The documentary is just the beginning! Attorney Brianna Hill, producer Rachel Boynton (Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are) and Daniel Chalfen (Naked Edge Pictures) discuss how to extend and monetize your film. Covering scripted film and TV remakes, spinoff podcasts, live touring events, and companion publishing, this panel will talk about the legal and deal making considerations when moving beyond a single film and will explain how filmmakers can best prepare themselves for success.

Join Fox Rothschild entertainment attorneys Marc H. Simon, Daniel Benge,  and Daniel Spencer and Matt Chazen (CAA) along with other industry leaders, as they discuss current trends in the unscripted episodic landscape and illustrate distinctions between traditional documentary deal constructs and new and evolving episodic deal structures.

Attorneys Nicole Page and Michelle Lamardo from law firm Reavis Page Jump LLP discuss ethical and legal issues in documentaries along with producer Jessica Devaney (founder of Multitude Films and producer of Pray Away and numerous other films) and another established director. This session will dive into a variety of subjects from the trend towards compensating subjects to when, if ever, it is appropriate to provide subjects rights of review or approval.

Join well-known entertainment lawyer Victoria Cook and her colleagues Melissa Georges and Ben Moskowitz for a discussion of the pros and cons of working with celebrities in docs. Learn how to negotiate and structure relationships with high-profile participants, executive producers, financiers and more.

The documentary edit room faces many issues: stressful working conditions, unrealistic edit schedules, lack of equity and access, and a need for mentoring, amongst many others. This panel will examine these challenges and highlight the mission of the community-led Alliance of Documentary Editors to tackle them. We welcome representatives of the ADE, Carla Gutierrez (Julia, RBG), Bo Mehrad (The Boiling Point) and Andrès Arias (The Trade, Season 2), and independent producer Alisa Payne (Between the World and Me) to share this important work. This panel will be moderated by filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir (Through Our Eyes).

Stunning musical numbers from the greatest performers of all time. A free multi-day concert in Harlem. Lost archival footage. An exploration of  Black culture and politics at a crucial moment in time. In conversation with Jevon Heyliger, Senior Editor at Discovery, Josh L. Pearson gives us a front row seat to his editing feat in Summer of Soul, the chronicle of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival showcasing stars of R&B, jazz, blues and soul.

Go in-depth with veteran editor Bob Eisenhardt (who also collaborated with directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin on the Oscar-winning Free Solo) on the monumental effort to create the team’s nail-biting new epic. Using never-before-seen footage and exclusive interviews, Bob’s quest to tell the story of a youth soccer team caught deep in flooded caves in Thailand comes to life in this discussion led by filmmaker Judith Helfand (Love & Stuff).

Editors including Rebecca Adorno (Homeroom), Katharine Garrison (Refuge, United Skates) and Pax Wasserman (Becoming Cousteau) reveal their process for creating main characters.  Moderator Judith Helfand leads a robust conversation exploring themes such as developing audience empathy for your character (especially if they are unlikeable) and finding a character arc in relation to story and theme.

Moderated by distribution consultant Louise Rosen, doc series producers including Rudy Valdez (Netflix’s We Are: The Brooklyn Saints) and Ben Selkow (National Geographic’s Trafficked) and Esther Dere (Empires of New York) provide tips and insight into what makes a project best suited for a series.

What makes a winning pitch for a doc series? What is the path towards selling your film, and who should be on your team? Executives Adam Neuhaus (30 for 30/ESPN Films), Jonathan Schaerf (Propagate), Julia Bodner (WME), and filmmaker Neha Shastry (All In: The Fight for Democracy) discuss with Sara Bernstein (Imagine Entertainment) how to present your access, creative team, samples and more.

Producing a doc series involves many unexpected twists and turns. Established series producers Maro Chermayeff and Jeff Dupre (Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children, HBO Max) set expectations for production and deliverables in the doc series world. Veteran Director/producer Ross Kauffman will moderate the discussion.

Go behind the scenes of the new Disney+ original series Welcome to Earth, hosted by Academy-Award nominee Will Smith. Executive producers Jane Root (Nutopia) and Ari Handel (Protozoa Pictures), and co-EP and showrunner Graham Booth (Nutopia) discuss with National Geographic executive Matt Renner what it took to create this blockbuster adventure series.

The Documentary Cinematographers Alliance (DCA) is a community of professional documentary cinematographers working together to elevate the craft, improve career sustainability, and promote visibility and recognition of the collaborative nature of the work we do. DCA advocates for fair wages, inclusive hiring practices, and safe working conditions for all. In this panel, the DCA will introduce themselves through their work in nonfiction cinematography and explore how they collaborate with directors and filmmaking teams. DCA representatives include Jenni Morello (Made in Boise) and Nausheen Dadabhoy (Not Done: Women Remaking America)  and Jerry Risius.

In conversation with Nicole Galovski (Culture House), co-director Isabel Bethencourt delves into the cinematography behind the award-winning Cusp, shot in vérité style by a two-woman team that also included co-director Parker Hill. Explore how the film’s cinematic metaphors mirror the lives of its three main subjects: teenagers living in a Texas military town confronting the dark corners of adolescence. 

In conversation with Grace Remington (UnionDocs), Director Jessica Beshir describes her visual approach filming in black and white for Faya Dayi that takes a dreamlike approach to documenting a rural town in Ethiopia, winning festival awards at Hot Docs and Visions du Réel. 

Two established director and DP teams, Penny Lane and Naiti Gámez (Listening to Kenny G) and Emelie Mahdavian and Derek Howard (Bitterbrush), will peel back the layers of successful collaborative relationships. Led by moderator Grace Remington (UnionDocs), they will explore the collective process around building themes, crafting visual references, capturing interviews and more.

Building a community around your film is a tried and tested way to create impact and engagement. In a conversation moderated by Caitlin Boyle, DOC NYC’s Director of Filmmaker Development, learn concrete steps to develop your community from two indie filmmakers, Natalie Pattillo and Daniel A. Nelson (And So I Stayed) and insider perspective from executive Jim Hu (Participant).

The world of distribution has turned upside down since 2020. Consultants Mia Bruno (Fourth Act Film), Alece Oxendine (Film Distribution Consultant and Director of Industry Outreach at Columbia University) and Dan O’Meara (NEON) will provide guidance, perspective, and clear-eyed vision for how to navigate this new landscape. Join us for this conversation moderated by DOC NYC’s Director of Filmmaker Development Caitlin Boyle.

One year after their DOC NYC premieres, two film teams, Tom Hurwitz and Duana Butler (Can You Bring It: Bill T Jones) and Sian-Pierre Regis (Duty Free) reflect on their diverse paths to distribution and what considerations filmmakers make as they vet options and potential partners. Moderator Caitlin Boyle, Director of Filmmaker Development, DOC NYC will contribute insight from her years of distribution experience..

Join Iyabo Boyd (Brown Girls Doc Mafia), Jeanelle Augustin (NBC Universal), and Chloe Walters-Wallace (Firelight Media) and other thought leaders as we unpack the elusive nature of success in the landscape of distribution.