Public TV stations lean into local film initiatives

Public TV stations in several markets have embraced new film initiatives to help bolster their community ties and reach new audiences. 

Station executives who developed the partnerships said public TV’s local roots and noncommercial principles offer creative freedom to filmmakers and opportunities to exhibit their work for the broader community. By showcasing local films on broadcast and streaming platforms, the stations aim to bring new voices and unique stories to their audiences. 

“A big draw … for any public media station is to be able to showcase your community in ways that not even you could envision,” said Debbie Hamlett, VP and GM of Milwaukee PBS, which recently entered a partnership with Milwaukee Film, a nonprofit arts organization that promotes cinema and film. “There are lots of projects that we wouldn’t have come up with on our own. Having those different perspectives is really valuable for us.”

Through PBS series such as Independent Lens, POV and Reel South filmmakers gain national reach and visibility that can have an enduring impact on viewers and public dialogue. And stations such as Vermont Public and San Francisco’s KQED have established unique showcases that feature the work of local and emerging filmmakers. 

These new initiatives are different. They’re structured as collaborative partnerships and filmmaker development programs that can stimulate local film scenes and present stories that are authentically grounded in the community.

WETA in Washington, D.C., recently formed a partnership with the Community Voice Lab at American University’s School of Communication to distribute student-created documentary films on streaming and broadcast platforms. Four films were packaged into an hour-long broadcast special. (Current is an independent journalism center within SOC.)

The CVL films are a new source of programming that give WETA more visibility in the community, said Devin Karambelas, VP of TV programming and operations. At a time when stations are trimming their acquisition budgets, she sees lots of upsides for the partnership. 

“We’re getting really well-done, high-quality films that are both short and feature,” Karambelas said. “We’re also able to reach a slightly different audience than what we typically get,” and expand the potential viewership of the films, she said. 

‘What we do best’

As part of their new partnership, Milwaukee PBS and Milwaukee Film will curate a lineup of locally produced films and present them for local broadcast and streaming channels later this year. Milwaukee Film, which organizes the annual Milwaukee Film Festival, is a membership organization. It hosts the festival within two renovated historic cinemas that it owns and operates. 

For Hamlett, the partnership offers a way to support local filmmakers, strengthen the station’s community relationships and present programs that local viewers won’t find anywhere else. “It all fits what we do best in public media: connect to each other through interests and cultural histories that we should know,” she said. 

In Milwaukee, audiences are always looking for locally produced content, Hamlett said. Many titles in Milwaukee Film’s catalogue are hyperlocal, both in production locations and subject matter.

Likewise, WETA was looking for quality, locally produced programs for WETA Metro, a digital multicast channel featuring local programs, news and documentaries. CVL Director Laura Hinson said she jumped at the opportunity to showcase her students’ films on WETA. 

“We were looking for distribution to a public television audience, which is our top priority, because of the accessibility of public television,” Hinson said.

Because CVL’s films are student-produced, they can potentially help WETA reach younger audiences, Karambelas said. And given the hyper-local treatment of CVL films, she sees public TV as the ideal medium for presenting them to the community.  

Public TV stations like WETA place a higher emphasis on representing diverse perspectives and “editorial integrity with which a film was produced,” Karambelas added.

“In the commercial world, decisions are probably more quantitatively driven, … on what’s going to appeal to the widest possible number of viewers. We just have a different consideration set in public television.”

Filmmaker fellowships

Kansas City PBS in Missouri has taken a different approach with its new initiative, the Kansas City Film Fellowship.

The Health Forward Foundation, a local nonprofit focused on ensuring equitable access to healthcare, provided a grant to support the yearlong program, which launched in June. 

The two fellows, selected last summer, each receive on-the-job training, access to the station’s equipment and opportunities to conceive and develop an original documentary film for broadcast this October. 

Public TV’s noncommercial orientation gives the fellows and Kansas City PBS the creative freedom to be “​​really genuine and transparent in the stories that we’re telling,” said Chief Content Officer Kalie Hans.

“We have to worry about our budget, keeping the station funded and our doors open, obviously, but we’re not Amazon,” Hans said. “We don’t have to worry about a profit at the end of the day.”

Plans for the film fellowship had been in the works before the congressional rescission of CPB’s appropriations, but the loss of federal funding didn’t change the station’s commitment to it. The fellowships give Kansas City PBS another avenue to continue producing high-quality and engaging local programming while supporting filmmakers, Hans said. 

Looking ahead, Hans said the station will seek external partners and renewed funding from the Health Forward Foundation for a second cohort of fellows. 

But WVIA in Scranton, Pa., suspended its partnership with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Film Festival, said Chief Content Officer Ben Payavis. The station, a dual-licensee serving northeastern and central Pennsylvania, has been the festival’s official media partner for six years. 

With the loss of its CPB grant, which provided 20% of the station’s approximately $1.2 million annual budget, WVIA withdrew from the partnership for the 2026 festival. 

The partnership had been centered on filmmaker workshops and a showcase of student-produced work, not local broadcast or digital distribution of the films. However, Payavis said the door for renewing the partnership remains open. 

“Now, is next year a possibility where we can continue that partnership? I’m not sure at this point,” Payavis said. “We hope at some point in some way we may be able to continue the collaboration.”

Local films on a national stage

Meanwhile, Maryland Public Television is working to expand its collaborative film initiative, HBCU Week, a hybrid local-national initiative that highlights the historical and cultural legacies of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the experiences they offer to today’s students. 

After launching the initiative regionally in 2020, MPT secured CPB support to build national partnerships with public TV stations and PBS’ World channel, which presents locally produced films for national broadcast. The national initiative, HBCU Week Now, also hosts a dedicated YouTube channel offering more than 350 video shorts.  

Participating stations consult with local HBCUs and work with filmmakers and students to produce short films. MPT seeks to add partner stations to the initiative each year, said Travis Mitchell, SVP and CCO.

Last fall, the shorts focused on arts programs at HBCUs. MPT also announced a new partnership with Black Public Media to feature short films by HBCU students. Those films, selected by BPM, will begin releasing on the HBCU Week Now YouTube channel Jan. 27. 

By collaborating with filmmakers who are familiar with HBCU culture, partner stations have been able to cultivate new audiences both within their communities and nationwide, Mitchell said. 

HBCU Week Now programs have aired on more than 200 PBS stations and their multicast subchannels, Mitchell said. The YouTube channel has accrued nearly 4 million views since August 2023, according to an impact report on the initiative.

Mitchell is optimistic about sustaining the initiative without CPB funding, he said. He described opportunities for HBCUs and businesses that provide services to them to participate as sponsors and gain visibility “both nationally and regionally.” MPT is also seeking grants to support the initiative. 

Locally, MPT has benefited from the growth of HBCU Week, Mitchell added. Since its 2020 launch, HBCU Week has attracted nearly $300,000 in local sponsorship revenue. HBCU Week Now’s YouTube channel garnered 1.7 million views from August to November 2025, during the lead-up and rollout of new programs. From 2024 to 2025, the channel experienced 50% growth in both views and subscribers, according to MPT’s internal numbers. 

“What we were able to prove is that we could grow the traditional PBS audience beyond our traditional demographics because we were creating content for and about different groups,” Mitchell said. 

Spreading the word

For stations entering film partnerships, new audience development strategies are essential for building awareness across their communities. 

Audiences for PBS’ Independent Lens and POV are a target for WETA’s promotions of CVL films, Karambelas said. She described the campaign as robust and centered on localism. 

“We have to do a lot of work promoting something that is new and doesn’t have that built-in fan base,” she added.

WETA plans to promote the individual films “so that each one has its day,” Karambelas said. “If something is happening in the zeitgeist or in our market that we think connects to … any of these films, that’s an opportunity to promote … and make them compelling and discoverable to viewers.”

WETA Metro debuted the hour-long special on Saturday, Nov. 29, with three encore broadcasts through early December, according to a news release. 

Thursday and Saturday primetime broadcasts offer the best visibility for new, local programming such as the CVL films, Karambelas said. “That generally is a great place to promote something that’s new … to make sure that it can capture as many viewers at once,” she said. 

Kansas City PBS plans a Thursday night prime-time broadcast for the debut of the fellows’ films, Hans said.  

“Kansas City is a creative community, and there is a long history of filmmaking in Kansas City,” she added. “If we can make a little dent and a ripple and support that in any way, then we’re excited about it.”

The station’s promotional strategy for locally produced films, including those of the fellows, includes Google ads, promotion on the station’s website and in its member guide, Hans said.  The staff plans to build on these promotions with a local outreach campaign. 

“We want to leverage the people in our community to get the word out about things,” she said.

The strategy for HBCU Week is community-driven, according to Mitchell. Partner stations collaborate with their local HBCUs to produce short films and are encouraged to host screenings or other engagement activities with their partners. 

Last September, a biographical documentary of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall was a centerpiece for engagement around HBCU Week. Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect, which premiered on PBS in prime-time, was co-executive produced by Stanley Nelson of Firelight Films and Mitchell. 

“It produces that kind of community-based, authentic relationship that the PBS stations need to be able to convert viewers to partners, to members, to sustainers,” Mitchell said. “Without an engagement strategy, you can never do the conversion.”