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Greetings...

My name is Sean Michael Beyer and I come from the narrative side of filmmaking, having directed & produced numerous short films, music videos and two feature films. My only documentary experience until now, has been a few behind-the-scenes "making of" featurettes you often see as DVD special features.

Yesterday, I began production on a passion project of mine, currently entitled "In Search of My Father". I'm 46 y/o and have never met my real / biological father and plan to document the journey of finding him and hopefully becoming a part of each other's lives. I also plan to interview my family and friends and talk about growing up without a legitimate father figure in my life.

How's that for spilling my guts right out of the shoot! :)

Pretty good, Sean. You're off to a flying start. Given all your pro experience, feel free to register for full membership here and get access to all the discussion topics.

In reply to Doug Block's post on Fri 22 Jan 2010 :

Thanks so much Doug. I will do that.

Cheers!

In reply to Sean Michael Beyer's post on Fri 22 Jan 2010 :

Hi Sean – What a journey. You may appreciate, in that case, a film called Memory of Berlin. I don't know how to get a copy, but I know someone in D-Word who may...

There's also "In Search of our Fathers" by Marco Williams which you may know.

I've been shooting most anything that goes on in this small town for years for three local channels and after attending a lot Maine Media Workshops decided to try to concentrate on short docs.

Good luck with that, Tom. Welcome.

Thanks a lot, Doug. I've just been having a look around and I'm glad I'm here.

Hello Everyone,
My name is Warren Gentry and I live in Raleigh, NC. Here is the short bio that I posted. It probably serves as the best introduction for me. Nice to be here!

I have been in filmmaking for over 30 years and have photographed several feature length documentaries. A few of these films have been awarded regional Emmys. I mainly make my living doing short promotional and informational videos for non-profits, corporations and educational institutions. But as time goes by I find more and more that my interest lie in the long form documentary. I have a couple of projects I am working on now and would like to learn something about the art and craft of finding funding for such endeavors. In addition I have traveled to over twenty-five countries documenting indigenous lifestyles and humanitarian efforts to assist these indigenous peoples.

Here is a partial list of films I have photographed.

"February One": The story of the 4 college students that fired up the civil rights movement in 1960. http://www.februaryonedocumentary.com/

"Alamance": A docudrama recreating the first local skirmish between the Queens army and local farmers in North Carolina that was a precursor to the Revolutionary War.

"Melungeon Voices": The story of a mysterious group of mixed race people living in Appalachia. http://www.melungeonvoices.com/

Welcome, Warren. Glad you found us and good luck with finding $$$. You might want to look through our archives for special discussions we've had about it. And, of course, there's the ongoing Finding Funding topic.

Letf Brooklyn and working again in my country (Colombia)... Hope to show you soon some images of this crazy colombian reality.

Hello,
Filmmaker here near Chicago, mainly indie features and docs. Always have a couple films going. I teach Digital Cinema at DePaul and I am Board President of Living Earth Television (letv.org). We are always looking for docs to show internationally. Contact me anytime.

Welcome John. You should apply for full membership so you can take advantage of the good stuff.

Hi everyone,

Yeesh, I'm really not good at writing things like this about myself. Just got back from Sundance and the jet lag is hitting me hard. Well, current work-wise I run a documentary screening programme in London, it's only of the only places that regularly show documentaries in London and we have just over 100 screenings a year, which works out at about 2 a week. I love it, just screened Mugabe and the White African today. It was fantastic with a really lively Q&A.

I worked in feature-doc commissioning for two years before this, and I miss it a lot. Graduated from a Masters degree in Documentary Filmmaking about 3 years ago and have continued working on a project I started there which is more a practice exercise than anything but we'll see what happens. I also write for The Documentary Blog, which I really enjoy.

Glad to have joined up, have been meaning to do it for ages and not sure why it took me so long.

Doesn't matter why, Charlotte, you're here and that's all that matters. Now that we have you in our clutches there's no escaping, kiss your free time goodbye. Blog? Screenings? You'll find they have little meaning anymore. It's all D-Word, all the time.

Or not, whatever. Either way, good to have you aboard at last.

In reply to Charlotte Cook's post on Sun 31 Jan 2010 :

Welcome Charlotte. Where did you do your MA in Doc (or was it MFA)?

Hi,

Doug – I got the sense I may lose some time to this. Losing time to talking about docs is never a bad thing.

John – I did my MA at Royal Holloway, University of London. It was excellent.

Hi,

My name is Piers Sanderson, I'm British but live on the east coast of Italy and flit between here and my base in London for meetings and the occasional piece of non doc work.
I graduated from the National Film & Television School in the UK with an MA in documentary direction in 2007. I've had 2 short films in festivals around the world from Sydney to Cambodia, made a TV doc for Channel 4 in the UK and have just finished my first feature doc which gets its US premier at San Fransisco Indie Fest this month then European premier in Thessaloniki in March.
Currently i am trying to get funding for my next feature which is ready to go and have been accepted on to the 2010 European Master School Campus to develop a film for next year, which i am very excited about.

Good to have you here, Piers. I was at the NFTS twenty years or so ago, how is the course these days?

The course was fantastic. 2 years of making any film you want, what an opportunity! If only it was that simple now. I think there is still quite a gap between the way film school shapes you and what you experience in the real world, but that's possibly no bad thing.

Hello everyone. Glad to be joining you. I'm a longtime public radio producer who is currently working as the Talent Manager for the public radio makers quest (MQ2) a project of the Association of Independents in Radio, Inc. MQ2 was a CPB-funded initiative to spark cross-platform producer-led innovation that would lead public radio to become public media. AIR is a membership organization for producers, editors, freelancers, audio artists, etc. As we prepare what we hope will be a new RFP, I'm reaching out to expand the circle of people who know about our work. We're offering a Webinar through the National Center on Media Engagement next week (mediaengage.org). Also, you can read my blog or watch an 8-minute video about last year's ground-breaking projects at http://www.mq2.org

Julie Drizin
Twitter @AIRMQ2
Blog: mq2.org

In reply to Piers Sanderson's post on Wed 3 Feb 2010 :

So what are you up to in Italy, Piers?

Welcome, Julie and Piers. Great to have you both here with us.

Doc wise not much John as there is not much in the way of funding in Italy (i am here for family reasons). I'm traveling between here and the UK where i'm working with a production company based in London and North Wales (I grew up in Wales). Film Agency Wales have just funded the trailer for my next feature and i am hoping to get the full funding in place soon. We have a 2nd meeting with ZDF Arte in Berlin next week and strong interest from A&E in the US.

Hi Everyone
My name is Niall McKay. I am from Ireland but live in the SF Bay Area where we have a production company called the Media Factory. We do am mix of docs for PBS, films for non-profits, and dramas. Currently we are working on a film about the Filipino Farmworker Movement called the Delano Manongs. I've just finished a personal film called the Bass Player for RTE Television in Ireland. Nice to meet ya'll
Niall