Time Warner : HBO Documentary Films and IFP Announce IFP/HBO New True Stories Funding Initiative

NEW YORK - HBO and the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) today announced the IFP/HBO New True Stories Funding Initiative, a new fund that will identify and nurture storytellers with fresh and compelling perspectives as they develop their work. The initiative seeks to support and foster relationships with new voices in a range of formats, cultivating adventurous and diverse new storytelling and storytellers.

HBO will sponsor grants for multi-format, non-fiction storytellers with development funds at the earliest stage of bringing new work to a visual format. The initiative will identify a wide variety of emerging filmmakers and journalists working across a spectrum of non-fiction genres, including print, audio and video, and will support storytellers in developing their work visually via short-form, feature-length and serialized content.

'We are excited to be expanding our partnership with HBO Documentary Films to include joint programmatic support for filmmakers and content creators on this important initiative,' says Joana Vicente, executive director of IFP. 'HBO has been a longtime supporter of the IFP, and with HBO Docs' rich history of championing non-fiction work, this grant will allow us to continue a strong tradition of supporting projects that are exploring even broader, new formats in non-fiction media.'

'The HBO Documentary Films team is thrilled to be partnering with IFP on this exciting new initiative,' state Nancy Abraham and Lisa Heller, executive vice presidents of HBO Documentary and Family Programming. 'Our team has a long history of working closely with IFP, which has an amazing capacity for identifying and supporting emerging talent with fresh ideas, and we're honored to work with them to discover some exciting new voices coming from the non-fiction field.'

Submissions are considered on a rolling basis by a team of curators identifying and recommending work. Funding for the initiative is sponsored by HBO Documentary Films and initial grant amounts are dependent on the scale and scope of the projects selected. For more information, visit IFP.org.

ABOUT HBO
HBO® is one of the most respected and innovative entertainment brands in the world, serving iconic, award-winning programming to 142 million subscribers globally. A subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc., HBO is the world's most successful pay TV service with an extensive array of programming that includes some of the most notable titles to be on television including Game of Thrones®, Big Little Lies®, Westworld®, The Sopranos®, Sex and the City®, Band of Brothers®, and The Wire®. In the United States, HBO and sister network Cinemax® are available across multiple platforms including HBO On Demand®, Cinemax On Demand®, HBO GO® and MAX GO®, as well as HBO NOW®. Internationally, HBO branded services, including television networks and the standalone streaming product HBO GO, are available in more than 70 countries across Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. HBO and Cinemax programming is also sold into more than 150 countries worldwide.

ABOUT THE IFP
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) champions the future of storytelling by connecting artists with essential resources at all stages of development and distribution. The organization fosters a vibrant and sustainable independent storytelling community through its year-round programs, which include IFP Week, IFP Labs (Film, Series & Audio Storytelling), Filmmaker Magazine, IFP Gotham Awards and the Made in NY Media Center by IFP, a tech and media incubator space developed with the New York Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment.