Open Call

The Review Process

After you submit your application, you’ll receive notification of your status within 12 weeks.

1. Eligibility Review: We review all projects against the eligibility criteria and for full completion of your application. If your project is unable to be considered for funding, we’ll notify you that it’s ineligible.
2. Reader Review: Each eligible application is assigned an ITVS staff member and a peer reviewer. Our peer reviewers come from diverse backgrounds and geographies of the independent documentary and public media fields.
3. Notification of Advancement: A small group of top applicants is chosen to advance as finalists. You’ll receive an email letting you know if you’ve been selected.
4. Feasibility Review: Advancing submissions will be asked to submit a full production budget and answer additional production questions.
5. Panel Review: A five-person panel of independent producers and industry peers reviews all treatments, screens work-in-progress samples, and discusses the merit of each project.
6. Selection and Invitation for Co-Production Funding: Our programming and production department reviews the panel recommendations and feasibility check. The ITVS content strategy team then proposes a selection. ITVS President and CEO Carrie Lozano approves the final funding recipients, and notifications are sent to invite applicants into the contracting process.

Production and Distribution

ITVS doesn’t just fund your documentary. We provide you with co-production support, creative development and feedback, partnership in navigating public media standards and practices, as well as public media distribution, which can include marketing, publicity, and audience engagement services. You own copyright and maintain full editorial, and creative control. and financial responsibility.

Funded projects will be expected to acknowledge the production support from ITVS in all program and publicity materials; cooperate with ITVS’ publicity protocols; provide timely information to ITVS about project activities, including notification of and request for approval of any major changes to the project; and submit contract deliverables, including final financial reporting at the conclusion of the project. Failure to submit the final financials will exclude applicants from eligibility to apply for future funding.

When your program is at or near completion, we work closely with public media programmers and series executive producers to ensure the strongest exclusive premiere of your program throughout public media.

ITVS-funded programs are presented by PBS series such as Independent Lens, POV, American Masters, and Frontline, and Voces on platforms like the PBS App, pbs.org, PBS YouTube, and broadcast. Our programs also have success in the festival, educational video, home video, SVOD, and foreign broadcast markets.