Producing

Documentary funding can be a bit of a black box. Who gets funding and why certain projects get backed while other apparently strong projects are left by the wayside is a reliable topic for heated discussion whenever any two independent producers meet.

The goal posts always seem to be shifting. Funding decisions are inevitably subjective, often political, and producers must chart a route through a seemingly byzantine application process to grasp what looks like an increasingly slender slice of the funding pie.

As broadcast and cable television series have proliferated we’ve seen a massive growth in the dramatic web series.

One of the panels at VIFF Industry on Friday focused on two very different web series in terms of style and content: Carmilla is a contemporary vlog style adaptation of a 19th century Gothic vampire novella about a young woman preyed upon by a lesbian vampire.

It’s both an exciting and scary time for content creators, no more so than in the field of the television series. In 2015, there are 400 original scripted series on television. How do you break through the noise to secure funding, and make a success for your show?

The second session of the final day at VIFF Industry was a one-on-one with fortysomething director Jay Duplass. Duplass gave a refreshingly candid account of the highs and lows in his career as he transitioned from no-budget films to big budget Hollywood productions.

If you’re crowdfunding your film primarily to raise money then you’ve probably got your priorities wrong. On the face of it, that might sound counter intuitive, but a panel at VIFF Industry, an adjunct event of the Vancouver International Film Festival, was at pains to point out that in a dash for cash you risk doing nothing more than a glorified online form of “panhandling”.

This is the promo video for a project that I'm getting close to finishing.

The film looks at the lengths that scientists will go to highlight the danger of runaway climate change, in particular University of Victoria climatologist Dr Andrew Weaver’s successful run for provincial office in the West Coast Canadian province of British Columbia.

The video also features Simon Fraser University Environmental Economist Dr Mark Jaccard, one of the more high profile scientists to state that he would resort to civil disobedience to prevent expansion of Canada’s carbon footprint.

Dov Simens opens his book with a warning. "After reading this book, there are no excuses! For everything, yes everything, needed to succeed as an independent filmmaker is in these pages."

This wildly extravagant statement is perfectly in keeping with the character of the author and the style of the book. If it inevitably falls short of this claim, it's only because the subject is larger than one paperback of 400 plus pages.

Based on a story by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett, a crew of seven astronauts, five men and two women on board the cargo ship Nostromo are awoken when their computer answers what they believe is a distress signal. Investigating, one of their crew is attacked by an organism. Origin unknown. They bring the injured party with organism attached back onto the ship to treat him. From there, the organism wreaks havoc.

Peter Jackson was in an upbeat mood as he began his marathon round of interviews promoting the final, long-awaited chapter in his epic Lord of the Rings trilogy. Sporting his trademark purple t-shirt, khaki shorts, Jackson doesn’t quite know whether or not he is really glad that his dream project is at end.

So you’ve got a great idea for a documentary. Now how do you sell it? This was the premise for a public "pitching" event at the Vancouver International Film Festival’s annual Film and Television Trade Forum on Thursday 26th November.

Five documentary makers were given five minutes each to pitch their projects to a panel of three commissioning editors: Nick Jones, Head of Programming for Channel 4 and FilmFour; Richard Klein, Commissioning Editor for BBC General Factual Programmes and Ray McCarthy, Commissioning Editor for Regional Programming for Ireland’s RTE.