Theatrical Documentary Information by Peter Hamilton. His expertise is theatrical documentaries, reality television, unscripted tv and documentary television.

IDFA Amsterdam: Seven Key Success Factors at This Year’s Documentary Pitch Forum

2013 December 16 2017 June 4 / Commissioning Process, Documentary Production, Documentary TV, Foundation Funding, Funding a Documentary, Pitching, Producers' Tool Kit, Public Television, Theatrical Documentary

The IDFA Forum is the leading European, and possibly international co-financing and co-production market for documentaries. Our reporter Eli Brown returned to Amsterdam with the mission of spotting the Key Success Factors for documentarians, as measured by the responses from decision-makers to the pitches at this year’s Forum. And here they are, Eli’s 7 KSFs at IDFA in …

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Chinese Documentary Smashes Crowd-funding Record. Takeaway #1 from Science Producers’ Congress

2013 December 8 2017 June 4 / China, Commissioning Process, Distribution, Funding a Documentary, Theatrical Documentary

Super Boy (快乐男声) is a Chinese hit show for male singing contestants that was inspired by the UK elimination format Pop Idol. Hunan Satellite Television has broadcast Super Boy since 2005. The producer EE Media has a background in pop music. Here’s a taste of Super Boy from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uZHT86523A At last week’s brainy Science & Factual Producers’ Congress in Montreal, I learned that Super …

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Independent Lens: The Curators’ Vision & Commissioning Process (2/2)

2013 November 7 2017 June 4 / Commissioning Process, Documentary Production, Documentary TV, Foundation Funding, Funding a Documentary, Network Profile, Theatrical Documentary

Last week, we began our coverage of Independent Lens (IL), the flagship U.S. public television documentary strand. This week, we cover IL’s vision and commissioning process AND, we asked Dana Bramble to pick 3 recent IL docs that each lit a fire for her classmates at American University. See the clips below. PLUS, for doc producers: …

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Case Study: ‘BESA: A ‘Passion’ Theatrical Doc Project (2/2)

2013 October 3 2017 June 4 / Documentary Production, Documentary TV, Foundation Funding, Funding a Documentary, Producers' Tool Kit, Theatrical Documentary

By Alex Watson, Associate, DocumentaryTelevision.com. Our 2-part Case Study continues: JWM Productions is a highly-regarded nonfiction producer that is dedicated to delivering programs to Discovery, Nat Geo and others. At the same time, JWM works for seven years on a passion project: It’s an inspiring documentary about how a sacred, wartime promise is fulfilled across decades and faiths. The Project: BESA: …

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Case Study: ‘BESA: The Promise’ – An Established Nonfiction Producer Carries off a ‘Passion’ Theatrical Project (1/2)

2013 September 30 2017 June 4 / Distribution, Documentary Production, Foundation Funding, Funding a Documentary, Theatrical Documentary, Uncategorized

By Alex Watson Associate, DocumentaryTelevision.com In our 2-part Case Study: An established, commercial nonfiction producer works for seven years on a ‘passion’ documentary project. The Project: BESA: The Promise. It’s an inspiring documentary about how a sacred, wartime promise is fulfilled across decades and faiths. The Producer: JWM Productions I spoke with Jason Williams, president of …

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Webinar: Getting to Greenlight: Five Key Success Factors for Non-fiction Producers

2013 June 14 2017 June 4 / Commissioning Process, Pitching, Producers' Tool Kit, Reality Television, Theatrical Documentary, Unscripted TV

Getting to Greenlight: Five Key Success Factors for Non-fiction Producers On Thursday, June 20th, I hosted a webinar with my special guest, veteran U.S. programmer Ed Hersh. Ed is a media executive and strategist whose career encompasses print, broadcast and documentary journalism, non-fiction cable production and programming, and the rapidly evolving multi-platform environment. His focus is …

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Sundance Film Festival Success Stories: What Are the Odds for Documentaries?

2013 February 6 2017 June 4 / Documentary TV, Foundation Funding, Funding a Documentary, Theatrical Documentary

This year, the Sundance Film Festival screened 119 feature-length films from 32 countries, including works from 51 first-time makers. These works were selected from: 12,146 submissions. Including 4,044 feature-length films. And 8,102 shorts. Digging deeper, of 2,350 narrative features: 1,227 were from the U.S. And 1,123 were international works. Documentaries A total of 1,694 feature documentaries …

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