Pitches wanted (non-fiction media, documentary) (worldwide) | £150 per piece

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: NON-FICTION JOURNAL ISSUE #2 'NETWORK'  

Deadline: 24 July 2020

Non-Fiction is a bi-annual print journal from Open City Documentary Festival. You can read more about the publication here, and find details about the contents of the first issue here.

Each issue includes contributions on a theme. The theme for our second issue is NETWORK.

We are looking for proposals for (primarily text-based) responses to this theme that are related to non-fiction media (film, moving image, audio, VR/AR+ etc.), either new or older.

This might be: an essay on a work (or several works) that fit the theme; a report on how the theme was present at a non-fiction event or festival; an article about a trend in documentary; a personal story written in relation to a project that pertains to the theme; an article on a documentary figure, style or movement; an investigation into a technique, method or approach to making; something about the documentary industry or landscape; an essay on the theme; an interview or feature on someone; an conversation; a series of poems about the theme; a photo essay; a production diary; a manifesto; or even something else we haven’t yet thought about.

Loose interpretations of the theme are welcomed, rather than necessarily directly interpreting it. Article should not have been published elsewhere, and the proposal will need to relate to non-fiction media in some way.

We are looking to publish texts of up to 1500-2000 words in length. Our standard fee is £150.

Some ways that you might want to think about this theme are:

• communities, movements, groups and gatherings / forms of sociality and collectivity
• resistance networks, protest groups and aid organisations / networks of organising
• lines, routes, webs, veins, pathways, passages and tunnels / connections
• online networks / social networks / peer-to-peer networks / the dark web
• communications, broadcasts / sharing info and resources / distribution networks
• support networks, affective networks / peer groups / networking, making connections
• computational networks / neural networks, neurons and nodes / algorithms and data
• networked geographies, infrastructures, territories and topologies / a connected world
• systems, flows, movements / transport and travel networks / networked societies
• biological or ecological networks / families, histories, legacies / human connections

Please include a brief proposal (250 words max) for your idea, with an outline of the shape it would take and information on the non-fiction films, audio documentaries, cross-media projects etc. to which it relates, or the event / individual / something it is tied to. Please also include a short explanation of how it fits the theme, as well as 2 writing samples / links to published work..

Please send your pitches to us by July 24th at the latest. Selected contributors will have 4-6 weeks to complete their first draft, once confirmed. The first issue of Non-Fiction is available to purchase here. The second issue is due out in Autumn/Winter 2020.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

• Questions / submissions: matt@opencitylondon.com
• Website: https://opencitylondon.com/nonfictionjournal/

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: Non-Fiction is a new journal from Open City Documentary Festival. The publication aims to create a space for considered, critical and creative writing on non-fiction, featuring contributions offered in response to moving image, audio or cross-media, both contemporary and historical. More information here.
• Review the submission guidelines here.
• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts here and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook Database.