Sundance's Bank-busting Economics: $862,500,000 spent on documentaries that miss the cut

A Sundance campaign is a license to lose money.

Lots of it!

Here’s why:

Let’s assume that the average production cost of all 1,774 Sundance submissions for 2020 is $500,000.
Actual budgets range from around $200,000 up to $5+ million.
$500K is a conservative average for a feature, according to D-Word‘s Doug Block.

Production Cost:

Source: Sundance Film Festival,
DocumentaryBusiness.com

Takeaways: Zeitgeist versus Economics

The documentary feature gains ever more popularity and prestige as a medium of creative expression and investigation.
It attracts funding from broadcasters, cablers and platforms, governments, foundations, corporate sponsors, the hyper- hyper-wealthy, U.S. presidents, A-list celebs, crowd-funders, BF’s, the mortgage on grandma’s beach cottage, personal overdrafts, and more.
Few productions ever recoup these ‘investments’ from later commercial distribution efforts.
However many projects do succeed by non-commercial measures: for example by exposing injustice, inspiring social change, or advancing the careers of their filmmakers.
And BTW, some of the terrific films that are not accepted at Sundance later find recognition and acclaim at other festivals and markets.

Channels: A Different Risk

Realscreen Summit opens soon in New Orleans, reminding me that producing for channels involves a different type of funding risk than for feature docs.
Producers create sizzle reels to pitch their projects to network buyers.
These trailers typically cost in the tens of thousands, a fraction of the cost of a completed feature documentary.
The cost of each pitch is rising as channels shift development costs to the producers.
Discovery is also moving the cost of financing production to producers, paying them for completed films instead of for phased deliveries, e.g. for the rough cut.
Listen to my podcast on the “Pitching Arms Race” with veteran factual producer Michael Hoff.

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