A TOUCH OF GREATNESS

Getting a program ready for broadcast is only half the battle. Making sure it has an audience—and an impact—is essential. ITVS Communications works to find the best venue and dates to broadcast ITVS programs, to build interest among 350 local stations and the press, and to connect with communities where these programs matter the most. It is an effort that has brought both audiences and accolades to our programs. Among the more than 600 programs that ITVS Communications has supported are six Academy Award nominees, nine national Emmy winners, nine Peabody winners, five duPont-Columbia winners and 15 Sundance Award winners.

In 2006 43 ITVS programs found audiences across the country through a variety of PBS series, including P.O.V., Independent Lens, Wide Angle and Frontline. Last season, ITVS Communications helped bring a weekly average of 1 million viewers to Independent Lens. Our community efforts produced 158 screenings in 14 markets across the country, cementing partnerships with 75 leading organizations that represent more than 4 million members nationwide.

Almost 1,500 articles—with a combined circulation of 422 million and an advertising value equivalent to $16.8 million—and high-profile Capitol Hill events helped raise public dialogue about ITVS programs.

In the article that follows, journalist Kevin Allman looks back at the last five years of the showcase series that stands at the heart of our communications effort.

When Independent Lens debuted on the PBS national primetime schedule in January 2002, American television did not have a single program that showcased the entire panoply of independent film: fiction, documentary, biography, animation, short subjects—in other words, independent celluloid expression in all its forms. The series, a collaboration between ITVS and PBS, is dedicated to one simple mission: letting filmmakers tell their stories, in all their diversity.

The History

Five years ago, PBS already had a documentary series of the same title, but it bore little relation to the Lens of today. According to Claire Aguilar, ITVS’s vice president of programming, “It was a completely different show.” With no host, no interactive website and no publicity campaign, Independent Lens was broadcast on PBS’s “soft feed,” a secondary satellite service that provides unscheduled shows to local program directors to air (or not) at their own choosing. Many stations didn’t carry it; others aired it infrequently or at odd hours, making it difficult to find and build an audience.

SHADYA

Lois Vossen, the series producer, had a strong background in independent film, having worked for five years as the associate managing director at the Sundance Institute, and she wanted to bring a film-festival sensibility to Independent Lens. “We wanted to help package and market the work,” says Vossen, “and give PBS the praise and credit for being the original 'independent film channel.'”

With curation by ITVS and PBS and funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and the National Endowment for the Arts, the new Independent Lens launched in its new permanent Tuesday night timeslot in 2002, with Angela Bassett as host. Subsequent hosts have included Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon and Edie Falco; this season’s host is Terrence Howard, the actor Entertainment Weekly recently dubbed the “Indie Film King.”

PBS already had several documentary series, including P.O.V. and Frontline. Independent Lens was designed to complement those offerings, says John Wilson, senior vice president of programming for PBS. “Independent Lens is not just a documentary series, but includes fiction, shorts, animation and experimental films in its lineup. It truly is like ‘a film festival in your living room.'

“Programmers were grateful that PBS had combined P.O.V. and Independent Lens into one timeslot so viewers could reliably find independent work on the schedule year-round,” Wilson adds. Scott Dwyer, program director of San Francisco PBS affiliate KQED, agrees. “People expect that kind of stuff from us. Before Independent Lens, we had tried to focus on independent work because in San Francisco we have so many indie filmmakers. Independent Lens made my job much easier.”

“The breadth and depth of content submitted for consideration is amazing, and the creative genius that propels this work is thrilling,” says Sandy Heberer, who co-curates the show for PBS. The industry has also taken notice. Since its first season, Independent Lens has featured three Academy Award nominees. Seven Independent Lens programs have been nominated for Emmy Awards—including a record-breaking total of five nominations for Best Documentary Emmy—and two have won. Other prestigious awards have included the duPont-Columbia University Award and Sundance Film Festival Awards.

The Outreach

A real film festival isn’t a passive experience, and neither is Independent Lens. From the beginning, interactivity and outreach have been integral to the Independent Lens experience. Online, viewers are invited to get involved with interactive features, filmmaker profiles, a viewers’ forum and even an Audience Award, in which viewers select their favorite feature of the season. But outreach stretches far beyond the virtual realm.

A LION IN THE HOUSE

Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar had been working with ITVS for four years on A LION IN THE HOUSE, their documentary about five children with pediatric cancer and their families. After viewing it, executives from ITVS and PBS decided to air the show as a four-hour Independent Lens event over two nights. But for Reichert and Bognar, as for other filmmakers, the broadcast was just one part of the Independent Lens experience. Says Bognar, “The LION website had major discussion boards and Talkback sections. These sections were flooded with responses to the film; all we did for 10 days after the broadcast was respond to email after email.”

As part of the series’ Community Cinema program, A LION IN THE HOUSE was also screened for the public in more than two dozen cities before broadcast. Discussion guides, fact sheets, video modules and other materials were made available to interested partners. One of the most notable outreach events was a June 2006 screening in the U.S. Capitol Building for members of Congress. In addition, ITVS also provided grants to 10 public television stations to fund pediatric cancer awareness programs, in conjunction with the Lance Armstrong Foundation. “We had partnerships with 20 of the top cancer-support organizations around the United States, who have constituencies in the millions,” says Reichert. “Other networks do not go to these lengths.”

“Filmmakers like us work in solitude for years, hoping that our work has an impact,” Bognar adds. “But what happened after the Independent Lens broadcast far exceeded our wildest dreams.”

Dennis Palmieri, national community relations manager at ITVS, is one of the architects of the Community Cinema program. “It’s the largest ongoing program of its kind,” he says. “We’re in 30 markets around the country, screening Independent Lens for 20,000 people a month and trying to start a national conversation. Each screening has community representatives who can lead discussions on the topic of the films. We also include a Q&A, a performance piece or something to get people talking.”

The Future

THE WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL

People are indeed talking. “There is no place on television that stretches to show the rich palette of independent film like Independent Lens,” says Liz Oakley, whose first documentary, SENTENCING THE VICTIM, aired on Independent Lens in 2004. The Kansas City Star called the series “the greatest showcase of independent film on television today.”

What’s next? This year’s programming includes the highly acclaimed ENRON: The Smartest Guys in the Room as well as the film festival favorite THE WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL, and April’s features will examine the phenomenon of globalization.

Palmieri says that outreach will continue to grow, with a goal of expanding Community Cinema to 50 cities, further establishing Independent Lens as a “national film series with a local presence.” An acclaimed new music documentary, HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, will be the subject of special outreach, examining the culture of manhood and misogyny in rap culture.

Diversity, originality, surprises, personal stories and more than 150 programs passionately told during its five-year run: that’s Independent Lens. As The New Yorker said, “Watching Independent Lens … is like going into an independent bookstore—you don’t always find what you were looking for, but you often find something you didn’t even know you wanted.”

For more information on Independent Lens, visit the series website >>

Kevin Allman is a Portland, Oregon, freelance writer. For a biography, links to his recent articles and more, visit his website at http://www.kevinallman.com.