About The D-Word
d-word \ ' d-word \ n: 1. industry euphemism for documentary (as in: "We love your film but we don't know how to sell it. It's a d-word."). SEE: catch 22, self-fulfilling prophesy; 2. virtual watering hole for those crazy enough to make d-words. SEE: The D-Word, www.d-word.com
The D-Word began in 1996 as a series of online journal entries by filmmaker Doug Block depicting the joy and angst of making and selling his feature documentary, Home Page. It was meant to inform, inspire, humor and depress the hell out of working or aspiring documentary filmmakers, or anyone else interested in the filmmaking process, for that matter.
After Home Page went into distribution in 1999, The D-Word evolved into a virtual community and its focus shifted to hosting discussions on documentary film and production, as well as all other matters in life as seen from a "D-Worder's" perspective. Now everyone could inform, inspire, humor and depress the hell out of each other! Over the years, The D-Word has become the leading online community for documentary professionals from around the world. Our membership includes more than 4,600 Professionals and over 5,300 Enthusiasts from some 120 countries.
After years of being hosted by other virtual communities, The D-Word underwent a major re-design in 2007 spearheaded by long-time host Ben Kempas and programmed by member Peter Gerard. It was supported entirely by the generosity of members of The D-Word through an online fundraising campaign.
In our Public Topics, we hold a series of moderated online conferences with guest experts in the field. These week-long discussions cover the art, craft, business and social impact of documentary film. We also have a Mentoring Topic geared to beginning filmmakers with questions for our Professionals. Our Public Topics are open to all. In order to post, registration as an Enthusiast is required. Register now...
Our Creative, Business, Technical, and Social Topics are for documentary professionals only. You need to apply for Professional status in order to read or post there. The Professionals-only Topics are kind of a virtual doc lounge where you can hook up with peers from all over the world and converse about life, both reel and real. If you want to be part of this community and feel you have something to contribute, don't be shy and join us now...
As an outgrowth of the discussions, members of The D-Word have produced two collaborative projects to date. The first is a collection of short films, Essays on Documentary. The second, War & Peace, is a response to September 11 and its consequences.
In close collaboration with the European Documentary Network and a number of documentary festivals, The D-Word has organized many "offline" meetings as well. Our International Face2Face series has included events at Nordisk Panorama (Reykjavik) in 2004, at Silverdocs (near Washington D.C.) in 2006, 2009 and again in 2011, as well as at the Doc/Fest (Sheffield) in 2007. In the spirit of these F2F events, Docs in Progress holds annual Peer Pitch events in Silver Spring, co-sponsored by The D-Word and Silverdocs.
In September 2011 The D-Word celebrated its 12th anniversary as the online community for all things documentary.
We hope you'll join us in making The D-Word your daily watering hole.
Doug Block, New York, USA
Ben Kempas, Munich, Germany and Edinburgh, Scotland
John Burgan, Newport, Wales
Marj Safinia, Los Angeles, USA
Co-Hosts of The D-Word
You can reach the hosts at firstname@d-word.com, replacing "firstname" with the first name of the host you wish to contact. Use "info" to contact all hosts. Please don't include us in promotional mailing lists for your films or services unless we've actually subscribed. To beat the drum for your work, use the Public Classifieds or Shameless Self-Promotion Topics.