List your producer’s previous experience and the documentaries they’ve worked on in the past. For interview-style documentaries, include in the writer notes the types of questions you’ll ask.Ī headshot of your writer and their past experience, nominations, and awards should also be incorporated. In this section of your documentary pitch deck, explain how you’ll weave together the story.Įxplain the motivations behind the narrator’s scripts and the ideas you will share with the audience.

However, many documentaries use a narrator. Unlike feature films, there isn’t a script to create.

Writing a documentary is somewhat ambiguous. Include the director’s headshot and a list of their past credits.

Talk about the overall vision for the documentary, why you think the film needs to be made, and how you hope audiences will respond. While an A-list celebrity might help draw attention to your documentary, the cost to include them might outweigh the budget you’re asking for. If you’re hiring actors for narration, consider the cost. Explain who these people are in your documentary pitch deck. However, depending on the type of documentary you’re filming, you’ll have subjects to follow or interview. Unlike films, documentaries don’t require actors to play a cast of characters.

If you want distribution in other countries or your documentary features speakers with heavy accents, mention how you’ll include subtitles in 15 different languages (if you use Rev).

If you wish for your documentary to be made available to people with hearing problems, include captions.

Also highlight their viewing needs and how you’ll account for this in your budget. Identify the audience your documentary targets and why you are choosing to reach them in particular. Include ROI, box office, ratings, and audience ratings to give an indication of the potential your documentary has once it’s released. In this section, also list documentaries with similar budgets and subject matter. After all, editorials always need a quote. Not only will this help with the pitch, but it may also help flesh out the story and provide fodder for future marketing and PR initiatives. Rather than typing it all up yourself, get a voice recording of a summary of the plot, then use Rev to transcribe the audio or video file. Explain how much time it will take to complete the documentary, and highlight what’s already been done. If you’ve run focus groups to review early audience responses, record their answers to questions, and then transcribe them to pull relevant quotes and information. Will it use a voice-over approach to guide viewers? Interview style? Or will it use a presenter who appears on camera? Explain how the documentary will be filmed. List items such as rental fees to film on location, cost to transport equipment, cost to hire an editor, etc. This is the documentary’s hook described in one sentence. Also include information about the type of documentary you’re filming and its focus. This section will appeal to investors who have an interest in your documentary topic. It’s the first content that investors will read, so make it engaging to hold their interest. Your proposal is essentially a summary of the documentary. If you can’t afford a photographer or graphic artist, use a combination of stock images with a Creative Commons license, stills from what you’ve filmed so far, or examples from similar documentaries. It may be a smart idea to hire a photographer and a graphic designer to create original images that reflect the look and feel of your documentary. Use bold fonts and colors to make the page visually stunning. The right image will create the type of emotional response you want to conjure in your audience.Ĭhoose an image for your front cover that’s memorable and unexpected. The front cover of your documentary pitch deck needs to tell the story of your film in one captivating image. Give your film the best chance for success by including the following information. When done right, your documentary pitch deck has the power to convince investors that your project is worth funding. It helps investors understand the story you’re trying to tell. The purpose of your pitch deck is to communicate the vision of your documentary – the ideas you’ll share in it and why they are important to your viewers. Even though investors have millions of dollars to spend, your documentary is competing against hundreds of others for the same pot of money. It needs to sell your ideas and boost interest in the project. To stand out from the crowd, your documentary pitch deck needs to be persuasive and compelling.

Sample low budget documentary 1 person