Event Preview: West Doc

September 14 to 16
Hilton Doubletree Suites Hotel, Santa Monica, California

This September, the new WESTDOC conference will bring together documentary and reality TV executives for three days of networking, panel sessions, keynote speakers and pitching opportunities.

WESTDOC: The West Coast Documentary and Reality Conference is set for September 14 to 16 at the Hilton Doubletree Suites Hotel in Santa Monica. It is targeted to producers, directors, network executives and other creators in the nonfiction/documentary and reality TV industry. The event, which promises one-on-one interaction between creatives, buyers and distributors, is the brainchild of Oscar-nominated producer/director Chuck Braverman and Solid Entertainment’s Richard Propper, a former president of the IDA (International Documentary Association).

"In the 14 years I’ve been in business, I’ve gone to a lot of conferences, festivals and events and yet still nothing had really developed in Los Angeles for this part of the industry," says Propper on the genesis of the event.

An early issue for Propper and Braverman was whether or not to bring together executives from both the reality and documentary worlds. "There certainly is an intersection between the two," Propper notes. "At first, we wrestled with this for quite some time—if people are gathered and having cocktails, would somebody from the reality genre and somebody from the documentary genre have much to talk about? The answer was resoundingly, Yes! These two arenas are very much related and many people have one foot in both the reality and nonfiction worlds—it’s all entertainment."

Over the first two days of the conference, participants will be able to attend panels from both The Documentary Village and The Reality Village. In The Documentary Village, sessions will explore topics like qualifying for an Oscar nomination, international co-productions, nonfiction animation, digital distribution, theatrical distribution, network strategies and getting into Sundance. In The Reality Village, meanwhile, there are panels addressing branded entertainment, working for broadcast versus cable networks, scoring an agent, casting, budgeting and format sales.

"We sat down and said, what kind of event would we want as attendees?," says Propper on how he and Braverman developed the extensive conference schedule. "What panels would be useful for an attendee? What seminars are not being scheduled at other events and should be? I would say this is much more oriented as a conference for filmmakers by filmmakers. The network, development and distribution talent in Los Angeles is much larger than people estimate. We’ve had an excellent response from speakers and attendees so far."

There are more than 40 seminars scheduled, with no panel larger than three speakers. Information and dialogue are a key theme for WESTDOC, Propper says.

There will also be a slate of networking opportunities at the event. "You’ve got to spend money to make money," says Braverman on why attending conferences such as these is important for creatives. "I am living proof; having gone to other festivals and networked with other filmmakers that I’ve ended up working with, and having met with network executives and ended up doing work for them. [At the WESTDOC Conference] producers will be able to meet commissioning editors and executives at networks in an intimate setting."

Propper adds: "People will have an opportunity to rub shoulders with the people they want to rub shoulders with. Part of what we’re doing is to demystify this process a little bit."

Both executives are also thrilled to have an all-day PitchFest at the end of the event. "At a minimum [producers] can get constructive feedback about why their project works or doesn’t work, and hopefully we will have some commissioning editors that will say, I’m in!" Braverman says.

In addition to bringing in U.S. buyers, WESTDOC’s PitchFest will be setting up video conferencing with commissioners in select European markets. "Commissioning editors will be able to see clips people are presenting, hear the pitches and give their feedback live, even though they’re 9,000 miles away."

For the full agenda and registration details, visit the WESTDOC website.