Jan 28, 2022 at 10:00 am – Jan 30, 2022 at 4:00 pm
Doc Pitch: Getting Your Film Into Shape
With Julie Anderson, Yael Melamede & Kellen Quinn
It’s 2022! Dust off your dormant documentary project and come workshop it with UnionDocs! Over the course of three days, January 28 through 30, spend time with producers Yael Melamede (Salty Pictures), Kellen Quinn (Time, Midnight Family), and Julie Anderson (Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street); present your project to them; and work through the problems you currently face with them and with your fellow filmmakers. Start off the new year with a new lease on your documentary film’s future!
The three-day all-virtual workshop will be structured as an intensive. Day one will see the three producers introduce themselves and their work, with participants doing the same. Instead of a formal pitch, however, participants are given 10 minutes each to present their projects as they see fit- showing a media sample, providing an overview of the project status, and/or identifying current problems they face and for which they are seeking solutions during the weekend. During the second day, participants will be divided up into groups to work intensively with one of the three producers and will work to address the problems presented the day prior. To close out the weekend, the group will reconvene to discuss findings and next steps together.
Because this workshop is project-focused, those interested must apply and submit a project proposal (logline, synopsis) and media sample and explain what they are particularly interested in workshopping over the course of the weekend. There are scholarships available for three spots. Any and all questions about the workshop, please email [email protected].
Details
Open to everyone, though the workshop setting is best suited for documentary filmmakers, aspiring podcasters, journalists, and media artists. This workshop will be conducted over Zoom.
Give us an idea of who you are and why you are coming. When you register you will be asked for a short statement of interest that should briefly describe your experience and a film project (it would be great if you have a project in progress that you would present to the group during the work-in-progress critique sessions), plus a bio. There’s a spot for a link to a work sample (and CV, which would also be nice, but is not required).
$350 early bird registration by January 21st, 2021 at 11:59PM.
$400 regular registration.
The deposit is non-refundable. Should you need to cancel, you’ll receive half of your registration fee back until January 21st. After January 21st, the fee is non-refundable.
Since this is an all-virtual workshop, participants must use their own laptop to attend.
NOTE: To register for a workshop, students must pay in full via card, check, or cash . After the early bird registration deadline of January 21st, course fees are not refundable or transferable and any withdrawals or deadlines will result in the full cost of the class being forfeit. There will be no exceptions. To withdraw from a course please email info-at-uniondocs.org.
In the event that a workshop does not receive sufficient enrollment, it may be canceled. Students will be notified at least 48 hours prior to the start of a cancelled workshop and will be refunded within 5 business days. If we reschedule a workshop to another date, students are also entitled to a full refund. UnionDocs reserves the right to change instructors without prior notification, and to change class location and meeting times by up to an hour with 48 hours prior notice.
Please note: Participants are accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Schedule
Friday, Jan 28, – 10:00am - 2:00pm
Pitch
10:00a – Intro session with Yael Melamede, Kellen Quinn, and Julie Anderson, followed by participant presentation
12:00p – Lunch
1:00p – Participant presentations, round two
Saturday, Jan 29, – 10:00am - 2:00pm
Biggest Probems
10:00a – Work session with participants paired off with mentors
1:00p – Work session with participants paired off with mentors
Sunday, Jan 30 – 10:00am - 2:00pm
Pitch Again/Present Findings- Next Steps
10:00a – Work session with the group- presentation of findings
1:00p – Work session with the group- presentation of findings
Each day follows this general structure, with some minor variations and substitutions:
Julie Anderson is an Academy Award nominated documentary film producer, director and development executive who has been honored with four Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards. She has created programming for ESPN, HBO Sports, HBO Documentary Films, PBS, CNN, CBS Sports, and ABC Sports. In 2019, she produced HBO’s highly acclaimed documentary We Are The Dream, as well as the multi-part documentary VICK for ESPN’s 30 for 30 series about former NFL quarterback Michael Vick, the number one pick in the 2001 NFL draft, who was arrested for dog fighting in 2007. Julie was the director of documentary development for HBO Documentary Films and produced the Academy Award nominated documentary God Is The Bigger Elvis. As a Senior Producer for ESPN, she created Emmy award winning magazine shows Outside the LInes and E:60 and was a senior producer on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.
Yael Melamede is the founder of the independent production company SALTY Features, whose goal is to create media that is thought-provoking, vital, and enhances the world. Melamede’s credits include the Jigsaw Productions/Amblin Entertainment six-part series WHY WE HATE, WHEN I WALK (News & Documentary Emmy Award Winner), (DIS)HONESTY – THE TRUTH ABOUT LIES, DESERT RUNNERS, INOCENTE (Academy Award Winner, Best Doc Short), BRIEF INTERVIEWS WITH HIDEOUS MEN, THE INNER LIFE OF MARTIN FROST, and MY ARCHITECT (Academy Award Nominee). Yael was an architect before becoming a filmmaker and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
Kellen Quinn is a producer whose credits include Garrett Bradley’s Time (Sundance 2020 winner of Best Director, US Documentary), Luke Lorentzen’s Midnight Family (shortlisted for Documentary Feature Oscar; Sundance 2019 winner of Special Jury Award for Cinematography, US Documentary), Noah Hutton’s In Silico (DOC NYC 2020), and Viktor Jakovleski’s Brimstone & Glory (True/False 2017). Kellen was selected for DOC NYC’s 40 34 Under 40 class in 2020. In 2017 and 2018, he participated in the Sundance Documentary Creative Producing Lab and Fellowship. With Luke Lorentzen, Kellen is a co-founder of the production company Hedgehog Films.
