WGBH, Boston’s premier public TV station and a flagship station on the PBS Network, has for years been at the forefront of  cutting-edge programming. For the last two years its 6:55 SHORTS  has provided niche filmmakers and videographers an outlet for short films and videos. Now with Open Call, ‘GBH is extending its outreach to media makers across the USA. 6:55 SHORTS, according to the organizers, “seeks big ideas for small screens.” Besides broadcast television, new venues for distribution include cell phones and  Portable Digital Assistants, or PDAs.

A scene for the short film THE POCKET, which was a WGBH Lab-commissioned short. Photo courtesy of WGBH.

Boston Media Productions,  a unit of WGBH, is commissioning three films in the Open Call (April 10 to May 26). Staffers at ‘GBH  will choose two short pitches and audiences will choose the other. Productions will launch in the Fall ’06 with financial ($2,500) and editorial support from the station. Renowned media makers will lend input and know-how during production, and in all likelihood the winning shorts will broadcast on the station in 2007.

WGBH senior producer Stephanie Stewart said that originally the pitches came from the New England region and numbered between 100 to 150 in the last two years. Now with 6:55 SHORTS expansion to a national audience, pitches are expected to climb. She and her group are looking for innovative pitches of four-to-seven-minute pieces. This time out the project is being taken to a new level through a partnership with Open Media Network (OMN), a free, Internet-based delivery of video and audio programming and related services to audiences seeking high quality educational, and socially conscientious programming.

Executive-in-charge of the station’s Media Productions Denise DiIanni has said,  “The partnership with OMN enables us to greatly expand our reach and to invite many more independent video makers into the public media mix.” Direct audience involvement is a key element in the new effort which, she thinks, will result in the creation of a new series to be made available on broadcast, broadband, and portable devices.

Pitches can take two forms: all must be pitched written in about 100 words; and, entrants can upload portions of a video in support of the written pitch. “You have to show us you have the capacity to make a film,” Stewart says. “There is an emphasis and preference on non-fiction subject matter because of WGBH’s experience in that field. We lean in the direction of documentary.” But, she adds, fictional pitches will not be ruled out. Also, there are no age restrictions and entrants can have any level of experience. 

Stewart says, “One of the things that’s interesting is that we’re trying to make these flexible materials: ideas that are short and get their point across in between four and seven minutes. What’s fun is that there’s still the television broadcast which is still a powerful venue. But there’s also the capacity to download these materials so they can be used on mobile devices. “If we come up with those kinds of ideas, then we can extend them to other uses. That’s the exciting part for me.”

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Writer-photographer Robert Pushkar’s features and photos appear in IMAGINE and in local, regional, and national publications. He may be contacted at rgp@robertpushkar.com