Call for Documentary Preproduction Research: Deadline December 5, 2011

The Documentary Division of the Broadcast Education Association is accepting Preproduction Research Proposals for documentary projects that are not yet in production. Authors of the top three (3) research proposals will be invited to pitch their projects at a session during the convention and receive feedback from a panel of academic and industry judges. This year, the research/pitch competition winner will receive $100 to help kick-start their documentary project!

Purpose: This initiative is designed to recognize, through blind, academic peer review, the original preproduction research involved in producing a high quality documentary. The proposal process is intended to demonstrate the academic and intellectual rigor involved in researching a potential documentary project. The proposal should be for a documentary NOT currently in production and MUST include the following standard sections presented in the following order:

1. Project Title & One-page Summary of the proposal and project.
2. Treatment: narrative description of the proposed work, including citations for reference material as for aconference paper or peer-reviewed publication.
3. Significance: narrative summary, including citations for sources, of the importance of the documentary topic, method, and/or creative treatment. What does this project contribute to the field of Documentary Studies? What method, sources, evidence, or other components will distinguish this work? Why produce this documentary?
4. Literature Review: narrative summary of existing literature and bibliography, including documentary films or programs, on which the project is based, using APA or Chicago style for works cited.
5. Media Industry Review & Market Analysis: including comparative analysis of existing works or rationale for producing a documentary in the event it has not been treated before. Also consideration of intended audience, exhibition forums, distribution plans, and goals for distribution.
6. Content Sources: listing potential key interview subjects and statement of their commitment to the project; lists and locations of available documents, photographs, artifacts, or similar materials required to complete the project; inventory of evidence in-hand.
7. Cost, Budget & Schedule: listing of travel, material, and related costs; available funding and sources for funding (in-hand, in-kind & pending); proposed schedule for pre-production, production, and post- production; listing of all elements completed to date.

Submission: Authors should remove all identification references from the entire work and encode the materials into an Adobe Acrobat “pdf” file. Email two (2) pdf files: one containing the complete proposal plus a second with full contact info, to ogden@cwu.edu by Monday, December 5, 2011.

For Information Contact:

Dr. Michael R. Ogden, Chair, BEA Documentary Division Film & Video Studies, Dept. of Communication
400 East University Way, MS 7438
Central Washington University

Ellensburg, WA 98926
Phone: 509.963.1067 Email: ogden@cwu.edu

NOTE: The goal of this competition is to recognize peer-reviewed documentary preproduction research using standards that apply to competitive conference papers &/or publications in support of academic promotion and tenure. As such, proposals will be blind reviewed separate from the pitch competition. During BEA 2012, the top three proposal authors will each have the opportunity to pitch their project to a panel of academic &/or industry judges as well as before an attending audience of their peers.

* The Documentary Preproduction Research competition is separate from the Division Paper Competition.

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