BPS 400: How I Made $100K+ Selling Stock Footage with James Forsher

Today on the show we have the Stock Footage Yoda James
Forsher. James has nearly forty years of experience in
producing, writing, and directing documentaries and television
commercials. Forsher's productions, ranging from half-hour shows to
feature-length documentaries, have aired on the Discovery Channel,
The Movie Channel, Cinemax, A & E, and PBS.Forsher's
productions range from this year's hour-long show Elvis and the
Girl from Vienna back to his 1977 documentary Conrad Hilton:
Insight into a Giant. Forsher has also taught film and video
production at the college and university level for nearly two
decades directed the broadcast program at California State
University, East Bay, and has taught communication courses as a
Fulbright Scholar in Europe.

His new book Stock Footage + Everything Under the Sun: Using
Archival Material to Make Your Good Film Great is the bible of
stock footage. It is the only book that gives an overview of
the use of archival footage and how it played an expanding and
crucial role in documentary and TV films. Readers learn how to
research images and clear the rights.

Part One is an overview of archival footage, reviewing
exactly what constitutes archival material and how it fits within
the broader history of film and TV production. It also introduces
the areas of research and legal parameters to the reader.

Part Two examines the variety of styles of entertainment
programming that use archival footage, including separate
sections on network magazine formats, cable reality shows,
webisodes, PBS documentaries, feature-length documentaries, and
how documentaries can sway public opinion. Each Part offers
interviews with experts who give a realistic idea of how they’ve
used stock footage in their own work.

Part Three covers Visual Literacy 101, a short course on how
to “read” a film. By looking at only a few seconds of footage,
one can deduce some very important facts about the film. This
part makes a detective out of any researcher or editor who is
determined to find the most authentic setting and context for
their film.

Part Four discusses how to use archival footage, writing a
script that includes archival material, editing archival
material, negotiating rights and budgeting constraints.

If you ever wanted to know how to get, use or sell stock and
archival footage for your film get ready to take notes.Enjoy my
conversation with James Forsher.

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