Two supports created to fund independent films--the CPB and PBS---have since 1980 been increasingly reluctant supporters of independent documentaries. And if funding is secured from the CPB, filmmakers can get hung up on their "balanced point of view" restriction. It is worth noting that 100% of the US produced films chosen to represent the US and screened at the international INPUT conference from 1989 to 1993 have not enjoyed a dime of PBS or CPB support. I haven't checked since those dates. Both entities are also increasingly interested in funding documentary series because a series creates an audience following and diminishes the dollar amount of publicity spent per film. That makes sense for them--but working in series is difficult for most documentarians.

The NEH follows this trend in their Projects in Media grants. It makes sense for them for the same reasons it makes sense for PBS and the CPB. Here are some statistics: in 1990, 39% of media grants were given to documentary series; in 1992, 50% were given to documentary series. During the same period, the total number of grants to documentaries lowered from 43 to 18.

As of 1992, and based on the success of Ken Burns' "Civil War" series, the NEH is providing one grant of 2.5 million for the production of one documentary film series per year. That is terrific for that one producer, but many are left out. The average amount awarded by the NEH for single documentaries since 1990 has been $216,000. That is a lot of money.

Many independent documentarians make films for under $20,000. A film I made for under $10,000 is a part of the Dachau Archives and is screened there regularly for international study groups. At the international INPUT conferences, there is general concensus that the majority of documentary films screened could have been produced at a fraction of their cost if their format had been Hi8 or digital video. These formats create a completely different global agenda in terms of cost, broadcast quality, digital sound, the issue of professionalism, small business practices, etc. It opens marvelous possibilities for the continued existence of the independent producer.

This format breakthrough, coupled with the fact that desktop video production and off-line editing are now within the means of the low-end independent producer makes significant work doable for increasingly less money. This means that your same $10,000 grant will increasingly move from the status of inconsequential partial project funding to that of significant partial project funding.