Netflix announced January 16 the return of the Documentary Talent Fund, to support emerging filmmakers. This year sees the programme extend to include the Republic of Ireland as well as the UK. “Building on the success of year one, the fund will continue to inspire and discover a new generation of documentary storytellers,” says Netflix.
The opportunity will be open to UK and Ireland residents and will give five filmmakers, and their teams, the chance to make a short documentary film, each with a budget of £30,000. All teams will work under the guidance of Netflix and other filmmaking professionals.
In 2022, ten successful filmmaking teams were selected from thousands of applicants to become the inaugural Netflix Documentary Talent team. “Representing the whole of the UK, Netflix supported stories from Derry to Tewkesbury, Liverpool to Bristol,” says the streamer.
One of these films, Love Languages by Jason Osborne and Precious Mahaga, has been long listed for Best British Short Film by BAFTA this year. The ten films have now seen over 40 festival screenings including Urbanworld Film Festival, Iris Prize, London Short Film Festival and Aesthetica.
Netflix is now on the search for its 2023 cohort. “Whether you’ve never picked up a camera before or have limited experience, do not be shy. The Documentary Talent Fund is designed to guide you through every step of the way: to nurture and encourage. Throughout the year, the chosen teams will take part in Netflix hosted workshops covering all aspects of production including legal, creative, HR, production and finance,” Netflix underlines.
In their finished forms, each documentary must be between 8-12 minutes long and will live on Netflix UK’s social channels. The brief for these fully funded short documentaries is the theme of Connection.
Kate Townsend, VP Documentary Features said, “We were thrilled with the results of last year’s inaugural Documentary Talent Fund. The filmmakers we collaborated with inspired and surprised us, and we’re so pleased with how they made the most of this opportunity. The resulting films were varied in subject matter and style and provided a brilliant response to the brief. This year we’re looking to go one step further, on the theme of Connection and we encourage filmmakers to interrogate this and come forward with their unique take and vision, whatever that looks like.”
Townsend will lead a team of industry professionals who will form the judging panel to select this year’s recipients. This will include Julia Nottingham (Founder and CEO Dorothy Street Pictures); Orlando Von Einsiedel (Oscar and BIFA winning Director; Virunga, The White Helmets, Evelyn and Founder of Grain Media); Tamana Ayazi (Director, In Her Hands); Jenny Popplewell (Director, American Murder: The Family Next Door), Alex Brunati (Line Producer, Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee) and Tanisha Artman (CEO SBTV).
Entries will be open from January 16 January to February 16. For the first round, applicants will be required to submit a logline (one sentence); a short synopsis and a creative statement about their documentary idea. Further details on how to apply can be found at www.netflixdocfund.co.ukwww.netflixdocfund.co.uk.
The final docs will be launched in early 2024, and will be showcased at an event attended by industry figures to help our talent expand their networks and advance their careers.
Applicants must be UK or Ireland residenta to apply. One application will be accepted per person. Elisabeth Hopper returns as Lead Producer of the fund, supported by Georgie Yukiko Donovan as Supervising Producer and Daisy Ifama as Assistant Producer.
