DPA Workshop - What to Do With all That Money

Profits! You are required to distribute a percentage to funders and distributors, but if you’ve also agreed to share proceeds with other key stakeholders, like fellow crew, producing partners and/or your protagonists (subjects) … Good for you! How does this even work?

Using the Guidelines for the Documentary Waterfall written by the Documentary Producers Alliance (DPA) in 2020, we will workshop each section from budgeting through production and finally profit sharing. There will be a breakout session to discuss and answer questions after each section: including a look at the initial outflows of cash after a project begins to earn money and what happens when a film reaches profitability. A general Q&A session will follow.

This workshop will be conducted by Midwest DPA members and producers: Risé Sanders-Weir, Dawn Mikkelson and Fenell Doremus.

Fenell Doremus is an Emmy Award winning Chicago producer with deep roots in the industry. Getting her start as an assistant editor and post-production coordinator on the critically acclaimed HOOP DREAMS, Fenell stayed on at Kartemquin Films serving as staff producer for the next eight years. In 2017 she co-produced the Academy Award nominated and Emmy Award winning, ABACUS: Small Enough to Jail, (2017) broadcast on PBS’ Frontline series. Other producing credits include: the 11 years in the making documentary, COOKED: Survival by Zip Code, directed by Peabody-Award winning Judith Helfand and broadcast nationally on PBS’ Independent Lens (2020); Production Coordinator on RINGSIDE (Motto Pictures 2020) and THE CALLING (The Kindling Group 2010); producer, director and editor on A YEAR ON TEEN STREET (2005) a WTTW-Kartemquin co-production; segment producer and co-editor of THE NEW AMERICANS (2004), broadcast nationally on PBS’ Independent Lens. Most recently Fenell served as consulting producer on the Emmy nominated LET THE LITTLE LIGHT SHINE, directed by Kevin Shaw. Fenell has a long association with Kartemquin Films and currently serves on the board of directors. She is one of the early members of the Documentary Producers Alliance sitting on the Crediting Committee from 2017-2020 during which the DPA released their Crediting Guidelines, Chairing the Regional Committee (2020-present) and Co-representing the Midwest (2020-present).

Risé Sanders-Weir is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her most recent work is Guaranteed in Gary, a Firelight/CAAM Homegrown, PBS supported short documentary currently screening at festivals and available on PBS Digital. Other highlights include producing America to Me for Kartemquin Films/Participant/STARZ and directing/writing episodes of Chicago Stories for WTTW/PBS – her history of Sears & Montgomery Wards will premiere on November 10, 2023. Her projects have also appeared on History, National Geographic, CNBC, A&E, MSNBC, The Weather Channel, and others. And they have been recognized with Cinema Eye, Hugo and Telly awards – and nominations for Oscar, Emmy, and NAACP Image awards. As Director of Production and Post for Kartemquin Films she shepherded more than 10 films to completion, with a specialty in utilizing copyright fair use. Her independent directorial debut Gadget Girls was selected for the U.S. State Department’s American Film Showcase and has been screened around the world. She teaches at Columbia College Chicago and Triton College, where she was awarded the Illinois Community College Trustees Association Adjunct Faculty of the Year award in 2023. She is a member of the Documentary Producers Alliance and teaches the DPA Guidelines for the Documentary Waterfall.