Jane Jankovic, commissioning editor of TVO’s POV strand The View From Here, details the state of the Canadian public broadcaster and what type of docs she’s looking for. Jankovic is also supervising producer for the international documentary strand Human Edge and the arts strand Masterworks.

What is the biggest challenge you face at TVO?

I think all broadcasters who want to make original Canadian documentaries are really feeling the crunch in that there just aren’t enough dollars out there. If the budgets keep going up, we have to make hard decisions about how many projects we can take on, if we can take on any at all. We can’t support all the good ideas that are out there, so we have to get even more particular about the kinds of projects that we’re willing to take on, especially if our investment has to get bigger in each project because there isn’t enough funding to help the broadcasters fill out their budgets.

What is the commissioning strategy for The View From Here strand?

We’re looking for contemporary Canadian social issues that we can examine though a point-of-view perspective. We’re looking at intimate stories that exemplify a larger issue. We are especially interested in an issue that is unfolding, rather than a historical context.

And for the other two strands?

For Human Edge we are again looking for POV documentaries that explore big issues through small examples, whether it’s [about] a small village or a family, a particular election or protest. It’s the human stories that make those situations happen for better or for worse. In our arts strand Masterworks, we’re looking for stories that look at art as social history, so we’re looking at either artists or a body of work that help us understand who we are.

What’s the balance of commissions and acquisitions?

For Human Edge and Masterworks, they’re predominantly acquisitions – probably 65-35 – more than prebuys. We do have some acquisitions on The View From Here – docs that were not shown anywhere else on any other broadcaster – and the rest of them would be commissions. If they’re commissions, we go for North American rights. If they’re acquisitions, we can sometimes do just Canadian rights.

What’s your advice to producers pitching to you for the first time?

Be clear on what you want to say with this story. Have a sense of how you’d like to tell it. It gives me an idea of what kind of a storyteller you are by giving an example of a treatment. I love stories that take you on this ride and you don’t know what it’s going be at the end, but it has this beginning, middle and end. If you can convey that kind of storytelling skill, then I’ve got a lot of time and patience for you.

What’s next for The View From Here?

I’m hoping that we’ll be able to provide some edgy programming, documentaries that you’re not going to see on other broadcasters, and an expansion to new media in a way that we’re really excited about. We’re looking forward to when we can start documentary storytelling online as well as on air. I don’t mean just DVD extras; I mean actual documentaries that really test the new platforms and present new ways in which we can tell stories.