The State of Documentary Film - Episode I. Starting on the Surface
Part One in the Eight-Part Series on the Status of the Documentary Film Industry
Welcome to this week’s Wednesday edition of The Backlot. This is the first episode of our bi-weekly series on the documentary film industry, which will be broken down into eight parts over the next few months. Other mid-week newsletters will include the latest filmmaking news, interviews with filmmakers, and deep dives into the major issues affecting the film industry.
NOTE - The mid-week version of the newsletter will be free for the next few weeks before moving to a paid subscription in May. The Sunday version of this newsletter will remain free.
This week, we’re starting by getting a surface-level view of the documentary film market…
🎞️ Starting on the Surface of Doc Market
🎬 Looking Ahead to the Next Edition
🗞️ Latest News and Updates from the Film Industry
Starting on the Surface
During a recent panel event at the Full Frame Festival, a group of documentary filmmakers discussed “Documentary Dealmaking” and the state of the industry. The panel included a number of successful documentarians, including Jessie Moss and Jamie McBaine, who directed Boys State, and Jamie Margolin, director of Desperate Souls.
While reading through Addie Morfoot’s recap of the panel event for Variety, one quote stood out from the text.
“For the folks who are mid-career or starting out with maybe a second or third film, this moment is a moment of survival,” said Jamie Margolin. “We are losing really tremendous talent as a result of this scarcity. We have to come together as a community to talk about how are going to solve this. Our ecosystem is in the midst of a collapse.”
It’s no secret that the documentary film industry is in a precarious position and has been for the past year. As an emerging documentary filmmaker myself, these types of quotes strike a nerve, making me and other early to mid-career documentarians nervous about the field and our ability to build a career.
It leaves us asking questions such as…
What can we expect for the future? Is there even a future in this space?
That’s what we’re going to try and get to the bottom of during these series. Over the course of eight episodes, this series will examine the status of the documentary film industry. Throughout the episodes, I will seek to learn as much as possible about our industry's current landscape by talking with other filmmakers and industry professionals, attending events on documentary filmmaking, and searching for new solutions to the problems that are currently plaguing the space.
Therefore, without further ado, let’s get to work and start off with a surface-level discussion of what’s happening in the documentary film industry.
What’s the Big Problem?
A few years ago, we were looking at a very different landscape. Funders were piling into the space, opening new avenues for documentary filmmaking, and streamers and distributors were paying big bucks for the latest hits out of the festivals.
In fact, it’s only been a few years since films such as Boys State, Knock Down The House, and Summer of Soul were breaking records coming out of Sundance.
Then, in the last year, the market changed. The appetite for documentary films seemed to still be there, but there weren’t as many buyers or backers, and the market quickly dried up.
I first realized the gravity of this situation during a panel event at the Bend Film Festival in October. During the panel, documentarians such as Nicole Newham with The Disappearance of Shere Hite and Uli Decker with Anima: My Father’s Dresses spoke with a sense of dread and unease about the future of the industry.
In addition, many of the questions lobbied by the small crowd were directed at funding and distribution, and people seemed to be concerned that the market was headed toward total collapse.
Many experts indicate that the market is drying up due to numerous issues, including streamers shuttering their efforts to pick out docs at festivals and some moving their documentary divisions in-house. We’ve also seen budget cutbacks, industry-wide funding shortages, the consolidation of distribution companies, and an alarmingly precarious journalism landscape.
One of the best examples of the situation is the film To Kill A Tiger, which follows a farmer in India who forces a social movement after his daughter is the victim of rape. The film premiered at TIFF in 2022 and was nominated for an Academy Award, but went without distribution until February, when the film was finally acquired by Netflix, just two weeks before the Oscars.
Scenarios such as this one are contributing to the industry's sense of unease, and for most of the past year, people have been left wondering if the distribution was even a possibility or if we were ever going to be able to finance our films and careers.
The People of the Industry
The industry's lack of market is also exacerbating other major issues, including no viable infrastructure and the absence of necessary resources to support emerging and underrepresented documentary filmmakers.
In the 2023 Cost of Docs survey, an annual report released by Whickers that includes research from conversations with documentary filmmakers, 54 percent of filmmakers said the cost of living was jeopardizing their future as documentarians.
There has also been a five-fold increase in documentarians who work part-time jobs to support their livelihoods since 2016, and 59 percent say they are learning filmmaking skills “on the job.”
Even this survey, which has been heavily referenced in the field, illustrates the lack of infrastructure since only 74 self-serving filmmakers opted to participate in the research. Something of a fraction of all documentarians worldwide.
In addition, unlike other major film branches, the documentary film industry does not have a guild of its own. Therefore, filmmakers are required to look to the Producer Guild (PGA) and Directors Guild (DGA), which have income and budget requirements that are hard to meet for most independent documentarians.
This leaves many documentarians as independent filmmakers, navigating filmmaking without union or organizational support that provides them with health benefits, fair compensation, and access to other resources.
The lack of support has become one of the major talking points in the industry, and although there are ongoing efforts to incorporate documentarians into the existing guilds, progress is slow.
For this reason, organizations such as the International Documentary Association (IDA) are working to address these issues; but people are still concerned about livelihoods, finances, ethics, and, of course, mental health.
The good news on this front is that there are increasing grassroots efforts from people and organizations who realize the industry needs more change. A number of projects, programs, and efforts are being led that provide some hope for the industry and the future of documentarians.
And as it turns out, even the festivals offered a few signs of life this past winter.
Snapshot - A Positive Sign from Sundance
According to acquisition reports, so far, 6 documentary films have been bought out of Sundance, as opposed to 14 in 2021.
The films included Will & Haper, Daughters, Skywalkers: A Love Story, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, Ibelin, and The Greatest Night in Pop. A few other films that premiered at the festival came in with distribution already attached, including Richard Linklaters' God Save Texas and McBaine and Moss’ Girls State.
Most of the fees were unreleased, but reports indicate they are lower compared to the higher acquisition fees commanded at previous editions of the annual film festival, such as Questlove’s Summer of Soul.
Still, there are some films that streamers are still buying at high prices. One of the most notable docs out of Sundance was Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, which was acquired by Warner Bros. Discovery for $15 million, as reported by The Wrap. The film received much critical acclaim at the festival, and WBD’s DC Studios, Warner Bros. Motion Pictures, HBO, CNN Films, and Max will collaborate on a release.
Of the remaining five documentary films, Netflix acquired them all, and none of the acquisition fees for these other five have been reported.
Despite the lower numbers and consolidation of corporate buyers, Sundance offers a positive sign for the industry.
Many individuals seemed to have a more positive outlook on the market after the festival, which in many ways, showed that there is a hunger for documentary films and that the market still has a beating pulse.
“It’s not like we’re looking at it with rose-colored glasses, and everything’s great,” Submarine Entertainment sales agent Josh Braun told Variety. “It’s more like there’s an indications that distributors are willing to be take a little more risk and I would say that’s a step in the right direction.”
On the Next Episode
Next week, I will be attending the International Documentary Association’s Getting Real Festival in Downtown Los Angeles. The festival's theme is “Strategy, Networks, and Access” and will include panels, discussions, and workshops on distribution and other industry topics.
The next episode in our documentary series will premiere on April 25th, two weeks from today, and will recap the Getting Real conference. I will be reporting on my experience at the event, sharing excerpts from other filmmakers and panels regarding the status of the market, and discussing some innovative solutions.
After that, we will explore each topic a bit more in-depth per episode. This means we’ll be taking deeper looks at the mental health issues plaguing the industry, discussing efforts to bring more support to documentary filmmakers, and highlighting some of the solutions that are bringing hope to the field.
If you are a documentary filmmaker or industry professional and would like to discuss the series and your experiences in the industry or provide some more insights, please feel free to send me a message.
Mid Week Updates
This week’s updates from the world of filmmaking…
Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis is struggling to find a distribution home, with reports that distributors find the film to be “not good enough” for his envisioned $100 million marketing budget. Despite struggles for a deal, the film did lock in a spot for its official premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the filmmakers behind the Spider-verse series, are planning for a 2026 release of Project Hail Mary, a science fiction film adapted from a novel by Andy Weir, writer of The Martian.
Lionsgate and Blumhouse have signed a new deal to reimagine horror classics, starting with The Blair Witch Project. (Backlot Note - Why? Can’t we just let good things be good things?)
Cannes Film Festival has announced it is launching a new competition based on immersive works of storytelling. “The competition aims to spotlight the next generation of international artists who are redefining storytelling and inventing new narrative-driven experiences that move beyond the traditional two-dimensional cinema screen,” wrote in their announcement.
The trailer for Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 was shown at CinemaCon this past week. The first look confirmed long-awaited footage from the film, which will be released in January 2025.
The Oscars ceremony next year will take place on March 2nd, 2025, a week earlier than in 2024. The ceremony will also start at 7 PM EST / 4 PM PST, the same as this past year.
On Sunday, we’ll be discussing …
🎞️ Crafting An Identity to Benefit Your Career
🎬 A Few Podcasts for Emerging Filmmakers
🗞️ Three Movie Recommendations