The Magic of a Documentary Proposal

Writing a documentary proposal isn’t just about selling your idea to other people. A documentary proposal helps you to think about what your film is really about. It insists that you think clearly and creatively about your idea and that you’re able to tell people what it is in an enticing way.

What is a documentary proposal

A documentary proposal is a document which explains what your film is about. It can vary in length but generally, 1-2 pages is a good length.

Typically you might send your documentary proposal to commissioners, funders and other potentially interested parties. It might be useful to send your proposal to potential contributors or to other crew members.

The very act of writing a proposal, however, is also a useful exercise for you to begin to think about what your film really is- what’s it about, what are we going to see, what’s the narrative arc, how will it look, who it’s for and why you’re the person to make it.

What makes a good documentary proposal

Your proposal needs to sing. From your very first line it needs to draw your reader in so that by the end they think: I need to see this film!

First off: you need a logline. 2-3 sentences that summerise your film. It’s good practice to state whether it’s a short, or a feature, eg: THE EGG CUP is a short documentary that allows the audience to understand the world from which our eggs come from.

In your next line you then might want to go into a little more detail about what makes your film special, eg: Through undercover filming in chicken farms, THE EGG CUP reveals the true cost of egg farming.

Next is your synopsis. Here you can go into more detail about your story- how will the film unravel? Discuss your characters- who are they and what is their journey? Outline the central question to your film and as you write, consider narrative arc, point of view and style. For instance, is your film fly on the wall, undercover, interview-led, a character portrait? Think about time- is your film a “past-tense story”? Will we jump back and forth from the present day?

After your synopsis, you might want to include a “context” section. Many people make the mistake of starting with their context section, and letting that overwhelm the proposal. Having your synopsis at the top shows that you’re thinking about it from the perspective of a filmmaker, rather than a journalist and that your priority is making a good film. The context section short be 1 or 2 paragraphs in which you give a bit of background to your subject area. You might want to include statistics in this section, anything that demonstrates the importance of this subject matter and therefore why it’s so important is made about this now.

Finally, write the “Director’s Approach”. Here you can highlight your approach- how will you tell this story? What original stylistic elements might you include? If you can think of films that share similarities subject-wise, or stylistically then reference them- it’s a great way for your reader to be able to visualize your intentions.

Writing a good proposal is crucial. Not only does it communicate your idea to others, but it gives you the framework to start shaping your idea into a brilliant documentary!

If you've enjoyed this article, I invite you to join me in my online course, "Cinematic Documentary Filmmaking: Shoot, Edit, Launch". Here, you'll learn the full process of documentary filmmaking, starting from the initial research and planning stages right through to filming and editing your very own documentary. By the end of this creative journey, you'll be equipped to share your personal vision of the world through your camera and onto the big screen. I look forward to helping you enhance your storytelling skills and bring your vision to life!