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Funding in a Cold Climate

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Posted on May 14, 2003

What is the current funding climate? The obvious answer during this post-boom recession would appear to be: "brrrrrr". However, having worked for a media funder, I know that the situation is never so clear-cut. For starters, funding from the philanthropic sector will likely never meet the demand for film funds, not even in the best of times.

Successful fundraising only exists when program matches are found and good relationships are made, but I still wanted to find information that would give filmmakers the current fiscal temperature. I interviewed representatives, from four very different organizations, to hear their perspectives on the current state of media funding. The institutions interviewed were:

A government-funded independent funder and distributor The Independent Television Service (ITVS) is a national organization that funds and distributes independent film to television. They are committed to addressing the needs of under-served audiences and support programs that engage creative risks, advance issues, and represent points of view not usually seen on television. They work with relatively steady funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Generally, eighty percent of the proposals ITVS receives are nonfiction and eighty-five percent of the funded work is documentary film. They encourage all genres, but due to the relatively low cost of producing documentaries, proposals for documentaries are often the most commonly accepted.

An independent grantmaking government agency The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent grant-making agency of the United States government dedicated to fostering excellence in the humanities. They support documentaries from pre-production to post-production.

A private institute The Sundance Documentary Fund. In the summer of 2001 the Soros Documentary Fund closed and was spun off to the Sundance Institute in Los Angeles, California. The Sundance Documentary Fund is dedicated to supporting U.S. and international documentary films focused on contemporary human rights, freedom of expression, social justice, and civil liberties. Through this fund, Sundance gives voice to a diverse exchange of ideas, raising public consciousness about human rights abuses, and increasing civic participation.

A Broadcaster WNET is the major public broadcast television station in New York City. Locally known as channel Thirteen, it has a history of being fueled by independent filmmakers and has nurtured many now famous documentarians.

The Independent Television Service (ITVS): A focus on outreach

ITVS programming and distribution often focuses on outreach. Social issue work is usually given priority. ITVS knows that due to funding limitations, they are unable to do full-scale outreach campaigns for all of their social issue documentaries. For those that receive outreach support, ITVS has established the Community Connections Project (CCP) network. CCP builds partnerships between producers, public television stations, community organizations, national associations, and local audiences. They currently have 13 CCPers working in 13 cities across the country. CCP organizers screen programs to determine which have the most potential in terms of serving local constituents and helping serve the local public television station.

On average, ITVS supports community outreach on approximately 15-20 programs per year. None of these programsreceives a "standard" ITVS outreach plan. Each outreach plan is tailored specifically to the program, the goals of the producer, and the response from the CCP organizers. In other words, if they are excited about a show and want to use it, ITVS makes sure that can happen. ACCORDING TO ITVS' executive director, Sally Jo Fifer, "producers committed to making social issue documentaries, because they specifically want to influence social change, have become more adept at doing the necessary work before and during production that makes implementing a successful outreach campaign possible." That is to say, ITVS will expect you to have done your homework. Make sure you have a realistic idea of how large or small a scope you would like the campaign to have, and how much that would cost. For help, you can refer to organizations like: the National Center for Outreach (NCO), Active Voice, Outreach Extensions, Facing History and Ourselves and Working Films.

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): A scholarly approach

NEH funding levels have remained steady since September 11th. That said the way funding will be distributed may be affected by recent policy moves of the Bush administration. On September 17, 2002, President Bush announced the launch of We the People, an initiative by the National Endowment for the Humanities to improve the teaching, studying and understanding of American history and culture. There is no special funding for We the People projects. However, the kinds of media projects that might be appropriate are: historical documentaries chronicling the lives of the individuals, events, or movements that have shaped America; documentary series that explore American life; documentary programs and series telling stories that illustrate American ideals, traditions, and achievements.

Support from the NEH is limited to those films that take their subject and approaches from the scholarly disciplines of the humanities, such as the study of history, culture, and/or philosophy. Thus, a film tracing the historical struggle to secure the right to vote for women would qualify for NEH support. A film produced to educate citizens about their right to vote and to promote voter registration would not. NEH also expects a film to incorporate a range of scholarly ideas and perspectives. NEH awarded $5.9 million to radio, film, and related digital projects in FY'02. Their budget for FY'03 is $126M. While they do not yet have statistics for film documentaries in FY'03, they have noted an increase in the number of proposals.

WNET (Public Television broadcaster): Serving the programming schedule

As a public broadcaster, WNET CHANNEL 13 is always obliged to consider the issues of money and mission. Will the proposed project enhance our existing portfolio? Will the program fill a void in the schedule? Can the station, or the independent filmmaker, raise money for it? Will it lend itself to educational purposes? Thirteen would like producers to consider these questions before applying for support.

Sundance Documentary Fund: something new for the debate

Perhaps even more than ITVS and WNET, who must consider a wider, more general television audience, Sundance Documentary Fund looks for projects that will add something new to the debate. They look for a creative approach to storytelling -- veering away from news magazine formats. They want the work to be as broadly distributed as possible, so they seek a range of options: television broadcast, theatrical screenings, educational marketplace, and grassroots advocacy organizations. Not all of these paths are always possible for each project and producers must often work with Sundance to find distribution. The Sundance Documentary Fund only accepts projects dealing with contemporary issues and important factors in funding decisions are: quality of work samples, strength of proposal, potential for broad international distribution, and the issue's significance. The fund has remained stable at about $1M annually. The Sundance Documentary Fund is extremely competitive and only a fraction of submitted proposals are funded. One aspect that has recently changed is their decision to fund potentially fewer projects at somewhat higher amounts.

Predictions for nonfiction film funding?

Despite tightly drawn purse strings after September 11th and the ensuing military campaigns, the independent producer can still find funding. Nonfiction films have become the bread and butter of the ITVS programming slate, and they will continue to be one of the most robust funders of non-fiction work. Sundance will continue to focus on contemporary human rights work, and is also expanding efforts to include funding for the creative documentary. NEH expects that "the American people will continue to be interested in learning about the humanities through film". Their funding levels will try to reflect this interest. As for WNET, it is difficult for an independent filmmaker, to break into established series like Wide Angle that has outlined its stories ahead of time. However, WNETs drive to have independent film on television is relatively strong when compared to other public stations, and they broadcast many series, like Point of View (POV), that are open to submissions. They also support independently produced work for such local series as Reel New York, Cantos Latinos, Umoja!, Due East, and Out!.

For more information on these funders check out MediaRights.org's Producer's Worskhop