National Black Programming Consortium Launches Webinar Wednesdays For Producers, Filmmakers

NEW YORK (October 13, 2014)—National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC), the nation’s primary presenter of stories about the Black experience on public media, has launched a series of webinars on various aspects of producing serial nonfiction broadcast content and nonfiction and fiction webisodic content for public media. Webinar Wednesdays, which features free training sessions by successful producers, is part of the Harlem-based nonprofit’s new funding initiative, NBPC 360.

NBPC 360 is an incubator designed to identify innovative storytellers and to generate quality serial, digital and multiplatform content for public media outlets, including the Web. Producers will compete for funding and the chance to work with veteran producers to develop their series pilots. Up to 10 projects will be selected through an open call for the NBPC 360 inaugural class, with the final three entering the incubator, where they will be assigned a mentor and put through a boot camp—six weeks of intense, hands-on training and preparation for the pitch and pilot phases of the program. With help from an assigned executive producer and/or a producing station—as well as $50,000 to $150,000 in development funds from NBPC—the final three will each produce a pilot over the next four to six months. The three producing teams, together with NBPC, will then pursue broadcast and distribution opportunities for the programs.

The program launched on Wednesday, October 1; and webinars, which will help prepare producers to apply, precede the application deadline of January 9, 2015. Those interested in participating should sign up now at www.blackpublicmedia.org.

Webinars include:

· “Many Rivers to Cross: How Do You Make an Engaging Multi-Part Series?” with Leslie Asako Gladsjo, senior story producer for The African-Americans: Many Rivers to Cross (Wednesday, October 15, at 4:00 pm EST/1:00 pm PST);

· “Finding and Keeping Your Audience” with Deniese Davis, COO of Issa Rae’s ColorCreative.tv and producer of the hit Web series Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl (Wednesday, October 22, at 4:00 pm EST/1:00 pm PST);

· “No Producer Is an Island: Developing Your Infrastructure for Series Production” with commercial and public television series producer Banks Tarver of Left/Right Media (Wednesday, October 29, at 4:00 pm EST/1:00 pm PST);

· “What Is a Pewdiepie? Anatomy of a Web Series (Part 1) with producer Jorge Rivera (Wednesday, November 5, at 4:00 pm EST/1:00 pm PST);

· “What Is a Pewdiepie? Anatomy of a Web Series (Part 2) with producer Jorge Rivera (Wednesday, November 12, at 4:00 pm EST/1:00 pm PST); and

· “Marketing + Measuring Impact: What are Vanity Metrics?” with social media strategists Ann Nguyen and George Weiner of Whole Whale social media firm (Wednesday, November 19, at 4:00 pm EST/1:00 pm PST).

Only 100 seats are available for each webinar, and, as participation is first-come, first-served, producers are encouraged to sign up now.

“NBPC aims for the program to be a game changer by creating an army of content makers, particularly those from diverse backgrounds, who bring thought-provoking, enlightening programming to the fore,” said NBPC Interim Executive Director Leslie Fields-Cruz. “To that end, any TV or Web producer, whether participating in the NBPC 360 program or not, may participate in the webinars.”

NBPC has been bringing stories about global Black experience to public television since its founding in 1979. With the rise of the Internet, it has gone on to take on the digital space, producing Web series and training the next generation of Web producers of color. NBPC 360 is the next phase in its storytelling mission; the incubator will help launch nonfiction serial projects for broadcast and Web, fiction projects for the Web, as well as interactive or “transmedia” projects.

For more information on NBPC or NBPC 360, visit www.blackpublicmedia.org or follow the organization on Twitter (@BLKPublicMedia).