Introduce Yourself: Sign In Here First

Welcome, Robert and Jessie. It was nice meeting you in Boston, Jessie. Your film is an intriguing one but, I've gotta add, your main subject sounds utterly insane. Talk about needing to get a life!

Welcome, Jessie. You should make that your profile picture!

To explain to others why you qualify for Member status, I'll quote from your profile: "Her experience includes credits for PBS and the Discovery Channel, as well as numerous independent and commercial productions. In 2005, she produced and edited Eyes Through Time, a NASA-commissioned educational documentary on the Swift satellite mission in outer space."

welcome, jessie. you've undoubtedly heard of and seen "Spirit of the Marathon", right? if you can somehow get access to the same mailing list as them, you'll sell a LOT of DVDs...

Hi!

It is great to come across such a fine resource with accomplished, driven, folks contributing to meaningful dialog that benefits the craft! I am honored to join in on the fun. A little about me: I love pushing critical issues and the orgs behind them with the power of story telling. I primarily produce doc-based commercials and marketing videos for nonprofits and other altruistic organizations. As well I production managed and coordinated doc/reality programming, through the company I work with in Phoenix-Randy Murray Productions, for the BBC, Discovery, PBS and CBS.

Currently, I am co-producing three docs (two in the final stages of production: a 5yr case study on elected vs. appointed public officials in relation to use of media; a 2yr look at teachers as heroes in one community. And one in development: an examination of Navajo through the eyes of the elders). My partners and I are at that point of culmination and require a look beyond the ideal world to the real world of distribution and sales! It's all about getting the stories heard and I am interested in strategies and sums so we can secure proper amounts through partners, distributors and other sales channels to get it out there and stay in the black! I am sure there are great resources here which I will explore. Please let me know if you have anything I should check out!

Thanks to all who have made this resource what it is, I look forward to exploring and participating.

Best,

Andrew

if interested follow me on facebook and twitter by searching andrew@andrewjamesbenson.com – I have been trying to build a presence by sharing info i find on cause marketing, education reform and sharing other ruminations and opportunities!

Welcome, Andrew. Feel free to register for full membership which will give you access to all of the discussion topics.

hey people, I'm Leonardo Souza,19 . I'm from Brazil, I am a film student and crazy when the topic is documewntary ! I made a doc in Rio de Janeiro's trains and I work in a documentary producer company :D
I want to talk about everything and new videos are coming I hope to share all my experiences and learn as more as possible so !
if you want here is my short-doc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aclcc6w17Xc&feature=channel_page
=)

see ya

Hey, welcome to The D-Word, Leonardo. Glad you found your way here.

[rest of message deleted, as Ernesto posted the same advertisement in the Classifieds topic, which is where it belongs]

Hi All, I am Sultana from US. I love documentaries and plan to make one myself. I am here to learn from your experiences.

Welcome, Ernesto and Sultana.

Hi,
My name is Elan Frank; I am a documentary film maker residing in LA.
I am now in the process of developing a documentary film on the co-existence between Jews and Muslims in Morocco and got to the sage of presenting investors with a business plan and production package, including a proposed budget.
I was wondering if anyone could refer me to samples of such packages/forms, what is essential to have in them, and a one-page budget sample form that is satisfactory to investors (I have my budget format, but it is in excel and very details, not something you provide investors. I am looking for a designed one page with the essentials.
Thanks you. I am glad to be part of this documentary family here in D-word!
Elan

Hello,

I've just begun researching a topic for a documentary. I'm currently based in Southern California and am looking forward to sharing and learning with folks on this site.

Thanks for making this space available!
Monica

Elan and Monica, good to have you here.

Hello everyone. I am in the midst of final editing for my second documentary project. I look forward to learning from everyone here.

Hello, I'm an aspiring doc maker currently living in Texas. I was just accepted into the Edinburgh College of Art MFA program for Film, and I'm trying to get a feel for the reputation of the program. Agnes Varnum recommended I join here to connect with Peter Gerard in Edinburgh.

Scott, you can contact Peter directly at: peter@accidental.tv

Welcome to you and Josh. Good to have you guys here.

Hi All,
My name is Tijana. I am a freelance documentary camera person and editor. I am currenly working on a couple projects in and around NYC. I am interested in collaborating with people and learning about other people's projects.
This is my website:
www.tijanapetrovic.com
Thanks for this great site!
Tijana

In reply to Scott P. Harris's post on Thu 18 Jun 2009 :

Hey Scott – congratulations! I think you'll really like Edinburgh and the College of Art.
A bit rainy – but after Texas it may be just what you need.

Hello, everyone.
I'm a 'returnee' to video, though I've hung around the edges since my five year stint in mid-1970's as a producer-director for a PBS affiliate.
Just enjoyed attending F2F at Silver Docs here in Washington. I'm surprised I hadn't known of D-Word, since I held a membership with AIVF until they closed.
In process of completing a 30- and 80-minute low-budget video essay: The Common Lot: Next Step for Democracy. It's about the 'of-by-and-for' part of what democracy is supposed to be.

Hello fellow D-Worders.

It thought I would reintroduce myself seeing that I signed on here and than vanished from the face of D-Word. For the last 8 moths I have been working hard to complete a project on violence in youth sports and yet still put diapers on my babies booty.

In this time I have managed a mushroom farm and remodeled a 100 year old house to make ends meet. Neither of which I had done before. The remodeling job is coming to a close and the doc project is finished. It made my producers wife cry! I hope that was a good sign.

Now I am off to Virgina for 6 weeks for a paid video gig.woo-hoo! While I am there I hope to get a big chunk of my next project edited.

Since I will be away from my family I will probably be online a lot. So I hope to see you all around. Cheers!

In reply to James Longley's post on Sat 20 Jun 2009 :

Thanks James. I assume they impressed you when you lectured there? And I'm not too worried about the weather, it might be nice to experience an actual winter for once.

I don't know about "actual winter" – but cold and damp they can do!

Hi everyone, I'm an independent film maker lost in the mountains of eastern Oregon.

I've been working for years on a documentary about my son's struggle with autism. When he was diagnosed in 2000, we discovered an underground network of parents using alternative medicine and unusual therapies to treat kids the medical community has designated "untreatable" and "incurable."

This has led to ten years of research and first-hand experience with a complex social, economic, and political world that is only just beginning to reach public awareness in the media. I'm pretty surprised that even after years of news stories and talk show arguments about autism, few people seem to be aware of the poltical and corporate forces that are pulling the strings behind this issue.

Most docs on this subject are either amateur you-tube shorts or pro projects made by film makers who have only temporary contact with an autism family. I've been living with and filming my subject for over ten years. I'm hoping I have a unique perspective and unusual approach for my project, and I hope to learn from others on this site about funding, marketing, and distribution.

It's also just a great (and humbling) experience to be connected with so many other talented people.

Welcome and welcome back, James and Marshall.

James, do you have a sample of this film that you could share?

Ben,
Umm, well, I'm currently working on a production reel for grant apps for about the third time (the project keeps changing and I can't keep up with it, gotta just stop dithering and release something eventually, right?) and we're working on recording what I hope will be the final voice-over.

So all I have right at the moment is a lot of clips, some animation, interviews, etc.

Should I post links here or in the "work in progress" section?