Creative Documentary Today: Challenges and Opportunities for Directors and Producers

Abstract

In today’s creative documentary, a director often decides to simultaneously assume the role of producer. This new situation has its own advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, it gives the director/producer more freedom in story development and in leading a project. In addition, he or she is able to work more flexibly with the film budget and has a chance to change the direction of the project while following the storyline without fear that a producer will refuse such ideas. This position gives the director/producer room to work with smaller budgets and to claim the entire profit in the end. On the other hand, he or she must be prepared to work within a high-risk situation and assume complete responsibility. The new digital economy has opened opportunities to identify the most innovative ways to integrate digital platforms into the phases of story development, direction, promotion, and distribution of documentaries, thus allowing filmmakers to identify their niche audiences, build new value with it and find the right ways for monetization and revenue increase.   Article received: December 30, 2017; Article accepted: January 10, 2018; Published online: April 15, 2018; Preliminary report – Short Communications   How to cite this article: Mirković, Željko: "Creative Documentary Today: Challenges and Opportunities for Directors and Producers." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies15 (2018): 173–184. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i15.240