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POV's Documentary Blog



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  • Film Anatomy: The Needle
    Fernanda Rossi worked with filmmakers Carmen Oquendo-Villar, José Correa-Vigier and Felipe Tewes to turn their three rough cuts into one feature documentary, The Needle.
    Fernanda Rossi 3 min read May 1, 2014 Story Doctor Comments
  • Film Anatomy: Every Day Is a Holiday
    Fernanda Rossi dissects the making of the documentary Every Day is a Holiday by Theresa Loong. Read about the filmmaker's smart moves, memorable moments and what she vows to never do again.
    Fernanda Rossi 4 min read April 24, 2014 Story Doctor Comments
  • 10 Tips for Successful Fundraising Demos
    Viewing trailers may not render a single rule that applies to other projects or filmmakers. Yet there are some common principles that help the filmmaker think strategically about his or her choices. Here are my tips.
    Fernanda Rossi 4 min read April 17, 2014 Story Doctor Comments
  • The Iran Job & Tips for Managing a Viral Fundraising Campaign
    On Monday, a documentary about an American basketball player in Iran ended a 50-day campaign that generated $100,000 in donations at the buzzer on Kickstarter after major media hits with CNN, The Huffington Post and The Wall Street Journal. The Iran Job's Till Schauder tells Adam Schartoff how his team managed the campaign.
    Adam Schartoff 10 min read January 10, 2012 Documentary News Comments
  • Holiday Crowd-Fundraising Tips from 7 Documentary Insiders
    The holiday season is no holiday for documentary producers looking to raise funds, but some documentarians say it's as good a time as any.
    Adam Schartoff 6 min read December 20, 2011 Documentary News Comments
  • Doc Soup: A Conversation with Alyce Myatt, Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media
    A few weeks ago, I spoke with Tod Lending, director of The Principal Story, about how he hit the jackpot by getting money from the Wallace Foundation to make a series of nonfiction films. I asked him if there were other goldmines for filmmakersout there, and he directed me to Alyce Myatt, the head of […]
    Tom Roston 4 min read November 2, 2009 Doc Soup Comments
  • Doc Soup: The Wallace Foundation and “The Principal Story”
    Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup. I continue here my exploration into foundations funding documentaries with a discussion with The Principal Story‘s Tod Lending, a director who pretty much won the doc filmmakers’ sweepstakes with a giant grant from Chicago’s Wallace Foundation. Doc […]
    Tom Roston 6 min read October 12, 2009 Doc Soup Comments
  • Doc Soup: Foundations and Documentary Funding
    Everyone has less these days. Money is disappearing. Doc distributors like ThinkFilm, Warner Independent Pictures and Paramount Vantage are vanishing. And the recession continues to roll on. In this climate, where does a doc filmmaker turn for financing? In the past, one of the best go-to resources was the diverse realm of foundations. The big […]
    Tom Roston 3 min read October 5, 2009 Doc Soup Comments
  • Doc Soup: Fundraising Woes
    Oh, the woe of the documentary filmmaker. Nothing strikes a filmmaker to the core more than that singularly sad, stress-inducing word: funding. My POV minders recently directed me to filmmaker Patrick O’Brien, who has sought out a creative way to get financing. O’Brien has joined forces with Skinny Corp, a progressive, community-based company that backs […]
    Tom Roston 3 min read May 26, 2009 Doc Soup Comments