The Cost of Docs 2026

The Whickers, in partnership with Sheffield DocFest, is conducting our ninth annual Cost of Docs survey to find the true cost of documentary making across today’s fast changing world.

This survey will take approximately 25 minutes to complete and as a thank you, your details will be entered into our prize draw. The lucky winner will win 2 complimentary full industry tickets to Sheffield DocFest 2027. For full information on the festival, check out this year's edition at Sheffield DocFest 2026. This will be for you and a friend to attend the UK's leading documentary festival. As well as all screenings, the pass will also give you access to all talks, networking drinks and parties in the industry schedule. There will also be a SMASH MEDIA PRO account up for grabs, so make sure to leave your email address if you would like to to be entered into this fantastic draw.

The results will be published anonymously and will be available at our discretion to academics or policy makers upon request. Your answers will also feed into the planning of The Whickers' Film and TV Funding Award. We may anonymously publish your comments in our Cost of Docs survey. If you have any questions about this survey please email info@whickerawards.com.

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* 1. What is your role? (Tick all that apply)

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* 2. How long have you worked in the documentary field?

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* 3. Which of the following best describes your documentary training?

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* 4. Where do you live?

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* 5. For which medium do you make documentaries? (Tick all that apply)

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* 6. In fewer than seven words, why do you make documentaries?

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* 7. Are you currently working on a documentary?

NB. For the following questions, if you have worked on more than one documentary in the last two years please answer the questions with the most recent documentary in mind.

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* 8. If you have completed a documentary in the last two years or are currently making one, were you/are you...

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* 9. If you have completed a documentary in the last two years, how long did it take to finish (from development to delivery)?

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* 10. Of that period, how many actual days were spent working on the documentary? (Not including time spent on other projects or on jobs outside of the documentary)

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* 11. What was the duration of the above completed documentary?

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* 12. If you had paid yourself what you consider an appropriate wage for all of these days of work, what would your time have cost?

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* 13. Were you paid this amount?

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* 14. What percentage of the time spent working on the project were you paid for?

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* 15. Was this documentary made for... (Tick all that apply)

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* 16. How much was spent on the project? Or if the film in question is not yet finished, what is your total projected budget?

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* 17. Have you ever applied for funding from any of the following? (Tick all that apply)

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* 18. If yes, how much funding did you hope for?

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* 19. How much funding did you receive?

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* 20. If you were offered funding, what kind of involvement did the funder require? (Tick all that apply)

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* 21. Have you secured a sales/distribution deal?

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* 22. If yes, can you tell us who the sales/distribution organisation is?

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* 23. Have you or are you intending to pay any money up front to the sales/distribution organisation?

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* 24. What is the sales/distribution organisation taking in return?

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* 25. How satisfied are you with this arrangement?

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* 26. In the last documentary you did, did you find you were being required to make payments to any organisation which you had not foreseen?

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* 27. Are you a member of any of these organisations supporting documentary makers?(Tick all that apply)

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* 28. If applicable, approximately how many days of work in total, including the editing of teaser material, do you spend on a single funding application?

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* 29. Have you used a crowdfunding platform to raise finance for a documentary?

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* 30. If you answered yes to the previous question, what percentage of your budget was raised via crowdfunding?

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* 31. Have you previously worked with a co-producer(s)? Please briefly comment on the experience.

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* 32. Have you ever participated in a public pitch at a documentary film festival forum or market?

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* 33. If yes, did this lead to funding for your film? Please comment briefly on how this experience impacted your project. 

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* 34. Has a documentary that you have worked on ever been broadcast? If yes, where has this documentary been broadcast?

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* 35. Has it been made publicly available to a paying audience? (Tick all that apply)

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* 36. Did your last documentary involve... (Tick all that apply)

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* 37. Who paid for the majority of the elements in the last question?

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* 38. If you used filming equipment, which of the following did you use?

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* 39. If you have previously made a documentary comparable in scale and budget, do you think the following costs are increasing, decreasing or staying the same?

  Increasing Staying the same Decreasing N/A
Research and development
Pitching - including festival pass, trailer production
Filming - crew
Filming - equipment hire (incl. lighting, cameras, sound) 
Filming - insurance
Filming - facilitation fees/location fees
Translation costs
Editing - staff
Editing - facilities 
Archive costs
On screen talent
Soundtrack composition/music licensing 
Post production - colour grading and sound mix
Graphics
Travel
Security
Distribution
Publicity

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* 40. Is there anything that you have cut back on in order to reduce costs?

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* 41. To what extent has the rising cost of living impacted your ability to make documentaries?

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* 42. This question is about the emotional toll of documentary making. Thinking back to your last documentary, did you: (tick all that apply)

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* 43. What is the main challenge that you face as a documentary-maker?

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* 44. What would you like to see improve within the documentary film industry and how?

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* 45. Do you think the documentary industry is a safe space for you?

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* 46. What, if anything, are you most concerned about?

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* 47. Do you use artificial intelligence at any stage of your documentary making process?

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* 48. Would you like to be added to our mailing list and to be in with a chance of winning a complimentary pass to attend Sheffield Doc/Fest? If so, please provide your email address below.


ABOUT YOU

We would like to know more about who you are so that we have a better idea of who we are reaching with this Cost of Docs survey. If you are happy to do so, please complete the information below.

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* 49. Age

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* 50. Gender

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* 51. How would you describe your ethnic background?

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* 52. Do you consider yourself to have a disability?

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