Get Funded

You have a powerful story to tell—let’s bring it to life together. We offer development and co-production funds for both short and feature documentaries.

1,455 Funded Projects
48 Peabody Awards
49 Emmys
23 Oscar Nominations

ITVS funds groundbreaking documentary projects that spotlight a range of lived experiences from across the country.

With a deep commitment to independent storytelling, ITVS-funded work has gone on to earn prominent awards—recognition that reflects the impact, excellence, and relevance of the stories we help bring to the American public.

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Independent Lens Creator Lab

Accepting applications through December 19, 2025

Co-production support for independent storytellers on social media.

Bring your ideas to life with the team behind Independent Lens on PBS, ready to make content that matters and shape what storytelling looks like next. The Independent Lens Creator Lab is a six-month program to develop bold new storytelling approaches—from serialized shorts to narrated experiences—that reimagine what public media can be.

Six-month program for six standout creators
Vertical social “micro-series” and hybrid visual forms
Up to $36k in production funding, mentorship, and industry support

Learn About Creator Lab

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Incubator Fund

Opens January 2, 2026

Early-stage funding for nonfiction web series and features, and three to six-month incubator to advance your program materials while growing skills.

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Open Call

Not currently accepting applications

Funding and co-production support for exceptional documentaries in progress.

Open Call supports independent documentary storytellers completing nonfiction projects for public media. If you have a compelling, original project ready for production or post-production, we’d love to hear from you.

Single, nonfiction projects only (sorry, no series or pilots)
Short or feature projects over 10 minutes in length
In production or post-production (no development or R&D)

Learn About Open Call

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Series and Special Projects

Commissioned funding for innovative and timely nonfiction projects.

We provide development and production support for a select number of invited series and special projects.

Invitation-only development and/or production funding
Focus on innovative and timely series and features
Over 200 projects funded to date

We ensure public media distribution.

As your documentary nears completion, we collaborate closely with public media distributors to ensure we reach the widest, most engaged audience possible.

Where We Stream

How ITVS meets audience where they really are (IndieWire)

Independent Lens Creator Lab

Incubator Fund

Featured Film

The Librarians

Our Work

Get Funded

Independent Lens Creator Lab

Incubator Fund

Open Call

Series and Special Projects

We ensure public media distribution.