gets seen," said Royals. "The LInCS model, if it works right, is about facilitating, midwifing a relationship. I've been to film school, I teach film, and yet I got advanced training in film distribution [from the public television system]. That's an area where we needed support." Rather than equipment, personnel or technical advice, it was valuable experience in station relations, publicity and outreach that the women needed from WQED. "What we provided for them was expertise in things like rights clearance issues, for the music and images and so forth," explained Jacqui Thomas, general counsel for the Pittsburgh station and executive-in-charge for WQED on the BROTHERMEN project. "Do you know that old Peace Corps adage about not giving someone a fish but teaching them how to fish? It's not that we did it for them - Louise really did all the work - but we showed them what needed to be done. She gained a skill by virtue of doing it herself." WQED did act directly to help coordinate BROTHERMEN outreach activities including organizing a screening for students and Q&A at the station's studio. They also obtained permission to hold a screening for inmates at a local prison and developed a website for the program. "The producers' passion and energy just rubbed off on us," said Karen Colbert, director of promotion for the station. "Support for BROTHERMEN came straight from [WQED President and CEO] George Miles, who watched the tape and believed we should be behind this. He believed in the project and that WQED should take it to PBS." PBS distributed BROTHERMEN as a soft feed in 2002. Many stations picked it up for airing on Father's Day or Juneteenth. Haddock says independent producers should keep in mind when seeking a public television partner that the collaboration "has to be a real partnership, not just a partner-on-paper thing. There has to be real respect for one another." Based on Haddock's positive experience with the BROTHERMEN project, NBPC is already involved with another LInCS project, in which producers Carvin Eison and Christine Christopher are collaborating with WXXI/Rochester on a documentary called JULY '64 about the three-day race riots in that city. LInCS has been in existence since 1996. To date it has financed more than 80 programs, including nine in the latest funding cycle. Although the overwhelming majority of LInCS projects are documentaries, all genres are eligible. Two dramas have received funding, as did a series of short animated poems in 2001. But LInCS isn't only about cash. Carey is quick to add that feedback from ITVS during the rough cuts helped make her program more appealing to a non-local audience. Marcus was impressed with how ITVS made sure all the niggling little details that PBS requires were taken care of, from the language on the credits to the paperwork for the music rights. "It [LInCS] really is a brilliant production strategy," said Diamond. "The way LInCS is structured, we got terrific support from ITVS, NBPC and WQED. We benefited from such a brain trust from those organizations." Geneva Collins is a freelance writer based in the Washington, D.C. area. |
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