Documentaries are categorized as independent films, made outside the Hollywood or international studio system.

Although increased interest in nonfiction film has brought studios into the documentary arena, relatively few documentaries wear the Warner Brothers, Universal, Columbia, Fox, Disney or Weinstein labels.

Those documentaries that are studio-produced, financed and/or distributed clearly shouldn't be categorized as indie films.

 But can all of the nonfiction films made outside the studio system really be considered as independent?

In many cases, the answer is no. 

The Documentary Establishment

The truth is that documentary filmmaking has its own establishment that is as all powerful and is as firmly entrenched as the Hollywood and international studio system in maintaining its position. 

Unless a documentary filmmaker has personal wealth or access to the family fortune or well-endowed friends, or is willing to mortgage a house or dip into the kids' college funds, she or he is dependent upon the documentary establishment -- the equivalent of a studio system, really -- to acquire financing and distribution commitments for her or his film.

In the documentary studio system, power to green light a project is concentrated in the hands of a relatively small group of people, just as it is in the Hollywood studio system.

Known as Decision Makers, they are essentially the equivalent of studio heads and marketing mavens who say yea or nay to whether projects get financial support for completion and are made accessible to the moviegoing public.

But they work exclusively in the documentary arena.

Who are the Decision Makers?

They are the program administrators from well-endowed private charitable foundations and international corporations with nonprofit foundations, as well as representatives from foreign and domestic government cultural agencies and commissioning editors from public and private broadcast corporations that air nonfiction movies and other content-seeking media platforms from around the world, plus international film sales agents and distributors. Festival programmers and cinema owners, too, are among their number.

Additionally, several profitable nonprofit businesses have been set up to facilitate face-to-face meetings between Decision Makers and the throng of documentary filmmakers hoping to gain support for current and future projects.

The Documentary Pitching Field

Decision Makers are accessible at industry-oriented international documentary film festivals -- IDFA is the most important of these, followed by Hot Docs and Sheffield Film Fest, among others -- that set up formal pitch sessions and one-on-one meetings for a limited number of submitting filmmakers who meet festival criteria and can pay the price of admission.  

Looking at the 2014 Hot Docs Forum (April 30-May 1, 20140 as a model, the list of Decision Makers included about 200 administrators from 127 companies, including Warner Brothers, Radius/Weinstein and Oscilloscope, as well as PBS, A&E, Oprah's OWN, and a range of international broadcasters from Canada, Europe and Asia. Also on the list are program administrators from the Ford Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute and Cinereach, among others.

Playing On the Pitching Field

Film directors and producers whose projects have been selected -- usually by a committee of Decision Makers who've been invited by the festival to do the annual picking -- to participate in the full on pitch have the opportunity to sit at the head of what is essentially a huge round table around which the convened Decision Makers are positioned.

The filmmakers have several minutes to describe their project and show a trailer or representative clips. Then the Decision Makers comment, indicating their interest in the project or lack thereof.

Decision Makers, who travel around the world together from one festival to another, deliberating at one pitching field after another, year after year, are often already familiar with many of the projects being pitched presently, and frequently indicate that they've already pledged funding or other kinds of support at similar previously staged pitch events. 

It's quite common -- and sometimes required -- for Decision Makers to present the filmmakers with projects that they support, and often those who are called upon to comment will indicate support for specific projects because they already know the presenting filmmaker's body of work.

Decision Makers and the industry-oriented documentary festivals that stage pitching events -- and later premier the documentaries that have received funding at their own or other pitching events -- are at the heart of the documentary establishment. They're the nonfiction equivalent to fiction films' studio system. They're a tight knit group who exert a lot of power, and even those who represent government regulated nonprofit organizations are subject to little accountability.

The Daunting Game of Getting Into Play for Pay

While filmmakers undoubtedly can benefit from engaging the interest of Decision Makers who are seated at the round table or are present in the room when they present their pitch, following through to actually get support entails endless rounds of writing grant proposals, constructing compliant budgets, compromising on editorial decisions,  and non-stop suck-up networking. There's always a heavy exchange of business cards during breaks between pitches, over lunch and during an ongoing flow of festival-hosted cocktail parties.

Actually, the price of admission can stop strapped filmmakers in their tracks.  Again looking at Hot Docs, access to the Forum is costly. For pitching projects, there's a $45 submission fee. Filmmakers whose projects are selected must pay an additional $1300 for their short time in the limelight, individual meetings and networking opportunities. For non-pitchers, the price of a pass that includes access to the two-day Forum is $875 per person.

Some filmmakers qualify for discounted or free passes, but those are very limited in quantity.  Additionally, costs for travel and accommodations are out of pocket for filmmakers, unless they've been included in an already endowed production budget or are covered by a privately-arranged sponsor.

Is The Price to Play Worth It?

The pitching field is as potentially as rewarding or devastating an experience for documentarians as meeting with execs at Warner Brothers or Universal is for fiction filmmakers, especially for novices -- even if they've teamed up with highly experienced producers who've signed on to guide them through the process.

When asked about their experiences at Hot Docs 2014 Forum, several filmmakers (all of whom wish, for obvious reasons, that their names be withheld) confided that they found the event exhilarating and daunting in equal measure. Highlights from their comments: 

• "I found the atmosphere at the round table to have an inexplicable aura of secrecy, like you're entering Hogwarts and are sworn to keep the magic within the confines of the school. It actually make me quite uncomfortable. I feel that my pitch went well, but was taken aback by some of the comments that would, if I followed the, spin my project into something other than it is. I need the support, but would have to think very carefully about agreeing to changes in my vision before taking it."
• "In general, I'd say this experience was disappointing compared to other pitches I've attended at European festivals. The individual meetings were poorly organized. We'd requested to meet with ten specific people or organizations that we felt were key to funding our project, but we only got four meetings and only two of those were ones we'd requested. We put a lot into getting here, and we just didn't get that much from it. Still, if you're making documentary films, you have to participate in these pitches or else you are really marginalized."
• "This year's pitches were really disappointing. I wasn't excited by any of the projects and learned very little from the comments about them. This is the largest and arguably the most influential documentaries festival in North America, and I expected a higher level of quality and interaction. And, I found that a lot of the people listed as Decision Makers were not accessible at all. They weren't at the round table, and they didn't show up at the networking cocktail parties."
• "I've done this a number of times, and the format doesn't change much. I like presenting my project and sometimes the Decision Makers' comments are quite helpful. They make it clear what's missing from the project, where I need to strengthen my approach or make something clearer. It isn't what I signed on for when I became a documentary filmmaker, but it now seems just part of the production cycle.  There's crowdfunding and new distribution models to look at. Anyway, I like getting to see friends and colleagues, catching up on what they're doing."
• "I've been at festivals around the world, and I suppose it comes down to finding the right festival for the kind of experience you want to have. The big festivals like Hot Docs do offer filmmakers recognition in the industry via the Forum or with a prestigious, well-publicized premier. But Hot Docs has become so big that it's unwieldy -- hard to manage and difficult to negotiate. I find that smaller festivals are friendlier and more accommodating to filmmaker who just want their films to be seen. As for The Forum, it's a big industry event that I don't find particularly worthwhile. I manage to make my films independently, but for others it may be the key to success."
• "I found some of the discussions about co-production particularly useful, but I'm leaving without anything firmly in place. I see the same faces around the table in different parts of the world, and I more or less know what they're going to say. I can already slant my pitch to get their attention. It's part of my production cycle."
• "It was exhausting. Truth be told, I dread the thought of doing it again, but I don't see any alternative for getting funding for my film. I don't like that so few people can dictate the kinds of documentaries that can be made, or the future of documentary. I don't think this is the best solution, but we're kind of stuck with it."

The High Cost of Establishment Infrastructure

Actually, truth be told, the first commitment of the documentary establishment is to fund itself, and its overhead is expensive. Extremely expensive.

Decision Makers, festival administrators and staff members receive healthy salaries. Travel expenses, accommodations and perks are covered. There's the cost of venue and equipment rental, of tee-shirts for hundred of volunteers, the price of publication of brochures and catalogs, the budgets for marketing and advertising, and catering. Wine, beer and bottled water flow liberally. And all that.

While congratulating itself for developing documentary films, opening doors for new filmmakers, recognizing known documentarians, and getting nonfiction films before wider ranging audiences -- and they do accomplish all of that -- the first duty of the documentary establishment is to pay itself. And, it does so before one penny is committed to any film production. 

The documentary establishment is big business, just like the studio system. That's just the way it is. The difference is, of course, that the studio system openly operates with a profit motive, while the documentary establishment is ostensibly nonprofit. Still, those at the top of both -- the studio heads and documentary Decision Makers --live well from their professional pursuits.

To Pitch Or Not To Pitch

Actually no alternative to the documentary establishment's controlling festival and pitch scenario has been developed to date, but things in the documentaries realm are changing rapidly.

The possibilities created by crowdfunding initiatives for production and models for self-distribution of completed films via Social Media platforms and online sales may open new avenues to success. Its fascinating that workshops, seminars and.or panel discussions on crowdfunding and self-distribution are often included in documentary festival programs. 

If you're a filmmaker and can afford the price of admission, you might as well follow the documentary establishment's proven route to funding and distribution via festivals and pitching. If the process goes in your favor, it may lead you down the path to a completed production with pre-sales to broadcast platforms worldwide, a festival screenings roll out leading up to a theatrical release and subsequent online and DVD distribution.

If not, you get to meet colleagues, see documentaries that have made it to completion and public screenings and drink a lot of wine.