inside otv | 2023
Development Report Cycle 8
BY AYMAR JÈAN CHRISTIAN
Associate Professor, Northwestern University,
Co-Founder & Board Treasurer
&
ELIJAH MCKINNON
Co-Founder & Executive Director
2023 was a year of sustained expansion. Armed with a refined strategic vision, we were able to scale our programs with intention, cultivate great perspective on the film/tv industry and deepen our footprint locally, nationally and globally both online and virtually. We made great progress towards our stated goal of integrating our marquee programs so they support each other and deepen the impact of our artist and community development pipelines.
As we approach our 10-year anniversary in 2025, we’re learning in real-time how OTV’s programs diversify and deepen the cultural specificity and expand the power of film/TV storytelling. Until increasing our staff capacity and refining the focus of our intended impact we’ve been limited in our ability to scale. 2023 provided us with the much needed runway for us to continue this work through 2024 and beyond.
As a reminder, OTV’s platform – our mobile/TV app and in-person exhibitions—distribute stories cultivated by OTV’s three programs: OTV Fellows, offering professional development and project support to emerging-experienced creators; OTV Study Hall, training emerging filmmakers in basic skills or supporting filmmakers in refining skills they may not have training in; Brave Futures, training storytellers in Europe (Berlin, London), Africa (South Africa), or Central America (Mexico) by producing, editing and exhibiting, with support of OTV staff, a short film within one weekend.
Our pipeline of new > emerging > experienced storytellers builds to the release of their fully produced films and series on our app and in exhibitions around the world. Through the continued support of our partners and the commitment from our community, we have been able to exceed our goals and expectations during 2023. An overview of the highlights can be found summarized below.
#otvapp
ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING
Launched at the tail end of 2020, the OTV APP brings all of our intersectional stories from our catalog to a beautifully designed interface available via Apple, Android, Roku and FireTV. Central to our mission of supporting narrative film/TV artists who have few other institutions to support them, releasing original programming also helps us attract new members/subscribers to our app. With a streamlined artist development pipeline and expanded budget in 2023, we were able to achieve a 30% increase in our subscriber base. Content is released four times throughout the year through intentionally curated drops by our development and exhibition departments.
The acquisition portal is open year-round for submissions and is reviewed every 4-6 weeks in anticipation for an upcoming drop. Over the course of 2023, we were able to take a more deliberate approach to our slate curation. Thanks to an increase in staff capacity, resources and deeper strategic oversight our development team was able to engage in lead generation by cultivating relationships with artists discovered through film festivals, peer organizations and across a variety of indie film/tv communities. These efforts culminated in over 40 titles being distributed via the #OTVAPP, totaling over 25 hours of intersectional stories from the United States, Africa, Europe and Asia. In addition to being one of our largest exhibition cycles, this intentional approach to content acquisition contributed to over 1,500 hundred hours being consumed with the top audiences coming from the United States, Brazil and South Africa.
After piloting out intimate in-person screenings between 2021-2022 we re-introduced our public programming initiative in 2023 with a focus on building a stronger bridge between Chicago and our global community. Two sold-out showcases (film premieres) were hosted at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and Gene Siskel Film Center, helping to cultivate space for community connection while also helping to generate buzz for upcoming programs and artist development opportunities available to our community. This strategy not only helped with engaging new audiences it further proved our commitment to artistic vitality and innovative approaches to identifying, activating and mobilizing the next generation of storytellers.
#otvfellows
Launched in 2019, the OTV FELLOWSHIP program identifies and activates emerging storytellers ready to create a sustainable career in the film/TV industry through stipends, mentorship and consultation. In 2023, we welcomed the fifth cohort of the program! OTV FELLOWS identifies and supports promising independent writers, directors and producers. In addition to offering training to artists in the fundamentals of project and career development, we also offer stewardship as they embark on careers in the entertainment industry.
Applications are accepted in Q1 of each year and the program starts in Q2, ending officially by the close of the year but extending as long as the artist needs support. In anticipation of the Hollywood strike that took place for the majority of 2023, we preemptively decided to shift the focus of the fellowship to support the development process. In particular, we modified the curriculum to focus on inclusive screenwriting and pitching so that intersectional storytellers had the dedicated opportunity and space to engage in charting their independent development journey.
Due to the success from our national expansion in 2022 (2/4 fellows debuted their projects at prestigious film festivals, 1 securing a development deal with Netflix and helping land a fellowship with the legendary TV screenwriter / producer Mara Brock Akil), we piloted the expansion of the fellowship program internationally. Private invitations were sent to over 150 artists from Central America, Europe and South Africa that have participated in a Brave Futures competition. In addition to this, we expanded the seats from four to seven (five from the US, one from South Africa and one from England). In addition to securing a $5,000 stipend, fellows received access to monthly creative writing circles facilitated by Jess King author of Inclusive Screenwriting for Film and Television, an innovative breakdown and analysis that interrogates how screenplays can be written to reflect the diverse life experiences of real people.
#otvstudyhall
Launched in 2020, OTV STUDY HALL is a masterclass-styled series of film/TV industry courses designed exclusively for intersectional writers, directors and producers that are hungry to expand their knowledge. These virtual classes are designed to develop strong writers, directors and independent producers who identify with multiple communities that have been historically marginalized in film and television. Coursework includes project and career development strategies as well as instruction on production, exhibition, and marketing skills.
OTV Study Hall has been offered free to community members but also drives revenue as a product included in an OTV app membership. The courses compete with the high cost of film school; it improves on university programs by offering courses about both art and business and by employing more diverse instructors who speak to how historically marginalized artists can navigate systems designed to exclude them. In 2023, we chose larger, broader topics to be broken down into smaller, bite-sized content that had increased audience engagement and retention.
Since launching a course led by long-time supporter of OTV Chase Joynt in Q4 of 2022 and OTV Artist Alumni Dewayne Perkins and Q1 of 2023 we’ve seen a 35 % increase in our subscriber base in the first four months of release. Each lesson is married with course materials for participants to walk-away with and develop on their own time. Through the popular success of Dewayne Perkins' release we were invited by Lionsgate to host a sold-out preview of his film, The Blackening at AMC Chicago. This further helped to amplify OTV’s platform amongst community members and engage aspirational storytellers interested in breaking into the industry.
#bravefutures
Launched in 2019, the BRAVE FUTURES FILM RACE is a 48-hour intersectional film competition that challenges creatives, storytellers and filmmakers to create a film that makes their world more brave. Using one intersectional theme, one prop and one action participants pre-register for free online for a chance to compete, with strong prioritization for intersectional identities. First held in Johannesburg and Berlin, the race was held in the US in 2020 (Atlanta, Oakland and Brooklyn), Guadalajara in (2021), London, (2022) and Cape Town(2023). This component of OTV programming functions on multiple levels; extending the breadth of outreach and community building to other markets both nationally and internationally, cultivating opportunity for creatives in a meaningful way who live beyond the scope of OTV’s Chicago based hyperlocal offerings, while furthering the brand and its visibility not only for audiences but artists in need of greater access to opportunity.
Brave Futures exports OTV’s values to other markets in need of alternative outlets where artists are ready to engage a platform designed to include and support them. Since its launch in late 2019, the Brave Futures program has empowered over 150 filmmakers across various levels of expertise to develop, produce and release 24 short-films; all films are distributed via the OTV App with many securing exhibitions in museums, festivals and cultural institutions. Hosting Brave Futures in London (Q4 2022) and Cape Town (Q1 2023) helped to not only increase our audience and platform globally but also helped us identify new talent for the OTV Fellowship (the first members of the OTV Fellowship global cohort were selected from these two cities).
#otvstudio
Soft-launched at the tail-end of 2022, the OTV STUDIO is a physical space and one-stop shop for intersectional artists seeking to build their community, sharpen their media production skills, expand their film/TV knowledge, and so much more. We built this space to serve as an intersectional production hub of media-making for artists with their creative visions at the center of their practice.
Located in the colorful neighborhood of Humboldt Park, the 3,000 sq ft storefront studio is located on the ground floor of a flex-use space and features 2 wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, kitchenette, two entrances, an editing bay, a shared washer/dryer, and a finished basement that includes a gear room and a 10-seat cinema room.
Through the expansion of our team and the activation of a lottery-styled, first-come-first-served form we were able to make the space available to OTV’s robust community of artists and partners through low-to-no costs rentals and bookings. The space officially launched to the public in Q2 of 2023 with the primary opportunities for activities: Table Reads, Rehearsals, Casting Calls or Relative Gathering, Team Meetings, Retreats or Co-working, Private Screenings & Intimate Gatherings, and Micro-Productions (<10 people). In addition to this, we’ve begun to pilot a residency program that will provide smaller film organizations and collectives with access to short-term leases so that they can host meetings, events and small-scale productions. The current film organization in residence is OTV’s long standing partner, Mezcla Media Collective.
organizational development
OTV continues to thrive while growing and adapting to the ever changing film/TV and media landscape. Now in our 9th year, we have cultivated a balance between organizational efficiencies and our programmatic offering to creatives, filmmakers and storytellers. 2023 provided a great opportunity for us to streamline our artist development and community development pipelines, ensuring that we are identifying, activating and mobilizing the next generation of storytellers who are unafraid to embrace cultural difference and empowered to navigate complex systems to ensure their stories are told authentically. Through the continued support of our funding partners we exceeded all of our anticipated goals for the year.
Practically speaking, we hired our first full-time coordinator-level positions to support our full-time department Heads of Artist Development & Production and Marketing & Exhibition. Prior to this grant, our departments were doing the entirety of the work to serve our storytellers and promote their stories. Since August 2023, our coordinators have already planned our 8-year anniversary party at the OTV Studio, supported our department Heads in planning our sold-out fall premiere showcase at Gene Siskel Theatre and supported the launch of Pitch, Please! — a creative launch pad exclusively available to #OTVFellows to help push their projects further through an indie development pipeline.
We are continuing to prove the durability of our model: developing enough programming to serve our membership base large enough to contribute meaningfully to our revenue, so that we can continue to deliver intentional impact to the careers of intersectional storytellers. This additional staff capacity has assisted in increasing the capacity of our staff, which in turn has increased the capacity of our executive director to focus on expanding the board, managing fundraising, and strategic planning as we enter our 10-year anniversary in 2025.
It’s important to note that our organization also underwent extensive strategic planning efforts ahead of expanding our team. This included but was not limited to a 6-month succession planning project led by the Arts and Business Council of Chicago to better understand our organization structure, depth chart and core functions/KPI’s of each staff member. Additionally, we opted out of a traditional strategic planning effort and underwent a 3-month strategic visioning initiative that consisted of several listening sessions hosted with key partners, artists and industry professionals to gain clarity on the way OTV’s model and theory of change is poised for intentional scale and industry transformation. This effort served as a board recruitment strategy and has helped to identify ways for stakeholders to further invest in our mission. All of these activities have set the stage for airtight strategic priorities, governance expansion and a multi-million dollar fundraiser to secure the future of intersectional storytelling by independent creators in 2024-2025.
audience snapshot
We executed all our proposed programs to the highest degree of quality based on past performance. Our content library is growing—representing ways we support diverse storytellers with funding, training, career and audience development—and we are maintaining quality in terms of audience engagement, production value and critical attention. Our social media following continues to grow, where our followers increased by around 20% across Instagram, LinkedIn and X from the previous year. Through our live engagements we showcased our work to over 1500 people and through our app we engaged nearly 10,000 unique users. Overall, OTV’s subscriber base grew over 30% in 2023. We track several metrics to assess our annual performance and impact.
Numbers of artists supported via their projects: Our total programming output continues to grow through original program distribution, showcase/screenings and our short film race. In 2023, we supported over 275 artists directly and an estimated 1250 artists indirectly through our artist development pipelines which include project consultations, development programs and digital distribution. On the community front, we have served an estimated 1500 community members in-person and 10,000 digitally through public activations, screenings & exhibitions and coalition building initiatives. A snapshot of our live engagements from 2023 at the local, national and international level can be found highlighted below:
Chicago community members engaged: In person in Chicago, OTV offers a space for storytellers and their teams to come together to celebrate completing a project. We host a spring and fall showcase to screen new works, bringing together different writers, directors, actors and crew members to enjoy each others’ works. We find these benefit our community by making new connections, which can lead to new stories about Chicago communities and job opportunities. In 2023, we reintroduced public programming at cultural institutions and at the OTV Studio. Through this we engaged around 500 people (a sizable increase since scaling back our public programs between 2020-2022)
National community engaged: Nationally, participated in several film festivals, industry gatherings and networking events. This brings capacity to the organization by securing relationships for peer mentorship, artist development and board recruitment while also reminding established writers and directors of their connection to Chicago and each other. In addition, we also showcased our New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Miami and New Orleans in collaboration with other media nonprofits in Chicago and throughout the United States. Through these combined efforts we engaged around 750 people.
International community engaged: Internationally, we produced another installment of our “Brave Futures” short film race, this time in Cape Town, which was an incredible success, not only yielding six new stories we can distribute but also support community/audience development in South Africa, the third largest consumer of our content behind the United States and Brazil. Through these efforts we engaged around 250 people.
Numbers of artists supported via their projec
closing reflections
We are continuing to adapt to a constantly changing media and tech environment while also learning that we are a small organization in an ecosystem where spaces like ours are not structurally supported. This proposes a threat to not only or impact but also the narrative change sectors. As one of the only Black and queer-led non-profit streaming platforms and media incubators in the country, if not the world, it is imperative that we scale with intent to ensure our longevity.
Practically, in the short term, we hope to continue onboarding our two new coordinators so that they are able to take on more of an autonomous and self-governed role within the organization. With greater responsibility passed to these roles it is also important that we dedicate adequate resources to the continued professional development of OTV’s leadership team who is also actively learning about the shifts in the film/tv industry in real-time. We have learned that while this increased capacity is needed and welcome, we will need additional support if we are to achieve our most ambitious goals of cultivating a large enough membership base to start to wean ourselves off foundation funding and integrate a more diversified mix of income.
Programmatically speaking, we have learned that our OTV Study Hall is best served by having teachers who have a following and a recently wide-released film or television project. Thankfully, several of our alums have either or both, in addition to our larger network of artists. We have also learned that the future of success of OTV Fellows hinges on our ability to sustain cohort behavior that cultivates true and authentic community over hyper-productivity. This impacts our ability to grow and expand into new markets through our Brave Futures program where establishing trust and authentic connections take time, which ultimately helps us to identify, activate and mobilize the next generation of storytellers that may not be in our immediate network.
We are learning and adapting to the reality that charitable giving may not be enough to sustain our organization over the long-term. As such, we are building coalitions with several local, regional and national networks looking to build collective capacity across BIPOC-run film, media and arts organizations. We are involved in the Chicago Media Coalition with three other local organizations and presenting a pitch to impact investors for a pooled fund to support us in collaborating to create revenue-generating productions, and we are in the third year of a national coalition, Twenty43 Ventures, that is further along in developing a collective studio for BIPOC film, television, theater, VR/XR and literature. Finally, in collaboration with our co-founder’s Media and Data Equity Lab at Northwestern University and Detroit Narrative Agency, we are working to understand BIPOC film/media organizations in the Midwest, culminating in a convening of leading organizations to discuss potential collaborations in 2026.
