mapping the ecosystem

"Here be dragons."

Last year I applied to a producing fellowship and part of the process involved ideating on some questions around the future of non-fiction producing. [spoiler] Some other deserving folks made the cut. There's an abundance of smart folks out there in non-fiction 👏 👏 👏

I really enjoyed being asked to sit and think. For me the experience was in itself really clarifying. I would even venture to say that the application process is in part the catalyst to my writing on Substack. I went back and reread what I wrote. I think it's a good peek into my mind. I pulled (and edited) the section I wrote about the film ecosystem.

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For me the topics and questions on the future of producing revolve around core ideas of growth, sustainability and the independant ecosystem as a whole.

By ecosystem, I’m including

--development (of people and ideas/projects),

--fundraising (grants, equity, and other sources),

--commissioning, selling vs independence and ownership,

--allies and supporting organizations,

--workshops and career building opportunities,

--distribution & exhibition,

--impact and audience engagement.

In more detail I’m interested in:

- Ideating and mapping out a documentary ecosystem in our latest paradigm

To me, I feel that the current paradigm shift in the documentary buying & distribution is here to stay and it is a good opportunity for reflection and innovation. Reading some of the writings of Ted Hope, Distribution Advocates, Brian Newman and others recently has encouraged me to spend time thinking about what we do with our films once they are ready for the world. Maybe the group can work somewhat like a think tank, which as Ted noted in this post is something that happens within many successful industries, but in the film business there really aren’t resources devoted to think tank work that contemplate an ecosystem that would benefit filmmakers.

Ted notes “the most likely reason we don’t have such an easy to build and useful tool is the lack of one keeps you out of power. The lack of an ecosystem map hides The Powerful’s unearned privilege – they get to keep that part of it because we are keeping ourselves ignorant”. Additionally Ted outlines that “the mission of such a venture (the think tank) would be to further expand the thinking, tools, appreciation, advocacy, and practices in the key subject areas of film industry both domestically and internationally for all stakeholders: audiences, creators, distributors, exhibitors, financiers, marketers, curators, educators, and many more”.

This all resonates with me and in particular the notion of holding the audience within our thinking, as they are ultimately one of our greatest allies and the people we want to engage with and reach. If we build paths to prioritizing reaching audiences directly, and engaging them directly (instead of via a distributor), that’s a bright future. For documentaries we should also add to this list above the participants in our films and consider their place in the ecosystem.

I believe an ecosystem map will allow us to see visually how the pieces, players, buyers, advocates, supporters, exhibitors, audience, amplifiers, etc fit together symbiotically. An ecosystem map allows us greater transparency, plotting a path from A to B to C. Greater transparency and an aerial view of the system will give more agency to us producers in finding new paths to success. A map gives us an opportunity to see who is marginalized, shut out, and not served. We’ve lived with this singular model of “we blindly go and make the film great, premiere at a top tier festival and sell to a big distributor path” for so long that we’ve made ourselves believe that is the best (and only) way to achieve and calibrate our successes.

Since the pandemic, there are growing voices in the community vocalizing and examining how our films are funded, who has access to funding, how festivals work for and against filmmakers, how distribution can work against films and how the out of hand the award system has gotten. Essentially people are calling into accountability the entire gatekeeping system. This is the wave of changes that’s been started, and with it comes the opportunity and the need to look at our ecosystem wholistically.  

The Distribution Advocates podcast is a great place to start. Listen to those and you can’t help but think about where we need to be going. And then there are the thoughts of Jemma Desi. This needs a deeper post at some point. For now hear her in the “festivals” episode from Distribution Advocates and watch her keynote at IDA’s Getting Real 2024 conference.

Let me know what you think about the ecosystem. I like an infographic and you’ll find me noodling on Miro on an ecosystem map soon. Wanna join? A follow up post.