Introduce Yourself: Sign In Here First

Well, on the real, Amazon is offering a 34% discount:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0240810058/ref=s9subs_c4_at1-2871_g1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=06N21AAM21YRHPPWZVRK&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=278240301&pf_rd_i=507846

And on the realer, the book was pirated and available illegally on the web before it ever hit the shelves.

For anyone thinking about writing a book, there is about as much money in it in making documentaries!

Welcome, Jason. I'll be in DC for a screening and workshop with the International Fellowship in June. Hope I'll get to meet you then.

For sure, Doug – I had not made the connection, but now I know why your name was familiar – fantastic!

The fellows are arriving this weekend. We are all nervous and very, very excited. This is totally new territory!

I'm Gerry Potter, from Edmonton, Canada. I worked in theatre for 30 years as a director, writer, dramaturg, producer , teacher and actor, ran a theatre company for 17 years and have been a part-time university teacher of drama for 17 years. Way back, I worked as a newspaper and radio journalist for a couple of years and have been an amateur photographer since I was a kid. I started taking filmmaking courses about 5 years ago, and am active with a film/media co-op called FAVA in Edmonton. Have now made 2 short dramas with another in post, and one short documentary with another longer doc in post. My dramas have played at festivals in North America, and my short doc is being used on a website for a cultural organization. In the two years I've started to get paid for script consulting and doc work, but am not actually making a living at it yet. While I love making works of fiction and imagination, my documentary work appeals to my interest in engaging with the world more directly, and has rekindled my interest in observing and reporting, the things that led me to journalism in the first place.

Welcome, Gerry.

Which theater company did you run?

I grew up in Edmonton and worked at a couple of Edmonton radio stations back in the early 80s, K97 and CJAX. I was the sports department and 1/3rd of the news department respectively.

Hi,
My name is Tania. I am from Buenos Aires, Argentina but I live in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I work in educational videos and do documentaries with my husband as well. You can check our work at www.glimmerdocs.com. We have done one short documentary so far, and are on the pre-production/ research phase on the second one. Back in Argentina we used to work on advertising, shooting commercials. After we moved here to do our MFA we decided that documentaries is what we like to do.
Looking forward to "meet" you all,
Tania

Hi Joe

Thanks for the note--great to hear from an ex-Edmontonian. I started and was Artistic Director, and sometimes General Manager, of Workshop West Theatre for 17 years. I left the company in the mid-90's to teach, write, and, a little later, explore film.

Do you make sports documentaries now?

Gerry

I am Head of Acquisitions for international documentary distributor, MercuryMedia and for the online pay-per-view documentary channel www.joiningthedots.tv.

Mercury is a boutique distribuitor specialising in high-end one-off documentaries and has been operating for 8 years. www.mercurymedia.org.

joiningthedots.tv launched 2 weeks ago. We are partnered with The Independent newspaper in the UK, who are running a version of jtd via their site. We have launched with 60 films and will be adding 5 – 10 per month. Our next batch of films include the Oscar winning Born into Brothels and the Oscar nominated Waco: Rules of Engagement.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any films that you are looking to distribute or that may be suitable for joiningthedots.tv. We are pay-per-view and work on a revenue share basis.

Best wishes,

Jason

jason@mercurymedia.org

Welcome to The D-Word, Jason, Gerry and Tania. And keep us updated on joiningthedots.tv, Jason!

In reply to Gerry Potter's post on Wed 21 May 2008 :

I was just about to answer your question with a "no", but then remembered that I am working on a sports doc of sorts now. So yes, but I haven't in the past.

What kind of doc work are you interested in?

I'm thinking about that a lot but have no fixed conclusions. Current doc is about the theatre group I work with, Rising Sun, which is composed mostly of people with developmental disabilities. I'm interested in politics, art, people, thinking. I teach creative thinking and may try to do a doc on that if I can find a creative way in (!)

hi y'all,

I'm a documentary maker from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. I'm an editor since 2001 and since 2004 I'm making films myself. I recently founded a documentary production company called Umwelt Films, together with my colleague Debbie Kleijn. We're working on several documentaries for Dutch television.

Welcome, Jan. Good to have you here with us.

Hi Everyone,

I'm Felipe Barral – Momberg, a producer, filmmaker, poet, writer, musician, artist & photographer. I have a Master degree in Philosophy and I'm also a journalist. I live in Atlanta, GA (United States) where I'm working as an Assignment Editor/Producer for CNN en Español, where I also host and produce a weekly segment called Juego de Palabras (Play on Words). I cover art, culture & literature. My content airs in shows within CNN en Español, CNN International and CNN. I've produced documentaries for CNN as well.

Right now I'm producing a couple of documentaries with my new production company. I'm looking forward to start sharing visual ideas with you all.

Best

Felipe

Hi, I'm a local indepentent low no budget filmmaker. I consider myself a baby though I'm not a neophyte. I made one short piece on a Ron Paul enthusiast. Now I'm branching into making a piece (documentary) on an organic farm. I'm aiming for 30 minutes but it might be a 3 part serial, depending on whether I focus on one farm or more than one. I would love some mentoring and advice, but I feel like the best stuff is reserved for the experience! eek thats the trick, the transition one needs to cross isn't it. wink

(I have done other stuff in other capacities but thats the extent of my experience in documentaries)

Howdy and welcome, Felipe and Ara.

Hello all. I found this forum via a posting on another site. I'm currently finishing up a 1 hour HD doc on a shipwreck in 4000' of water in the Gulf of Mexico. Mystery Mardi Gras Shipwreck – http://www.nautilusproductions.com/mardigrasshipwreck.html

Howdy All!
I found out about D-word from indie producer Danielle Beverly, who I worked with in San Francisco.
I'm a staff editor at Video Arts, Inc. We are an online/finishing house specializing in high end sd/hd finishing work. I'm lucky enough that the majority of my clients are long-form Doc makers... usually heading off to theatrical screenings at film festivals, and often being broadcast on PBS though ITVS.
I do a large amount of online picture sweetening, and especially color grading work... but as the world turns, I've taken on an awful lot of consulting work as well, helping filmmakers find the most efficient/best quality solutions for using multiple media formats of dv, sd and hd, usually in preparing for HD broadcast, tape-to-film, as well as DVD releasing. I was fortunate enough to do online/color work for Ruby Yang's oscar winning "Blood of the Yingzhou District."
Outside of Video Arts I work as a freelance editor, offlining feature length projects and consulting full editorial strategies. Working from my home studio I edited Michael Wilson's "Silhouette City" as well as providing final edit work on Lynn Hershman's "Strange Culture."
Thanks for having me on the List!

Jesse knows his s**t and is one of the most generous people in the biz.

Ditto that!

Welcome, Jesse! Look forward to hearing more from you in the cloisters.

Ditto, welcome Jesse! And Rick, too. Nice to have new blood to suck ;-)

Forgive him, Doug thinks like a lawyer sometimes. But that's probably why he's so suckcessful.

Hi! My Name is Lauren and I am a recent graduate of the University of Georgia with degrees in International Affairs and Telecommunication Arts. I am looking to continue pursuing a career in the Documentary industry, and am currently searching for a PA job, research assistant, or anything else needed to gain some experience!

Hi everyone – Danielle Beverly also steered me into this awesome hive. We worked together in San Francisco, and even at Video Arts (hi Jesse!).

I am a freelance editor slash independent director/producer slash camera person...or what John Burgan described with the one-man-band picture over in the camera posts (though I really do like working with a crew!). Having started out cutting and scratching 16mm, I came to docs for the love of the art of film and the realization you can't think of a better story than reality provides. My favorite current project is a poetic feature documentary film I am directing in West Africa about the ancient art of griots, or djelis as they prefer to be called, and how it is evolving in the face of globalization.

I am terrible at blowing my own horn. I'd rather shut up and make the damn film...but I guess I am here to not be entirely silent...In any case, thanks Danielle!! You have been right these last two years...D-Word is awesome! Happy to be here.