Every two weeks I propose to post a new blog. It is intended for new and mid-level documentary film-makers, a dose of reality, my reality, that might serve as a useful reference point for others who have chosen a similar path. I think of it as a producer rant, kind of a purge of the angst that goes along with the creative process in this business.

All documentary producers have had this conversation…

Strangers sitting side by side on a plane.

STRANGER ONE: So what do you do for a living?

PRODUCER: I produce films.

STRANGER ONE: ( brightening up). Oh, really. What kind of films?

PRODUCER: Mostly documentaries.

STRANGER ONE: Oh I love documentaries. Have you done anything I would have seen?

PRODUCER: Hard to say. I don't know what you have seen. 

…and so on. The stranger might, or might not be telling the truth. The producer might or might not be in the mood to pitch the latest project. It might depend on why he/she is on the flight. If it is returning  to Halifax from Toronto where he/she has just had a bunch of unsuccessful pitch meetings with broadcasters, there would be no point. If on the way to Toronto, he/she might see it as an opportunity to practice the pitch.

So this is about the pitch.

A broadcast license is usually the first wheel that turns all the other wheels on the way to financing your film. Whatever the budget for your doc, you will be looking for a broadcaster to pony up 30% and to offer you access to their Canada Media Fund envelope if they  have one. That can be as much as 49% of  your budget so you are at 79%. As most provinces have film incentives that are  in the 30% ballpark, congratulations, you have financed your documentary.

In pursuit of this narrative, doc producers go to some length to tool themselves up for the broadcaster pitch. Some producers have given up producing to become pitch instructors. Pitches have become theatre at some doc festivals: commissioning editors hear the pitches in front of an audience, a form of entertainment roughly equal to watching Christians negotiate with lions. 

When all is said and done, you need to put yourself in the broadcasters shoes. There are limitations  that govern what they do. Money is limited. Space is limited – there are only so many broadcast windows available. They are under considerable pressure to deliver an audience – in a multi-channel, multi-platform world, that takes skill.  On the other hand, they have license obligations to CRTC – it is rare, but licenses can be revoked. Theirs is a complex world not easily navigated. 

So what makes sense for the producer? What is a reasonable strategy for financing your films?

Our current strategy is an attempt to straddle the broadcaster's world and all of the rest of the world, outside the purview of the broadcaster. Armed with the knowledge of what wants what, one sheets are prepared to present the basics of your idea, sometimes a teaser is produced to flesh things out a bit, you set up what meetings you can, and you head for Toronto.  If ( more likely, when) that does not yield the result you want, you move to a plan B.