PBS Listening Tour Comes to New York City: A Report

This post was originally published on the POV blog 

 

PBS, ITVS, POV, Independent Lens, Indie Caucus and WNET hosted a full house for the Independent Film on PBS Listening Tour on Monday, February 23, at the SVA Theatre in Manhattan. Building on the conversation that began last month in San Francisco, a panel of PBS leadership, series producers and independent filmmakers heard from an audience of more than 400 filmmakers, local and national independent film organizations, public media advocates, educators and community leaders, and shared and discussed their perspectives on PBS’s role as a provider and platform for independent documentary films. 

On stage, Beth Hoppe, chief programming executive and general manager, general audience programming at PBS, laid out new potential strategies around marketing initiatives, live events and theatrical distribution of independent films, while Marie Nelson, vice president of news & public affairs at PBS, continued to welcome innovative ideas to promote larger viewership. 

Stephen Segaller, vice president of programming at WNET, further explained WNET’s reasoning for wanting to experiment with scheduling times for POV and Independent Lens, and was receptive to the concern of the New York City audience at the event. 

Moderator Mikel Ellecessor did his best to drive the conversation to a new phase, urging speakers to move on from discussing proposed scheduling changes for POV and Independent Lens, towards bringing forward alternative suggestions to ensure that PBS provides independent film to its largest audience. 

Simon Kilmurry, executive producer of POV, Sally Jo Fifer, president and chief executive officer of ITVS and executive producer of Independent Lens, and Lois Vossen, deputy executive producer of Independent Lens, provided their perspectives as representatives and funders of the two largest showcases for independent film on public television, while Marcia Smith, president of Firelight Media, and Dawn Porter, director/producer of Gideon’s Army and Indie Caucus representative, offered their experiences working with the series, and advocated for their continued prioritization by PBS locally and nationally.

 

Attendees waited in the aisles of the theatre to share their experiences, perspectives and concerns, touching on issues around the visibility of independent films on television, accessibility of programs in low-income neighborhoods of New York City and representation of the diversity of the city in programming decisions and scheduling. Speakers on the mic included POV and Independent Lens filmmakers, partners and founders. PBS launched “Independent Film on PBS: A National Listening Tour” in partnership with ITVS, POV, Independent Lens, and WNET. The Indie Caucus and Kartemquin Films will host the next stop in Chicago in March, date TBD.