UNDERSTANDING THE 21ST CENTURY DOCUMENTARY AUDIENCE

DOCSHOP is a five-day filmmaker's forum and industry conference that takes place every year during the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. Geared towards filmmakers, innovators, students, and media industry leaders, the conference engages with cutting-edge ideas that are shaping the field of documentary film today. 

Made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the conference includes workshops and panels that cover diverse aspects of the filmmaking process, and culminates with the Big Sky Pitch, an opportunity for filmmakers to pitch works-in-progress to a panel of industry representatives and funders. The festival-conference energy creates a unique and fruitful experience for emerging and veteran filmmakers alike.

The 2025 DocShop theme explored the 21st Century Documentary Audience, a full-spectrum examination of the ways in which audience considerations affect artistic choices, social impact, distribution streams, market potential, cultural narratives, and industry trends. Through four days of panels, masterclasses, and discussions, DocShop 2025 took a deep dive into the health of the documentary ecosystem, successful audience impact campaigns, inclusive practices, docs that are pushing the form, and legal considerations for filmmakers.

DocShop welcomed 42 panelists and presenters to explore the form, share expertise, connect with filmmakers and new collaborators, and provide pivotal context for the evolving landscape of documentary filmmaking. Through four days of robust programming, DocShop 2025 aimed to arm filmmakers with a fresh understanding of the obstacles and opportunities for reaching audiences and help them build a resilient toolkit to navigate the evolving documentary landscape.

The conference kicked off with a dynamic feedback session unpacking the art and craft of the short documentary form with co-founders of the Untitled Filmmaker Organization (UFO) and New York Times Op-Docs’s Deputy Director. The Short Documentary Feedback session was followed by an interactive discussion with retrospective filmmaker Matt Wolf on his creative process and his evolving relationship working with archival footage. The first day of DocShop concluded with an in-depth look at best practices and self care for film crews and participants with BAVC Media and the film teams behind FLAMINGO CAMP and DAUGHTERS OF A LOST BIRD. 

Day two focused sessions around “Competing in the Attention Economy,” with a second panel of Refining the Rough Cut of the Short Documentary, followed by a panel exploring ways in which filmmakers are challenging the form with International Documentary Association’s head of Fiscal Sponsorship Bethany Wearden. The day finished with a workshop exploring the impact of documentaries that inspire audience and community impact with Red Owl Partners.

Mid-week the conference handed the reins over to experts at the UCLA Documentary Film Legal Clinic, featuring comprehensive breakdowns of waterfall agreements, fair use and licensing considerations, archival best practices and risk assessment during production. Funded by the generous support of the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, sessions involved members from FRONTLINE and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and included legal case studies and important insights in filmmaker sustainability and legal considerations for up-and-coming independent filmmakers.

The final day of conference sessions began with a pivotal conversation with Filmmakers With Disabilities (FWD-Doc) and the Asian American Documentary Network (A-Doc) on the ways filmmakers can expand their audience and strengthen their storytelling by building in accessibility and inclusion into the filmmaker process. Brett Story kicked off the afternoon with a master class on the Aesthetics of Political Cinema, and the final day of sessions concluded with a sought-after discussion with documentary funders and distributors on the state of the documentary marketplace.

Day five of DocShop included a full day of project pitches of ten works-in-progress documentary projects for the Big Sky Pitch. 

Browse the photos below (hover and click for caption) to learn more about moments and ideas exchanged at DocShop 2025.