Once you have successfully answered the questions of why you want to create your documentary, what it should be about at its core and how you want to convey the message, the next, often tedious, step is to figure out who you want to finance the endeavour and who you want your target audience to be.
Proposal
Writing a proposal will not only be quintessential for convincing funders of your idea, but it will also help you figure out whether you have spent enough time on the topic and on your plans for the documentary to be able to concisely and clearly explain what the film will be about in one to two pages. It is a good test to see whether someone else will be able to see your vision and understand the film from your description. Moreover, a proposal can help you gain access to people or organisations by making your intentions appear more credible (Glynne, 2007).
Your project description should include aspects like the approximate outline of your story, so where it begins and how it should develop, some background information, whether that be historic or any other context, your visual approach for the film, a short introduction to your characters, your unique selling points, motivations and reason for the film, and what kinds of access you need and ideally have for filming your documentary (IDFA, 2025).
Structuring your proposal in a way that is informative and enticing is crucial to make sure the reader’s interest will be caught. Here are some of the things to keep in mind when structuring your text:
- The Title:
It should be catchy and informative in order to attract attention while at the same time making sure viewers know what to expect from your film. During the last years, the trend has gone towards using sensationalised, almost “clickbait-y” titles for documentaries, however especially European documentaries still often go for rather poetic names, like the Finnish film “3 Rooms of Melancholia” (2004) about the Second Chechen War (The 3 Rooms of Melancholia – Wikipedia, 2025).
Next to the title you might want to put the approximate length of your documentary. If you are looking to get funded by broadcasters it is especially important to ensure that the film you have planned is suited for their schedule, both content-wise and duration-wise, so make sure to do your research before pitching your idea (Glynne, 2007). - The Opening Paragraph:
As you will probably one among many applying for funding, commissioning editors will often only skim through your proposal to determine whether they deem it worthy of further attention. This means that your opening paragraph has to be able to convince its readers within the first couple of sentences to keep reading the rest of the proposal. In this paragraph you should outline who or what the subject of your documentary is going to be and what is specific to your film. Ideally these two make sense together and bring across a cohesive image of your vision for the project. Your proposal should not sound too academic, whilst still staying professional. One good way to see whether your opening paragraph is convincing enough is to read it as though you were a potential viewer, deciding whether you would want to watch the described documentary or not (Glynne, 2007). - Character and Narrative:
Your readers should get an idea of who the characters of your story are and what will happen to them over the course of the film. If your documentary relies on a few main characters, describe them briefly and explain what makes their stories so special and why you believe, that they belong in front of a camera, your camera to be specific. Make sure your readers can already form an emotional connection to the subjects and get them invested in the stories you want to tell (IDFA, 2025). - The Style:
Which style you chose for your documentary (as explained in the previous blogpost) should already be clear from how your first paragraph is written. This can be another good way of checking whether you have been precise enough in your writing, to see whether readers can unmistakably tell which type of documentary they can expect from reading just the opening paragraph of your proposal (Glynne, 2007). - The Cost:
Potential investors want to get an idea of what costs they might expect. While you don’t need to have a fully planned out budget at this stage, this might be the opportunity to justify seemingly high future costs to your potential funders (Glynne, 2007). - You:
Write a few sentences about who you are and what connects you to the topic of the documentary. Ask yourself “Why me?” and convince your readers why you should be the one to tell this story. This is also where you should list any relevant experience or expertise on the topic in order to assure potential future investors of your competence (Glynne, 2007). - Company and Executive Producer:
Working with a production company and having an executive producer on board will give potential sponsors the assurance they might need to invest in your endeavour. Being backed by a production company and having an executive producer who will make sure you deliver high-quality results increases your credibility and makes your more trustworthy to potential funders (Glynne, 2007).
Proposal versus Treatment/Sript
Although many terms in the field are frequently used interchangeably, it can generally be said that while a proposal is around 1 to 2 pages long and is often the first step to catching the attention of a commissioning editor or funding organisation, a treatment or script is a much longer document, outlining the narrative in detail and might include the director’s statement about why they want to make the film (Glynne, 2007).
Conclusion
A proposal is the most important piece of text for getting your idea noticed and funded. The reader should get a clear image of what the documentary will look like and become emotionally invested in seeing you succeed and in witnessing your idea becoming a reality.
Literature
- Documentaries …and how to make them –
https://books.google.at/bookshl=en&lr=&id=cRzYznRAQlMC&oi=fnd&pg=PT8&dq=technical+aspects+of+documentaries&ots=njo4fro7R_&sig=dqA4em7RSXtgYwpX62M6AoxapSo#v=onepage - Writing a proposal –
https://professionals.idfa.nl/training-funding/resources/writing-a-proposal/ - The 3 Rooms of Melancholia, Wikipedia –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_3_Rooms_of_Melancholia
