Greenlit: Developing Factual/TV Ideas From Concept to Pitch – OUT NOW!

There are some simple principles to successfully developing and pitching your ideas, whether you are working for a global ‘super-indie’ production company, or are a documentary filmmaker pitching a passion project. The extraordinary thing is that no one will tell you what they are! Greenlit is the first book to reveal, step-by-step, how to originate, develop and pitch your factual/non-scripted TV ideas in a global market.

Get insider tips from: * 10 TV development producers – who have a combined 50+ years experience of developing and pitching ideas at all levels; * 20 senior executives who have sold some of the world’s most successful shows, to: * 16 channel executives, who between them have worked at: * 18 TV channels in: * 7 countries across 4 continents.

Greenlit is available now from Amazon and all good bookstores.

PBS Diversity and Innovation Fund Call for TV Proposals – Deadline Wednesday 15th September

PBS has put out a call for proposals for a new immersive, multiplatform TV series that covers areas such as science, history, travel, natural history and exploration. Proposed series should appeal to a racially and ethnically diverse audience of 40-64 year olds in the USA. They should be developed for primetime with 10 episodes at a cost of less than $375K per hour. PBS will start accepting proposals from Monday 26th July, 2010 and the deadline is Wednesday 15th September, 2010.
(Photo by Tracy O under CC BY SA 2.0)

Content 360 Challenge Call for Pitches – Deadline Monday 15th February, 2010

The Content 360 Challenge at MIPTV is looking for pitches for Coca Cola branded content that will appeal to teenagers. Ideas can be for mobile apps, games, web series or TV shows, and finalists will pitch to Coca Cola execs at MIPTV, Cannes on 13-14th April 2010. Entry is free and the deadline for entries is 15th February, 2010.

There are also five further categories:

* “Engaging with children through the use of Connected TV” (Korea Communications Commission)
* “Next Generation Online Video Experience” (National Film Board of Canada)
* “Creating short video combining user-generated and EU online archives content” (European Commission)
* “Next Generation Audience Engagement”
* “New Advertising formats” (TF1)

For more information visit: Content360
(Photo by P/\UL CC BY-SA 2.0)

Panic Attack!

BBC News reports that Fede Alvarez, a Uruguayan film producer, struck YouTube gold when he uploaded short sci-fi film he made for $300. Four days later he was inundated with offers from Hollywood and has been offered a $30million dollar deal to produce a feature-length sci-fi film set in Argentina and Uruguay. Read the full [...]

Good Pitch Tribeca Call for Entries – Deadline Monday 8th February, 2010

Tribeca Film Institute is hosting the Good Pitch , a one-day pitching event for social-justice documentaries. The event will be held in New York during the Tribeca Film Festival on April 27th. Eight filmmakers (of any nationality) will be selected to pitch their projects to a panel of broadcasters, foundations, social entrepreneurs and non government organizations with the aim of soliciting support to help their films achieve greater impact and recognition.

Documentaries previously supported through Good Pitch include End of the Line and Peace in One Day. Companies who have taken part in past Good Pitches include Whole Foods, Puma Vision, Ben and Jerry’s Foundation and Asda Walmart Foundation.

Films at any stage of production are considered, but rough cut is probably the optimum time to apply. You will need a strong trailer to show to the panel. Completed films are eligible prior to festival premiere or distribution.

Deadline: 18:00 GMT, 8th February, 2010

To find out more and to apply click through.
(Photo (C) TV Mole)

Current Goes Long-Form

Current TV are well known for commissioning short films (or ‘pods’) but they’re now starting (in the UK) to commissioning and acquiring 30′, 60′ and feature length documentaries from new and emerging documentary producers. Keep up to date with what they’re looking for by emailing  Charlotte for a commissioning brief. Budgets:  £5k for a half-hour [...]

Call for Applications: Crossover Science Lab

Crossover is an international programme that brings together people from different creative disciplines – games, theatre, new media, TV and film – to collaborate, generate and hot house new content for digital media.

This year, a Crossover Science residential lab will be held on 22-27 November 2009, to “explore the potential of digital media to make compelling experiences focused on the stories, discoveries, challenges and moral dilemmas emerging from science and scientific research in the 21st century”.

Applications close 3rd November, 2009. Click through for more information.
(Photo by FrankBoyd CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Documentary Campus Masterschool – Call for Entries 2010. Deadline: 2nd October 2009

Documentary Campus Masterschool 2010 is a ten-month long masterclass in which you can get one-to-one and group training sessions (four over the ten months) to help you develop your documentary idea so you can secure international interest and funding. The school allows all kinds of nonfiction genres, from docuseries to one-offs and cross-media projects. Past [...]

BrandDirector

Brandirector makes looking for programme sponsorship, ad funding or product placement partners much easier. It’s a ‘dating agency’ style site that aims to match independent producers with brands, such as BMW, Sony and Extreme, that are looking to team up with content creators. HarperCollins is the latest to sign up, and will put 120 of [...]

Westdoc Twitter

If you weren’t able to make it to Santa Monica to attend the Westdoc conference, you can keep up with what’s going on in real time – who’s commissioning what, and how to pitch -  via twitter. Just follow the #westdoc thread.