The Mentoring Room - Ask the Working Pros

Dear Mr. Goodman,

Thank you for the info regarding the business plan and the festival
circuit. Would it be best for us to have an agent that markets our
concepts to distributors. If so...how can one get a list of such
agents.

Thanks,
Edward

edward, there aren't agents for docs, per se. there are sales agents
for selling to international television. and there are sales reps
(usually entertainment lawyers like John Sloss) who help build up buzz
and broker deals with distributors. but these are for the most
compelling and noteworthy docs of the year. you're selling a pipe
dream if you think this is a viable business.

Is there a technical forum for doc topics?

Question: How to best transfer PAL mini-DV footage to VHS-NTSC for
viewing copies with TC. Is there an inexpensive multi-format VCR or
a good gizmo to use with a DV deck while making transfers to VHS-
NTSC? Alternately, how about burning and using DVDs of footage for
logging and transcribing?

yes Stephanie there are topics for production nuts and bolts,
editing and post and a few others where you could ask this question.
PAL miniDV would need to be converted to NTSC and recorded on the
format of your choice. The best option may be to take your PAL
footage and burn a DVD with time code. That will play back on NTSC
or PAL players.

actually, robert is referring to the d-word community, not the d-word
forum, which is where you are, stephanie. if you have professional
experience making docs, than you (and all others) are welcome to join
the community: www.d-word.com/community. if not, just continue to ask
technical questions here.

whoops I forgot where I was in virtual space.

Hi everyone? I am shooting a documentary in The Amazon jungle in
Brazil and i would like to get some feedback on some accessories i am
adding to my gear. I already shot 40 hours using the DVx 100, an ME
64 and 66 Sunheyzer mics, a 3221 manfroto tripod with a 501 head. I
had some problems with the tripod and heads and would like to try
something else this time. I also would like to get an additional
shotgun mic (different from the ones above)and one weireless. I am
recording the sound on camera without a mixer. In addition, this time
i would like to add a small light on top of the camera for some
especial situations. Does anyone have any advice to give me about
these accessories? Of course i need to stay on the low budget
category. Does anyone knows about the new Sony wireless mic? And is
there someone who is a DVX100 fan? Please lets talk!

Thank you all and feel free to ask about my experience in shooting in
the Amazon.

Tchau,

Eva

eva, you're better off getting this info in the community (i know
you've joined), which is geared to discussions among professionals.
the forum is better for one or two specific questions and is geared
more to doc neophytes.

Hi, people. I'm new here and I have a quick question. I'm working on
DVD authoring (DVD Studio Pro/FCP) a series of lectures for a lab I'm
associated with and I'll probably need about 300 copies of the the
finished product. who do people recommend to print DVDs at that scale?
I'm trying to give a cost estimate per disk.

thanks a bunch!
-aaron

I have a question. where can someone get stockfootage of
Pagan/religious rituals.

did you try www.archive.org?

hi everyone,
massive questions, i know, but can anyone point me toward a good website
or someting that discusses documentary financing methods and the
differences between them. i'm a little confused abour presales versus co-
production financing versus corporate funding, etc. and what's the best for my
film.

try www.marklitwak.com. i'm sure there are also books on the subject
at amazon.com.

Lots of good books available.
Pre-sales: Broadcaster signs an agreement to pay a fee before doc is
finished. Money paid when doc is finished. Guarantees them input and
right to air.
Co-production - Broadcaster, production company - supply money and
help guide production.
Foundations - provide grants to fund all or part of a doc.
Corporations - provide money to fund all or part of a doc.
Corporations pay you to make a doc.

with a pre-sale, part of the license fee is paid on signing a
contract. in fact, could be up to half.

thanks - doug - meant to include word "most" Still recovering from
Reykjavik.

heh heh ;-) (inside joke - you had to be there)

I'm wondering if anyone could tell me what exactly is the role of the executive
producer in a documentary? What are his/her responsibilities?

prestige. money. guidance.

I'm assuming by prestige you mean that the EP lends his/her prestige to the
doc? In terms of money-is the EP generally responisbility for funding the show
or looking for the funding? And guidance, how much is the EP involved in the
content of the show, or does this vary from production to production? Thanks
for your help!

it varies, dana. they could simply lending their name, but usually
they try to raise money. sometimes people buy their way to an exec
producer credit, but that's kind of rare for docs (drat!).

Concerning documentary scripts required for certain european funds
(eg.Berlinale's World Film Fund):
What kind of script are they asking for? they fund creative feature
docs intended for theatrical release,
Should one attempt to write a script the way a fiction film is
written? I'm thinking of films such as "The Story of the Weeping
Camel" or "To Be and To Have".
Thanks for your help!
A.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this and if not I
apologize. I'm trying to get funded for a documentary on a troubled
family and I've put together two trailers in hopes of getting
investors interested in my project. The trailers were shot with a
very consumer camcorder and I've seen and heard better microphones on
the headsets of the employees at MacDonalds.

I was able to get two of the people from the family talking and from
that made the trailers. My question is would some of the experts or
who ever would care to please go have a look and let me know what
they think. It's at www.mvmaker.com first page has two links for
each trailer. I need these to be good enough to attract investors so
any comments are welcomed. You can email me at mvmaker@mvmaker.com
with your comments or post them here.

Thanks in advance JFL

Hello y'all,..
.
I think that it is obvious to most of us that
too many documentaries do not get the
exposure they need and deserve.

I just got back from the United Nations
Asssociation Film Festival where I saw
several
great works which will unfortunately
bearly see the light of day outside of
the festival circuit.

A couple of buddies of mine (who are
computer saavy) and I have been toying
with the idea of creating a website for
the consolidation of documentary trailers.
A searchable catalog of sorts, where
the viewing public can go to get a sneak
peak at what is out there, learn about
the film makers and how to buy and
or rent the work in question.

This site would specialize in
documentaries.

We are trying to guage if this something
that fellow documentary filmmakers would
use?

In order to have the site support itself we
would need to charge something along the
lines of $100 per film per year. Streaming
Quicktime clips would be the main format
used. As a filmmaker and avid documentary
viewer, I know that this something that
I would personally use, but we are trying
to guage how other filmmakers feel about
the project.

Any thoughts?

Gregory

Gregory,

I cannot speak for all documentary filmmakers, only for myself. I am
all for greater exposure for documentaries and the ability to put
trailers online. I am not sure I would pay $100 for this service
though since I doubt that many of the people who are actually in a
position to buy documentary films for television, festivals, or the
educational market find those films through the Internet.