Blackpublicmedia.Org reviews and considers for distribution on a rolling basis films about the black experience globally. Our content priorities include films in contemporary settings depicting black life and experience in a rare and often overlooked context. We are most thrilled by those cinematic gems which bring to us knowledge that has been ignored by popular culture; films outside the norm which approach black characters, stories and locales in a fresh and engaging manner.
In that same spirit BlackPublicMedia.org also executively produces interactive online content designed to engage any audience interested in African Diaspora content online. The following is a guideline for submitting content for consideration to BlackPublicMedia.org’s annual Web Series Open Call. The BlackPublicMedia.org Open Call awards project requests of up to $20,000 for interactive web series concepts. Selected projects will be published on blackPublicMedia.org, made available for public broadcasting options, and executive produced by the National Black Programming Consortium.
**THE SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR THE 2011 OPEN CALL IS SEPTEMBER 27th, 2010**
Content Categories & Criteria
The goal of the BlackPublicMedia.org Web Series Competition is to identify serial content concepts based within a unique contemporary African Diaspora context. Project concepts will be considered most highly if they utilize new distribution models to explore maximum engagement, and provide a public forum/platform for valuable networks of civic discourse. Series proposals must fall under one of the following categories:
• Social Satire
• Narrative Fiction
• News & Documentary
• Public TV/Radio
Each series must have between eight (8) and twelve (12) episodes completed during the contract year. Please read the criteria for each submission category below.
Social Satire
Often broad conversation about important issues can only be sparked by bold satire. Initiatives considered for the Social Satire category are meant to employ more flexible techniques to engage an audience in dialogue – comedy and provocative social commentary being some methods.
Narrative Fiction
The Narrative Fiction category is for the consideration of fictional web series ideas with Black or African American lead characters. This category is meant to encourage the submission of broader ideas and explorations that are not necessarily factual but metaphoric in their implications for social and civic discourse. A broad example could be a series around a single mother raising a family; episodes could prove to be platforms for online discourse around equal pay, housing inequity, love and relationships, family, etc.
News & Documentary
The News & Documentary genre is for the consideration of interactive content initiatives designed to provide up to date factual information about a specific Black/African Diaspora community or issue area. Series proposed here are factual “webisodes” which offer general platforms for discourse around discreet social, or political issues. This is also a category for more intimate explorations of ideas and issues that might be part of a larger documentary project. “Behind the scenes” ideas will not be considered too highly in this category unless they provide a distinct platform for discussing larger issues pertaining to the project idea.
Public TV/Radio
Within this genre proposals are for ideas attached to an ongoing project with a standing, or upcoming public television or public radio broadcast. Producers working on longer format projects may use this opportunity to develop an interactive relationship with a community of interest related to their main project. For example, video podcasts for a regularly scheduled radio broadcast show is an eligible content proposal for this category.
Eligibility
Applicants for the BlackPublicMedia.org Web Series grants must possess a high level of shortform production competency, prove themselves competent at handling serial content production schedules, producing and promoting content designed primarily for the web, and demonstrate an ability to gather and sustain virtual communities.
Submission
All applicants must submit the following to be considered for the BlackPublicMedia.org Web
Series grants:
• BlackPublicMedia.org Web Series Application;
• One-page personal statement;
• Up to two-page episode guide/breakdown; must provide episode-to-episode story
summaries, and or arcs.
• Itemized project budget; and
• Personnel Bios and Production Resumes
• If there are no online links to your work, please also provide a DVD with video samples of either past projects, or a trailer for the current project being proposed.
**THE SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR THE 2011 OPEN CALL IS SEPTEMBER 27th, 2010**
The online application will be made available August 15th, 2010.
Rights & Clearances
By submitting your idea for consideration to the BlackPublicMedia.org Web Series Open Call you acknowledge that you and/or other applicants undersigned here have full legal rights to the dissemination of this idea, and all its components. Applicants must have the domestic and international rights for all concepts proposed, and all content used for production.
About National Black Programming Consortium
The National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) develops, produces and funds television and more recently audio and online programming about the black experience for America public media outlets, including television, digital radio and the web. Since its founding in 1979, NBPC has provided hundreds of broadcast hours documenting African American history, culture and experience to public television and launched major initiatives that have brought important public media content to diverse audiences. Currently, NBPC is preparing to launch the Public Media
Corps, a national, broadband-based program designed to raise awareness about the role of public media in a democracy, to extend the reach of tax-payer funded content into the digital realm and to recruit the next generation of content makers, innovators and other stakeholders coming from all of America’s rich and diverse communities. BlackPublicMedia.org is the official website of the National Black Programming Consortium and its distribution outlet for many of its digital initiatives.
More information here.
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