American Film Market Dailies

November 6, 2017, Los Angeles:   the AFM hosted the Production Conference, featuring the following session on feature documentaries

Anna Godas

CEO, Dogwoof

“Over the past couple years, there’s quite a few [narrative] funds that have started doing documentaries. We’ve been approached by quite a few. There is money that 10 years ago wasn’t there.”

“If you want to work with people, then work with people.” [on collaborating]

“The type of films we go for, they’re very difficult to sell unless they premiere at an A List festival. It can make or break the sale of a film.  When you have a film and you want to sell it, it better be an A list festival otherwise you are in trouble.”

Laurens Grant

Director & Producer

“The slight difference between a narrative feature is that these are real people [in documentaries]. And if they’re not up to talking to you today, you gotta wait it out!”

“As much as we are filmmakers, in a lot of ways we’re running a business. We have to convince people what we’re using the film for – you need to know the ins and outs of your production, the team you’re going to work with.”

“With all the tools that you have access to, there is no more excuse. You can always show an example of what you’re trying to accomplish.”

“I do play with my cards against my chest.  There is this preciousness that you have, sometimes you don’t want to show certain things.”

Clare Crean

The Works

“The thing that all three of us have in common is the basis from which we’re starting: the importance of the story. It’s visualizing how that story is going to reach, in my case, a worldwide audience.”

“It’s very helpful for filmmakers to present to a company [like The Works] your footage, to get a sense of the story you’re trying to tell.”

“Whatever stage we’re at - it’s all about the story. I’m looking at that great, great story and whether it’s a story that is going to resonate with people in lots of different corners of the world, and told  in lots of different languages.”

“There’s now a trend for filmmakers to perhaps look at funding docs through crowd sourcing. […] you need to be very careful of all the promises that you make to those who are funding.”

[on finding a distributor] “There isn’t one size fits all. As sellers, we have to make that decision on a case by case basis – and we do it with a variety of information.  It’s important for me to begin conversations about projects at an early stage because truthfully, there is so much product in the market that I have to make mine stand out from the crowd a little bit.”

“The sales and distribution, it’s a collaborative process and you should want it to be collaborative, and allow it to be a collaborative process.”

“A tremendous amount of importance is placed on the selection from an A List festival.”

“It’s very important to understand the difference between finding an audience and finding distribution.”

“If the distributor doesn’t see the value that you see in your film, that’s where we have a big challenge.  What does help is that if your film is at a festival, it suggests that there is that audience there.”

“This is a business and there are people all along the line waiting to hear on how they’re going to get their money back.”