I recently attended the Sheffield Doc Fest funding event in Glasgow, supported by MEDIA Antenna Scotland, provides practical advice on how to access documentary funding using both traditional and innovative methods. Led by Charlie Phillips, Sheffield Doc/Fest’s Marketplace Director and Emma Valentine (MEDIA Scotland) the workshop will enable documentary professionals to get up to date on who is funding what right now, and the best ways to approach them.
I had been focusing so heavily on how to construct my documentary that I hadn't considered the process of marketing and how it affects film and documentary makers. What funding is available and WHERE DO YOU GET IT?!
Charlie went through a series of traditional and non-traditional methods of acquiring funding all of which are a lengthy process.
Crowdfunding is a new method of raising the money for your film. The plus side is, you don't have broadcast companies diluting your idea and warping it into something brain-dead and suitable for TV. You can approach people you think your film will benefit and try to make a positive impact.
The negatives are; you need a large fan base to initiate the funding, people must have faith you can produce the work and it takes months of planning and dedication, executed with military precision, to achieve the funding you require. So yes, hard work, but if you've got something to say, it's worth it.
Indie Game is perhaps the most successful documentary to come from crowdfunding. Their creators have created a page to allow the public to see the process they went through and provide advice for others considering the same approach very kind of them!
More traditional methods are contacting broadcasting companies with proposals, etc (though i'm not convinced broadcasters screen anything that anyone would want to make nowadays!) which is a draining process and you can't always retain the integrity of your project.
Co produce and co finance! There's not enough money in the UK... go overseas and steal some of theirs! Remember there's always funding from other countries focus on Scandinavia and Netherlands, they are big on documentaries and dedicate a lot of money to projects.
Also, if you have made your documentary (or film) and are looking to PUNT it, Distrify is great for retaining control (rather than handing over to a distributor) and setting your own fee. The Scottish Documentary Institute use it on all their screenings and it's shaping up to be a fantastic marketing tool- easy to use and control the distribution of your work. Oh, and they're based in Glasgow! Woohoo...
Distrify Limited
5th Floor
103 Trongate
Glasgow
The workshop was packed full of information and i've shared very little, but if you have any questions, ask away!
It was a great workshop, so thanks to Sheffield Doc Fest & MEDIA Scotland. :D (I'm a cheeseball!)
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