Including a database of short factual film commissioners
One of the questions I’ve had quite a lot recently is: “How do you get short film commissions?”
I’m hesitant to give advice on this issue because to be honest I’m quite new to it all. Until quite recently I was a freelance producer working for other production companies, and I only made the leap to getting my own commissions in 2018.
But since then I’ve had some success and been commissioned (and re-commissioned) by BBC Reel, BBC Ideas and the New York Times.
What follows is what I wish I’d known when I started. If it’s useful to you then great, and if you have any advice from your own experience I’d love to add it to this article. (You can email me or leave a comment at the bottom.)
Step 1: Be credible as a filmmaker
First question: are you credible as a filmmaker?
More specifically: have you made short films like those you want to get commissioned to make?
Before you start pitching ideas, usually you have to be credible as someone who can deliver on those ideas.
In fact it seems to me that the conversation around “the art of pitching” slightly over-values how important ideas are, compared to the reputation the filmmaker has for making great films.
To use an extreme example imagine you’re a commissioner and docs-legend Werner Herzog emails to say he’d like to make a film for you. I presume that most commissioners would be excited about that prospect. Of course you need to decide the idea, but the thing is 90% commissioned already.
The point is a big part of the decision to commission is your abilities, and it’s a reminder to us that the number one “career hack” is getting really good at filmmaking. Ideally, your films are so good the conversation is not whether you should be commissioned, but “What shall we make together next?”
(An analogy is the way people go out for dinner. Diners don’t normally choose a restaurant based on individual dishes, but rather on the basis of the general reputation the restaurant has for making delicious food. I think sometimes filmmakers think all about the dish and not about the restaurant.)
To sum up: the foundation to getting commissions is your credibility as a filmmaker. If you already have that, skip down to step 2. If you don’t have that credibility here are some suggestions.
How to get out of the no-experience trap
The general rule in the creative industries is: people won’t pay you do something unless you can prove you can do it.
This might seem harsh but imagine if a stranger offered to cut your hair but they hadn’t cut hair before. It wouldn’t be much reassurance if all they could offer was, “Well I’ve seen lots of finished haircuts and I’m very enthusiastic!”
It can feel like an impossible situation: how can you get that opportunity to prove yourself when the opportunities only go to those who have already proved themselves?
One way out of this fix is to make a film as a side-project which proves your abilities. (Read more: Why side-projects are so important to a creative career)
Another common way to get your first credit as a filmmaker is by working at a production company where they’ve grown to trust you. Because they know you they’re more likely to take the risk (especially if you’re a bit cheaper than someone established).
What to do if you don’t have credits in that exact style
Another common issue is that a filmmaker has good experience in filmmaking but not in the exact style they’re aiming to get commissioned in. For example, maybe you haven’t made a Vice News film, but you have made explainers for a technology YouTube channel.
In this case my advice is to 1) show the films you’ve made that are closest to the target genre/publisher, and 2) give examples of films that you admire or want to emulate. Hopefully the client will like the films you’ve referenced and some of that positivity will rub off on you.
Step 2: Find your targets
The next step is to work out a list of target publications.
I recommend making a spreadsheet. Here’s my database of places to get your started (work in progress).
After you’ve found your publications you will need to find the decision maker and their contact details. This involves a bit of internet-sleuthing but it’s usually not that hard. (There are even websites that will help you find email addresses e.g. Voila Norbert, Hunter.io, Rocketreach.co)
Let’s use BBC Reel as an example.
I started looking on the main website but couldn’t find anything.
Next I tried searching for “BBC Reel” on the “people” tab of Twitter and this turned up the editor, Melissa Hogenboom (who has kindly agreed to be used as an example here).
Looking through Melissa’s timeline I find a whole bunch of films she’s promoted (which if you get a meeting are worth watching through) and a tweet about a film that recently won an award.
There’s also an about.me page which has more details and her email address.
Sorted!
Step 3: Email the commissioner
The next step is to make contact with the commissioner.
Making contact is part of what leads up to pitching ideas, but it’s worth noting that it can also lead directly to a commission if you happen to email at the right moment because sometimes a publisher might already have an idea and just need the right filmmaker. In other words you might be able to skip the pitching process altogether!
Usually the aim of my first email to a publisher is to check whether they’re commissioning (no good coming up with ideas if they’re out of budget or don’t work with external suppliers) and to try and get a face-to-face meeting.
A meeting helps build a personal connection and is a good way to gain insight on the publisher and what they want/ don’t want. (Without this understanding you can waste a lot of time!)
Sometimes to get a meeting, I have to promise to come with ideas (“I’ve got ideas to pitch!” sounds more appealing than “Would you like coffee with a stranger?”), but my main aims are establishing rapport and a better understanding the commissioner/publisher. (More on this below)
What to write in your opening email
I recommend the following structure: an opening line that explains what the email is about, then two paragraphs: one about them and one about you.
The first paragraph might be about a film you’ve seen and admired, an award they’ve won, a mutual friend… anything to establish a connection.
Then the second paragraph is a few lines to introduce yourself followed by a request to talk more.
Here’s an example email to Melissa, the editor of BBC Reel I mentioned above. You’ll see I mention the film on free-will I spotted on her Twitter feed:
SUBJECT: Film ideas (+ I love your work!)
Hi Melissa,
Hello, my name is Brendan. I’m a filmmaker based in London and I’m getting in touch to ask whether you were open to film ideas at the moment?
I watched your excellent (and I see now award-winning) film about free will recently. I thought it was really well written and led to my partner and I having quite a heated debate (!). I’ve also been watching through the other films BBC Reel have been publishing and it’s got me very excited because it’s just the kind of films I love to watch and make.
As a filmmaker I specialise in films about politics, psychology and the social sciences (anything nerdy!). I’ve made journalistic explainer films for BBC Ideas and the New York Times.
I realise you must be very busy but if you’d have time for a quick coffee I’d love to hear more about the channel and what you’re looking for.
Best wishes,
Brendan
P.S. My website has more examples of the previous films I’ve made brendanmiller.co.uk
A few other tips on email:
Think about your subject line
A lot of commissioners get lots and lots of emails so think about what might how to write a subject line that might entice them to click open. Also, if you don’t get a response, try emailing again. (Read more by blogger Alexey Guzey on “it’s your responsibility to follow up“)
If you have a mutual friend or contact mention it
If you mention a mutual aquaintance it’s much harder for the person to ignore your email. So if you know someone in common it’s worth seeing if you can get them to introduce you via email, or you can mention it in your subject line:
Subject: Film ideas (+ Beth says hello)
Hi Melissa,
Hello, my name is Brendan. I’m a filmmaker based in London and I was talking to Beth at BBC Ideas recently and she mentioned your work and recommended getting in touch…
Step 4: First meeting
Let’s say a commissioner has agreed to meet.
As I mentioned above the main aim of the meeting is to 1) establish some kind of personal connection 2) understand more how that person and the publisher thinks and works.
Here are some useful questions:
- Are there any “problems” the publication is grappling with? Maybe they’re trying to target young people, they need more formats or too many of the onscreen experts are male… (all real commissioner problems I’ve heard)
- What films are they most proud of?
- What’s the commissioner’s “story”? How did they end up in this position?
- I also often ask, “What mistakes do you see producers making? What are you biggest frustrations with producers you have?”
(Of course you don’t have to wait for the meeting to try and answer these questions. Look at the films they’ve commissioned, read any articles they’ve written, look through their public social media feed and so on.)
The meeting is also an opportunity to subtly pitch your abilities and what you can do. There’s an art to doing this which involves having certain points and stories you’re used to sharing. (Read: “Practice telling your story” in my article on job interviews.)
Step 5: Pitch ideas
It’s time to talk ideas.
My way of pitching is based on the belief that commissioners know quite quickly whether they’re interested in something or not.
For this reason, and because I need to be careful spending time on an idea that will go nowhere, I usually try and limit my pitch to a paragraph of text.
When I worked for television production companies development teams would often write quite long and glossy pitch documents. While I presume they do this because it helps, I can’t help feeling that this is only marginally useful and not likely to shift the commissioners fundamental reaction to an idea.
In fact I’ve had films commissioned on the basis of a single line. (This single line eventually turned into a three-part series for BBC Reel.)
“Maybe” ideas are dangerous
Let’s say that ideas fall into three categories for commissioners:
- Definitely interested
- Definitely not interested
- Maybe
The first category is great. The commissioner likes the film so now you can go make it!
The second category in which a commissioner definitely doesn’t like an idea is also useful. You just bin the idea and stop wasting time on it.
For me the danger is with the “maybes”.
A maybe idea is dangerous because you can end up doing lots more research, many more write-ups, and generally spending a lot of time on something that goes nowhere. And when there are so many ideas out there, how likely is it that “maybe” ideas are those that last the distance? My instinct is that it’s better to cut your losses sooner rather than later.
For these reasons if a commissioner is interested I try not to do more than one further write-up. If more time is needed then I ask for some “development budget”.
I’ve also started saying to commissioners, “It’s really helpful to get a no quickly.” Like most filmmakers I know, ideas are not a problem for me so the sooner I can get a “no”, the sooner I can come back with something the commissioner will love.
A few other tips and thoughts:
I’m not sure how much you can learn from asking people to explain their “no”s
In my experience requesting feedback on ideas can be of limited value. Usually if there’s a simple reason for the rejection (they’re out of budget, they’ve already commissioned something on that topic) the commissioner will just tell you.
But usually an idea is rejected because the commissioner doesn’t find it interesting or appealing. In this case I don’t believe there’s much value in trying to extract a logical reason, it’s just taste.
Commissioners aren’t usually interested in stealing your ideas
Sometimes I talk to filmmakers who are worried that if they pitch an idea, it will be stolen and given to another filmmaker or production company.
I’m sure this does happen occasionally but that’s not my impression of how things work. If the idea is good and you are a credible person to make it, then it’s much easier to just give it to you to make.
Also don’t forget ideas often occur to numerous people at the same time (see the “Multiple discovery” page on Wikipedia). If it’s occurred to you there’s a good chance it might have occurred to someone else.
I’m not trying to cripple you with imposter syndrome
One of the perennial problems with writing advice on the internet is I don’t know exactly who’s reading it, so I don’t know if you’re over or under confident.
An over-confident filmmaker doesn’t need any encouragement. In fact they probably need spend a bit more time concentrating on getting good.
On the other hand, some filmmakers are crippled with self-doubt. I’m going to guess that readers of an article like this are more likely to have this issue than the self-delusions of an over-confident filmmaker. In which case what I want to say to you is: you can do this! You might be better qualified than you think!
Remember ultimately the judge is the commissioner. It’s their job to decide whether you’re up to the challenge. It’s your job to put that opportunity in front of them.
Also if commissioners love the idea, they always have the option of partnering you with someone they trust more to get the film made well.
Also it might help to know that in my experience, this world of short nonfiction video a pretty open place in which people are open to being contacted and emailed.
In fact after writing the example email above, I realised I couldn’t remember how Melissa and I actually first made contact. I eventually found the original message on Twitter, and it definitely wasn’t anything that special!
Finally I want to encourage you to not let business questions stop you. Once you start getting commissions, you often have to start thinking about negotiating budgets, schedules, insurance, legal considerations and so on and so on.
All this stuff is important but these considerations shouldn’t stop you trying to get a commission. I had few of these things in place before I got my first piece of business. Accountants, lawyers and fellow filmmakers can help you solve these pretty quickly and the best time to (just give me a shout on Twitter)
Good luck!
Other resources
Here are some links that might be useful – mainly from the print/text world:
- I’m An Editor And Here’s What I Want From Your Freelance Pitch – Robyn Vinter at JournoResources
- How to successfully pitch The New York Times (or, well, anyone else) – Tim Herrera at NiemanLab
- Here Are A Load Of Successful Journalism Pitches To Help You With Yours – Jem Collins
- Pitch Clinic – from Jessica Reed, Guardian US features editor