Chris White is POV's director of programming & production. He spent two days at the Realscreen Summit in Washington, D.C. last week, hearing producers pitch their films at a speed pitching session. Here's the inside scoop from a programmer's perspective, and some tips on how to craft a successful speed pitch.
As a select group of independent documentary filmmakers make their way through the snow banks in Park City, Utah, each hoping their film will be the next non-fiction phenom to fetch five or ten million dollars, there is another event 2000 miles away in Washington, DC, where other producers try to sell their wares. Suits, ties and sports coats replace the fur-lined boots and goggles of the Wasatch Mountains, but the hopes are the same — get the work out there, get it seen by as many people as possible, and make some money to pay the rent.
The Realscreen Summit, sponsored by the Canadian Brunico Communications, is a market and meeting place for producers and programmers of non-fiction work of all genres. The atmosphere is decidedly more commercial than Sundance, with less emphasis on filmmaking as an art form than on programming as commodity. The industry presence at the Summit is dominated by media giants such as Discovery Communications and A&E Television Networks. There are 45(!) delegates listed under the Discovery banner, and that's not including six for Animal Planet and six for the Travel Channel, both channels owned by DCI. A&E has eleven people attending, with twelve more representing the History Channel. Among many other broadcasters, PBS is sending a few people, with HBO, Sundance and POV each sending one lone representative to add a little seasoning to the stew.
So I don my trench coat and head to gloomy D.C. for two days of meetings with producers. I've been invited to participate in the "speed pitching" session and to give a 30-minute talk about POV and our submission and selection process. I have individual meetings with about 15 producers lined up on top of that, so time is short.
....
