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Pitch teams meeting with decision makers
Photo by Murphy Owusu

Hot Docs Deal Maker is a one-on-one pitch meeting program for producers seeking financing and distribution from the international marketplace.

The most compelling projects were pre-selected for these valuable meetings with key broadcasters, online platforms, funds and foundations, distributors and sales agents, and other financiers. Projects at all stages—development, production and post-production—can apply to Deal Maker.

Hot Docs Deal Maker submissions are open for the 2025 Hot Docs Festival with a deadline 5:00 p.m. EST on Monday, January 13.

Applicants are encouraged to complete their applications themselves and not use Chat GPT or other forms of AI.

If you are employing AI for translation purposes, please note this in your submission. We encourage you to have these translated sections reviewed to ensure they clearly and accurately reflect your project.

SUBMIT NOW

PLEASE NOTE: Hot Docs Deal Maker and Works-in-Progress are the same application process. When applying, you can choose to apply for both.

Distribution Rendezvous has merged with Deal Maker. Projects that wish to meet with distributors and sales agents, and have not yet closed financing, should apply to Deal Maker.
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How It Works

Selected projects will participate in a series of 20-minute pitch meetings with the decision makers with whom they have matched.

Selected participants will request meetings with participating decision makers. Decision makers will review requests and accept those that are appropriate for their mandates. The Hot Docs industry team will also provide some curated matchmaking.

History

During the 2024 edition of Hot Docs Deal Maker, 40 projects representing 31 countries pitched in 900+ pre-arranged meetings with over 100 decision makers. Of the 58 projects, 22 directors were BIPOC and 28 projects were helmed or co-helmed by women. Thirteen projects were directed by first-time filmmakers.

Since its inception, 699 projects and 640+ filmmakers have pitched in almost 5000 Deal Maker meetings.

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