Chapter 4
The Documentary Proposal
A documentary proposal is usually developed as you seek funds, or other support, for your film. Competition for documentary funds is intense. Whether you are approaching a foundation or a television network, or launching a crowd-sourced funding campaign, you need to be able to communicate your vision for your film clearly and powerfully if you expect to be successful in your fundraising efforts.
The proposal serves a second function as well. It can help you move from an idea for a film to a solid plan for production. The proposal serves as a repository for your evolving ideas about your film, and it is often rewritten several times while you are in preproduction (and even in the production and postproduction phases). A proposal is an opportunity to see your film without scheduling a single interview or lifting any equipment. It is a way of visualizing how your story will unfold, who the characters will be, what elements you will use, and what the structure will be. During this phase, the larger social implications of your topic start to come into focus. Often the proposal is developed in collaboration with other people you will be working with, such as a producer or associate producer. Creating the proposal can be a fruitful exercise that helps everybody “get on the same page” before you actually go into production, when there is less time for working out differences of opinion or vision. For this reason a proposal is essential, even for short films that might not involve a formal fundraising proposal.
Once production begins, it can be easy to lose your sense of why you began making your film and what you think it is about. After all, there is a big difference between a documentary idea and the messy reality you are likely to be confronted with when you begin actual filming. Your proposal can be a kind of “home base” that allows you to check in on your original ideas about your film. While you are always free to change your concept, and documentaries always evolve, the proposal can be a helpful way to remember your intentions and make sure you don’t get pulled in unproductive directions. So even if you are not planning on raising outside funds for your documentary, do not skip this essential part of the process! As you write your proposal, you will be consolidating your research, thinking through stylistic approaches, lining up the elements necessary to tell your story, choosing which characters you will follow, and deciding what events you will shoot. Perhaps most importantly, you will discover for yourself what you hope your film will communicate, and why it should be made.
■ Proposal Elements
Each funding entity has slightly different requirements for what a proposal must include. If you are using your proposal to raise money, you will inevitably end up with several different versions of the same basic proposal. Most filmmakers have a longer proposal (5 to 10 pages) as well as a shorter version that can be consolidated into a two-page letter of inquiry required by many funders as a first step through the door. Most of your proposals will include some of these elements.
Introduction or Synopsis
The introduction or synopsis is a concise, one-paragraph description of your project. It includes what the film is about, how long it will be, and what the general significance of the story is. This part of the proposal orients the reader, giving them a basic sense of the topic and scope of your project. The proposal for S. Leo Chiang’s film A Village Called Versailles (2009) (Figure 4.1), which received funding from the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and aired on PBS’ documentary series Independent Lens, opened with this synopsis:
A Village Called Versailles is an hour-long documentary about Versailles, an isolated community in eastern New Orleans originally settled by Vietnamese “boat people.” In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Versailles residents have impressively risen to the challenges by returning and rebuilding before any other neighborhood in New Orleans, only to have their homes threatened by a new government-imposed toxic landfill just two miles away. A Village Called Versailles will recount the empowering story of how this group of people, who have already suffered so much, turn a devastating disaster into a catalyst for change and a chance for a better future.1
This synopsis tells us, in a nutshell, who the film is about and where it unfolds. It also gives us a sense of the story, including the conflict and what is at stake for the community represented. Finally, this synopsis hints at the ways this specific story will resonate more universally by tapping into a theme that many communities can learn from: “turning disaster into a catalyst for change and a chance for a better future.”
■ Figure 4.1 A Village Called Versailles documents the impact of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath on the Vietnamese community in New Orleans.
Background
In this section of the proposal, you provide the basic information your reader needs to understand the issue your film is dealing with. Background information is contextual—it may or may not presented in your final film. For A Village Called Versailles, background might include how Vietnamese refugees came to settle in New Orleans and the obstacles they faced, what Versailles was like before Hurricane Katrina, how hard it was hit and the damage it sustained, and a sense of how the Vietnamese community was absent from the national media coverage of the disaster.
Here are some excerpts from Chiang’s proposal that would be considered background:
The name “Versailles” refers to “Versailles Arms,” the New Orleans East public housing project where a group of Vietnamese refugees was first resettled in 1975. This unusually tight-knit group, most of whom are devout Catholics with roots in the same three rural North Vietnamese villages, had been forced to flee their homes twice already in their life time—first from North to South Vietnam to escape communist persecution in 1957, and then from the Vietnam War to New Orleans in 1975 through a Catholic refugee-resettlement program. Surrounded by lush wetlands and humid climate reminiscent of the Mekong Delta, the Versailles clan was grateful to find peace on the easternmost edge of New Orleans. Some took jobs in factories. Some worked in construction. Those who were fishermen back in Vietnam joined the shrimping industry along the Gulf Coast, and those who were business owners began opening small grocery stores all around New Orleans. The community grew steadily through the ‘80s and the ‘90s.
Thirty years after their arrival, however, Versailles is at a crossroads. The elders look at their American-born, hip-hop-loving grandkids with suspicion, questioning the cultural allegiance of the youth and fearful of them moving away and leaving the community behind. The youth, on the other hand, dismiss the elders as out-of-touch and yet are frustrated by the lack of trust from the Viet-speaking older generations. Legally citizens of the US, but uncomfortable being American, Versailles residents are perpetual outsiders in the city of New Orleans, largely ignored by the government. All of this, of course, is about to change.2
Rationale
A rationale will tell the readers why your film needs to be made. While documentaries can be entertaining and should definitely be engaging, this part of the proposal is an opportunity to explain why your film is important, and what impact it can have. Here is an excerpt from Chiang’s rationale for A Village Called Versailles:
For a public television audience bombarded with mostly negative images and stories from New Orleans through other media outlets, A Village Called Versailles will take a different, positive point of view on the Katrina disaster. The mainstream media has largely left out the struggles of the 30,000-plus Gulf Coast Vietnamese in covering Hurricane Katrina. The film will serve the Asian-American audience by telling the Katrina story from the Vietnamese-American point of view, which has not been done thus far. Also, at a time when being religious is often equated with divisive, bigoted fundamentalism at home and abroad, A Village Called Versailles will serve the communities of faith by showing how a church and its leaders can unify a group and bring about positive social change during times of crisis. The film will also appeal to immigrant groups in general, who can all relate to the Versailles community overcoming obstacles to integrate their traditional roots with their American surroundings.3
A rationale can also include an overview of what other films exist on your topic and how your documentary differs from what is already out there. It can also explain why you are the best person to make this film because you have a personal connection to the issue, or some particular knowledge or experience.
Project Description
This is your chance to explain in detail all the elements that will comprise your film, and how each functions in the telling of the story. These might include interviews and observational footage, as well as archival materials like old film footage or still photographs (for a more complete list of possible documentary elements, see Chapter 7). It is understood that once you start production, the reality you encounter might differ from what you describe in your project description. This is your chance to pull together all the research you have done and take your best shot at imagining what your film might actually look like when it is completed.
In the project description, you should include:
Main Characters
Who will be in your film and what role will they play? Is this a portrait of one individual, or do you have several characters who represent various points of view on the events in your film? In David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg’s film The Immortalists (2014), about the science of life extension, each character is given a metaphorical role in the proposal. Dr. Aubrey de Grey, a scientist with “a two-foot-long red beard and bottomless appetite for beer and thorny scientific problems,” according to Alvarado, is given the title “The Crusader.”4 Dr. Leonard Hayflick, a professor of medicine at the University of California who has studied the cell biology of aging his entire professional career, is given the title “The Forefather.”5 This is a clever way to help readers understand the basic role each character plays in the film as they read the proposal.
Events You Will Film
What will be unfolding that you can film in the present? Which characters are involved? How will these scenes contribute to the story of your film? In The Immortalists, a potentially dry scientific topic is brought to life by the filmmakers’ efforts to film their characters in visually engaging pursuits and situations: a super-marathon in the Himalayas, a naked picnic one of the scientists has with his wife, and a debate between one of the main characters and the old guard at Oxford University.
Structure and Style
Will your film be mostly observational, or will it be told through archival footage and interviews? Will there be any narration? If yes, is it third-person or in a first-person, more reflexive style (Chapter 2)? Will your film follow a narrative dramatic arc, or use a more rhetorical strategy (Chapter 3)? Try and imagine how your story will unfold, what you are building towards, and what viewers might take away from your film.
Here is a paragraph from S. Leo Chiang’s proposal for A Village Called Versailles that addresses both structure and style:
A Village Called Versailles utilizes a traditional linear documentary structure. The chronological unfolding of events so compellingly propels the story forward that attempting to play with the timeline will only weaken the narrative. News clips of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin’s various announcements will provide the context of what is happening in New Orleans at large during the storm, the flood, and the aftermath.
We plan to incorporate a sizable amount of third-party media, including news footage (from both mainstream and Vietnamese-language news outlets), home videos, video footage from other filmmakers, photos and newspaper headlines. We plan to build a visual language so that certain characteristics of each specific type of material become an advantage instead of a liability. For instance, the shaky low-resolution home video footage of the storm and the landfill protest are jump-cut to add energy, grit, and a sense of authenticity. The visual formality of local and network news clips will give authority when the story needs it. Finally, beautiful twilight shots of Versailles shot on a tripod will emphasize serenity.6
■ Figure 4.2 The Immortalists uses animation to illustrate scientific concepts.
The Structure and Style section is also where you should indicate your intention to use elements like graphics or animation. In The Immortalists, the main interviews are set in front of a black background, which is then used as a space for animation that illustrates some of the more complex scientific concepts in the film (Figure 4.2).
Themes
Themes are the deep central ideas that may not be referenced directly but are at the core of your film. In A Village Called Versailles, themes include resilience in the face of adversity, immigrant struggles to retain cultural values while also trying to adapt to a new environment, the possibility of turning disaster into a better future, and the importance of community involvement in post-disaster reconstruction. For The Immortalists, themes include the human desire to live forever, conflicts between different generations of scientists, and the challenges of human relationships.
Treatment
Not all funders require a treatment, but some do and in either case it can be extremely useful to try and write one for your film. Unlike a project description, which allows you to explain why you are using certain elements or approaching things a certain way, the treatment includes only what the viewer will see and hear as they watch the film. It is a present-tense prose description of your film, without technical terms (like camera angles or shot sizes). Of all the elements of a proposal, this is perhaps the most important, as it communicates most directly what the film will actually be. Here is an excerpt from the treatment for A Village Called Versailles:
The film opens with a montage of familiar yet still violent images of the Katrina devastations, followed by unfamiliar images of Vietnamese elderly in traditional clothing and conical straw hats, thrusting their fists skyward and chanting “We are united, and we are powerful!” We meet FATHER VIEN NGUYEN, the pastor of the Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church. “We never considered not returning,” he says emphatically. “It was a matter of fact that when we could return we WOULD return.” Sunset. Terraced vegetable gardens line the Maxent Canal. An old man shuffles through a parking lot full of Vietnamese business signs. Teenage boys play hoops in the FEMA trailer park. “We Vietnamese are an agricultural people,” Father Vien continues. “We have a saying—the place where we bury our placenta, that is home. So we’re connected to the earth where we live. We are tied to that land.” 7
A treatment can run anywhere from two to four pages for a feature-length documentary, or a page for a short film. As with the project description, it is understood that what you write in a proposal during the preproduction stage is not set in stone. This is your best attempt to visualize what your film will be, based on your research to date.
Distribution Plan
Most funders give money to documentary projects because they believe the film can have an impact. Your distribution plan is your opportunity to explain how your film will reach people and help create some kind of education, enlightenment, or social change. In developing your distribution plan, it is a good idea to list the various target audiences you have in mind, as well as the platforms, strategies, and venues you will use to reach them. Many films start out with a very specific target audience and end up “spilling over” into a larger community of viewers. Here are some things to think through as you develop your distribution plan:
Target Audiences
Who are you making your film for? There is always a tension between speaking to a specific audience and wanting your film to appeal more broadly. But as S. Leo Chiang says, “Knowing who you are telling your stories to will make you a better storyteller. Keep thinking about the audience for the film you want to make—who they are, where they are, what they are interested in, and why.”8
A target audience can be specific, like the Vietnamese community in New Orleans, or as general as Americans who watch public television. Strange as it may seem, speaking to a specific community will not necessarily lessen your film’s appeal to a more general audience. At the same time, however, if you are aiming for a general audience (like a theatrical release or broadcast) it’s important to remember that there may be certain facts and background information they will need to follow your story.
Once you have defined your target audiences, you need to think about how, and where, they are likely to encounter your film. Venues include actual screening locations like film festivals, theaters, or community centers such as churches or schools. Platforms include distribution mechanisms like broadcast or cable television, video-on-demand websites like Netflix, Amazon, or iTunes, and mobile applications for streaming media. Most films use a variety of these routes to reach their audiences. See Chapter 23 for a more detailed discussion of distribution. For now, though, here are a few examples to consider including in your proposal:
Film Festivals
Don’t just write about your desire to get into Sundance or a list of other top-tier festivals, even if you hope your film will make it there. Are there festivals that have a track record of showing films like the one you hope to make? Niche festivals are often a good target if your film fits their mandate (examples of these include a robust circuit of Jewish film festivals, environmental film festivals, and human rights film festivals). For students, taking advantage of student film festivals (and the student categories of larger festivals) can be a good strategy for lessening what is likely to be intense competition.
Television
Many filmmakers hope for a broad general audience for their films, and television is still one way to get millions of people to see your film. There are several excellent series on public television (POV and Independent Lens, among others) but the competition for limited slots is intense. Cable television is another option for television distribution.
Theatrical
A theatrical release is generally defined as a week or more in one theater, with multiple screenings per day. While some notable documentaries have turned a healthy profit in theaters, relatively few documentaries get real theatrical releases. Some filmmakers will arrange their own short runs (called “four-walling”) to qualify for Academy Awards® or secure a review in a major newspaper.
Educational Institutions
High schools, colleges, and universities are rich opportunities for engaging faculty and students with your work. If this is a target audience for you, your proposal should include a sense of which disciplines or departments you hope to reach, how you might reach them (possible examples are professional conferences, or direct mail), and any resources like study guides you will provide to help educators include your film in their lesson plans.
The Internet
Increasingly, the Internet is the place where people watch films, including documentaries. Here you can explain what your plans are for allowing online streaming and/or downloading of your film and, most importantly, how you will drive people to your film. Just because it’s online doesn’t mean people will find it and watch it!
Community-Based Screenings
From a social change perspective, one of the best ways for people to encounter your film is in a group setting. Your distribution plans should include a list of organizations that might sponsor or help publicize screenings of your film. Often community screenings are followed by a discussion with guest speakers or a facilitator that guides a discussion.
Community Partners
It can strengthen a proposal to have a commitment from specific organizations to work with you in the distribution phase. A letter from the local PBS station, or other broadcaster, can also be persuasive.
Your partners might agree to sponsor a series of screenings or house parties, or publicize a broadcast or internet streaming campaign. Whatever their participation, reaching out and having a real conversation (and obtaining a letter of commitment) is critical. Anybody can include a list of organizations in their proposal. Demonstrating that you have actually begun speaking with people working on your issue will bolster your credibility with funders.
Goals
Finally, whether they are as specific as having people participate in a campaign or as general as “raising awareness” about an issue, the goals of your distribution strategy should be as clear as possible. While you can never know for sure where your film will end up and what impact it might have, preparing the way for its life in distribution is essential, even at the proposal stage.
Personnel
This section is where you include short biographies of the key people working on your film, including yourself. Try to include information that makes the case that the film will get made, and be of high quality. If you are lacking in experience, it can be helpful to bring on more seasoned people in roles like “Executive Producer” or even “Producer.” Minimally, your personnel section should include the Producer, Director, Director of Photography, and Editor.
Other titles, like Executive Producer, Associate Producer, Archival Footage Researcher, and Sound Recordist, can also be included but are not essential. There is more information about developing a documentary crew in Chapter 6.
Budget
Budgeting for a documentary is a complicated and nuanced business, and we will address it further in Chapter 6. For now, it is important to give your funders a sense of how much money you think you will need to complete your film, and to create a budget that seems realistic and professional. Many filmmakers budget for what they need in an ideal world, and end up making the film for less.
An important distinction is made in budgeting between in-kind and cash support. In-kind support is donated and can include the producers’ and directors’ time, as well as items like office rent and equipment rental. Most budgets will have separate columns for cash items and in-kind items. It’s important to indicate in-kind support, and translate it into currency worth, because funders like to see that there are others who believe in the project and are supporting it.
Budgets generally include an “expense” and an “income” section. In the latter, list projected sources of income even if they haven’t been committed to yet. Your projected income should equal your expenses.
Funding Sources
Documentary films vary widely in the amount of support they will need, but no film is made without some. Most cobble together funding from a variety of sources, and continue fundraising throughout production and even postproduction. Here are some examples of where you can find funding for documentaries.
Foundations
Nonprofit foundations often represent at least a portion of the funding sources for a documentary. Some, like the Ford Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation, have funding specifically targeted at documentary production. Smaller foundations specializing in documentary include Cinereach and The Fledgling Fund. Other foundations without a history of media funding may nevertheless be interested in your documentary because they care about the issue you are addressing.
Government Funding
There are various ways to access public funding for the arts, including documentary filmmaking. Some of these in the United States include the following:
State Arts Councils and Humanities Councils
Many states have arts funding available to residents of that state that can be used for documentary filmmaking. A quick Internet search should let you know whether your particular state has such a council and whether you are eligible.
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) does not support individual artists, but does support organizations that work with media artists.
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities supports film projects with significant humanities content.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
There are a variety of ways to access public broadcasting money in the United States. The most common is through ITVS (Independent Television Service), which funds independent work for public television broadcast. Eligible projects also receive funding through the Minority Consortia, including the Center for Asian American Media, the National Black Programming Consortium, Native American Public Telecommunications, Native Public Media, Pacific Islanders in Communications, and Latino Public Broadcasting.
Cable TV
Many cable stations commission or acquire documentary programming. Some of those most friendly to independent producers include HBO, National Geographic, the Independent Film Channel, the Sundance Channel, and Al Jazeera US.
Crowd-Sourced Fundraising
Increasingly, filmmakers are turning to platforms like Kickstarter.com or Indiegogo.com to raise funds in small increments from friends, family, and other supporters. These campaigns are labor-intensive but provide a good opportunity for bypassing traditional gatekeepers, and allow you to reach out and begin to build an audience before your film is finished.
In other countries, the landscape will look slightly different, but you are still likely to find a mix of public and private financing for films, as well as commissioning entities like television stations. Big funders in Europe include BritDoc Foundation (Channel 4), the BBC, Arte (French/German TV), and many others. In Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts and the National Film Board of Canada are noteworthy.
Fiscal Sponsorship
For tax reasons, many funders only give money to nonprofit organizations (in the United States, this means those with an official 501(c)(3) IRS status). Since most filmmakers aren’t themselves nonprofit organizations, many nonprofit organizations have developed fiscal sponsorship programs that allow individual filmmakers to receive funding from foundations.
Project Timeline and Status
When will you begin and finish shooting? When will editing begin and for how long? Most importantly, when will you be finished? How much work has already been completed? Anybody putting money into your project will want realistic answers to these questions, and a clear picture of your timeline.
■ Trailers and Sample Reels
Many funders will require that you provide a trailer, sizzle reel, or work sample, either on a DVD or via an online link. If you are in the preproduction stage, you might be asked to provide a sample of previous work to show that you are capable of completing a high-quality project. For students and other emerging filmmakers, a lack of previous work can be a real obstacle and is best overcome by providing a work-in-progress sample.
Work-in-progress samples are longer than trailers or sizzle reels, which typically run for less than 2 minutes and are paced very quickly. A sample reel is a collection of your best material, and it should give viewers a sense of the style of your documentary and the range of material you have shot. While you obviously want to avoid giving potential funders long selections of unedited video, your sample reel should be paced slowly enough so that viewers can understand what they are watching. Sometimes a text card can be used to set up the material so that viewers can easily see where it fits into your overall plan.
■ Conclusion
Developing a solid proposal requires that you understand the topic as well as the underlying themes of your documentary. It also requires that you think carefully about your stylistic approach, what elements will be necessary to achieve your goals, and the resources necessary to acquire them. For all these reasons, the proposal is not just a bureaucratic chore. It is a critical part of the creative process, and one that should be revisited often throughout production and postproduction.