Broadcast Distribution of Documentaries - What's a Producer to Do?

There has much talk both within the internet and filmmaking community about the emerging platforms for distirbution of content, and more importantly, how to capture revenue within those platforms of distribution.

As an independent producer of both short-format (3-10 mins) and longer format documentaries, I have recently encountered the age-old quandary of balancing the tradeoff between exposure and monetization. On the one hand, you want as many people as possible to see your work, while on the other hand, you need your work to be valued monetarily, and thus, need to control the distribution of your work and optimize whatever revenue you can generate from licensing fees, dvd sales, and the promise of future opportunities to ply your trade.

I recently decided to license my documentary "Swing State Ohio" to PBS through NETA beginning Fall of 2007 - which basically means that it gets uploaded to a satellite and is made available to local PBS affiliates for broadcast at no charge, in fact, it costs me $100 to process the upload through NETA. This is after I had shopped the piece to HBO and Sundance Channel, both of whom passed on it, and to be honest, it is probably better-suited for PBS, given that it is for the most part a middle-of-the-road angle, taking into account viewpoints from all shades of the political spectrum. So why would I essentially give away a one-hour long program that I put a year-and-a-half of my life into? Well, it's all about exposure.

Keep in mind that I do own the DVD distribution rights for the program, the idea is that a broadcast on PBS can afford me a substantial platform of engaging potential customers who might want to purchase the program for their personal enjoyment, their local school, community group, etc on the web-site. On a graph, my optimistic side envisions an upward spike in DVD sales, will keep you up-to-date on that as it progresses.

In addition, it is very good exposure for me as a filmmaker, and a solid addition to my portfolio to have something broadcast on PBS. The next time I look for backing on a project, I can point to it as a credential.

Thus, it is important to view domestic broadcast not necessarily as the end-all and be-all of a program's lifetime, but rather as a launching platform for what could potentially lead to increased DVD sales and perhaps even a pickup by an international broadcast distributor, business attracts business, and in the early stages of one's career, you gotta take what you can get.