Funding

Raising money for a film often feels like a Sysyphean task, constantly pushing a boulder up a hill. But as documentaries have become more popular

This is a fully revised look at documentary budgeting, and updates the 2006 Documentary article “Don’t Fudge on Your Budget: Toeing the Line Items.” At the center of the documentary "business" is the budget, which offers a map of the filmmaking process, expressing both the film you’re planning to make and how you plan to make it. Ideally, it is also a living document that can help get a film to completion.

Just a few scrolls through the Ford Foundation's JustFilms initiative's collection of funded films since its founding in 2011 reveals some of the

During every phase of production, documentary filmmakers are required to articulate their expansive artistic vision and months or years of work in a