Financing and Producing Documentary Programs with Mitchell Block (Day 1)
Saturday, June 22, 9:30am - 4:30pm
At The Writers Boot Camp
Learn to design and get funding to make your documentary. Explore the ins and outs of both for-profit and not-for profit fundraising, distribution, and marketing opportunities. Learn how to best package your work to attract funding, get rights, put together the strongest package, do presales, structure the right business form, and more.

Share your ideas or projects at any stage of production and have them evaluated as part of the class.

Part ONE
Look at public sector funding. Grants from government agencies, working with local and national public television stations. Working with PBS and CPB. How to work with foundations to tap into the hundred of millions of dollars available for grants and support of media. How to work with for profits to get funding for projects. A look at business structures. Case studies will cover grant writing, business plans and proposal writing for documentaries.

Part TWO
We will look at private sector funding. Business plans, private placements, offerings. How to design a project to attract funding. What is the exit plan? How to work with venture capitalists. Collaborate and partner with cable and other broadcast entities. Presales on a global basis. How much your project is worth? Where to go to sell and pitch. How to pitch, develop, and protect your idea. Learn how to pitch and who to pitch to. Block will answer specific questions on funding for individual projects time permitting.

Cost of seminar includes numerous handouts. Specific case studies will be covered that show in a step-by-step manner how to finance documentary films.

Documentary Tune-up with Mitchell Block (Day 2)
Sunday, June 23 9:30am - 4:30pm
At The Spitfire Grill
"If you can't sell your project every time you pitch it, then there's something wrong with it."

Can't find funding? No one wants to invest? Perhaps it's the idea or some aspect of the project/package? Get a doc proposal check up, and tune up. This daylong workshop is intended to help you decide if that dream doc is worth pursuing and if it's not selling, how to fix it.

Why isn't your project attracting funding from a studio, network or cable, company, sponsor or other funders?
It can ONLY be six things:
The package?
The proposal? The sizzle reel?
The idea?
The budget?
The production team?
Are you pitching to the right people?

Explore how your doc project can be tuned up, cleaned up or perhaps junked.

Find out who might produce it, how to pitch it, what is needed to sell it, and which broadcasters or cable companies should be considered.

Find ways to make your packaging bankable.

We'll look over your sizzle reel(s) and your proposal(s) and see why it's not pulling in offers. You will receive hard information to build into your business plan and make your project sell.

We will review each individual project and review case studies to develop an understanding of how to pitch and sell projects. Case studies come from the class and the instructor's extensive collection of actual productions. You do not need a project to attend but preference will be given to those that have them. A one-page project description will be requested at time of registration for review if it's available.

Ideas or projects at any stage of development are welcome. We spend the day reviewing a number of projects as a group. This class can be taken multiple times since it is directed to the individual students' projects. When you register, e-mail a copy of your proposal (up to 2 pages) as a PDF file to Block.

Program might run 30 minutes longer. Join fellow participants for an after session networking drink (no host) at the Spitfire Grill.