ITVS Open Call

Overview

The Independent Television Service (ITVS) Open Call is one of the most significant sources of documentary funding in the United States, offering co-production agreements of up to $400,000 to independent producers of nonfiction documentaries. ITVS is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and is specifically mandated to support independent documentary and fiction projects for broadcast on public media platforms, including PBS.

Open Call is structured as a co-production agreement, not a straightforward grant. In exchange for funding, ITVS acquires specific public broadcasting rights to the supported film. This distinction matters: ITVS becomes a creative and financial partner, not simply a funder, and the agreement carries editorial input alongside financial support.

What It Funds

Open Call supports independent documentaries ranging from short-form pieces to feature-length films intended for broadcast. The fund can support projects at multiple stages: in active production, in post-production, or approaching completion. The primary requirement is that the project must be a nonfiction documentary designed for public media broadcast.

ITVS prioritizes films that address the needs of underserved and underrepresented audiences, bring new perspectives to public television, and expand civic participation by introducing diverse voices to the public sphere. Projects with strong social impact potential and clear relevance to public audiences receive favorable consideration.

The Co-production Structure

Because Open Call is a co-production fund rather than a grant, recipients enter into a formal co-production agreement with ITVS. This agreement typically grants ITVS a window of exclusive public broadcasting rights and may include input on editorial decisions. Filmmakers retain ownership of their film and retain rights for distribution outside the public broadcasting window.

Applicants should understand the co-production structure before applying. The review process can take up to 20 weeks, and accepted projects typically enter a negotiation phase to define the terms of the co-production agreement before funding is confirmed.

Eligibility

Applicants must be independent producers based in the United States. Projects must be nonfiction documentaries intended for public media broadcast. ITVS does not fund fiction features or experimental work outside the nonfiction documentary form. The fund is open to emerging and established producers, with a preference for projects that serve audiences not well represented in mainstream public media.

Who Should Apply

Independent documentary producers whose films address underserved communities or underrepresented perspectives and who have an interest in public television broadcast as a primary distribution channel. The fund is best suited to projects with a clear broadcast identity and social relevance rather than purely festival-oriented work.

See Also

For understanding public broadcasting as a distribution window, see Distribution Deals: What Filmmakers Need to Know. For modeling the revenue implications of a public broadcasting deal alongside other distribution windows, use the Revenue Forecast Calculator.