Deadline: 29 May 2020
The Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia encourages U.S. organizations to apply for the 2020 Television Cooperative Program (TV CO-OP) to assist a Georgian television company in producing feature stories or/and a documentary under the generic working title ‘Emergency Preparedness and Response.
PAS expects the selected Georgian TV crew to produce either two 15-minute feature stories or a documentary upon their return to Georgia. The Georgian TV crew – one journalist and one cameraman - will provide all necessary filming equipment, work on post-production, and air the final product. The grant recipient organization is expected to coordinate all logistics and the program development plan - to include a shooting schedule, a list of interviews, a U.S. domestic travel itinerary, and other related details, in coordination with PAS. The recipient’s involvement in production/post-production is not required but desirable. A PAS staffer will escort the crew to the United States and provide interpretation as necessary.
This TV CO-OP project is built on the U.S. Embassy’s intrinsic interest in seeing Georgia succeed as an independent, economically viable country,well-prepared to function effectively to mitigate any emergency be it natural or caused by cyber attacks. Therefore, PAS envisages two feature stories with two storylines highlighted in the CO-OP’s final broadcast products: emergency preparedness/response and cyber security threat mitigation, with elements on media ethics in both.
All this will be conducive to efficient government performance, higher civic responsibility, and the improvement of media’s ethical standards. Optionally, these themes may also be addressed in a single documentary film, with two respective thematic arcs, and an add-on theme on media ethics. PAS also expects the selected Georgian television company to use different social media channels to multiply the reach and the effect of the program.
Goal and Objectives
The TV CO-OP’s primary goal is to highlight ways to plan and coordinate emergency preparedness and response, to mitigate the damage inflicted by cyber attacks, and to better understand the media’s role and responsibilities in reporting on these topics. The selected Georgian media outlet will commit to place the information in a Georgian context to facilitate the enhancement this TV CO-OP’s influence on viewers.
The CO-OP has two objectives:
- Raise Georgian public awareness about America’s approach to emergency response, the limitation of cyber security risks, and media ethics in covering these issues – all to be reflected in the final cut of a television product;
- Support the professional development of the participating Georgian journalists. The project will award up to $50,000 to cover the costs of a two-week intensive filming tour for a Georgian crew, including one journalist and one cameraman.
Focus Areas
PAS suggests the Program focus on :
- Primary theme:The U.S. Government’s rapid response mechanisms to emergencies;
- Secondary theme: The Government’s policy for mitigating cyber security threats, as malicious cyber activities not only threaten the economy but also the very functioning of Georgia’s democracy, freedom and values.
As an add-on to the themes, it is desirable that the Program also highlight the role of the media in covering the events connected to the identified themes. PAS will nominate a Georgian television company for participation. The call for applicants envisages the submission of a proposal describing how the grant recipient organization could connect a Georgian television crew with relevant subject matter experts from government, academia, NGO‘s and other interlocutors, who would then be interviewed on camera. The applicants should also be able to facilitate location scouting, shooting logistics, and provide all necessary logistical support.
Funding Information
The project will award up to $50,000 to cover the costs o f a two-week intensive filming tour for the Georgian crew, including one journalist and one cameraman.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligibility is limited to U.S. media organizations, film studios, production companies and non-profit/non-governmental organizations.
- Direct funding for non-U.S. entities is not available under this announcement.
- Applicants’ proposals should include provisions that facilitate filming at different locations, taping interviews with officials including disaster response officers, subject matter experts, and other relevant stakeholders in the United States. The locations and shooting plan will be worked out together with PAS and the grant recipient organization.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=325987