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Hello! I am a documentary filmmaker based in Rome. I am developing a new project with a small company called Tailsfilm Production which looks at the relationship between access to energy and poverty in the developing world through the work of a mechanical engineer who has invented a cooking stove that is also a tiny portable refinery. His aim is not to sell stoves but to help set off a process through which millions of people can become self-sufficient (and carbon negative) in energy terms. We may need to work with stringers through the development process to gather material from a range of countries in Africa and Central America.

A little about me: I was born in Italy but grew up in New York City, where I started working in the mid-80s correcting proofs for The Nation magazine. I then moved to London for a Master's degree and stayed for ten years working on documentaries mostly for Channel 4 until 1999. I then returned to my roots and have been based in Rome, making films mostly in co-production and with the support of the EU's MEDIA Programme since. I work as a freelance producer, writer and executive producer while developing my own projects. I was most recently executive producer for Gustav Hofer and Luca Ragazzi's documentary Italy: Love it or Leave it (www.italyloveitorleave.it). I have just come back from the Italian Doc Screenings in Florence where Fernanda Rossi gave a workshop and talked to us about how useful the The D-Word could be especially in the development stages of a film on global themes, so here I am.

A warm welcome to The D-Word, Vania. You should straightaway check out our Members' Only Topic on International Co-Pros

Welcome, Vania. Always good to follow the wise Fernanda's advice. And great to have another member from Rome, one of my very favorite cities.

Hello from Maine, everyone. I work on documentaries when not at my day job (which itself is also a lovely pursuit), right now am in early production on a film with/about the Somali immigrant community here in southern Maine, and the story of one young man's political ambitions in particular. We're calling it Home Country. Here's the preliminary trailer – http://vimeo.com/32058940

I'm also working with the subject/co-director of that film on another related project, a web series we're currently pitching. If that funding comes through, the series will be a travelogue about the Somali diaspora across the U.S.

Really enjoying reading everyone's thoughts here on D-Word.
alyce

Great to have you here, Alyce. Welcome aboard.

Hello everyone. Just heard about the site and had to join. I'll keep it short, I'm not writer. I am a 23 year old DP based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I've been shooting for about 5 years now, 3 professionally. I'll leave a link to some of my work and keep it at that.

http://vimeo.com/alexhorner

Shoot and Edit, I also do some producing on this.
http://www.redbullusa.com/winchsessions

Hi everyone. My name is Ryan Scafuro, co-producer and director of photography for the upcoming feature doc "Bending Steel." The film is about Chris Schoeck, an introverted, small statured man, who is training to become an olde-time strongman. We are currently in post, and just finished a successful kickstarter campaign raising over $25,000 for finishing costs. Signed up to take a look at other indie projects people are working on.

Here's the kickstarter video we put together, please don't mind our inexperience in front of the camera, but it's the most concise edit we've done that presents the subject matter and gives a scope of the project.

http://vimeo.com/30524657

If it interests you, we are up for Indiewire's Project of the Month, you can read more and vote here:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/decide-who-gets-to-talk-to-the-sundance-institute-vote-for-indiewires-november-project-of-the-month

Ryan.

Hi All,
I'm Nick Jordan, a film-maker from the UK. Thought I'd join this site to connect with other professionals, as I've just made my debut feature-documentary 'Between Two Rivers'. Please see http://www.betweentworivers.net for more info, including trailer and clips. Hoping to meet some of you at festivals in 2012!

Alex, Ryan, Nick, a warm welcome to The D-Word!

Hello all,

I am Eric Gulliver, an editor and graphic designer currently living in Boston, Massachusetts. I currently work as an assistant editor for FRONTLINE over at WGBH. I recently finished work as a co-producer and cinematographer on my first feature length documentary entitled Peace and the Quiet (www.peaceandthequiet.com) with fellow D-Worder Beth Balaban. I am pleased to be a part of this non-fiction community and hope to contribute to the various post forums in the future!

I'm back on the D-word after an absence of two years. What happened in those two years? I was let go of my tenure track University teaching position. Honest I had students that liked me but the lazy ones gave me poor student reviews which led to a non renewal of contract. What is even more strange, I was hired because I have a MFA in documentary filmmaking but I was never assigned to teach any film classes. Instead because of my animation skills I was assigned to teach graphic design. Which I had to dust off old art skills.
I began painting and have gotten into the Artists of Hawai'i Art show 2009 and 2011 at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Anyone who is an artist of note and lives in Hawai'i has been in this show.
The most important thing is I decided to finish my feature length documentary, "Alan at Work" which is on Indiegogo. DO a search for it. The campaign expires January 24 2012 and I am no where near my funding goal.
I spent the summer of 2010 logging all the footage- about 50 hours worth. Then life intervened and I got back on the project summer 2011. I hired Fernanda Rossi, the documentary doctor and she saved my documentary. I will send her my latest cut and hope for the best. I was open to any direction she gave me. If she thought it was a short, I would have made a short. She said the documentary was at least an hour long and after story editing- the length was 56 minutes. I found footage and added back a few scenes following her structure. Now the length is 80 minutes which I will cut down to 70.

Hi, everybody—

I’m new to the D-Word, new to the world of documentary filmmaking, and I have a ton of questions. I’ll confine this post to question number 1 but first a few words of introduction.

I’m a writer in Los Angeles, working in collaboration with a veteran European filmmaker on the development of a doc film project that’s been accepted into IDA’s Fiscal Sponsorship Program. On page one of the FSP Agreement it says that as Project Manager I’m required “to obtain appropriate liability insurance for all aspects of the project in an amount of not less than $1,000,000, which shall name IDA as an additional insured.”

I’d like to ask folks with experience in this area where I should (and maybe also should not) go to inquire about such insurance, how much I should expect to pay, if there are some plans better than others, etc. Any and all information will be appreciated.

Many thanks, and it's great to be part of this group--

Steve Cooper

P.S. Thanks to Lisa Hasko of IDA for telling me about the D-Word!

Welcome, Eric and Stephen, and welcome back, Lowell.

Stephen, would work much better if you ask questions like this (and any others) in The Mentoring Room. This is just the topic to introduce who we are to each other.

That said, a number of people here, including myself, have recommended the Charles Whelan Insurance Agency. You might want to give Charles a call.

Thanks, Doug. Here's what I just put on my Profile:

I'm a Los Angeles-based writer and a teacher, MFA in Creative Writing from UC Irvine, PhD in English (and film) from USC. I've published articles in literary magazines and film journals, and short stories here and there. My first book (as editor) was "Perspectives on John Huston." I also wrote "Full of Life: A Biography of John Fante" and edited several other books by and about Fante. Due out in 2012 in an anthology entitled "Film and Genocide" will be my interview with Polish filmmaker Irek Dobrowolski as well as an essay I wrote about Irek's award-winning Holocaust documentary "The Portraitist." Thanks to email and Skype, the two of us are currently collaborating on the development of a documentary film project about the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920--and boy do I have a lot to learn!

Hello, all.

As a fellow admirer, I'd like to offer a service of free from copyright, music. We have several songs available as instrumental and/or vocal. These are original film scores, composed with over ten years of experience. The label " Kreatrix" has produced 6 undergound techno albums. You're welcome to message us for material and/or produce a score for your doc. We know what the power of imagery can bring with an emotional score behind it. Thank you.

Hi again, Doug--

I just had a long and enlightening talk with Chuck Whelan about insurance, so thanks again for the tip.

Hello everyone!

I was so excited to find this community! I'm currently a Grad student at Southern Illinois University, in Carbondale, studying Digital Documentary. SIU is also where I spent my undergrad years in the early 90s. I'm currently working on my first doc, "Jake and Janie", a story about family, and gambling addiction.
http://jakeandjaniemovie.com. I'm hopefully launching my Kickstarter campaign in the beginning of February to help fund the film.

A little about me:

As I mentioned above, I was here in Carbondale once before as an undergrad in the Radio/TV department.
I moved out west after graduation and instead of diving into the world of television, I ended up in the exploding world of E-Commerce, working for companies like eToys and Ticketmaster. It was a great ride (I ended up in London for a year!) However, as life moved on, I wanted to make my way back to my passion, which is telling great stories.

While I am focused on filmmaking, my former life in the online world is still with me. I work in the Marketing department at the SIU Student Recreation Center, focusing on their social media marketing efforts. I'm also one of the co-founders and VP of Social Media Club Southern IL, a professional networking group.

Anyway, I am quite excited to learn more about the website and everyone involved!

Great to have you here with us, Stacy. Here's The D-Word's one sad attempt at e-commerce.

That is sad...

Well, sad mainly in that we sold about ten hats. The model is the decidedly not sad Lucy Block when she was sweet 16.

Yes, Lucy did a great job and the backdrop is interesting, just the thought D-Word had hats and I never knew about it. Not saying I would buy one, but...

hey that's Amsterdam, no?

Ha! Sad? My d-word hat is still doing the rounds of the farm animals http://www.d-word.com/topics/show/80?post=99653

Yes, that's Amsterdam. IDFA 2005. Brings back waves of nostalgia.