Starter Kit. Idea 382 of 500. Cluster 19
Documentary production about the island's own stories, sold to the streaming platforms
The mechanism, from the book
Eight World Heritage Sites and 2,300 years of records, and the country's story is told to the world by other people.
The first step
Choose one story from your district that nobody has filmed properly, and shoot a 3-minute trailer on a phone with the people who know it. Send the link to three commissioning editors or producers who buy factual content, with a short note on what the full film would show. Their response, a meeting, a note or a price, is your proof.
- Who pays first
- A streaming platform or broadcaster abroad looking for original factual stories from a country it has little footage of.
- What leaves today
- The island's stories are told to the world by other people; a local production company owns the rights and keeps the income.
Ask first
- Department of Cultural Affairs. Ask whether any support exists for films about the island's own stories.
- Department of Archaeology. Ask what permission is needed to film at heritage sites.
Check before you spend
Signed releases from everyone filmed, permission for music and archive footage, and site filming permits, before anything is offered to a buyer.
Find out these three numbers
- What do commissioning editors pay for a factual film?
- Which stories have buyers already turned down?
- What would the full film cost to make?
A comparison from the book
The Matterhorn. Chapter Five
"It is famous because for 160 years, people have worked, very deliberately, to make it"
Fame is built on purpose; tell the island's stories yourself rather than leave them to others.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.