At the the Hot Docs Pitch Forum, 21 would-be backers assemble at a grand wooden table to hear filmmakers’ seven-minute pleas to join their ranks.
However, the world’s most important doc backer didn’t hear the pitches; Netflix’s Jason Spingarn-Koff was just outside Hart House Great Hall, darting about as he talked intensely or rapidly texted on his cellphone, swooping in to talk briefy to filmmakers before disappearing into a back-room meeting.Netflix’s global dominance has diminished the importance of the attending broadcasters, funders, commissioning editors, and public media at the Hot Docs Pitch Forum, which has generated millions of dollars for docs-in-progress over nearly two decades.
However, companies ranging from Itvs and Zdf are still vital, especially for documentaries that found their all-important start-up financing from a broadcaster — and therefore ineligible for Netflix consideration.And, with Netflix buying fewer finished docs, the only way many docs can
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