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Access is Everything

Discover the essential skills for building meaningful relationships with documentary subjects, from making initial connections to earning trust throughout production. Develop a practical access plan for a current or future project, with strategies for identifying contributors, making first contact, and sustaining those relationships.

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  • Small class sizes
  • 18 and older
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  • 87 Lafayette St, New York, NY
  • 6 hours over 2 sessions

Express Checkout – $225

Wed. Nov 4, 2026, 6pm ET (2 sessions)


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  • Wed, Nov 04 at 6:00pm - 9:00pm
  • Wed, Nov 11 at 6:00pm - 9:00pm
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Class Description

Description

This workshop addresses something that is central to documentary filmmaking but rarely taught directly: how you find the right people for your film, how you persuade them to participate, and how you sustain that relationship through a long and often difficult production. Access is where a lot of documentary projects succeed or fail - unlike drama, our stories are made or broken by the real people in them. Securing and maintaining trust is a skill that takes years to develop, and one of the areas where a working director with significant platform experience can offer something genuinely useful.

Each participant leaves with a concrete, written access plan for a current or planned project - covering their target contributors, a first-contact strategy, and an outline of how they will manage those relationships through production. Developed through in-class exercises and refined through peer and instructor feedback in the final session.

Topics:

  • Identifying and casting contributors
  • Making first contact and building trust
  • Negotiating access with institutions, gatekeepers, and reluctant subjects
  • Ethical responsibilities to the people at the center of your film

Refund Policy

If you register for a workshop and are unable to attend, we can offer the following compensation:

  • Full refund (less 5% cancellation fee):
    • If your cancellation is confirmed at least 6 full business days prior to workshop's start date.
  • Full credit (valid for 3 months) or a 50% refund:
    • If your cancellation is confirmed at least 3 full business days prior to workshop's start date.
  • You receive no compensation (neither refund nor credit):
    • If your cancellation is confirmed less than 3 full business days prior to workshop's start date.
    • No compensation (Neither Refund nor Credit) is available for cancellations less than 3 full business days prior to a workshop's start time or for non-attendance. For example, if you cancel your registration for a workshop that starts at 6:30pm on Monday, we must confirm your cancellation no later than 6:30pm the Thursday before for you to receive Credit.

There are absolutely no make-ups allowed for any missed session(s) of a workshop. It is not possible for students to make up a missed session of their Workshop by attending an equivalent session on another day. There are no refunds for missed sessions.

In any event where a customer wants to cancel their enrollment and is eligible for a full refund, a 5% processing fee will be deducted from the refund amount.

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DCTV is a non-profit media arts center in NYC that offers affordable workshops, production equipment, and space rentals for independent filmmakers. They provide a variety of hands-on digital filmmaking and media arts workshops in a convenient and accessible training facility.

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DCTV
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