Dawn Porter had a couple of careers before she landed in documentary filmmaking-where she feels most at home. She was an attorney for BakerHostetler, where she learned the true meaning of rigorous thought and how to pay attention to detail. But she felt she was missing out on creative opportunities in that world, so she moved on to work in television, for ABC News and A&E Television Networks. There, her creativity flourished a bit more, and she was also able to learn a lot about the business of making media. "I learned that it doesn't matter if you have the most brilliant project in the world," she says. "If you can't deliver it on time and on budget, it won't be seen."

Porter took the mechanics of the business side of the entertainment industry and combined that with her skills as a lawyer to undertake two documentaries in the last three years—Gideon's Army and Spies of Mississippi. As a relatively new filmmaker, she may not seem like a prime candidate for keynote speaker at a conference aimed at mid-career filmmakers, but the leadership team behind the GETTING REAL Documentary Film Conference feels differently.

"She's a really great example of our process," says Ken Jacobson, IDA's director of educational programs and strategic partnerships. "We've had many conversations with filmmakers, but when we introduced the idea of the conference to her, her vision of critical issues in the documentary filmmaking community really aligned with ours. We knew then and there that what Dawn said to us should be said to everyone attending the conference."

Porter believes it's an exciting time for documentary filmmaking; there have never been more opportunities for so many people to pick up a camera and begin making a film. However, she sees the democratization of funding as a double-edged sword, and the representation of women and minorities as an ongoing matter to be addressed. "Funding is always an issue when it comes to documentaries," she admits, "but the fact that the equipment has gotten better and less expensive has made the production playing field a bit more level. So many people can shoot and edit on their own—and that's where it gets tricky. When you're looking to get funding for projects, oftentimes there are unrealistic expectations. [Potential funders] look at a budget I've given them and exclaim that it's higher then they'd anticipated. That's because I pay everyone to do everything. A lot of filmmakers are doing multiple jobs with little or no pay to get their movies made. We all do that for these labors of love, but it's not a realistic or long-term business model." 

Porter feels that this first issue is inextricably related to the second: gender inequality in filmmaking. Even in documentary, where we see a much better gender representation than in narrative filmmaking, there is still a discrepancy as to who is making a big-budget film.

However, Porter cautions using the word "issues" when discussing these topics, as it connotes "problems." She prefers the term "opportunities," adding, "There really are opportunities out there, including more avenues for widespread distribution and entering foreign markets. I think people are excited about Netflix as a distributor, about Pivot as a network channel, and I think the next five years are going to be really interesting for us. There are many more players in the market, which means more opportunity for some films that might never have been able to see the light of day. What we need to do is make sure that talented filmmakers, who are willing to work hard, are getting enough work to get the experience they need to capably handle the big projects. It's in everyone's interest to figure out how we can fund, finance and make the best films we can."

Porter's enthusiasm about the opportunities she sees in the industry directly reflects her enthusiasm about the conference. What tends to happen with filmmakers, distributors and broadcasters is that they are all having conversations about the business, projects and making a sustainable career—but they're happening in small groups. "If you happen to be at a particular festival and at a session that's been organized, or even at the bar later on, you'll get to have these conversations," she notes. "This conference is very democratically opening those conversations up to anybody who's available and willing to attend."

And not that Porter feels the more cloistered conversations aren't helpful; rather, they are limited to a select group of films and filmmakers, excluding voices that represent particular regions, groups or genres.

Regarding whether a pay-to-play conference might exclude some voices as well, Porter understands this concern. "This an investment in yourself," she counters, "and in your business and in your longevity. I think this cost is quite reasonable, given what I hope people will be able to take away from it. And it's not a little bit of money; I understand that and know that people have to make sacrifices to attend, but this is a big effort, and I think just as we would invest in a scouting trip, or a network meeting, we should invest in getting ourselves together to learn and connect."

This leads back to the emphasis Porter wants to put on educating those involved in documentary filmmaking that making films costs money. To expect passionate, dedicated and talented filmmakers to work for nothing is an unfair and unhelpful assumption.

"It's also helpful for people to know that even the most successful documentary filmmakers still struggle," she adds. "It might be easier for those people to get meetings, but I think if you asked Alex Gibney, he'd say that he's always trying to find the best avenue for funding, the best avenue for distribution. Even if you're very successful, you still have to be mindful and understand all these different aspects of the business, and you still have to keep them balanced. There are very few people I know, if any, who just go off and make their film in a cave in the dark and go on to have a successful exhibition without significant help."

Ultimately, Porter believes that there is a good ecosystem in place in the documentary community. It's not just filmmakers, but also private funders, and executives from foundations, broadcasters and outreach organizations, all of whom Porter wants to identify what they think their best practice is.

"This may be one of the first conferences dedicated solely to discussing the issues affecting documentary filmmakers," Porter concludes. "It's unique that it's not associated with a festival, and it's all about contemporary issues. We need to share that information so we can all do better for all of us, and I think this conference will provide that platform."

Register today for GETTING REAL, an unprecedented 3-day national conference for documentary filmmakers that will take place in Los Angeles from September 30 - October 2, 2014.

Valentina I. Valentini is a freelance journalist and producer based in Los Angeles. She contributes to Variety, IndieWire.com, Vulture.com, ICG Magazine, British Cinematographer, HDVideoPro and more.

For this month's #FunderFriday, we asked Lisa Chanoff and Bonni Cohen from Catapult Film Fund to answer some questions from our Twitter community. Below, they answer our community's questions, while also offering up answers to frequently asked questions. Don't forget: the Catapult Film Fund deadline is August 25th!

Is Catapult a fit for Indie Docs Seeking Post Production Funds? #FunderFriday

— ljfogel (@ljfogel) August 5, 2014

Catapult Film Fund: ​No. Catapult is all about early money. Our focus is to help launch documentary film projects near the beginning of their process. These "development grants" ​allow filmmakers to take crucial next steps in the development of their films, generally enabling a first shoot and editing pieces for production fundraising. We come in at that early stage where you know the story, you have access to your characters but you need to "show something" to successfully raise production funding. Catapult grants are designed to get you to the point where you have something to show. There are several ways to define "development." Generally, for the purpose of the Catapult grant, a project is in development if: you have not yet begun shooting, you have some footage but have not yet edited a fundraising piece, you have done some editing but what you have is not adequate for your fundraising.

#FunderFriday would you fund a historical animal conservation film with an audience engagement component?

— Carey Lundin (@CareyLundin) August 5, 2014

#FunderFriday Would you consider an observational film on unarmed civilian peacekeeping and mediation in a conflict zone?

— Julia Guest (@YearZeroFilms) August 8, 2014

#FunderFriday Would you fund a documentary that focus on the stigma of mental illness in the African American community?

— Jelly Donut (@JNiceWitIt) August 5, 2014

Catapult: ​We often get asked if we would fund​ particular subject areas . This is always hard to answer because we are open to all stories. We don't have any issue areas that projects have to address or a subject matter mandate. It's all about how compelling the particular story is, how great the characters are, and how creative and interesting the story telling approach. That said, historical films can be tough unless there is a particularly unique approach or access to particularly fascinating archival material or characters. We don't ask applicants to outline an audience engagement plan. But contemporary relevance is one of the criteria we look at in the application review, so if your historical project has current relevance, that is good to highlight.

Unfortunately, @Adlamassoud deleted her tweet before we could answer it here. On August 5, she asked: "do u fund first time filmmakers?"

Catapult: ​Generally no, but there are exceptions. If you are a first time filmmaker you have a somewhat tougher time receiving a Catapult grant. The reason is that since we come is so early there is relatively little to go on for the current project, so we rely heavily on past work in order to get a sense of the filmmaking style. Prior work can give us a sense of whether the filmmaker can pull off what he or she is proposing in the application, both in terms of artistry and the nuts and bolts of production and fundraising. If you are a first time filmmaker, there are ways to it strengthen your application, such as partnering with a more experienced filmmaker in a key position on the production team, submitting some visuals for the project either a bit of footage or even photographs, writing an amazing application, and letting us know how your prior experience lends itself to creating the film you are proposing.

#FunderFriday what are you looking for in the documentaries that would be funded?

— Jelly Donut (@JNiceWitIt) August 5, 2014

Catapult: ​Here is our criteria when reviewing an application. (This can be found on the Catapult website under "How to Apply.")

• Creative, artful, compelling and innovative storytelling techniques
• Strong story narrative at the core of the film
• A unique perspective or approach; use of humor a plus
• Contemporary relevance
• Feasibility of the project with respect to its budget, financing, schedule and scope
• Demonstrated ability of the creative team to have implemented previous projects
• Grant amount should have significant impact on development stage of the project
• Emphasis on the story not the lesson or agenda of the filmmaker
• Filmmaker must demonstrate credible access and rapport with the proposed subject(s) of the story.
• Originality of form, approach or content
• Potential of the project to generate public discourse and social engagement

Catapult: While we're at it I would also want to address a couple of questions that come up a lot.

Do you accept applications from outside the US?

Catapult: Yes. We accept non-US applicants and are certainly interested in all stories, whether local, national or international. Any filmmaker, whether or not in the US, chosen for a Catapult grant needs to have a fiscal sponsor in order the receive the grant. The fiscal sponsor is a US 501(c)(3) public charity which sponsors the project for the purpose of fundraising through grants and donations. You do not, however, need to have a fiscal sponsor at the time you apply to Catapult.

How strict is the one-page limit for the Project Description and the Narrative Treatment sections of the application?

Catapult: Not that strict. We will not cut you off after one page, but are just asking the the answers in these sections are about that length.

We want to thank Bonni Cohen and Lisa Chanoff for taking time during their busy funding season to answer all your questions! Keep an eye out for our next #FunderFriday in September with Cal Humanities' John Lightfoot, who will answer all your pressing questions about their upcoming California Documentary Project grant.

It seems lately like nonfiction series are popping up left and right on cable networks. This boom reflects networks’ increased desire for original content. But how can documentary filmmakers navigate new opportunities and get their projects slotted on cable schedules? For our June Doc U on cable and nonfiction series, we brought together a dynamic cast of cable movers and shakers to discuss what they look for in nonfiction offers, to give tips for filmmakers, and to present their side of the pitching table. Anne Thompson, of Indiewire’s ‘Thompson on Hollywood’ blog, moderated the discussion between Cynthia Kane (Al Jazeera America), Lizzie Kerner (CNN), Jennie Morris (Pivot), and Mary Lisio (Scott Free Productions). We distilled the discussion down to 5 key take-aways for filmmakers so that your contact with cable networks will be as fruitful as possible.

We follow it up with a brief guide to what our panelists say Al Jazeera America, CNN and Pivot are looking for.
 

1. Be Open to Collaboration

Both Cynthia Kane of Al Jazeera America and Lizzie Kerner of CNN stress the importance of collaboration between filmmakers and their networks. Kane likes to hear seeds of ideas that have the potential to open up bigger conversations, as opposed to having too many details already planned out. Kerner says that if someone comes in with a project that is not quite the right fit for CNN, then the likely and obvious answer will be “no”. However, if there’s enough room to make adjustments and collaborate so that the project becomes an agreeable match for CNN, there’s a good chance they will pick it up. The panelists recommend that filmmakers ask what the networks are looking for before diving into a pitch. That way, filmmakers can make changes to their pitches to better suit what the networks want.

2a. Reach Out…

Reaching out to a network can feel daunting. At the very least, you may assume that your pitch will get buried under the pile of other emails, never to see the light of day. However, broadcast networks are always on the lookout for new material, especially since there have been more outlets and networks looking to build their own original content. Kane says that at Al Jazeera America, they are highly responsive to emails. She encourages filmmakers to contact her or one of her colleagues. Meanwhile, Jennie Morris reminds us that Pivot scouts content online for new, young voices.

2b. …But Know the Boundaries

There can be a fine line between reaching out and pestering the person who might be the one to give you a chance. Unfortunately, sometimes networks simply can’t read and respond to every email they receive. If you don’t get a response from a network, the answer is not to stalk a producer by phone or email. That’s a quick way to turn them off. Also, during a pitch session, sometimes you need to know when the pitch is over and that it’s time to leave the room. Kerner adds one more thing to the list: don’t start your pitch by telling the network what they’re doing wrong! She was quite surprised when this happened during a pitch to CNN, saying that it didn’t get things off on the right foot.

3. Listen to Advice

Your big idea won’t always be met with a 'yes.' If a network turns down your pitch, don’t abandon it, and definitely don’t close yourself off to advice. Tune in to what the 'no' is really about. Panelists encourage filmmakers to try and figure out why the network was saying 'no' and then see if they can make changes to their pitch in order to fit what the network is looking for. Sometimes, you have to work at turning your pitch’s 'no' to a 'yes.'

4. Take the Extra Step

Mary Lisio, who develops program ideas and pitches them to different networks for Scott Free Productions, believes that a sizzle reel (or a short promotional video) can be a crucial component to getting a project picked up by a network. It’s an extra step that gives the people to whom you’re pitching the ideas behind the show, the point-of-view, and a clearer idea of what the show might look like. And it shows that you really care about your project. If it’s within your means, a sizzle reel is another component that can help get a ‘yes’ for your pitch.

5. Know the Network

Kane advises that you "do your homework." Make sure that your idea is fresh and hasn’t been recently produced. Know to whom you’re pitching, because something that may work for Pivot might not work for Al Jazeera.

Below is a guide to the three networks and what the panelists say their companies are typically interested in producing:

Al Jazeera America is known for fact-based and investigative news, so they want their nonfiction programming to be current. Kane affirms that while they’re open to one-offs, their primary focus is on heavy-hitter series that will offer a voice to the voiceless and foster deeper discussions on the issues they cover. They keep an eye out for immersive documentaries and series with a global scope for everyday American audiences. Recent programming includes The System with Joe Berlinger, which explores the criminal justice system in the U.S.

CNN looks for nonfiction programming that is both entertaining and topical. Many of their shows have hosts like Inside Man with Morgan Spurlock, and Kerner believes that it works for them, because people generally associate CNN with anchors and hosts. Like Al Jazeera, CNN’s focus is on series, but they are still open to one-offs. In fact, this summer they are airing a weekly documentary from their in-house documentary unit. A few of their well-known series include Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, Chicagoland, and Death Row Stories. A new program, Somebody's Gotta Do It, is currently in production.

Pivot skews toward the young and the digital. Their target audience is millennials and Jennie Morris is always on the lookout for content that she thinks will resonate with that demographic. They want their content to be meaningful and inspire social change and also want to find ways to foster online engagement and bring more people to their network. Their nonfiction programming includes Jersey Strong and the forthcoming Human Resources, which will focus on an entrepreneur and his employees at TerraCycle, a company that takes waste and makes commercial goods out of them.

The text that follows is a statement from the Drew family on the passing of Robert L. Drew, the father of American cinéma vérité.

Documentary filmmaker Robert L. Drew, the father of American cinéma vérité, died today at his home in Sharon, Connecticut. He was 90 years old.

Drew and his associates pioneered a new kind of reality filmmaking in the early 1960s that is now a staple of the documentary form. Drew made more than 100 films over his 50-plus-year career, many on social issues, politics, and the arts.

Drew’s entire collection is being preserved by the archives of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, of which he was a member. Two of Drew’s films are in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. His list of honors includes the Cannes Film Festival Special Jury Prize, blue ribbons from the New York Film festival, the International Documentary Association Career Achievement Award, an Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, First Prizes in the Venice Film Festival, 19 Cine Golden Eagles, the Flaherty Award, and the Dupont-Columbia Best Documentary award.

Drew was a Life Magazine correspondent and editor, as well as a former WWII fighter pilot, when he formed Drew Associates in 1960 to produce his kind of films. He hired a team of filmmakers who would later become well known, among them Ricky Leacock, D.A. Pennebaker, and Albert Maysles.

Drew’s films pioneered a strict journalistic code that allowed no directing of subjects, no set-up shots, no on-camera narrator. The candid footage was edited into a dramatic narrative that gave the feeling of what it was like to be there as events occurred. His technique became known as cinéma vérité or direct cinema, though he liked to call it reality filmmaking.

To accomplish this, Drew and his associates re-engineered a motion picture camera and sound recorder so they could move freely and in sync with a subject. This allowed them the mobility to capture real life as it unfolded before the lens, as documented in the documentary Cinema Verite: Defining the Moment.

For their first film with their new equipment, Drew convinced a young senator from Massachusetts who was running for President to be his first subject: John F. Kennedy. Drew and his team recorded Kennedy as he campaigned for the 1960 Democratic Presidential nomination in Wisconsin. The resulting film, Primary, was the first film made where the sync sound camera could move freely to capture events as they were actually happening.

Primary, along with the famous 1963 film about Kennedy’s decision to back racial equality as a moral issue and force the integration of the University of Alabama –Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment – won numerous awards and have been named to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry as works of enduring importance to American culture. Crisis includes candid scenes from inside the Oval Office, the only time a U.S. president has allowed independent cameras to film actual White House deliberations.

Drew refined his early ideas about documentaries with dramatic logic in a 1954-55 Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, where he studied storytelling in order to craft documentaries that used narrative and what he called “picture logic” rather than following “word logic,” or a lecture format. When he returned to Life Magazine, Drew made several experimental films.

Drew explained in a 1962 interview that he envisioned a documentary form that would be “a theater without actors; it would be plays without playwrights; it would be reporting without summary and opinion; it would be the ability to look in on people’s lives at crucial times from which you could deduce certain things and see a kind of truth that can only be gotten from personal experience.” See resources below for a link to that interview.

Drew formed Drew Associates and made several films under contract for Time, Inc., which owned a handful of television stations and sometimes teamed with ABC and commercial sponsors to broadcast the independent films. In addition to Primary and Crisis, these included some of the recognized seminal works of early cinéma vérité: Yanki No! (1960) about Latin America’s rising anger at its northern neighbor; On the Pole, (1960 and 1961), which follows top driver Eddie Sachs at two Indianapolis 500s; Mooney vs. Fowle (1961), an inside-the-locker room story of a high school football state championship game; The Chair (1962), in which a crusading lawyer saves a man from the electric chair; and Jane (1962), about Jane Fonda’s debut as the lead in what turned out to be a Broadway flop. Each of the films won major awards at film festivals in the U.S. and Europe.

Drew’s contract with Time, Inc., ended in 1964, and from then on Drew Associates functioned as an independent producer. Drew won an Emmy Award in 1969 for Man Who Dances, which depicts the grinding physical stress on New York City Ballet’s then-premier dancer, Edward Villella. That film was edited by a filmmaker who would soon become Drew’s second wife and filmmaking partner, Anne Gilbert Drew. The two were inseparable personally and professionally until Anne’s death in April, 2012, from lung cancer.

Drew won the Dupont-Columbia Best Documentary award in 1986 for For Auction: An American Hero, the story of a rural auctioneer and the family whose farm is put up for sale when their debts become overwhelming.

Robert Lincoln Drew was born in Toledo, Ohio, in February, 1924, the eldest of four children. His family soon moved to Ft. Thomas, Kentucky, where his father ran a seaplane base on the Ohio River and taught his son to fly. Drew remembered his father taking a dollar from a customer for a seaplane ride and quietly slipping it to his son to run down to buy the fuel needed to gas up the plane.

Drew left high school shortly before graduation to enlist as a cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps. After flight training school, Drew was posted to a combat squadron near Naples, Italy, and flew 31 missions before being shot down behind enemy lines on January 31, 1944, 16 days before his 20th birthday. Drew survived for three and a half months eluding German troops in the mountains near the town of Fondi, Italy, before finding his way through the approaching battle lines to return to his squadron.

Drew returned to the States and enrolled in a military engineering school so he could qualify to join the first squadron of jet fighter pilots, a posting he was finally granted only after he impressed the squadron leader with a highly visible, illegal dog fight in the air over a military base against two Navy airplanes. He was still in training when the war ended. When Life Magazine came to his base to do a story on jet fighters, Drew wrote a first-person essay for Life about what it was like to fly the plane. That essay eventually landed him a job as a Life correspondent. That was when he found himself asking the question “Why are documentaries so boring?”

Drew is survived by his three children: Thatcher Drew, Lisa W. Drew, and Derek Drew; and three grandchildren: Jonathan Drew, Kimberly Drew and Seth Drew. He is also survived by his first wife, Ruth Faris Drew, his brother Frank M. Drew, brigadier general, U.S. Air Force, retired; and a sister, Mary Way Drew Greer.

Jill Drew, his daughter-in-law, is General Manager of Drew Associates, which is active in distributing the company’s library of films.

A celebration of Drew’s life will be held on August 3 in Sharon, Connecticut. A memorial service will also be held in New York City at a later date.

Read our article about the 10-DVD boxed set of Drew's work, released in 2013: This We Know is Drew: A Box Set of American Vérité

Los Angeles has never been much of a hockey town, so the convergence of the LA Kings’ Stanley Cup Championship match with the third day of the 20th Los Angeles Film Festival brought an unexpected flood to Downtown LA. My attempt to navigate from IDA’s offices in Koreatown on Friday the 13th to the Regal Cinemas at LA Live was fraught with traffic jams and last-minute parking changeups. So, I missed the 4:45 p.m. screening of The Great Museum, opting instead for the easier option: throwing up my hands in defeat and heading home. My colleague Thomas White was wiser than I in forgoing the Fest that evening altogether, instead enjoying the Kings’ victory from the comfort of his couch. You win this round, Mr. White.

Thanks to generally smooth parking protocol for the other eight days of LAFF (important in a city where the car is king), I was able to catch 13 feature-length documentary films, including six of the eight in competition. Thomas Miller’s Limited Partnership and blair dorosh-walther’s Out in the Night offered a strong representation for LGBT stories alongside a heavy focus on observational filmmaking in Àgnes Sòs’s Stream of Love. (See Thomas White’s report for some of the more meditative and powerful vérité selections from the fest.) Wildly entertaining character docs came in the form of The Battered Bastards of Baseball and Adam Rifkin’s Giuseppe Makes a Movie, an offering that will either shock you silent or laugh you onto the floor (spoiler alert: I experienced the latter reaction). The selection of music documentaries was rather weak compared to previous years, with Billy Mize and the Bakersfield Sound offering a somewhat exhausting history of a forgotten West Coast country singer.

When a filmmaker is a direct descendant of his main subject, a viewer tends to keep the eyes peeled for overly tender treatment of the material. In the case of Billy Mize, filmmaker William J. Saunders, Mize’s grandson, handles his main subject with kid gloves. That’s not to say that the story’s subject matter doesn’t warrant sensitivity: the handsome country crooner with a face made for television lost two children and suffered a stroke in his mid-60s that rendered him unable to sing. It seems trivial to lament the would-be success of a man who insisted on placing family before career, especially a man who hosted several wildly popular country music television programs.

Billy Mize is not a household name, so it’s understandable that Saunders is interested in putting his grandfather on the map. But what is the crux of his story? The filmmaker struggles with the arc of his narrative, setting up tragedy after tragedy to be confronted and belabored in a jerky rollercoaster of emotions. The one force that separates the film from a straightforward biodoc is the anticipation of Billy’s performance at his 80th birthday: Now that his stroke has made speech so difficult, will he be able to sing? Unfortunately, the answer to the film’s driving question left me cold.

Where Billy Mize is mired by the filmmaker's relationship with its subject, directors and brothers Chapman and Maclain Way are able to set aide the relationship with their grandfather/subject to produce a film so engaging that the climax elicited wild cheers from the audience. The Battered Bastards of Baseball, which premiered at Sundance and is now available for streaming on Netflix, offers a history of one independent baseball team and the vibrant man who served as its manager. Sports documentaries often fall victim to excessive jargon and inside baseball (ahem!), but Bastards invites the audience into the story of manager Bing Russell and the Portland Mavericks, at the time the only independent team in the Class A Northwest League. The Way Brothers unfurl their grandfather Bing Russell’s transition from minor league ball player to what his son Kurt (yes, that Kurt Russell) describes as “a plumber actor” cast in hundreds of television Westerns before landing the role of Deputy Clem Foster on Bonanza. After the cancellation of this second-longest-running television Western in 1973, Bing turned back to his first love.

Through interviews with sports journalists and former members of the now-defunct team and well-aged archival footage, the filmmakers recreate the excitement that was palpable in the Portland stadium when the rough-and-tumble Mavs would take the field. Game footage showcases their speed and their chances, especially the risky frequency of their base stealing. Even as the intricacies of Bing’s management style and the Major League backlash it incurred unfold, the Way brothers never lose sight of what makes the Mavericks such an entertaining team to watch and discuss. Exposing their beer bellies in the locker room and sporting some of the most iconic (and definitely outside of MLB regulation) '70s hairstyles you’ve ever seen, the Mavericks’ motivating force was the pursuit of fun. The narrative doesn’t dwell in the team’s dissolution, but rather celebrates this rare moment in history when an independent team dared to take on the major leaguers—and actually came out victorious.

Adam Rifkin’s Giuseppe Makes a Movie offers a delightful look at one of the most prolific filmmakers you’ve never heard of. You might recognize Giuseppe Andrews from the iconic '90s films Detroit Rock City (also directed by Rifkin) and Independence Day, but odds are you won’t – his years living an electively transient lifestyle have visibly weathered his face and his body. Giuseppe is a true auteur who, after spending enough time in Hollywood, just wants to make movies his way: improvised shock and exploitation flicks void of continuity and staged without rehearsal. Rifkin’s doc is a lively, behind-the-scenes look at the making of Garbanzo Gas, Giuseppe’s then-latest story of a cow who receives an all-expenses-paid vacation from the slaughterhouse—to a motel room.

The doc follows Giuseppe through the entire process of developing, casting and shooting this latest feature which, unlike his previous films,Touch Me in the Morning, Trailer Town and Who Flung Poo?, will be shot in two days instead of three. He is a whirlwind force of encouragement and idealism for his projects and his collaborators, and provides an engaging guide through his offbeat, breakneck creative process. Those easily offended should steer clear of Rifkin’s flick, but those with a stomach for the lurid exploitation genre will delight in the 82 minutes you spend with one of its most prolific artists. If you like Pink Flamingos, you’ll fall in love with Giuseppe Andrews.

While the idea of octogenarians openly discussing their sex lives might sound like a premise ripped from Giuseppe’s ribald filmography, the tone of Àgnes Sòs’ Stream of Love is more a contemplative portrait of a rural Romanian village and its vibrant inhabitants. Sure, the film is replete with racy remarks about sex and self-pleasure. But there’s nothing exploitative about Sòs’ camera, a testament to the trust she gained from her senior citizen subjects over the two years she spent with them. The Hungarian film contains traditional interviews intercut with vérité footage, but its standout feature, to be sure, is its humor and humility. Women openly speak about their intimate experiences while preparing communal meals, laughing while reflecting on the folly of their youth. The film ends with a group of the women taking great joy as they roll down the grassy hill that looks down on their village, drenched in sunlight and laughing like teenagers.

One of the more serious and poignant docs in competition was Out in the Night, the story of four gay African-American women who were assaulted on the streets of New York City by a male aggressor. Because the women defended themselves with a weapon, Venice Brown, Terrain Dandridge, Renata Hill and Patreese Johnson were all sentenced to at least three years in jail, with Patreese receiving an 11-year sentence. The film actualizes the trials and convictions of these four women, placing blame squarely on a media that dares to label them “a gang of killer lesbians,” and “a seething Sapphic septet.”

In the trial testimony, the male assailant claims that he reacted because one of the women “was disrespecting [him] as a man,” which made my hair stand on end: the same misogynistic privilege and expectations were echoed in the Isla Vista killings not more than a two weeks prior to this film’s screening. After we see all four women convicted while the male assailant walks free, a civil rights advocate is interviewed, proclaiming, “male supremacy hurts everybody.” If there’s one timely take-away from blair dorosh-walther’s film, it should be this.

Another resilient LGBT narrative comes from Thomas Miller’s Limited Partnership, which proved to be one of the more emotional offerings of this year’s selections. In a festival season that left everyone talking about The Case Against 8, Miller’s film reminds us that while the fight for marriage equality has certainly come to a head in the last decade, this battle actually began in 1975, when a Colorado clerk issued the first same-sex marriage license. Following the lives of bi-national, same-sex couple Tony Sullivan (an Australian native) and Richard Adams (an American), Limited Partnership depicts their struggle to make a life in a country that refuses to recognize their union, and thus criminalizes Sullivan for what is considered a visa violation. The couple’s story plays out through family photos, clips from an extensive interview with Tony and Richard from 2002, and more present-day footage, following the couple through a decades-long struggle to live openly and without fear. In a Q&A following the Los Angeles premiere, attorney Lavi Soloway reminded the audience that the 40-year evolution of same-sex partnerships is one of the quickest revolutions in modern history. Limited Partnership shines a light on some of the early fighters in this struggle, reminding us that the fight for our civil liberties is all part of an evolution.

Katharine Relth is the Digital Communications Manager for the International Documentary Association.

The distribution landscape is constantly evolving. We already gave you 10 Keys to Successful Theatrical Distribution for Your Doc and the most important 5 Digital Distribution Tips for Filmmakers. Now, here are some of the most oft-used terms and their definitions to help you figure out how best to get your doc out into the world.

Theatrical Releases:

Wide release: a film is shown nationwide simultaneously in hundreds of theaters.

Limited release: a film is released in a select several theaters across the country. This release style is frequently used for documentaries, art films, and independent films.

Platform release: a strategy included under the umbrella of the limited release that utilizes word of mouth to gain momentum. Usually shown in very few select theaters in major cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago.

Semi-Theatrical Release: A one-time special event screening that can take place in a movie theater, museum, college campus, art center, etc.

DIY Release: Filmmakers make deals with individual theaters to screen their films. Filmmakers usually either pay the theater a fixed sum upfront and take on the risk and potential profits, or, if the theater believes the film will be successful, share both the risk and profits with the theater. Includes online platforms like Tugg and Gathr to crowdsource theatrical screenings.

Video on Demand

Video-on-Demand (VOD) is an interactive system that allows users to select and watch video content in real time or download content whenever they choose in lieu of watching at specific broadcast times. Users can stream and/or download video content. For streaming, the content plays as it downloads; for downloaded content, the file must be completely downloaded before it will play.

Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) allows users unlimited access to a bundled set of content for a fixed fee during a specific time period (typically one month). SVOD providers include Netflix and Hulu Plus.

Advertising-supported Video on Demand (AVOD) offers access to video and audio content with ads to users, often for free, since the platforms rely on selling ads to generate revenue. One AVOD provider is Hulu.

Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD) allows customers to pay a single price for individual VOD content or set of viewed programs. TVOD includes download-to-buy options like iTunes and Amazon as well as Internet VOD (IVOD) like Vudu rentals.

Free Video on Demand (FVOD) is demand programming that is available as part of a basic content package, to which subscribers can have unlimited access for a specific time period.

Direct and Retail

Direct sales
The purchasing of goods from manufacturers or distributors in person. An example of this is the purchasing of a DVD at a film screening.

Retail
When consumers go directly to a retail outlet or store with multiple products on display in order to make a purchase. Direct selling can also counts as retail.

Digital Distribution
A distribution method in which media content, such as video, is delivered without the use of physical media, typically by downloading from the internet straight to a consumer's home. Examples include: filmmakers’ own websites, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and iTunes.

Educational Distribution
The selling of DVDs to high schools, universities, colleges, research institutes, non-profit organizations, libraries and other institutions that use film for educational purposes like research and as teaching tools.

The rapidly changing distribution landscape has brought with it a whole new vocabulary and a seemingly mind-boggling array of different options for delivering films to audiences (link takes you to our new Distribution Terminology Guide). But where do you, the filmmaker, fit in? Just like you needed to train yourself to make a film, you need to learn how to distribute one. Because this new digital world can at times be confusing and overwhelming, we gathered a diverse group of folks together for our May Doc U on digital distribution to help you sort out what’s what. Peter Broderick, who consults with filmmakers and has studied this arena extensively, moderated our panel that included filmmaker Jen Chaiken (Inequality for All, Afternoon Delight), Chris Horton (Sundance Institute), Melanie Miller (Gravitas Ventures), and Erick Opeka (Cinedigm Entertainment). We culled through the evening’s discussion to come up with our top five takeaways you need to know to help mount a successful and individualized distribution strategy.

1. Always Grow Your Audience

Our panelists highlighted numerous marketing strategies for audience development such as maintaining a strong online presence, crowdfunding, and building email lists. Email lists are key; they can become the core market for advertising films, selling merchandise, and making pre-sales to people who have indicated that they’re interested in what you’re producing. Some filmmakers offer free products on their documentaries’ websites and collect names and emails in exchange, which they can use in the future. Crowdfunding is another great tool. As Chris Horton said, crowdfunding is “less about raising money than building an audience.”

2. Retain Rights to Sell Directly

Regardless if you make a traditional or a hybrid deal for distribution, Peter Broderick recommended that filmmakers retain the rights to sell their documentaries directly from their websites, whether the copies are digital or on DVD. Not only does this allow you more versatility for distribution, but it also allows you to collect the names and emails of those who buy your film, which, as mentioned above, is extremely important for developing an audience. Hit-documentary Hungry for Change made over a million in sales by selling copies of the film and cookbooks from its website. While this isn’t the case for every documentary, having the right to sell directly is invaluable.

3. Timing is Everything

By all measures, getting your doc into Sundance is a great achievement. And, based on recent trends, chances are that your Sundance screening will lead to your film being acquired for distribution. However, Horton believes that there’s one small flaw in this picture. Getting picked up for distribution at a film festival creates a gulf between the premiere and the time the film gets to market, leaving many documentaries high and dry after the festival buzz has died down. It can take upward of 90 days to program a film’s delivery with a cable operator, so planning ahead can be a daunting (and expensive) task. However, both Melanie Miller and Opeka recommend finding distributors and making them part of the process early on; that way, your festival buzz will translate more effectively into growing your audience.

4. The Rules Aren’t Always Meant to be Broken

If you have a film with the potential to be sold to cable TV or with high profile broadcast and VOD release possibility, the more stringent the distribution rules are. Opeka believes if you’ve already released it online or rocked the boat when it comes to traditional distribution, you run the risk of your film being passed over by the biggest platforms in the business. (In which case, you may not be able to follow the lead of the Hungry for Change example cited above). If you fail to mention that your film is already online and the distributor finds out after a deal is made, you may jeopardize that deal. You may have a really innovative release strategy on paper, but do consult someone who really understands how to navigate the windows and split rights of the business so that you aren’t exempt from any big distribution opportunities down the road.

5. Research How to Monetize your Film and Navigate Windows

Understanding the ins-and-outs of distribution windows is necessary, because your distributor(s) need(s) an informed filmmaker to partner with in order to get the film out as efficiently as possible. This means understanding windows and how to break them: pre-theatrical, theatrical, post-theatrical. In Miller’s ideal world, a filmmaker’s documentary would go to VOD and drop on DVD on the same day. Understand how early your film can get on the VOD, cable, Hulu Prime, Netflix, Apple iTunes bandwagon. Understand tiers — meaning the pricing for your film — and be in contact with your distributor to tap into their expertise on pricing.

Read our 10 Keys to Successful Theatrical Distribution for Your Doc from our Doc U in April 2014

In a recent interview with TheWrap, IDA Executive Director Michael Lumpkin was asked to discuss the current boom in documentary filmmaking. Excerpts from his interview were published in the piece Is This the Death of the Big Screen Documentary?, in which filmmaker Joe Berlinger also weighs in on how technology and contemporary distribution methods have been both "a blessing and a curse."

"An individual can pretty easily and cheaply put their film online; whether anyone sees or finds it is another matter," Michael Lumpkin, executive director of the International Documentary Association, told TheWrap. "There are more opportunities over the last several years—there have been a constant parade of new platforms to watch movies online. But I think for filmmakers, not enough of those opportunities are actually financial opportunities."

Lumpkin noted that his organization has seen a continual uptick in the number of documentaries submitted for awards consideration, which is their best measurement of the number of films that come out in the genre each year.

Like so much in the docmaking profession, the future of documentaries on the big screen is murky. Recognizing this concern, the International Documentary Association and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has developed GETTING REAL, an unprecedented 3-day national conference for documentary filmmakers. GETTING REAL hopes to ignite what is desperately needed in the documentary community: a frank public conversation about the state of our industry that will lead to action and change. Held from September 30 to October 2, 2014 in Los Angeles, the conference will feature a curated selection of compelling topics including filmmaker pay, transparency, equity funding, ethics, and public media utilizing formats designed to be interactive, dynamic, and productive.

Learn more about the conference and register at GETTINGREAL2014.com

Read the full article on TheWrap.

As you may have read last week, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission has provided a generous grant enabling the IDA to recruit two promising undergraduate students for paid summer 2014 internships. During their time with us, these two bright individuals will gain expertise in event and educational program management.

Corinne Gaston has joined us this week as the new Conference and Educational Programs Intern. Corinne has one more semester to finish at the University of Southern California where she studies Creative Writing, Folklore, and Screenwriting. Originally from Pennsylvania, Corinne has fallen in love with California and has no plans of leaving the west coast any time soon. She is a published writer who co-founded and ran The Interloper, an alternative newspaper, at her school during her junior year. In the fall, she’ll join Neon Tommy at USC as an assistant opinion editor.

Corinne enjoys the unique forms that storytelling can take and believes in the power that documentaries have to shed light on social issues. She was deeply moved by The Invisible War by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, and, after learning the IDA supported this production, decided that she wanted to play a part in providing documentary filmmakers the tools and networks to help them tell their stories.

We're thrilled to kickoff this first week with a bright new addition to the IDA, and can't wait to see the incredible work we are sure she do with us this summer. Please join us in welcoming Corinne to the IDA community!

Learn about our other talented new intern made possible by the LACAC, Program and Events Intern Niala Charles.

The Los Angeles County Arts Commission has provided a generous grant enabling the IDA to recruit two promising undergraduate students for paid summer 2014 internships. During their time with us, these two bright individuals will gain expertise in event and educational program management.

The first to join the fold is Niala Charles, our new Program and Events Intern. Niala will be embarking on her senior year at Pepperdine University in the Fall, where she is studying Broadcast Journalism and Economics. Hailing from Temecula, California, Niala has traveled extensively throughout the UK and Europe and is currently flexing her journalism muscles as the Business Reporter on Pepperdine's news program News Waves.

Niala professes a love of documentaries and shares her wonder at their impact on society. "[Documentaries] have the power to influence change within society and increase awareness by showing audiences a life other than their own," she states. Niala loves Oprah's Master Class series, which features well-known figures telling never-before-heard stories, for this reason. She hopes that her work with the IDA will help to showcase the amazing talent that lies within the documentary industry.

We're excited to embark on this journey with this new addition to our team, and can't wait to see the incredible impact we are sure she will have on the IDA as an organization. Please join us in welcoming Niala to the IDA community!

Stay tuned next week to meet the new Conference and Educational Programs Intern Corinne Gaston