From time to time, we ask Docs In Progress alumni to tell us about their experiences at documentary events outside of Docs In Progress. Jehan Harney — who has participated in our screening, consultation, workshop, and fiscal sponsorship programs — recently returned from Boston where she participated in the prestigious CPB/PBS Producers Academy and got feedback on her film Friends of America. Jehan sent us this report from Boston…
The Producers Academy is more than just a film course. It is about nurturing your film talents for life through mentorship and support that actually grows with you from that six-day workshop at WGBH in Boston. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) are behind this amazing workshop, which brings together the crème-de-la-crème of diverse independent filmmakers and station producers every year to engage in writing, directing, budgeting, filming, editing, and pitching projects before industry execs.
I just came back from their ninth workshop, which was essentially a fully paid scholarship. This was an opportunity to learn from the personal experiences of award-winning filmmakers such as Stanley Nelson, who was the keynote speaker on our first night on June 20, 2009. The next day, we learned about how to work with PBS and CPB from Angie Palmer, Director of TV Program Development and Producer Relations at CPB, as well as Kathryn Lo, Director of Program Development at PBS, and Amy Letourneau, Director of Acquisitions for PBS Distributions, which extend beyond PBS to include educational markets, direct to consumers, international and digital channels.
The next day, we learned more about writing proposals and treatments from the amazing Paul Taylor, Senior Editor for American Experience, and Ric Burns himself, who is known for his New York; We Shall Remain: Tecumsah’s Vision, and many other programs. We also met with Leslie Fields-Cruz, Director of Programming at the National Black Programming Consortia. I learned from her that as an Egyptian-American, I can qualify for their funding, and as an Arab-American I can actually qualify for funding from the Center for Asian American Media.
We also met with Steve Audette, the senior editor for the PBS series Frontline. His analytical visual examples showed how editing can add depth and layers of symbolic meanings to a clip, vs. flat news cutting. Also, Steve glanced at my movie clip on my I-Pod, and gave me great feedback. We also learned about some legal issues related to projects geared for national PBS broadcasting. Midway through the workshop, WGBH organized a fabulous reception, acknowledging each filmmaker’s work and vision before a good crowd, including Ted Garcia, Senior Vice President of Television Content at CPB; and Jon Abbott, President and CEO of WGBH, among others.
On day four, we learned more about project management and budgeting from the team experts who happened to be also husband and wife Randall MacLowry, producer of The Gold Rush, and Tracy Heather Strain, producer of Building the Alaska Highway. They also gave us very elaborate remarks on a long related homework that we had to submit earlier. This was also the most exciting and nerve wracking part of the workshop because we got to pitch out projects before Richard Saiz, Senior Programming Manager at ITVS, and Raney Aronson-Rath, Senior Producer for Frontline. We were allowed to pitch and use media for five minutes. During the process, we learned more about refining the art of the effective pitch that should be shorter than five minutes. The program went well into the evening, with another amazing session on New Media which lasted until 10:30 pm.
The last two days of the workshop were highly personalized and were actually my favorites. I had a documentary session with Chana Gazit, producer/director of Slavery and the Making of America. She looked at my work-in-progress to help me develop my work further in terms of structure, narrative and style. My absolute favorite session ever was with Paul Taylor and Mark Zwonitzer, producer/director/writer of We Shall Remain: Trail of Tears. In a conference room at the top floor of WGBH overlooking the skyline of Boston, both experts dissected our proposals and treatments. They suggested organizing our projects around five main universal themes along their highly polarized scenes that vary the pace and mood of the film. Other groups included new media, interviewing, project management, and field directing.
The final session was on fundraising, promotion and outreach. It was presented by Margaret Burke, Director of the Foundation Development Department at WGBH, Carlos Sandoval, independent producer of A Class Apart and Farmingville who also happens to sit on ITVS jury panel, as well as Cynthia Lopez, the outgoing Vice President for the American Documentary and POV.
This was an amazing experience to connect with industry execs, learn from other filmmakers and improve my own filmmaking skills in jam-packed sessions. We had to do a lot of readings and submit extensive assignments. But it was all worth it. I am especially grateful to the Executive Director of the workshop Judith Vecchione. We all consider her the mother of the workshop and of all the participants.
I would highly recommend the Academy to other documentary filmmakers with films produced for or intended for public broadcasting. You have to submit a completed application form, along with a resume that should include your television production experience along with a recommendation from a public television station, a production company, industry professional, or other public television programming partner, such as the Minority Consortia. In my case, it was ITVS, which is already funding my film. Of course, you should present a DVD of your recent work. They expect a narrative of your professional development goals within public broadcasting, including long and short-term goals, and how the workshop might help you to attain them. It may seem like a lot, but it is all worth it!
For more information on the CPB/PBS Producers Academy, click here. For more information on Jehan Harney’s work, click here.
