The Television Laboratory at WNET/13
   1972 -
   New York City

• “Thirteen Handbook for Independent Producers, Filmmakers and Videomakers”, excerpts, undated (after 1979)
• Editorial in The Television Laboratory News, David Loxton Spring 1980

As a first step, the Lab initiated a series of Artist-In-Residence programs to enable video artists, choreographers, painters and graphic artists to explore the uses of tools such as portable tape equipment, synthesizers, lasers and computers.

By the end of 1974, the Lab had worked with many innovative videomakers, including Ed Emshwiller, Nam June Paik, Hemline Freed, Peter Campus, Lillian Schwartz and William Wegman. The Artist-In-Residence program has continued since 1974, made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. Each fall applications are solicited from videomakers throughout New York State and, after an eight-week evaluation and review process, 5 - 7 applicants are selected for production support averaging $15,000 per project.
In addition to the annual Artist-In-Residence program, the Lab works with video and filmmakers on an ´ad hoc’ basis, developing new program proposals, fundraising and providing production supervision for selected individual projects.

Many of these completed video and film works are broadcast on the TV Lab’s VIDEO/FILM REVIEW series, a showcase which premiered in 1975 as VTR (VIDEO AND TELEVISION REVIEW). In 1979 VTR became VFR, incorporating film for the first time with profiles of independent filmmakers and presentations of their latest work.

Made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts and the members of Thirteen, VFR has helped to establish both an audience and a context for a whole spectrum of independent and experimental work.

The Thirteen TV Lab administers the Independent Documentary fund, created in the fall of 1977 with a $500,000 grant from the Ford Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. The fund was designed to stimulate and support documentaries on film and video tape by independent producers in the United States and offers both original and completion cost support. The first seven grants were awarded in February, 1978. They were chosen from a total of 885 applications submitted by independent film and videomakers from every state. Twenty-six grants have now been awarded to independent producers through this fund. The documentaries produced under the aegis of the IDF are televised nationally over PBS stations as part of NON-FICTION TELEVISION which premiered in February, 1979 with Jack Willis’ and Saul Landau’s “Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang.” “Paul Jacobs” has since won a National Emmy award and a George Polk award. Other recipients of IDF grants included Jon Alpert and Keiki Tsuno (“Third Avenue”), Allan Francovich and Howard Drntch ( “On Company Business”), Lynne Littman (“Once a Daughter”), Caroline and Frank Mouris ( “LA LA, Make it in L.A.”), Robert Van Lierop (“Class of ‘S4” ), Errol Morris ( “Nub City”), and Alan and Susan Raymond ( “Scoop” ).

In its eight years of existence, the TV Lab has raised slightly over five million dollars to support the work of independent artists and documentarians. This figure includes direct and indirect support from Thirteen.

For information regarding the activities of the TV Lab, write or contact David Loxton, Director of the Lab, or Carol Brandenburg, Associate Director. Application procedures and information on the Independent Documentary Fund can be obtained in writing from Katherine Kline, Project Coordinator of the Fund.

II. ACQUISITIONS
The Independent Acquisitions unit represents another major point of entry for the American independent producer. Each year hundreds of films and videotapes are submitted by individual film and videomakers, forwarded through distributors, or screened at film festivals, museums and conferences. All independent producers are welcome to submit works for consideration at any time during the year.
Independent works are acquired and utilized in various ways by the station throughout its broadcast schedule. Works are acquired for on-going series, as local specials, as national specials on PBS, and for thematic series. Shorter films are regularly acquired as bridge materials between featured pieces.

LOCAL ACQUISITION ON THIRTEEN
When the station is interested in acquiring a work for local broadcast, it negotiates terms with the film or videomakers. The contract states the acquisition fee, the station’s broadcast rights and the delivery date for the work and other required materials. If a broadcast date is not available at the time of the contract, Thirteen will notify the independent producer when an air date has been selected.

Works acquired for local broadcast are usually paid for out of the station’s discretionary funds. The local acquisition rate ranges from $30 - $60 per minute. For local acquisition the station’s discretionary funds are also used to cover the costs of transferring films or tapes to 2” tape for broadcast, of making cassettes for press review, local promotion costs, and the production of on-air promos.

As part of its local acquisitions efforts, in 1978 Thirteen developed INDEPENDENT FOCUS, a series which in three seasons has aired more than 70 independent films and tapes. INDEPENDENT FOCUS showcases the work of American independent film and videomakers from across the country; it includes drama, documentary and animation of varying lengths, styles and subject matter. Hundreds of films and tapes are reviewed during the official screening period for INDEPENDENT FOCUS, which usually begins in August and runs through October. Announcements regarding the series are sent to appropriate newsletters and organizations prior to that time.

Announcements are also mailed regarding thematic acquisition series being developed by the station such as the recently televised The Sixties Legacy and Adolescent Rites, two acquisition series which included independent work.

REGIONAL ACQUISITION
Thirteen suggests films for regional acquisition and distribution via the Interregional Program Service (IPS), formerly the Eastern Educational Television Network (EEN). IPS, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is comprised of approximately 140 stations. Most of the major public television stations participate in the IPS program service, and thus may share in the purchase and acquisition of programs offered through IPS.
IPS holds three screening sessions a year. At that time, station representatives meet, screen and vote on each program. IPS determines which films will be shown at the various screening sessions. Prior to the screenings fees and broadcast rights are negotiated between the producer and IPS. The actual amount received by any producer, however, is determined by the number of stations that finally acquire the work.

NATIONAL ACQUISITION
Thirteen also presents films nationally on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). As the PBS presenting station for a particular program, Thirteen applies for funding on behalf of the independent film or videomaker to PBS and to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for the national acquisition of the program. National fees are negotiated between the filmmaker, the presenting station and PBS, and start at approximately $200 per minute.

The approval process by CPB and PBS can take several months. Once PBS and CPB accept the film for national broadcast, the presenting station assumes responsibility for tape transfers, dubs, tape deliveries, and if necessary editing or filling to time, as well as developing promotional materials. The national funding reimburses the station for these services above the acquisition fee negotiated with the filmmaker for the national broadcast rights. Examples of PBS specials for which Thirteen is the presenting station include: David Maysels’, Albert Maysels’, and Charlotte Zwerkin’s “Running Fence”; Mark Obenhaus’ “Nomadic Lives”; Stephen Syllenhaal’s “Exit 10”; Steven Fischler’s and Joel Sucher’s “Free Voice of Labor”; and John Hanson’s and Rob Nilsson’s “Northern Lights.”
 

Editorial David Loxton The Television Laboratory News Spring 1980
Since the TV Lab first began working with independent film and video documentarians eight years ago, it has been our dream to bring original, personal documentary work to a national public television audience on a regular basis. This goal has been one we’ve planned and worked toward from the very beginning. The creation of the Independent Documentary Fund by. the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ford Foundation was a major step toward the realization of this goal.

Now, beginning Friday, April 4,1980, the TV Lab is delighted to announce a national weekly documentary series for public television. Entitled Non Fiction Television, it is devoted exclusively to original documentaries by independent film and video makers which have been supported through the Independent Documentary Fund. This event marks a major step for independents and public television, creating an important place for provocative documentary work.

The Non Fiction Television series is only one more recent example of the growing recognition and importance of documentaries made by independents. Several independently produced documentary features have opened theatrically in recent months. Films such as Best Boy by Ira Wohl, Joe and Maxi by Maxi Cohen and Joel Gold, and The Trials of Alger Hiss by John Lowenthal show a renewed interest in nonfiction subject matter. Irrespective of the box office grosses and Nielsen ratings these productions may receive, this recent emergence points toward significant trends both in the growing awareness on the part of American audiences and the growth of the documentary form itself.

Public television has now reached a crucial juncture in regard to independent documentary makers. Since its inception, the TV Lab has supported and collaborated with individual, independent film and video makers creating unique, personal documentaries. We are pleased to have helped foster and participate in its development. Still there are many questions that lie ahead, yet to be resolved.

From the perspective of the TV Lab, it seems that public television and commercial television by and large operate under rather outmoded, old-style standards of journalism that do not adequately take into account these new documentary works founded on individual expression and often outright advocacy. Criteria of “balance,” “objectivity,” “equal weight”- to a range of opinions and views within the program itself - are often hard to reconcile with the passionate commitment and expression of the independent documentarian. Recent articles by both Michael Aden in The New Yorker and A. Kent MacDougall of The Los Angeles Times have begun to explore these crucial questions. Clearly, a major conflict between the proponents of “passionate” journalism and the “powers that be” at the networks and in public television is inevitable.
Just as the sixties saw the emergence of a new kind of advocacy print journalism in the works of Hunter Thompson, Tom Wolfe and many others - works of journalism that have made an invaluable and stunning impact on the nature of reportage and on our view of the world - the independent film and video documentarian is spearheading a similar and equally important movement that will eventually revolutionize film and television media. These new documentary works based on the filmmaking process itself and born of the committed political climate of the sixties must be evaluated for good or ill on their own terms rather than by past standards and traditions.

An interpretation of the FCC’s fairness doctrine - one that seeks balance in the programming schedule as a whole rather than within each individual program - may well be in order. Thoughtful consideration must be given to documentary works embodying the passionate, personal point of view.

I believe it is public television’s obligation and mandate to provide both production support and air time to the diversify of opinions and points of view expressed by many film and video documentarians. The Non Fiction Television series reflects this philosophy. We have every hope that this series marks the beginning of a new tradition of regular provocative nonfiction programming on public television.
by David Loxton, Director of the TV Lab