Get Funded

You’ve found a story and you’re committed to telling it—no matter what. Let’s do it together.

  • FUNDED FILMS
    1,557
  • PEABODY
    39
  • EMMY AWARDS
    38

    • Follow us for the latest.

    Stay up to date on funding deadlines and news.

    Open Call

    Open Call provides documentary funding and co-production support so you can complete your nonfiction work in progress, then air it on public television.

    The deadline for this round was July 26, 2019 11:59 PM PDT
    Learn about Open Call

    Recent Open Call Projects

    See all 542 Open Call Projects

    Digital Open Call

    Digital Open Call offers research and development funding for you to pilot a story on public media digital platforms. Pre-production nonfiction projects only.

    Reopens Winter 2020
    Learn about Digital OC

    Recent Digital Open Call Projects

    See all 16 Digital Open Call Projects

    Diversity Development Fund

    DDF gives producers of color up to $25,000 in research and development funding so you can develop your documentary for air on public television. Pre-production nonfiction projects only.

    Open until September 13, 2019 11:59 PM PDT
    Icon calendar 5e97048816407defc11c72129e79b9fe4a615fc1376319fb55ea4b03a265f13d 09/13/2019 23:59 PM America/Los_Angeles Diversity Development Fund Deadline Details at https://itvs.org/funding/diversity-development-fund MM/DD/YYYY aKiBAUpmXzpWKCxyzmOc24221
    Apply to DDF

    Recent Diversity Development Fund Projects

    See all 63 Diversity Development Fund Projects

    Series and Special Projects

    We commission a limited number of innovative and timely projects for public media, providing development and production funding. Submissions for Series and Special Project funding are by invitation-only. This collection also encompasses documentary films funded through limited special open calls held over the years.


    Recent Series and Special Projects

    See all 181 Series and Special Projects

    Get in touch.

    Questions about what we do? We’re happy to talk.

    itvs@itvs.org

    (415) 356-8383

    ITVS in the Field

    We’d love to meet you! Join the ITVS team at an event. We want to hear about your latest projects.

    1. Kartemquin Diverse Voices in Docs

      August 24-24, 2019
      Chicago, IL
      Content Development Manager

      Jannet Nuñez

    2. Southern Documentary Fund Artists Convening

      September 6-8, 2019
      Durham, NC
      Supervising Producer

      Michael Ehrenzweig

    3. Camden International Film Festival

      September 14-17, 2019
      Camden, ME
      Vice President of Content

      Noland Walker

      Series Producer, Digital Initiatives

      Pamela Torno

    4. IFP Market/Independent Film Week

      September 15-20, 2019
      New York, NY
      Vice President of Content

      Noland Walker

      Content Development Manager

      Jannet Nuñez

    Rodentsofunu itvs hero 1430x642

    Get Funded

    We join forces with visionaries like you from across America to bring risk-taking independent film to the public.

    Filmmaker Resources

    From our blog

    1. The Work Behind the Spectacle

      August 5, 2019

      The cheerleaders of the National Football League sweat through grueling drills, invest time, and money to stay in top physical condition, and revolve their lives around their sport. Yet most of them earn less than minimum wage. Shining a light on this astounding inequity, A Woman’s Work tells the story of a handful of cheerleaders who decide that they and…

    2. Handheld by Sheer Necessity: Midnight Traveler

      July 26, 2019

      Midnight Traveler was shot entirely on three cell phones out of sheer necessity. An autoethnographic film about a family in flight, the three-year journey follows filmmakers Hassan Fazili, Fatima Hussaini, and their two girls Zahra and Nargis fleeing Afghanistan, attempting to seek asylum in Germany because of a death bounty on Hassan. Due to its…

    3. Our five favorite big ideas from ITVS Independents Summit

      July 22, 2019

      We just wrapped the ITVS Independents Summer Summit, a week-long gathering for filmmakers and industry leaders to explore the opportunities and roadblocks that shape the contemporary documentary industry.We kicked off the Summit at Alamo Drafthouse with a preview screening of films from our most recent Open Call, and we ended the week at SPiN, where we…