Who has editorial control: the independent producer or the station?
In keeping with ITVS’s mandate, the independent producer maintains editorial, creative and financial control over the project. With all ITVS-funded shows, ITVS staff give editorial input on rough and fine cuts. With the LINCS shows, both ITVS staff and station staff will give editorial input to help make the show the best it can be. This input is one of the advantages to working with a station, in that station staff have considerable insight into what makes a good program for public television and what will make it compelling to PTV programmers and viewers. This input is given in the spirit of collaboration, which is the heart of the LINCS initiative, but ultimately final editorial and creative control over the piece rests with the independent producer. However, it should also be noted that the finished show must ultimately reflect what was originally proposed. The proposal becomes part of the ITVS contract, thus preventing major deviations from the proposal in the final show.
