While contemplating how to distribute my documentary Cats of Malta, I had some big decisions to make regarding the most profitable way to approach the release. My partner and I figured we had two clear options — go at it alone, or hand the film over to film distributors.
At the time we had discovered a platform called Show&Tell, run by documentarian and distribution strategist Keith Ochwat. Keith and the platform members believe that filmmakers, particularly documentary filmmakers, should be making money from their films without handing over a large sum of that profit to a distributor.
I wholeheartedly agree because, even though not all distributors are dishonest, the work filmmakers put in to make these films is endless and filmmakers deserve to get paid, like all artists. A documentary can take many years to plan, produce, shoot, and edit. With most documentaries there can be large costs involved to obtain rights for images, music, extra footage, deliverables, marketing and so on, and Cats of Malta was no exception.
Fortunately, we made our money back through a number of different avenues, including streaming, DVD sales, merchandise, cinema four-walling, festival screening fees, license deals, and yes, PBS underwriting.
However, only a tiny part of Cats of Malta’s financial success was attributed to the PBS broadcast and I have a few theories why. I’m aware that what didn’t work stems from my own misfires, caused by lack of experience with the unconventional distribution process, while other factors were out of my control because they concerned the decisions made by others.
So I wanted to share my thoughts and experience with releasing a documentary on PBS, what has happened, what I was aiming for, and what I have learnt so far.
YOU HAVE TO BE IN FOR THE LONG HAUL
It took two years to release Cats of Malta on PBS.
The process of releasing Cats of Malta onto PBS took us two years due to a number of factors. Going in, my main goals from the broadcast was to reach a wider audience in the United States, increase the prestige of the film by associating with PBS, and to make money and be paid for my art and hard work while doing so.
Through the case studies on Show&Tell I knew all of this was possible. So we applied to be distributed on PBS through an online program distribution service called NETA.
According to the NETA website, this is what they do:
“NETA offers a simple, nationwide program distribution service to our members, public television stations, and independent producers. The NETA Program Service delivers 1,200+ program hours a year to every CSG-qualified public television licensee in the United States.”
Our application was successful. NETA selected the film for their service and we signed a three year deal and began building our program. There are other PBS distributors, but we choose NETA as we learnt through talking with other documentary filmmakers that NETA had the easiest broadcast delivery specifications to follow and they are also easy to work with.
So now that we were locked in with NETA, we set our PBS release date for one year later, which would be October 29th, 2023, National Cat Day in the US. It gave Ivan plenty of time to edit the film down to 58 minutes to meet PBS broadcast requirements but more crucially, it gave me time to try and secure underwriters for the film.
You see, the way to make money with your film on PBS is to sign up underwriters, which is basically another way to say sponsors or partners. You approach a company or organisation that aligns with your documentary, and you ask for money in return to include the company logo at the start and end of the film, accompanied by a brief message such as “This program was made possible with the support of …” and maybe a company / organisation motto.
However, after one year of working to secure meetings with possible partners to underwrite our broadcast, I still did not have one definite ‘yes’.
From the hundreds of emails I had sent in that year, I landed four meetings. But not a single one said yes in the end due to a number of factors such as being a startup and not knowing if their branding was going to change by the time of the airdate, the timing not being right, to straight up ghosting me after meetings.
So I had to go to NETA and push back the broadcast date by another year to give myself more time to try and secure an underwriter. Hence, it took us two years to release Cats of Malta on PBS. A lot of time. A lot of haul.
MAKING EVEN A SMALL AMOUNT OF $$$ COSTS A LOT OF TIME
I firmly believe being a PBS underwriter is a good deal for the right company or organisation. Their logo and company message bookends a film screening on PBS for three years, potentially reaching millions of people. Over 58% of US households watch PBS and studies show PBS viewers are more likely to be affluent with money to spend. It is a desirable audience for a company to reach. But the difficult part is convincing the right person in the right company of this value. It takes a ton of work. In order to secure underwriters, we had to:
Build extensive lists of potentially suitable underwriters
Conduct hours of research into the company and how to best work together and what you can offer.
Sign up to RocketReach, an email finder platform, to obtain the correct employee’s email contact.
Build a pitch deck with all the film’s selling points, including the benefits of signing up to underwrite a PBS broadcast.
Get your pitch ready and send hundreds of cold emails with a template.
Secure a Station Relations Manager interested in pitching your program to the various PBS stations to broaden its reach.
We learnt a lot through the Show&Tell community
From what I have mentioned above, you can see why the Show&Tell team recommends pricing an underwriting spot at $75k. You have three underwriting spots to sell, but just getting one is so much work. Still, we heard from filmmakers who had secured underwriters for $100k, showing how well you can do with PBS if you can master this distribution approach. It sure beats the penny per hour streamed on Amazon.
But the workload is a full-time job, you have to be dedicated and really believe in and love what you are doing. If you can afford it, you can hire people to work for you to send the emails, and jump on calls to pitch for you like Keith and his team have done.
For our Cats of Malta broadcast I was not even asking for a high amount for a three year campaign and a 15 second advertising spot on our program — $35,000 was my starting price. That might seem like a high number to you and me, but when you are approaching companies or organisations who turnover millions annually, you can see this isn’t a big asking price.
But I had no luck after a year of trying to get US cat related companies on board. In year two though, I tried a trick from the Show&Tell team – contact people you have already worked with in the past and ask them if they want to partner up again. For this notion, I had the idea to contact two companies we had previously had positive experiences with and this approach partly succeeded.
In 2023 Cats of Malta worked with an upcoming, medium sized cat food company called Smalls for Cats. They held an event in an Echo Park Bookshop in LA where Cats of Malta was the only film they screened and it was a hit. There were many emails back and forth with my contact from Smalls, the guy who did marketing – not the best contact to approach, but all you need is someone to champion your cause to the company bigwigs. I thought this would work, but after many kind reminders on my part and reassurance that the managers are deciding, I ended up getting ghosted while I ran out of time due to the delivery date for NETA coming up.
Then I tried option two – the Malta Tourism Authority’s US branch, who use a marketing and PR agency. I won’t mention the name of this agency, but they came on board and we negotiated a deal on behalf of MTA. The amount they offered us was considerably less that what we initially wanted. But it was something. It would cover the fees associated with distributing on PBS and tracking the upcoming screenings. So we agreed and the PBS broadcast could finally go ahead.
HOW I FEEL ABOUT THE RESULT
Tracking the PBS airdates through TRAC Media
Our broadcast went ahead this year, October 26th, 2024, three days before National Cat Day. To say I was semi-pleased with the result is a positive way to look at it. After all my hard work, and Ivan’s time in meetings with me and editing the film down and rendering out all the delivery specifications for television, plus all the hours and personal sacrifice of our time, I am not going to say I am thrilled with the result we ended up with.
There were costs involved to work with NETA, though those are minimal. The cost involved to track the broadcast airdates through TRAC Media, a PBS audience research film, is the biggest fee. This ate up most of the money we secured from our sole underwriter. So there was hardly anything left over to pay ourselves for all the time and hard work we put in. As usual, the filmmakers are always the last to be paid.
We also couldn’t afford to work with a Station Relations Manager. This is a person who pitches your documentary to all the various PBS channels and affiliates across the United States (and there are hundreds), helping to increase the coverage of your film and therefore increase your audience. You see, NETA is like a carrier service, they make your film available for all the PBS channels to pick it up and air it, but it is up to each channel's discretion whether they do so or not. A Station Relations Manager actively works to promote your film to all these channels and negotiates favourable airdates.
We initially had a Station Relations Manager on board but had to let her go once it became clear we would not make enough money from underwriting to cover her fee. So unfortunately, due to having nobody to go to bat for our film, we only landed one obscure airdate on a low ranking station on National Cat Day, making the exercise of aiming for premiering on that date seem somewhat pointless. However, we do have the next two years to get our viewership up and perhaps we will have a better broadcast percentage on National Cat Day 2025.
SECURING UNDERWRITERS IS OPTIONAL
Some filmmakers don’t bother with securing underwriters for their PBS broadcasts, and this is okay too. If you want to make money however, it’s smart to give it a go – but only if you believe you have the right film and some money behind you in case you don’t land any underwriters. If you have a team or can afford to hire somebody to help you build lists, send emails on your behalf and sit in on meetings, this is a huge bonus. You could even hire an Impact Producer who specializes in PBS underwriting.
Going in I was unsure if Cats of Malta was a PBS film. This thinking was mostly due to learning that other Show&Tell producers were pitching films which had a cause behind their story, something that was either related to a health issue, and if not, a current event or social topic like ageism, suicide rates amongst US teens, or reproductive rights.
I had a film about Malta’s cat community, a country not many Americans are familiar with, so I think I had an uphill battle from the beginning.
FINAL REFLECTION
At the end of the day, having your film be accepted for broadcast on PBS is a great achievement. With PBS viewership as large as 26 million people per month watching their local stations, it’s a great way to get your film seen by people who will enjoy it, but you also have some prestige as a producer when you pitch your next project. PBS is highly respected and known for their compelling documentaries.
We have two other films I am planning to pitch to NETA next year – Daughter, our 2016 short film about gender based violence, and our current under-appreciated human right’s documentary, No Woman is an Island.
Should we be accepted, this time I know what to expect. The workload will still be immense, and the challenges just as demanding, but now I have the advantage of experience. With Cats of Malta, I was learning the ropes of the PBS system and underwriting from scratch. Now, I know the process and can navigate it with greater confidence.
With any luck, this effort could bring not just financial rewards but also greater visibility for two of the most significant films of my career. For me, that’s the ultimate success: using my voice as a filmmaker to amplify a message the world — and particularly the United States, where women’s rights face growing threats — urgently needs to hear.
Written by Sarah Jayne