The Good Pitch is entered its third year with a new partner and a new venue, but the same ambitious goal; to fast-track effective, world-changing partnerships between documentary film and the brand, NGO, philanthropy and media sectors.
What: The Good Pitch NY 2011
When: May 20 2011
Where: Ford Foundation, New York
On May 20, 2011 the Good Pitch touched down at the Ford Foundation in New York City with eight pitching projects and over 260 decision-making attendees, ranging from foundations, NGOs and campaigners to philanthropists and social entrepreneurs, from policy makers to international brands and advertising agencies.
The eight benefitting projects are Crime After Crime, Dir. Yoav Potash; Not In Our Town III: Light in the Darkness, Dir. Patrice O’Neill; Brooklyn Castle, Dir. Katie Dellamaggiore; Untitled Global Health Documentary, Dir. Kief Davidson; Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Dir. Alison Klayman; Who Is Dayani Cristal?, Dir. Marc Silver; We The People, Dir. Soniya Kirpalani; and Gideon’s Army, Dir. Dawn Porter.
With projects focusing on issues of immigration and migrant labour, human rights and global health, racism and hate crimes, domestic violence and criminal justice and stories from The Emirates, China, USA, South Asia, Haiti, and US/Mexico/Central American borders, there was much to interest, engage and ignite this dynamic flash community.
In an unprecedented wave of funding offers, over $500,000 was pledged on the day - more than at any other individual Good Pitch event - with three of the eight films walking away fully-funded. The offers of fiscal support at the Good Pitch NY 2011 bring the total funds leveraged by Good Pitch events to over $3m since 2009.
But more than that, each of the 81 influential round-table participants offered something unique to the pitching projects aside from funding, a true potlatch of resources: access, finance, outreach and networks that filmmakers alone struggle to arouse:
- Google offered a package of Google AdWords to Brooklyn Castle and offered to host a screening for interactive advertising industry leaders at their headquarters in New York. Do Something, with a platform of 1.2 million teenagers who are working with Good Pitch’s The Bully Project offered a partnership, Edelman offered to introduce the project to a number of their key brand clients, and Scholastic offered to host a screening at their New York headquarters. National Black Programming Consortium was interested in the project for American Graduate, a CPB initiative.
- The Executive Director of The New York Women’s Foundation offered to work with Crime After Crime to raise the $250K for the outreach and engagement campaign and to support the New York state organizing. The National Criminal Justice Association whose members are legislators and state officials who manage criminal justice systems offered to host a meeting for Crime After Crime with their members.
- The American Bar Association offered to share Gideon’s Army with their network of 25,000 lawyers, 125,000 young lawyers and law students, state legislators and state governments. ACLU offered a partnership with their extensive network of 53 affiliates. The Vera Institute of Justice offered to connect Gideon’s Army with government officials and members of the Obama administration. The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law offered to show a work-in-progress at their national conference in July. CPB invited Gideon’s Army and Brooklyn Castle to speak further about CPB funding.
- Humanity United, a private foundation that supports efforts to oppose slavery wants to introduce We The People to other funders in the field and speak about outreach. Breakthrough offered to help arrange a screening at The World Economic Forum’s meeting in Dubai next year and along with Video Volunteers to set up screenings across India. WITNESS offered to share their access to decision makers, their tactical strategies, and Twitter feed, the largest of any human rights organization. Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting offered to support with funding and outreach efforts. ArteEast offered to connect We The People with their network of cinematheques across the Arab world and Amnesty International wants to bring on board their 3 million members.
- The US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership offered to connect Who Is Dayani Cristal? to their network of 20 philanthropies on both sides of the border.
- Pat Mitchell from The Paley Center for Media offered to host a private strategy screening of Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry for Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other media. The Guggenheim Museum offered to host a screening. Fenton Communications offered to do PR for these events.
- Mozilla Foundation offered an “Army of Awesome” technology partnership with Not In Our Town to boost their web project and social media. The Annie E. Casey Foundation offered their large network, Kids Count, as a partner for the campaign as did The New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, Welcoming America, and National Council of La Raza.
- The Rockefeller Foundation offered to meet with Untitled Global Health Documentary.
Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program offered Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry a production grant with an anonymous donor giving completion funds. Sundance also gave a production grant to Who is Dayani Cristal? with Impact Partners putting forward finishing funds and PUMA.Creative adding an outreach and travel award. We the People aroused the interests of ITVS and Chicken & Egg Pictures and left the event fully-funded via a private donor. Untitled Global Health Documentary was offered a finishing grant from Ryan Harrington of the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund.
You can find out more about the films and each of the participating organisations by going to our sister site, goodfilm.org: http://goodfilm.org/goodpitch/overview/gpny2011
WHAT IS THE GOOD PITCH?
A partnership between The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, the Good Pitch has been gaining momentum since the first international event in 2009.
Running several times throughout the year in the US and Europe, as both standalone events and in conjunction with bespoke conferences and film festivals, this invitation-only event starts with an intensive two-day campaign development workshop for pitching filmmakers, and is followed by a day-long live event bringing together foundations, NGOs, social entrepreneurs, broadcasters and other media to expand the resources aimed at maximizing the impact of social-issue documentary. Filmmaking teams pitch their project and its associated outreach campaign with the aim of creating a unique coalition around each film to accelerate its impact and influence.
The success in New York adds to the wave of support for long-form documentaries generated at previous Good Pitch events in London, Oxford, New York, Washington DC, Toronto and San Francisco. There are now more than 70 alumni projects including recent double Sundance winner Hell and Back Again
The Good Pitch NY 2011 is made possible by our generous major supporters, Chicken & Egg Pictures, The Fledgling Fund, Ford Foundation, Impact Partners, Wyncote Foundation and anonymous donors. We are also grateful for the support of CrossCurrents Foundation, Cinereach and Amnesty International and for the campaign support for filmmakers provided by Working Films.
THE FORD FOUNDATION
The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has worked with courageous people on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
http://www.fordfoundation.org/
CHANNEL 4 BRITDOC FOUNDATION
The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation is a UK-based not-for-profit organisation backed by Channel 4 TV. It is dedicated to reinventing funding and distribution models for British documentary filmmakers. As well as funding ground breaking social-issue films (such as double Sundance winner Afghan Star, Berlin winner The Yes Men Fix the World, Sundance 09 feature doc The End of the Line and Tribeca winner We Are Together), the Foundation brokers relationships between filmmakers and the NGO and brand sectors in the UK to create better, more effective films. The Good Pitch is a key part of the Foundation’s important work in this area.
http://www.britdoc.org
SUNDANCE INSTITUTE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROGRAM
The Sundance Institute DFP supports contemporary nonfiction filmmakers globally with year-round activities, including the Sundance Documentary Fund, Creative Labs focusing on the art of documentary, the DocSource website and the Stories of Change partnership with the Skoll Foundation. The DFP has supported over 400 films since 1996, including Nerakoon: Betrayal, Trouble the Water, Iraq in Fragments, My Country, My Country, Why We Fight, and Long Night’s Journey Into Day. The DFP is a core program of the Los Angeles-based non-profit Sundance Institute. Founded by Robert Redford, Sundance Institute is dedicated to the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences.
http://www.sundance.org/docsource
