Karen Fuglie Miles
Senior Program Officer, Division of Public Programs
National Endowment for the Humanities

What genre of documentary/non-fiction do you program?
non-fiction programs that draw their content from the discipines of the humanities, such as history and literature.

How many hours or slots do you program per year?
We do not program but fund programs for television broadcast. Our budget is about $6 million a year.

What percentage or number of hours are commissioned vs. acquired? (Ie. 60% commissions/ 40% acquisitions)
We commission nothing but consider proposals for projects that are submitted to us.

What is the average amount for acquisitions and/or license fee?
Grants range from $10,000 for earliest development to between $600,000 and $1 million for production.

What are you looking for right now?
We have an initiative to encourage projects on significant figures, events, ideas, and processes in American history and culture. We are also interested in subjects across the disciplines of the humanities.

How do you prefer to be pitched?
Either telephone call or brief e-mail to see if the subject fits within the humanities and our agency, followed up with a draft proposal describing the project.

What is your biggest pitch turnoff?
People who try to argue with us about what falls within the scope of the agency's support.