CityHealth, an initiative of the de Beaumont Foundation and Kaiser Permanente, is seeking an experienced videographer/production company to help us produce two (2) 4-8 minute videos in Boston, Massachusetts, and New Orleans, Louisiana, telling a tight, simple story about how those cities adopted innovative local housing policies and the impact those policies have on residents and communities.
The videographer/production company will have experience producing short narrative videos and is available to travel to Boston and New Orleans; is comfortable conducting interviews on their own (with logistical support and scripted guidance from CityHealth); can capably shoot compelling b-roll (including of rental housing, street scenes, municipal court buildings, etc.) to focus on people and housing; can edit the final product, can move quickly and lightly with simple setups, and can think and adapt on the fly to unearth and follow an emerging story.
Background
CityHealth works with national partners, including the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (NCCRC), to encourage America’s largest cities to adopt and implement healthy policies. Several policies are designed to improve renter conditions and create healthier, more livable communities: Legal Support for Renters and Healthy Rental Housing. Legal Support for Renters, also known as a tenant right to counsel, has been successfully implemented in New Orleans, and guarantees legal representation for tenants facing eviction. Healthy Rental Housing, which has been successfully adopted in Boston, requires proactive rental inspections to ensure renters have access to safe and healthy housing conditions.
Our goals for the project are to:
- Celebrate strong Legal Support for Renters and Healthy Rental Housing policies in New Orleans and Boston; learn about what factors led to their adoption; and spotlight some of the people involved in passing and implementing them.
- Gain a better understanding of what makes these policies successful in creating safer, healthy housing.
- Show the connection between Legal Support for Renters and Healthy Rental Housing and housing equity.
- Highlight the need for strong policies as a tool to improve housing conditions for renters.
- Tell the stories of renters impacted by evictions or unsafe housing and how these policies improved their health.
Desired Final Product
The final product will be two short films (4-8 min max) that will tell why these policies were needed; show how these places adopted and implemented Legal Support for Renters and Healthy Rental Housing policies; include interviews with high-level elected officials, including the mayor or public health leaders; and show the impact of these policies on renters.
Travel
Travel to the cities will be an essential part of this project. CityHealth staffers may be on site to help coordinate and produce.
Coordination with CityHealth
CityHealth will be doing the bulk of the legwork to identify contacts for interviews, arrange logistics for interviews, develop scripted questions to ask, and provide an overall desired narrative for each story in advance, which can be developed in cooperation with the videographer (feedback will be welcome!). Similar examples can be found in these CityHealth-produced videos looking at safe streets policies in Tuscon, Pittsburgh, and Louisville.
Budget
- Our working assumption for each city is approximately two shooting days: one day to shoot interviews and a second day to shoot street scenes and/or b-roll content from around the city
- Our budget range for each video (including editing the final product which can potentially be farmed out to a separate editor instead) is $10,000-$15,000.
- Exclusive rights will be assigned to CityHealth, though you retain rights for any personal or professional use.
Desired qualifications
- A proven ability to communicate complex policies into simple, understandable videos accessible to a wide range of audiences.
- Basic understanding of health/housing policies as well as a readiness to listen and learn more.
- Quality portfolio of videos designed to educate and demonstrate a need for change.
- Experience creating art that communicates the equity implications of policy or decision-making, and that accurately depicts a range of demographics including people of color.
How to submit a proposal
Please send to codirectors@cityhealth.org:
- A short one- or half-page letter describing your approach and interest in the project
- A draft budget for the project
- Some samples of recent work.
- We’d love to see your work that best lines up with our goals for these videos, namely a complex subject rendered clearly and understandably, comparable in length (less than 10 minutes), work done for non-profits, etc.
Timing
CityHealth would like to have completed videos by November 2023.
