Charlie Phillips is the Marketplace Director for Sheffield Doc/Fest, co-ordinating the MeetMarket, a unique opportunity for filmmakers and digital media producers to present their most innovative and passionate ideas to commissioners, buyers, funders and distributors. He also runs all other marketplace activities at Sheffield Doc/Fest, including public pitches, industry meetings, matchmaking and mentoring sessions, and year-round workshops. Before that, he was the Editor of FourDocs, Channel 4’s BAFTA-winning online documentary channel, and he continues to bring an interactive and cross-platform perspective to Sheffield’s marketplace activities.

In his 5 years at Doc/Fest, MeetMarket has become one of the world’s top 3 events for documentary financing, introducing pitches and conference sessions on new forms of funding and distribution, and leading factual industry thinking on these areas, especially crowdfunding and the integration of digital technology.

Charlie has initiated and carried out a year-round training programme of workshops to train UK-wide producers and directors in how to pitch for, and obtain, international financing, including how to coproduce, how to present your ideas, and how to understand multi-platform rights. These workshops include extensive guides to online and alternative financing and distribution, including crowdfunding, foundation funding, 3rd sector and brand funding, self-distribution, non-theatrical distribution, online distribution, social network marketing, building movements and communities around films, and having social impact.

Charlie advises documentary makers year round on how to develop and present ideas for the best creative and financial impact, helping develop their ideas in order to pitch them to commissioners and other funders, and to have maximum impact in their distribution strategies.