The Documentary Distribution Toolkit

How to Get Out, Get Seen, and Get an Audience

Rachel Gordon

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367715458
• eBook ISBN: 9781000477559
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

Mapping out a diverse journey through documentary distribution, this book is a comprehensive global how-to reference guide, providing insights into the landscape of documentary distribution; targeting the right audiences to expand the reach of your documentary; and building a sustainable career.

Detailing how to prepare your documentary, strategies for crowdfunding, working with documentary organizations and online platforms and outlining the channels to consider, The Documentary Distribution Toolkit demystifies the process of distributing your documentary. Featuring case studies and interviews including filmmaker Alice Elliot, representatives from public television stations such as ARTE, ZDF, Al Jazeera, TRT (Turkey), NHK, as well as drawing on author Rachel Gordon's over 20 years of experience working in documentary distribution. Foregrounding documentaries for non-profit and educational purposes, each chapter gives guidance on how to think locally and globally, on money matters to consider, and personal questions to answer before proceeding to help filmmakers manage their time, money and energy wisely.

This book empowers the filmmaker to distribute their documentary in an effective and strategic manner. Providing concrete advice on how to navigate the documentary ecosystem beyond the classroom, this is the ideal book for professional and emerging documentary filmmakers, as well as students who are looking to distribute their documentary films.

1 Prepare Yourself: Think Before You Shoot

DOI: 10.4324/9781003152545-1

Just as you plan your production, you must plan your distribution. For the best results, this planning should begin as early as possible (ideally during pre-production).

– Chanda Chevennes, Filmmaker and Author of the report The Road to Creative Distribution

Your network is your net worth. You have to build personal relationships to build the professional network you want.

– Sarah Mosses, Co-Founder, Together Films

Preparing for a documentary film project should begin with a discussion about distribution. The life of a film begins just after the final edit is complete. Begin this discussion during pre-production and think about the public life of the film for the next few years to come. Where do you want it to go? Who should see it? Why is it an important story? As I was advised by people across the documentary community, it is a useful exercise to think of your audience first.

After attending film school and making five short films that went to festivals, I got into distribution working for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) in the early 2000s. As their office manager, I helped get their content sold and programmed across the United States. We managed the licensing relationships of approximately 30 distributors who sold the documentaries and animated films for us. However, there were always films that were not picked up, and it was our job to find their niche audiences. After the NFB closed their New York office, I continued to do this niche marketing and outreach work for years with independent filmmakers. No matter how good your film is, there may be nobody suitable to handle it but yourself at the time you are ready to release it.

There is also a great deal of competition for films to be seen and acquired for distribution in the documentary marketplace. Many good films never see distribution. The NFB had a name brand and still had to promote its own content – and you will need tools to do that, even if you are working with others. According to Peter Hamilton Consultants (a firm that consults across the documentary industry on business strategy and performs market studies among other services), of the 1,642 documentary features submitted to Sundance in 2021, 30 were accepted. This is a success rate of 1.8%, down from 2.8% in 2020. Those 30 included 19 films from the United States and 11 international entries. As will be discussed in Chapter 7, POV, a PBS documentary programming strand, takes about 16 projects out of the 800 submitted for a year. The percentage of documentaries programmed is not easily quantified, but you can tell by these numbers that it is an uphill battle for which you want to feel prepared.

Even if you do not want to self-distribute, it is essential that you have some of the skills discussed in this book so that you are prepared for how the professional marketplace works. The competition is not only based on the quality of content but also how much work, research and commitment the filmmaker has devoted to a long-term strategy.

The purpose of this book is to provide strategic advice to start you on the process of your content being seen by a variety of audiences around the world. This advice comes directly from producers already doing the work and industry professionals working in the documentary community. I hope the book will help you feel more secure going into production, knowing you can become acquainted with the consumers of your film before you start shooting.

What You Can Expect

Chapter 1 looks at preparing to enter the professional documentary ecosystem. This chapter is a broad overview of how to approach the markets in this book, based on conversations with filmmakers and industry representatives. I gathered advice from filmmakers around the world including the United States, Pakistan, Europe, Africa and Latin America. I spoke with people who ran documentary laboratories in Mexico, France and China. Distributors spoke to me from Singapore, Australia and North America, and we will discuss the basic mechanics of those agreements. An overview of why money management matters is included.

Chapter 2 profiles the journey of four filmmakers who ran crowdfunding campaigns, both successful and not. Their experiences provide a glimpse into how crowdfunding can be used to expand audiences for distribution. Four ubiquitous crowdfunding platforms are analyzed, based on why filmmakers use them. There is also some tactical guidance on dealing with tax issues. Because the purpose of crowdfunding is to raise money, it is important to prepare yourself for managing the income and expenses involved in the process.

Chapter 3 is a roadmap of worthwhile documentary events and organizations. This section is key to how a filmmaker goes from being a production-oriented student learning how to shoot and edit to someone being considered “professional” in the documentary world. This globally-focused chapter provides information on some of the best places to network and learn new skills. There is an event calendar in this chapter, collected from filmmakers and television executives.

Chapter 4 covers some of the streaming platforms used around the world for filmmakers to host content. This chapter goes through several tiers of the established streaming ecosystem, partially uncovered through industry experts like The Film Collaborative, Rights Stuff and Doc Society. These companies range from aggregators; to curated video-on-demand services; to self-publishing for direct-to-consumer sales. Definitions of types of VOD services are in the Glossary.

Chapter 5 gives guidance on preparing to work with organizations that create social change. This is often called impact producing. It can involve providing content to support policy making, partnering with activism or simply creating awareness. Using the experiences of those who have held film screenings for advocacy groups and government officials, this chapter explains how to build the relationships that make these events happen.

Chapter 6 is a tour of the educational media community, including an explanation of how to connect films to classrooms. There is an academic conference calendar. This chapter is mostly based on outreach work performed in North America, but the strategy of researching and reaching out could be utilized anywhere in the world. One caveat, however, is that you need to check on what kind of distribution infrastructure exists in the country you are doing outreach to. Not everyone will have the equipment for screenings, or purchasing processes, that exist in the United States and Canada. Some educational distributors are listed in this chapter.

Chapter 7 provides strategic and technical insight into approaching public television, either with a finished film for acquisitions; or, for a co-production venture that has not started shooting yet. It will be necessary to do extra research in both the territory you are working in as well as that which you would like to submit content to. Firsthand advice is included from producers who have gotten their content shown domestically and abroad. There are separate sections for international public broadcasting systems and for those that operate in the United States.

Think Local and Global

Thinking locally and globally is crucial to making documentary films a long-term professional endeavor. Every chapter includes information to help you reach out beyond your borders, after having created some traction where you live. As I interviewed people around the world, it became apparent that filmmakers, as well as the communities connected to them, are watching documentaries from outside of their home country. They also want to get their content out to the world as well. Strategically speaking, it makes sense to consider this when making and distributing your documentary. If the topic you are focused on is a universal issue, or has similar communities in other countries, it may have an audience worth reaching in another territory. Be prepared to spend additional time and energy to learn the rules or follow the requirements for delivering it there.

Every region is different, and countries within a region function differently. It is important to research and find out how the funding and distribution systems work. For instance, I am originally from the United States and now live in Canada. These close allies operate very differently. The United States funding systems are largely based on private grants, whereas Canada has funding programs for the creative industries, managed by the government on both federal and provincial levels.

In speaking with Rodolfo Castillo-Morales, the Director of the Documentary Lab at the Film Festival of Guadalajara (discussed in Chapter 3), I started to understand how these government structures can impact the economics around film distribution. He noted that in Canada and the United States, the price of a movie ticket was usually over $10 (USD). In Mexico, where the government directly supports filmmakers, the cost was about $1.50. Castillo-Morales finds he has to educate distributors and international producers that they cannot assume all countries produce and distribute media the same way.

I interviewed around 140 people for this book, including filmmakers and industry personnel. The filmmakers who serve as examples are both first-time producers and veterans with 20 years of experience. Here is a taste of who you will meet (listed in alphabetical order by last name):

Following a series of music videos and a fiction web series, Anam Abbas produced and was the cinematographer for her first feature documentary, Showgirls of Pakistan. The film follows women who are making a living in nontraditional and culturally taboo ways. Abbas is based in Pakistan but went to school in Canada. She created the Documentary Association of Pakistan in 2015 after attending the International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA) without a market badge. She has attended professional development workshops through the American Documentary Showcase and Film Independent in the United States, as well as the Berlinale Talent Project Market. Abbas stresses the importance of connecting with a larger community, even if you have to create that community yourself.

Rebecca Barry is based in Australia and has a strong small business with a partner, Media Stockade. Their film, I’m a Girl, had educational partners who co-created a curriculum, which enabled its distribution domestically and in the United States. Media Stockade’s film about domestic violence, Call Me Dad (director Sophie Wiesner), initiated a Royal Commission to investigate public policy around this issue. They have had films aired on the Australian Broadcasting Service and screened for the Australian Parliament. Their work has been educationally distributed in the United States, and they also strategize and run impact-producing campaigns.

Stephanie Black, an American who made films about Jamaica, has had her programs Life & Debt and H2Worker aired on PBS in the United States, and on the BBC and Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. Her goal has been to use established distributors to get her films out, but she has had to learn how to find the right ones to trust. After her favorite distributor was sold to a company that ended up bankrupt, she adjusted by putting her films on Amazon Prime, in order to keep them available.

Joanna Bowers, based in Hong Kong, took a break from making corporate commercials. Through her company Cheeky Monkey Productions, she developed relationships with NGOs to focus on the plight of migrant mothers who must leave their children to take care of other peoples’ kids. Working with the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers program, her film The Helper was a theatrical success in Hong Kong and has been picked up for international distribution to satellite, cable and streaming platforms.

Chanda Chevannes is a Canadian filmmaker who worked with an American ecologist to make two feature documentaries that focus on health and the environment, Living Downstream and Unfractured. Working with a hybrid distribution mentality, she has done a great deal of her own outreach, while simultaneously working with distributors. She is a member of the Documentary Organization of Canada and performed research to write a report entitled The Roadmap to Creative Distribution, which has been a great reference for writing this book.

Tatiana Battaglia Dias, through her production company Grifa Filmes, developed an original science project, New Species, which has aired outside of her home country of Brazil. She accomplished this by working with the German and Japanese organizations ZDF and NHK. She succeeded in closing deals by attending key international factual audiovisual markets such as MIPCOM, Sunnyside of the Doc, Sheffield, Hot Docs, and World Congress of Science and Factual Producers. She has been co-producing documentary films and series for almost two decades. She has worked with filmmakers in Canada, New Zealand, England, Germany and France and suggests that the only way to find great partners is by regularly attending international markets and meeting the same potential co-producers again and again. She budgets for attending networking events every year, whether she has a project or not. She says this is the best way to understand what people are looking for, and to build solid relationships that could lead to a co-production deal.

Don Edkins is a producer and founder of the nonprofit organization STEPS in South Africa. He has been making films for over two decades, while nurturing local talent in production skills and professional development to help filmmakers succeed. He also mentors filmmakers internationally through Berlinale Talents and In-Docs, among others. STEPS has an impressive outreach strategy that includes grassroots community screenings, programming a free streaming service and television channel of African content, and has made international alliances as well. Their successes include having the series Why Poverty? aired by over 60 broadcasters, including the public television station World Channel in the United States.

Alice Elliot is an American director and producer through her company, Welcome Change Productions. She has been nominated for an Academy Award (The Collector of Bedford Street) and won a New York Emmy Award (Miracle on 42nd Street). As a member-owner in the cooperative distributor New Day Films (Chapter 6), she has hired staff to perform outreach for her films and their subjects. I was one of her impact producers in the early 2000s, and we worked with the subjects of her films and educational facilities, nonprofit groups and others to support disability advocacy.

Deepti Gupta is from India. She collaborated with a popular feminist singing artist to make her first feature documentary, Shut Up Sona!, which she was able to launch at the Hot Docs documentary festival in Canada. She did almost everything by herself for two years and suggests that in the future, she will find like-minded partners before making another film.

Sam Soko, based in Kenya, was a writer focused on narrative storytelling before making his first documentary. He got his documentary Softie aired on PBS and the BBC after signing with a sales agent at Hot Docs in Canada. He said it is important to realize that ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• 1 Prepare Yourself: Think Before You Shoot
• 2 The Hard Work of Crowdfunding
• 3 Documentary Organizations Worth Your Time and Money
• 4 Now Available Online – How to Stream
• 5 Creating Community – Partnerships With Purpose
• 6 Educational Facilities and Academic Professional Development
• 7 Public Broadcasters and the Specialty TV Ecosystem
• Glossary
• Acknowledgments
• Index