Funding . Producing for PBS

Funding

FUNDING

Funding for PBS programs comes from a variety of sources - member stations' dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, government agencies, foundations, corporations and private citizens.

In addition to seeking foundation and corporate support, producers are able to seek production funding through PBS. While PBS' production funds are quite limited, the majority of funding is distributed through a PBS general fund and projects considered for funding are evaluated based on the criteria outlined in the Content Priorities section of this Web site. Though some submissions may not be priorities for funding, we encourage producers whose projects meet our content goals to seek alternative financing to cover the full cost of production and to submit their projects at rough cut or completion.

Aside from the general fund, PBS also disburses production dollars through a jointly managed Program Challenge Fund with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Details are listed below.

The Program Challenge Fund
The Program Challenge Fund (PCF) was created in 1987 to support high-visibility, primetime limited series and specials for the national public television schedule. The PCF is jointly managed by CPB and PBS, which make funding decisions based on mutually established programming goals and objectives.

In FY07, CPB and PBS redefined the purpose of the PCF to bring additional impact to the National Program Service schedule. The PCF may fully fund high-visibility, high-impact, limited series and feature-length documentaries that offer a definitive take on a subject or break new ground in popular, public service media.

CPB and PBS expect a successful PCF program to be the highlight of a given season’s schedule and have the potential to generate publicity.

Furthermore, to address industry-wide goals for development of digital content, PBS and CPB will dedicate PCF dollars to high-definition or standard-definition widescreen programs only, and recipients will be expected to deliver all digital content with the underlying rights.

Proposals that are approved by both PBS’ commissioning round and CPB will be considered at the next scheduled meeting.

The upcoming PCF dates and corresponding deadlines for submissions are as follows:

June 2009 Meeting
Submission Deadline: April 2, 2009

October 2009 Meeting
Submission Deadline: August 6, 2009

February 2010 Meeting
Submission Deadline: December 3, 2009

Full proposals and project budgets must be submitted to both PBS and CPB according to the instructions on the following websites:

Submitting a Proposal to PBS http://www.pbs.org/producers/proposal.html

Submission Instructions for CPB http://www.cpb.org/grants/07challengefund/

Only those projects deemed to meet the PCF priorities will be among the final projects considered for investment at the appropriate PCF meetings.