Making Your Media Matter 2008 Rapporteur’s Report

• Making Your Media Matter ‘08 Podcast and Discussion Forum
• Recut, Reframe, Recycle
• Mapping Public Media: Inside and Out
• Fair Use Frequently Asked Questions
• The View from the Top: P.O.V. Leaders on the Struggle to Create Truly Public Media
• More...

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Documentaries on a Mission: How Nonprofits Are Making Movies for Public Engagement

Read about how the Sierra Club, The American Civil Liberties Union and local environmental groups use documentaries for high-impact and action

Making Your Documentary Matter 2006: Report

In the Battle for Reality: Social Documentaries in the U.S.

What difference can a documentary make? This fact-filled report by Center co-director Pat Aufderheide, with many case studies of successful strategic use of social documentaries, answers that question. Funded by the Ford Foundation.

Socially Engaged Public Access TV Productions[PDF]

By Paula Manley

This paper defines the field of socially engaged media in public access television and provides a framework for how social media is being used in public access TV.

The Current State of the International Marketplace for Documentary Films[PDF]

By Diana Holtzberg and Jan Rofekamp

“This report focuses on the international marketplace for documentaries from the perspective of who buys and who sells them.”

Docurama[PDF]

Docurama, a leading distributor of documentaries on DVD, provides a market analysis of documentary distribution in 2004-2005, with trend analysis.

• Impact of Uprising of ‘34: A Coalition Model of Production and Distribution
  As much an article as a case study, David Whiteman examines George Stoney and Judith Helfand’s film as an example of a project that raised awareness about lost history.
• Maximizing Distribution
  A good overview by Peter Broderick of the types of deals and considerations that independent filmmakers should be familiar with regarding film distribution.
• Docurama
  A distribution company for documentaries on DVD. Many of your favorite titles are available here.
• MediaRights
  A community website that helps mediamakers, educators, nonprofits and activists use documentaries for action and dialogue. Enter a keyword and find a film to use and share!
• Webactive
  Part of the RealImpact division of RealNetworks, Inc., and provides web and streaming media services (design, development, hosting) for nonprofit and educational institutions worldwide. Its directory lists more than 2,000 organizations creatively using media for social change.
• One World TV
  A project of the Oneworld.net, which aggregates information from thousands of nongovernmental organizations worldwide.
• Freespeech.org
  Free Speech TV, delivered on the Dish satellite TV network and on some public access cable TV channels, airs primarily social, political, cultural, and environmental documentaries acquired from independent producers, and is beginning to produce and commission original content.
• Independent Feature Project
  Serves as a resources for indie makers on a variety of levels, including a film market.
• New Day Films
  New Day Films is a distribution cooperative for social-issue media, that invites membership applications from independent film and video makers with titles for non-theatrical distribution. They encourage diversity within the membership and within the content of the distributed media.
• Without A Box
  If you are ready to enter the festival circuit, Withoutabox.com just made the process easier. Information on a project is stored and electronically submitted, with deadline and call for entry tracking as well as press kit submission tools. Rebates on festival submission fees are sometimes available, and signing up for an account is free.