Interested in making a documentary
- Thread starter jgutta23
- Start date
For most indie filmmakers here, nope, there's no money to be made. Indeed, you will not even earn back most of your film's cost.
If you make a high quality and entertaining documentary on a topic that people are going to care about, as well as building up a large following, constantly sharing the film on social networking sites, sending it to festivals, and getting picked up by a good distributor, yes, it's possible.
Easier said than done.
Easier said than done.
And interestingly enough, it had been REJECTED by Sundance, wasn't it? Always found that funny. Never saw the film, not very interested in American gridiron.
But I loved that Sundance rejected it and it went on to not only get distribution, but win a flipping Oscar.
CraigL
Wow. You got some great connections
Which director?
dan lindsay
I was in his film "Last Cup: Road to the world series of beer pong"
No... none that come to mind... wait, what does google say....
There are distributors who are looking for great documentaries. Don't get me wrong, these are the Crème de la crème of documentaries. Most don't perform like these. What makes these so special? I'm so not the right person to ask, you'll have to figure that one out for yourself. Most documentary makers never see a pay day for what their work is really worth.
Fahrenheit 9/11: $222mil
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=fahrenheit911.htm
Bowling for Columbine: $58mil
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bowlingforcolumbine.htm
Super Size Me: $20.5mil
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=supersizeme.htm
2016 Obama's America: $33mil
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=2016obamasamerica.htm
It also says that March of the Penguins is a documentary with $127mil.
More... Take a look for yourself:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=documentary.htm
Good luck!
by A MILE
a doc is a consumer product ready to be monetized
a script represents something that requires a substantial investment
What it really comes down to is... VISION.
As the director of documentary, you must have a clear sense of the heart of the story and how it's going to be told.
It's the movie you see in your head.
That vision determines everything else: the tone, style, format, budget, crew, equipment, how your footage is gathered.. everything...
As the director of documentary, you must have a clear sense of the heart of the story and how it's going to be told.
It's the movie you see in your head.
That vision determines everything else: the tone, style, format, budget, crew, equipment, how your footage is gathered.. everything...
It depends on the quality of each of the offerings.
A strong doc vs a weak feature film will go to the doc. Swing it the other way and or course it'll swing the other way.
It depends on the quality of your writing and I'd guess it'd depend on how good you are at each.
There is always a demand for great content.
Yes, there are thousands of financially successful documentary filmmakers! The number of documentary TV channels and documentaries broadcast around the world obviously makes it a serious and lucrative market sector. In terms of demand, the documentary market consumes a far larger number of products than the feature film market and so on paper at least I would think you have a better chance with a well made doc than with a feature. I've worked on more than a few documentaries over the years, although I don't have any experience in actually selling them and those I've worked on were (as far as I know) all commissioned, so I can't give any direct advice as to how to sell an indie documentary. I will mention though that you will need to fully understand and comply with broadcast syndication requirements otherwise your documentary will effectively be worthless, regardless of how good a documentary it is in any other respect/s!
Have you considered approaching any TV stations/networks with your documentary idea?
G
I'm still a long way from being comfortable presenting my idea. I would like a to submit an idea to my local tv station in Arizona. Whats the best way to approach this?
Should I go contact them by email 1st?
Just go into the office?
What things should I bring?
What position head to ask for?
Should I go contact them by email 1st?
Just go into the office?
What things should I bring?
What position head to ask for?
I would advise you to do some serious research first, not only on the actual content of your doc but on how marketable the subject matter is likely to be (locally, nationally and internationally) and also research your local TV station as well. For example, does you local TV station actually ever commission docs or do they only buy in.
Local TV stations tend to have relatively complex business structures which involve some sort of affiliation with a network. It could be that your local TV station doesn't directly commission docos, only their affiliated network does. The real money in docs is in syndication, selling licences to broadcast to various affiliates and other broadcasters in different regions and territories. Local TV stations may not have the legal expertise/personnel to get directly involved in syndication except in terms of broadcasting content essentially licensed on their behalf by their affiliated network. You will need to research and understand how your local TV station operates in this regard, how your proposed doco fits into their business structure before you approach them. Maybe it doesn't fit at all and you should be approaching their affiliated network instead. If you don't have a decent knowledge of these issues you will most likely come across as a complete beginner with no idea of what you are doing, which of course will drastically reduce your chances of getting any support/investment in your doco.
Unfortunately, when you start looking to make money from documentary filmmaking that means entering the documentary business world and you need to understand how that world operates and what it requires to stand any realistic chance of success. This is where so many inexperienced indie filmmakers fail; they just go out and make their film and when they've finished they pat themselves on the back then try to sell it. But who are they going to sell it to? They have to find a broadcaster who: 1. Is looking to buy a doco at that instant, 2. Whose program schedule has an available slot which the doco fits, 3. Whose audience demographic matches the doco's subject matter and style and 4. Who are willing to pump in the time/money to make the doco compliant with their broadcast QC requirements. In practise, that rules out pretty much EVERY broadcaster and without some miraculous stroke of luck renders the doco virtually worthless commercially!
To a large extent this is true of all indie filmmaking, not just docos. In short, find out who your potential purchasers are (local TV station, network, etc.), find out what sort of product they want (duration, subject matter, target audience), find out what technical requirements they have and a rough idea of their budget for docos and then work out a business plan and proposal which allows you to meet those requirements. If you don't do this you are just shooting in the dark (without knowing if there is even anything within shooting range!).
G
Local TV stations tend to have relatively complex business structures which involve some sort of affiliation with a network. It could be that your local TV station doesn't directly commission docos, only their affiliated network does. The real money in docs is in syndication, selling licences to broadcast to various affiliates and other broadcasters in different regions and territories. Local TV stations may not have the legal expertise/personnel to get directly involved in syndication except in terms of broadcasting content essentially licensed on their behalf by their affiliated network. You will need to research and understand how your local TV station operates in this regard, how your proposed doco fits into their business structure before you approach them. Maybe it doesn't fit at all and you should be approaching their affiliated network instead. If you don't have a decent knowledge of these issues you will most likely come across as a complete beginner with no idea of what you are doing, which of course will drastically reduce your chances of getting any support/investment in your doco.
Unfortunately, when you start looking to make money from documentary filmmaking that means entering the documentary business world and you need to understand how that world operates and what it requires to stand any realistic chance of success. This is where so many inexperienced indie filmmakers fail; they just go out and make their film and when they've finished they pat themselves on the back then try to sell it. But who are they going to sell it to? They have to find a broadcaster who: 1. Is looking to buy a doco at that instant, 2. Whose program schedule has an available slot which the doco fits, 3. Whose audience demographic matches the doco's subject matter and style and 4. Who are willing to pump in the time/money to make the doco compliant with their broadcast QC requirements. In practise, that rules out pretty much EVERY broadcaster and without some miraculous stroke of luck renders the doco virtually worthless commercially!
To a large extent this is true of all indie filmmaking, not just docos. In short, find out who your potential purchasers are (local TV station, network, etc.), find out what sort of product they want (duration, subject matter, target audience), find out what technical requirements they have and a rough idea of their budget for docos and then work out a business plan and proposal which allows you to meet those requirements. If you don't do this you are just shooting in the dark (without knowing if there is even anything within shooting range!).
G