Story Money Impact’s Mentorship Program for Documentaries in Development — BC Alliance for Arts + Culture

Many documentarians create a film to increase awareness and understanding of a pressing issue or story by spotlighting, investigating, or humanizing what is happening, in hopes that their films will make a difference. At the core of impact work is a collection of best practices that take into account how a film will be used as a tool for social change once it is complete. 

Story Money Impact (SMI) would like to offer impact coaching hours to three Canadian documentary films (20–90 mins in length) by underrepresented creators that are in the beginning development phases of their projects.

Impact Mentorship Program for Documentaries in Development participants will receive an honourarium for their time spent in mentoring sessions.

SMI will host a 2 hour ‘Introduction to Impact Producing’ workshop for all three film teams to facilitate lateral relationship building and to introduce the basics of how films are used for change.

Following the workshop, the cohort and SMI facilitators will continue to meet as a group for 8 hours of coaching over three months. These hours will be used to support the development of each film so that it can be positioned for impact upon completion, with specific focus on crafting impactful narratives, duty of care and non-extractive filmmaking, and issue mapping.

Eligibility: 

  • Applicants must be Canadian or a Permanent Resident

  • Filmmaker teams must be majority comprised of creators from underrepresented groups

  • Eligible filmmakers can be early career or established who want to learn about impact

  • Projects must not have started formal principle photography (there is some flexibility here, we know that docs get filmed based on real life, not a controlled schedule!)

  • Content must be current and forward looking towards a better understanding of an issue

  • Projects and film teams that have applied in the past are welcome to apply again

Applications are accepted via the Google Form linked in the red “Apply Now” button. To preview the application, you can do so at the link.

If this application process presents any barriers to you, please contact conrad@storymoneyimpact.com and another method of application will be arranged.

Successful applicants will receive 10 hours of mentorship time between December 1st, 2023 and March 8th, 2024. Honourariums for each team will be paid at the completion of the program.

The deadline to apply is Sunday, Nov 19th, 11:59 pm.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *