The Documentary Film Council: Building a new infrastructure for UK nonfiction film

此应用程序是支持影响和参与活动从博士史蒂夫存在的AHRC ECR赠款，“英国功能的研究：研究功能纪录片电影行业”（2018-2020，从这里“UKFD”）。该申请建议为英国纪录片创建一个新的国家组织-纪录片理事会（DFC）-这是由研究团队与行业领先组织合作共同构思的。DFC将由一系列工作组组成，以满足不同的需求，并代表纪录片行业的不同分部门。该项目的具体目标是将后续供资的目标锁定在拟议的组织基础设施的关键要素上：建立DFC所需的核心工作，以及其多样性、公平和包容性工作组和心理健康工作组的具体活动。这种资金的战略性使用将直接支持DFC的基础，并解决两个最紧迫的行业问题-多样性和心理健康-同时也激活DFC更广泛的组织基础设施，并刺激所有DFC拟议工作组的活动。 UKFD项目主要是一项文化历史工作，探索了过去二十年来纪录片作为电影形式的演变。然而，该项目还包括一个更面向未来的研究链，旨在调查当今在该领域工作的人所面临的挑战。随着利益相关者的高度参与以及与领先行业机构建立密切关系，该项目的这一部分远远超出了其最初的范围。随着研究的深入，人们发现，电影和电视行业的政策制定者出于各种原因，在很大程度上忽视了非小说行业的独特需求。因此，英国纪录片因长期缺乏量身定制的支持而面临一系列问题。因此，这项工作暴露了对整个纪录片行业进行广泛政策干预的迫切和不可预见的需求。为了应对这一需求，UKFD研究团队扩大了他们最初的适度计划，以探索该行业的挑战。与Doc Society合作-英国纪录片的主要机构-并获得额外的0.4 RA支持，由UWE资助，以表彰这一扩大的职权范围，2019年4月，UKFD团队发起了有史以来对英国纪录片制片人和导演进行的最大规模的调查。UKFD团队于6月公布了调查结果，并以此为基础于2020年夏季和秋季进行了广泛的行业咨询，咨询结果于2021年1月在UKFD的第二份主要报告中公布。这种后续资金竞标是这种未预料到和不可预见的研究轨迹的产物。拟议的项目建立在原始UKFD研究的基础上，并将其引入一个重要的，创新的和令人兴奋的新方向。DFC的拟议结构和范围在英国屏幕行业没有先例。它将在整个纪录片行业产生一系列创造性、创新性和基于证据的干预措施，并将吸引国家和国际关注，吸引真正多样化的新观众和用户群体。正如UKFD项目研究所证明的那样，纪录片行业面临的许多问题和挑战只能通过对手头问题的持续和集体承诺来解决。安全和可持续的跨部门基础设施是建立和维持这种承诺的先决条件。在这一关键阶段，该项目将为英国纪录片行业提供基础设施，为该行业及其观众带来重大的文化，经济和社会效益，并确保AHRC资助的研究的影响在英国屏幕行业及未来几年内得到感受。

This application is to support impact and engagement activities resulting from Dr Steve Presence's AHRC ECR grant, 'UK Feature Docs: Studying the Feature Documentary Film Industry' (2018-2020, from here 'UKFD'). The application proposes the creation of a new national organisation for UK documentary - the Documentary Film Council (DFC) - that has been co-conceived by the research team in collaboration with the leading organisations in the industry. The DFC will consist of a range of working groups that address the different needs and represent the different sub-sectors in the documentary industry. The specific aim of this project is to target Follow-on Funding at key elements of this proposed organisational infrastructure: the core work required to establish the DFC, and the specific activities of its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Mental Health working groups. This strategic use of funds will directly support the foundations of the DFC and address two of the most pressing industry-wide issues - diversity and mental health - while also animating the DFC's broader organisational infrastructure and stimulating activity across all the DFC's proposed working groups. The UKFD project was primarily a work of cultural history that explored the evolution of documentary as a cinematic form over the past two decades. However, the project also included a more future-facing research strand that aimed to investigate the challenges faced by those working in the sector today. This strand of the project expanded well beyond its original scope following high levels of stakeholder engagement and the formation of close relationships with leading industry bodies. As the research developed, it emerged that policymakers in the film and television industries alike had, for various reasons, largely overlooked the unique needs of the nonfiction sector. As a result, UK documentary was suffering from a range of problems that stemmed from a long-standing lack of tailored support. This work thus exposed an urgent and unforeseen need for widespread policy intervention across the documentary industry.Responding to this need, the UKFD research team scaled-up their originally modest plans to explore challenges in the sector. In partnership with Doc Society - the lead body for documentary in England - and with additional 0.4 RA support, funded by UWE in recognition of this expanded remit, in April 2019 the UKFD team launched what became the largest survey ever conducted of UK documentary producers and directors. The results were published by the UKFD team in June, which in turn became the basis for an extensive sector-wide consultation in summer and autumn 2020, the results of which were published in a second major UKFD report in January 2021. This Follow-On Funding bid is the product of this unanticipated and unforeseeable research trajectory. The proposed project builds on the original UKFD research and takes it in a significant, innovative and exciting new direction. The proposed structure and reach of the DFC is without precedent in the UK screen sector. It will generate a range of creative, innovative and evidence-based interventions across the documentary industry, and will attract national and international attention, engaging a genuinely diverse range of new audiences and user communities. As evidenced by the UKFD project research, many of the issues and challenges facing the documentary industry can only be addressed via sustained and collective commitment to the problems at hand. A secure and sustainable cross-sector infrastructure is a precondition to building and maintaining such commitment. With support from the AHRC at this crucial stage, this project will provide that infrastructure to the UK documentary sector, delivering significant cultural, economic and social benefits to the sector and its audiences and ensuring the impact of AHRC-funded research is felt across the UK screen sector and beyond for years to come.