Inside POV: The Flagship PBS Documentary Strand (1/2)

POV celebrates its 25^th anniversary in 2012.

We recently spoke with POV’s Executive Producer Simon Kilmurry and Director of Programming & Production Chris White.

Following is our summary of POV’s key metrics, processes and timelines.

Impact!

In its 23 seasons, POV has racked up an impressive list of accomplishments: 

• 350 films
• Lots of Awards
  • Ten Oscar nominations, five since 2005.
    • Food, Inc. The Most Dangerous Man in America, The Betrayal, My Country My Country, Street Fight, and more
  • 22 Emmy’s including two in 201
  • Numerous DuPont and Peabody awards, including a recent Peabody for The English Surgeon
• Spending: More than $50 million since 1988
  • $800K per year in productions funding and licensing fees
  • Plus $2 million per year on community engagement, education, online and public awareness campaigns that support each film
• A funding magnet
  • A POV commitment has given filmmakers the leverage to raise millions more from foundations, private investors and government agencies
• Audience and community impact
  • Each broadcast premiere reaches more than 1 million viewers, plus online streams
  • Community engagement, educational and online activities are central to all POV campaigns

POV offers 20-25 films from feature length to shorts

• 14-16 premieres / year
• 2/3 encores – often of Academy Award nominees or notable films from previous season

Budgets

According to Simon Kilmurry:

• On the high end, production budgets are $1 million plus
• The average is about $375K to $450K
• And about $200K on the low end

Funding

The annual operating budget for POV is $3.2 million

Sources of funding are:

• PBS: $1.5 million
• McArthur Fund: $500K
• NEA: $260K
• CPB Diverse Voices: $300-400,000 in 2-3 year cycle
• New York State Council on the Arts $60K
• Additional: “Grants and contributions vary from year to year. Our sources include the Fledgling Fund, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.”

Program Length

Feature Length (81:25)

• Around 12 / year
• Includes POV branding, sponsor messages, credits, DVD offer, etc.
• Most include a filmmaker interview
• (PBS slot is 86:46)

Hour (51:25)

• Around 3-4 / year
• Includes filmmaker interview, POV branding, etc.

Shorts

• 7-8 / year
• POV occasionally packages a broadcast hour comprised of half-hours (our personal favorite is Salt) and shorts
• And many features come in at 70+/- minutes, and they need shorts to fill the slot

Commercial Arrangements

License Fee

• The basic fee is $30,000/hour or $45,000 / feature
• The high mark is $150,000 / film

Rights

• 6 plays over 4 years
• Sometimes 4/3
• Online streaming catchup windows
• Limited PBS Free-VOD

DVD

Filmmakers cut their own DVD deals

• “POV often facilitates deals and does not take a rev share”
• POV offers a DVD promotional tag at the close of each program
• PBS Home Video often acquires home video rights in deals directly with filmmakers

Takeaways

POV is a major broadcast player for the U.S. independent documentary community

• POV and HBO Docs offer the peak U.S. broadcast slots for feature documentarians

The longevity, scale and prominence of the POV slot all underline the tremendous value of the American PBS system to independent filmmakers and their audience

• Particularly at a time when a wave of rightwing anger threatens  public funding for the Arts

Next Week: The Filters

• POV’s acquisition criteria
• The selection process
• Timeline

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SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS 

REALSCREEN 2011
Workshop with A&E’s Stephen Harris
January 31, 2011, Washington DC
Getting Your Concept to the Side of the Bus:
A Network Insider’s Guide to
Greenlighting a Factual Program
Improve your chances of success as you learn what’s inside the minds of network executives as they take pitches, buy in to them, promote the strongest concepts to their colleagues, budget productions, and fight for the final sign off. 
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AIDC
Australian International Documentary Conference
1 – 4 March 2011, Adelaide, Australia

Watch out for details
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Documentary Campus
in association with the
One World Film Festival
New Directions in Human Rights Documentaries
(Working Title)
11-13 March 2011, Prague, Czech Republic
Watch out for details
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