Documentary Info

T

tumbleweed

Well-known member
I'm interested in speaking with somebody who has sold a documentary for broadcast or dvd distribution. I have many years of broadcast TV experience but the doc world is new to me. I have contacts at some of the networks (primarily cable) and will be shopping my project around but I'd love to speak with somebody who has already gone thru this to ask a few questions regarding rights and money. I'm not looking for you to hand over contact people or help me sell my project. Just interested in learning a little bit more about this arena. Thanks for your cooperation.
 
To produce a documentary you must first have an idea to document that is socially relevant and compelling. After that it is all production details. I came from a studio production background with a weekly broadcasted program that was on air for three years on a local pbs station. It is quite a transition but the fundamentals that I understand in making a documentary are the same as those of making a public speech. I have posted a write up of a simple outline on this subject, check out "Looking for a documentary outline and guide" in this section. I found it helpful to have a outline guide to spring from. Creativity is the rest. Just remember: CONTENT is what people want to see more than spectacle in a documentary, at least the thinking ones....
 
Thanks for the reply sisuman. I am fine on the production side. I've done plenty of narative story telling and Produced and Directed many TV shows I am interested more so in the business of selling a doc and expectations from the buyer. I know you can sell it outright and then you hold no future rights to it or you can sell the exclusive broadcast rights for a set time period (2-3 yrs typical) or you can sell the idea and then the broadcaster pays you to complete the project - but they most likely would own it. What I'm looking for is somebody who has gone thru this process to discuss the experience and pros and cons of the variables/options. Ideally I'd love to talk to somebody who has sold a doc that aired on TV and hear about how they got it out there.
 
I would like to help you by sharing my stories but the truth is that 'distribution' is evolving into an incredibly diverse system for getting a documentary out there. I will be terse with my words and direct you to the rich information of this very relevant article to your question from Variety.com.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117980978.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&query=distribution
Just remember: CONTENT is what people want to see more than spectacle in a documentary, at least the thinking ones... and it is the thinking ones that want to watch a 'documentary'.
 
Another video site from Variety.com below is a panel of hungry distributors trying their best to explain how a sale is made and how the process works with/for each one.
Names like;
Gary Garfinkel, SPV Content Strategy and Aquisitions, Showtime Networks,
Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer, Netflix,
Bob Aaronson, Head of Distribution and Sales, Red Envelope Entertainment, Netflix,
Mike McClellan, VP Film Buyer, Landmark Theatre Corp.,
David Schultz, President, Vitagraph Films LLC.

These guys are the Luminaries for indie distribution and sales, and they look at everything that crosses there desk!
If you have a product I would contact them or a sales agent that they recommend.

MAKE SURE YOU CLICK ON THE 'HOW TO VIDEO - FILM DISTRIBUTION' TAB

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=video
 
thanks mbw... looks like it would have been useful to have attended. I will keep a look out for future classes/seminars.
 
First of all, I've never sold a doc, so I'm not trying to speak as a voice of authority. That said, distribution does seem to be changing rapidly, and I've heard many say you should hold on to the rights as much as you can, doing hybrid distribution deals. Check out this guy and don't be worried that his website looks a little old school (aesthetically - not content). He knows his stuff.
http://www.peterbroderick.com/consulting/consulting.html

Also, you might want to listen to this podcast where he gave a lecture at the Silverdocs festival:
http://www.afi.com/silverdocs/2006/podcasts/SILVERDOCS_PBroderick061406.mp3

(the podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this page, too:)
http://www.afi.com/onscreen/pod/allpods.aspx
 
Tumbleweed, I've done a few dozen documentary broadcast sales, and they've broken down into three groups:

- Films my company produced, and then did the festival circuit with. On these ones broadcasters who'd seen the film at a festival or heard about it in the press approached us directly for a broadcast license, which is usually around 3 years with a set number of broadcasts. These days the networks try to get video on demand and internet rights as well, which is something you'll have to spar over.

- Films we produced, and then had a television sales agent rep to the broadcasters. Basically the same deal structure as above, but you'll pay the sales agent a commission on the license fees they generate. The agents obviously have contacts, they know the ropes in terms of appropriate license fees, and they attend the TV sales conferences like MIPTV and others.

- A television network that we had established a relationship with (usually through licensing them films via the above two methods) "pre-buys" television rights before the film was completed. This is a little tougher to get since it involves some trust from the broadcaster that you're going to deliver, but pre-sales are more lucrative since the network is preempting the competition. But the rights situation is the same, a multi-year broadcast window with some VOD and new media rights attached. The network would also get a "produced in association with ______" credit on the film.

In all the above scenarios, theatrical and non-theatrical exhibition rights, educational video rights, and home video rights should not be part of the license.

Hope that helps, and good luck.
 
Interesting to think about exhibit right/educational/hv as separate. I thought that typically the broadcaster will want exclusive for the term of the deal (meaning you couldn't sell/show it elsewhere). I appreciate the feedback. I have a long history of production experience and credits, but this is my first go round in the doc world.
 
The broadcaster will want an exclusive for their medium/territory. So the BBC would want a UK television exclusive for their three-year term. Beyond that, you're free to get a UK home video deal, or Dutch television, etc.

As a documentary producer, I dole out the various rights very carefully, there has to be a convincing reason why I should license any kind of broad exclusive rights to anyone. And diversifying the mix of rights sales you make in different territories is the key to recouping/making money on docs. So for a typical film, I might license all Japanese rights to one company there, plus a US television sale, a US home video license, a UK television sale, a pan-Europe home video deal, a Swedish television sale, and hopefully a variety of other smaller European TV sales. I might handle educational video sales myself (it's easy to mail a DVD out to a college for $250), or license those rights to an educational distributor. I've just started doing iTunes deals for digital downloads, as Apple has been expanding their indie film coverage recently. And after two or three years, when the first TV deals have expired, I'd go out again and re-license the film to another broadcaster.

None of the above deals should have longer than a five-year term. With TV and new media rights, it should be two years, three max.
 
Keeping on top of all those deals (and re-licensing again down the road) sounds like a lot to keep on top of (especially once you have multiple projects out there). Do you personally keep track of all of that or do you have a person/company handle all that and you just give final approval on the deals?


-A
 
It varies... for TV deals we sometimes use sales agents, but even then it's usually me that calls them up a few years later and says, "Hey, isn't that Sundance Channel deal we did back in 2005 over now?" So yes, there's a lot of admin you need to do to keep track of all the deals, who owes you money, etc. I do this for the films I personally produce, and I administer those deals for the 30 other docs my company distributes. It's a hassle, but it's really not that much work in exchange for knowing exactly how the film is being distributed, and being in control over the ways it's being released.

If you look at the successful career documentary filmmakers, it's all about building up a catalog of films, retaining as much control of the rights as possible, and re-licesning those rights often. Look at Pennebaker, Maysles, etc... those guys have licensed their films dozens of times to different TV networks and home video companies over the decades. Every few years a deal expires, and they or their agents go back out and re-license it.
 
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