WOMEN IN FILM & VIDEO INC

In March of 1979, a group of DC area women filmmakers met to address concerns they had about their lack of career advancement and to discuss why their work was largely being ignored by the establishment. They began to help each other make key connections and overcome obstacles that had hindered their success. Later that year, they founded WIFV to act as an advocate for all under-represented voices. Over the years, WIFV has nurtured many careers and has become a critical information hub for the region's media community. Starting with a dozen women, WIFV now serves thousands.

Access to a well-informed, central source of information is critical to successful media careers, especially for women, and WIFV provides consistent, high-quality information, connections, and programs. We are also able to develop strategic, long-term initiatives such as the Seed Fund for Documentary Filmmakers, Spotlight on Screenwriters, our fiscal sponsorship program, the Kids World Film Festival, and Media Job Fair because we have the stability and constancy that volunteer-managed organizations cannot provide.

As women media makers are stressed with shrinking full-time employment opportunities, constantly changing technology, and the never-ending search for funding, we increase our services, programs, and networking opportunities.There are some clear solutions that emerge from the research and from our own experience working with the area’s media community on the challenges women media makers face, and we provide them all:

Mentoring - When successful WIFV members mentor emerging professionals, they help them build confidence and make key connections in the media industry and funding community. Additionally, a number of our founders and long-time members mentor emerging professionals and act as advisors to the organization.

Raise awareness - Educating leaders currently in the media industry helps generate change. As a recent Sundance study put it, “Forging an environment open to gender parity may begin by providing industry leaders with concrete action steps that encourage a solution-oriented perspective.”

To apply that principle at a macro level, we created the high-profile Women of Vision Awards program in 1989 to celebrate the artistic and technical achievements of women in the industry. Honorees have included household names like Penny Marshall, Patty Duke, and Carrie Fisher as well as DC area stars like Maryanne Culpepper (former president, National Geographic TV), Margaret Parsons (head of media programming at the National Gallery of Art), and Patricia Aufderheide (director of the Center for Media and Social Impact at American University).

Increase funding - Through WIFV’s Fiscal Sponsorship Program, we help sponsees find funders, develop fundraising plans, submit proposals, and obtain grants. In addition, we have two modest scholarship programs and we have recently arranged for the Foundation Center to put on a series of free workshops orienting WIFV members to the center’s vast resources and databases.

Act as an employment catalyst - Our listserv and Media Job Fair (unique in the Mid Atlantic region) help media makers find permanent and freelance media positions in the DC region. By connecting people to jobs, we lift up an underserved population, acting as an employment catalyst for a major segment of DC’s creative economy. Our members are dynamic entrepreneurs who not only produce value-added media products for local, national, and international markets.

WIFV produces more than 70 program events a year, almost all of which are open to the public. They include workshops, panel discussions, technology demonstrations, a three-day screenwriters conference, a mentoring program for local high school students, and a film festival for middle school students. Since making industry contacts is key to advancing in a media career, we also host a number of networking events, including an open house, holiday party, 20-something happy hours, and monthly coffees with WIFV’s Executive Director and Board members.

Recently launched programming includes:

Spotlight on Screenwriters – VP Monica Lee Bellais worked with almost 100 DC-based screenwriters in a series of workshops to bring their work to industry standards, develop marketing strategies, and expand their networks. We distributed the inaugural Spotlight on Screenwriters Catalogue, which features 39 production-ready screenplays from this cohort, to producers across the country. This ground-breaking source of screenplays from outside the standard entry points has been praised by Academy Award-winning producers and is opening doors for local talent. Volume 2 is in process.

Fiscal Sponsorship – WIFV serves as a mentor and provides financial oversight for documentary filmmakers. In three years, sponsored projects have screened in festivals and leveraged tens of thousands of dollars of additional funding.

Seed Fund for Documentary Filmmakers – WIFV is fundraising to provide four $2,500 grants for each of three years to support critical start-up expenses. A competitive application process will begin when $10,000 is raised.

Gallery of Member Work - To mark our 35th anniversary, WIFV offered our members the opportunity to feature their work in an online gallery accessible via a playlist on the WIFV-DC YouTube channel. We called on all members --directors, producers, makeup artists, musicians, documentary filmmakers, costume designers, voiceover artists, writers, and more -- to submit three-minute clips or compilations of their best work. The submissions were reviewed by the WIFV board. They were provided a button to feature on their websites to showcase their inclusion in the Member Gallery. We are adding to the gallery, which gives viewers an idea of just how diverse the work of WIFV members is, every quarter.

All of WIFV’s efforts are aimed at helping our members build the skills and make the connections they need to overcome barriers and advance in a highly competitive environment. Our work has helped women create narrative films and documentaries, training and industrial films for commercial and government clients, television programming, advertising and marketing, animation and special effects, and innovative new media products. Their work is among the best in the industry and has been recognized with Oscar nominations and dozens of Emmys, Peabodys, CINE Golden Eagles, and Tellys.

Starting with fewer than 20 women in 1979, WIFV now serves thousands. Since our founding we estimate that we have served more than 250,000 media professionals and film aficionados. Many of our founders remain involved with the organization through our Advisory Committee and Legacy Circle, and most continue to produce media. Testimonials (please see attachment) reveal that WIFV is the critical hub for the area's media community. We are pleased to report that WIFV has been recognized as a "Top Rated" organization by Great Nonprofits for three years in a row, one of only a handful of media organizations across the country so honored.

WIFV provides the professional development, mentoring, access, and encouragement for independent filmmakers to tell their stories. Something as simple as our "Power of the Purse" announcements about buying tickets to women-made films showing at area theaters is a powerful statement to the community that there is an audience for these stories and that we will rally an audience to see these films. Without our direct service to artists, diverse voices would be silent.

As more media makers are pushed into the freelance economy, the consistent support system provided by WIFV can be a lifeline. WIFV is a key employment catalyst in DC's creative economy, and our members constitute a major economic force in the region. We empower dynamic entrepreneurs who:

1) Start businesses, make investments, and hire employees.
2) Produce value-added news, entertainment, and innovative media products for local, national, and international markets.
3) Give back to WIFV, other organizations, and the community at large through their own contributions of expertise and funding.

Carlyn Davis, Owner, Carlyn Davis Casting and WIFV Corporate Member, says it all:
"I have been a member of WIFV since the early 90's, and this strong organization has helped me network and build my company name into what it is today. I believe WIFV is a worthwhile organization to sponsor."

We will continue to expand WIFV's role as an advocate for independent media makers to respond to changing business practices and technology and push for better gender representation on both sides of a camera. In addition to the plans outlined for each program above, we are strengthening existing collaborations and broadening our coalition.