So... how would we make a documentary?
January 9, 2020 8:03 AM Subscribe
I work with a small but passionate activism nonprofit in the Rust Belt. Our work, and the work of the coalitions we belong to, is getting some press in progressive circles around the US. I think our org, our partners, and the issues we are tackling (progressive but not necessarily political, focused on human rights) would make for a pretty good documentary. I have a very loose understanding of how movies get made, but no experience anywhere near the industry. Can you help me think of things I should be thinking about?
I had the idea when I happened to chat with a documentary maker who is from and has worked on a few projects in our region. She is interested in my pitch, but we have not gone any further into details. For one thing, I will have to present the idea to our org and coalition partners and collect buy-in; for another, I will obviously have to find the money somewhere (our entire budget is pretty small, and mostly applied to direct action, not marketing). To help me think through whether this is feasible, can you shed some light on how to successfully shepherd the right kind of film?
Ideally we would be able to successfully shop this to the festival circuit. I know that what we'll need is, 1) Money, 2) trustworthy film making partners, 3) money, 4) lots of time and talent to devote to fundraising and development and production and editing and distribution etc, 5) lots of equipment and people who know how to use it well, and 6) money.
So as a fundraiser and communications organizer, I have one place to start my questions: How much money are we talking here? Could we get an Important Festival grade movie made for, say, less than $100,000? Less than $200,000?
Have you gone through this process, as a pro or a neophyte or an outsider? Did you get burned? Did you get what you wanted? How'd it go?
If you are a film professional, what in this AskMe makes you go, "oh honey, no"?
I had the idea when I happened to chat with a documentary maker who is from and has worked on a few projects in our region. She is interested in my pitch, but we have not gone any further into details. For one thing, I will have to present the idea to our org and coalition partners and collect buy-in; for another, I will obviously have to find the money somewhere (our entire budget is pretty small, and mostly applied to direct action, not marketing). To help me think through whether this is feasible, can you shed some light on how to successfully shepherd the right kind of film?
Ideally we would be able to successfully shop this to the festival circuit. I know that what we'll need is, 1) Money, 2) trustworthy film making partners, 3) money, 4) lots of time and talent to devote to fundraising and development and production and editing and distribution etc, 5) lots of equipment and people who know how to use it well, and 6) money.
So as a fundraiser and communications organizer, I have one place to start my questions: How much money are we talking here? Could we get an Important Festival grade movie made for, say, less than $100,000? Less than $200,000?
Have you gone through this process, as a pro or a neophyte or an outsider? Did you get burned? Did you get what you wanted? How'd it go?
If you are a film professional, what in this AskMe makes you go, "oh honey, no"?
Best answer: I work in documentary film distribution. The chances that you will ever be involved with making a film that becomes a smash hit on the festival circuit are vanishingly small, if that is your goal you shouldn't bother. There are dozens and dozens of awesome, interesting documentaries that get made every year that don't become festival hits, and never even receive distribution.
The main thing that jumps out at me is that you aren't really talking about making a "documentary" per se, usually documentaries take a more impartial, journalistic approach. Hiring someone to make a movie about your org might yield a nice piece about your mission, but it wouldn't be impartial enough to be really be a (good) documentary. The best documentaries are willing to explore the nooks and crannies of a story, including things that the subject might not necessarily be thrilled to be made public. The Overnighters is a great example of this.
It's also worth thinking about what would make this a good FILM, you know? It's not enough to be doing important work, do you have a hook that elevates the concept above "this organization is doing good work" to "audiences would be very interested in watching this"?
I don't want to be totally discouraging though! One thing you could do is reach out to Field of Vision, who commission documentaries. They might also have some other ideas, too.
posted by cakelite at 8:26 AM on January 9, 2020 [6 favorites]
The main thing that jumps out at me is that you aren't really talking about making a "documentary" per se, usually documentaries take a more impartial, journalistic approach. Hiring someone to make a movie about your org might yield a nice piece about your mission, but it wouldn't be impartial enough to be really be a (good) documentary. The best documentaries are willing to explore the nooks and crannies of a story, including things that the subject might not necessarily be thrilled to be made public. The Overnighters is a great example of this.
It's also worth thinking about what would make this a good FILM, you know? It's not enough to be doing important work, do you have a hook that elevates the concept above "this organization is doing good work" to "audiences would be very interested in watching this"?
I don't want to be totally discouraging though! One thing you could do is reach out to Field of Vision, who commission documentaries. They might also have some other ideas, too.
posted by cakelite at 8:26 AM on January 9, 2020 [6 favorites]
Best answer: I'm not a film professional, but I do have 20 years of experience doing communications and marketing for non-profits. If a non-profit I was consulting to wanted to do this, especially if they wanted to pay for it (or get grant funding to pay for it) my first question would be "what do you want to get out of this for the non-profit, or the activism work you're doing?" It seems like you think it's a cool story that other people would be interested in, but how does that help advance your organization or the cause you're working for?
Honestly, I struggle to think of benefits to either that would come from this that would be worth the time and money, and wouldn't be better served by other tactics. Very few documentaries get seen by wide audiences, even in this era of streaming services. I've actually worked for organizations that were the focus of documentaries by other people, some of which made it to the festival circuit, etc. It was fun to see my organization's work featured, and a nice morale boost for people, but it didn't really have any impact on our ability to fundraise, or advance our causes in any meaningful way.
I'm not saying you shouldn't pursue this, but I would give a lot of thought to what you hope to get out of it, and whether or not it's worth the enormous time and expense, vs other tactics.
posted by lunasol at 9:24 AM on January 9, 2020 [3 favorites]
Honestly, I struggle to think of benefits to either that would come from this that would be worth the time and money, and wouldn't be better served by other tactics. Very few documentaries get seen by wide audiences, even in this era of streaming services. I've actually worked for organizations that were the focus of documentaries by other people, some of which made it to the festival circuit, etc. It was fun to see my organization's work featured, and a nice morale boost for people, but it didn't really have any impact on our ability to fundraise, or advance our causes in any meaningful way.
I'm not saying you shouldn't pursue this, but I would give a lot of thought to what you hope to get out of it, and whether or not it's worth the enormous time and expense, vs other tactics.
posted by lunasol at 9:24 AM on January 9, 2020 [3 favorites]
Best answer: I think you should call up the types of studios that do activist documentary and see if you can get alignment on goals. One group that I know of is Storyline - www.storyline.media/waterwarriors - that's what came to mind first. They are the folks that would probably be able to answer a lot of your initial questions.
It sounds like an admirable effort, but as someone noted above, your goal shouldn't be to win festival awards, b/c that's just so unlikely to happen.
posted by RajahKing at 1:15 PM on January 10, 2020
It sounds like an admirable effort, but as someone noted above, your goal shouldn't be to win festival awards, b/c that's just so unlikely to happen.
posted by RajahKing at 1:15 PM on January 10, 2020
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posted by mekily at 8:25 AM on January 9, 2020