Producer Workshop

Make documentaries? Whether you're a beginner or a pro, you're in the right place. The Producer Workshop can help you maximize the social and political impact of your film or videotape. It also offers useful production tips to every type of film and videomaker. And our site is updated regularly - so drop in often. Meanwhile, please share what you know - your comments and input are always welcome.

Introducing the new Independent Producers' Outreach Toolkit A how-to guide to building an outreach plan around your documentary film. What's your plan? Your documentary can move audiences to take action for social change. The Outreach Toolkit shows you how. Presented by MediaRights.org and the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers (AIVF), the toolkit package includes an interactive online guide, printed resource binder and a phone consultation with the outreach experts at Working Films. The primary resource for grassroots outreach in the country, the toolkit gives you outreach advice on everything from funding to execution.

Featured Articles

Outreach Journal: The Murder of Emmett Till
Brainstorm with Firelight Media! Find out what innovations these production pioneers came up with while they were waiting for an airdate. Trudy Williams, Outreach Coordinator, shares some of Firelight's strategies and surprises when planning outreach.

Discussion

MediaRights.org is proud to introduce our new Affiliate site, The D-Word. Join this bustling online forum for documentary filmmakers.

Tips

Camcorder Production Tips: Sample soup to nuts advice from activist video experts.

How to Approach Nonprofits about Collaborating on your Outreach Campaign: Five Helpful Tips

Site Tips: Put MediaRights.org to work -- researching your idea for a film, helping to distribute your documentary, finding people to collaborate with.

Resources

LEF foundation: Awards documentary grants in New England.

Distribution: Read up on the most effective distributors out there. Or learn how to become your own distributor.

Technical Help: Hook up with Online and Offline nonprofit media centers that offer the low-cost training and equipment you need to make your program.

The MediaRights.org List of Distributors: A list of all of the distributors whose documentary films we showcase on our site.

Gear: Find digital video production and editing equipment.

Funding: Go for the grants for your media projects.

Radio: Tune in to radio documentaries online - or produce your own.

Web: Acquire the tools that will enhance your online presence.

National Conferences: Find conferences that speak to the issues you're fighting for.

News

Funding in a Cold Climate: 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.

Documentaries and Activism- Advice from Sundance: The House of Docs at the Sundance Film Festival 2002 "Outreach: Making an Impact" panel gives advice on how to maximize the impact of your film.

Glossary: What's the difference between commercial and educational video distribution? The answer is here.

Documentary Outreach: "A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict" A dramatic media and education initiative is actively promoting the power of nonviolent resistance.

Outreach Journal: Brick By Brick, #1, April 2001 The first journal entry by Producer/ Director Bill Kavanagh who is starting his outreach campaign before his film is even finished.

Moving Audiences To Action: Advice from experts about how to design an outreach campaign that will organize activists, nonprofits and educators around your social issue documentary.

Members On Outreach: Nuyorican Dream Find out how Carla Gutierrez stretched her budget to market this documentary to nonprofit organizations.

Outreach Journal: 90 Miles:
MediaRights.org member, Juan-Carlos Zaldivar discusses the challenges, tactics and tools of creating an outreach campaign around his award-winning personal documentary film, "90 Miles".

Other Workshops

Activist/Nonprofit Workshop: A constantly refreshed source of ideas on how to use the power of media to further a political or social cause.

Educator/Librarian Workshop: The meeting-place for people who want to use documentaries as a teaching tool and as a community resource.

Youth Workshop: The perfect resource for young media producers - and young activists, too.