The Good Pitch at IFP

Working Films is excited to continue our collaboration with the Good Pitch. In North America, the Good Pitch is a partnership between the Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program (DFP), generously supported by the Fledgling Fund, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Tides Foundation and anonymous donors.

From nearly 200 applications, eight filmmaking teams have been selected to pitch their films and outreach campaigns to an invited audience, in order to amplify the impact of their social-issue documentary projects. A unique feature of the program is an intensive two-day workshop facilitated by Working Films’ Judith Helfand and me for all accepted filmmakers. Immediately prior to the day of the Good Pitch – this workshop lays some early groundwork for their future audience and community engagement campaigns.

The Good Pitch at IFP’s Independent Film Week builds on their collaborative program with the which is entitled ‘Envision – Addressing Global Issues through Documentaries.’ Each of the selected film projects intersects with one or more of the UN’s eight Millennium Development Goals.

The projects for this edition of the Good Pitch were chosen by the Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation, the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, Working Films, Independent Filmmaker Project and supporters. The selected filmmakers are: Michael L. Brown (25 to Life), Glenn Baker (Easy Like Water), Mai Iskander (Garbage Dreams), Beth Davenport and Elizabeth Mandel (Rose & Nangabire), Gayle Ferraro (To Catch a Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America), Beth Murphy (What Tomorrow Brings), Annie Sundberg & Ricki Stern (Youthbuild) and Mary Ann Smothers Bruni (Zhinan).

Organizations and individuals already confirmed for the event include TED, McKinsey & Co, Wallace Global Fund, Microcredit Summit, Abigail Disney, Whole Planet Foundation (Whole Foods), The Calvert Foundation, The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, POV, Impact Partners, The Katahdin Foundation, BAVC Producers Institute for New Media Technologies, Sundance Channel, LINKTV, Wide Angle and Human Rights Watch.

The Good Pitch at IFP’s Independent Film Week builds upon past Good Pitch successes. During the Good Pitch at SILVERDOCS, Art Stevens of the Calvert Foundation made an on-the-spot pledge of $10,000 towards the outreach campaign for Green Shall Overcome. Since then he has begun work on organizing a fundraiser for the project in Berkeley, California. The same event introduced Split Estate director Debra Anderson to Planet Green which has now made a broadcast offer, and Hungry in America’s Kristy Jacobson said she and co-director Lori Silverbush experienced NGO partnerships that progressed “from first-date to marriage.” According to Executive Producer Ryan Harrington, the anti-hunger NGOs assembled at Silver Spring raised $600K in funds for the film since the June 16th event.