FILM WRITING

Anne has written for over 100 documentary films, including scripts, treatments, grant proposals, narration, broadcast pitches, letters of inquiry, and other materials. Films she has worked on have focused on a wide range of subjects, including the arts, American cultural and political history, and contemporary social issues. Anne’s special area of focus is in African American culture and history.

Films Anne has contributed to have been awarded the Sundance Special Jury Prize, Director’s Guild of America Award, IDA Award, and been nominated for Academy Awards and Emmy Awards. She has written eight successful NEH scripts and/or proposals, and two successful NEA proposals. Other funding sources include the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Ford Foundation, HBO, Sundance, ITVS, Southern Humanities Council, U.S. State Department, New York State Council on the Arts, and the Jerome Foundation, among others.

Anne's feature screenplay on jazz pianist Hampton Hawes has received wide attention in the feature film world.

FILM PROJECTS (Selected):

The Disappearance of Miss Scott (2020-2021), NEH script and proposal (awarded $575,000), for a 90-minute PBS documentary on the pianist and activist Hazel Scott, produced by Sheila McVicar and 4th Act Factual. In production, for broadcast in 2023.

Becoming Frederick Douglass, script for a one-hour PBS documentary on the life and thought of Frederick Douglass, co-produced by Firelight Films and Maryland Public Television, for a national PBS premiere broadcast in October of 2022.

Tell Them We are Rising (2012-2016), NEH script and proposal (awarded $600,000), and writer for 90-minute documentary about Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), produced and directed by Stanley Nelson/Firelight Media and broadcast nationally on Independent Len in 2018. Official selection Sundance, Full Frame, DOC Fortnight (MoMA), others.

For Akheem (2014-2017), writer/story development; Sundance, ITVS, Ford Foundation, IDA proposals and others (all awarded), for a documentary about inner city youth and an alternative high school for juvenile offenders in East St. Louis. Directed by Landon van Soest and Jeremy Levine for Transient Pictures, broadcast on PBS' America ReFramed series in 2018. Premiered at Berlin Film Festival; official selection at over 60 festivals, with 11 awards.

Slavery by Another Name (2009), NEH script (awarded $800,000), writer, for a 90-minute PBS documentary about the widespread forced labor of Blacks in the South after the Civil War and until WWII. Directed by Sam Pollard and produced by Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) for a national PBS broadcast in 2012. Nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize.

Harlem in Montmartre: a Paris Jazz Story (2009), first (NEH) script for a documentary that traces the journey of American jazz going to France in the first half of the 20th century. Directed by Dante James and Olivier Simmonet, for PBS’ Great Performances program.

Home of the Brave (2003-2004), writer for documentary about overlooked civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo, the only white woman killed during the civil rights movement. Produced and directed by Paola di Florio for Counterpoint Films, narrated by Stockard Channing. Nominated for Best Documentary Screenplay by the WGA; nominated for IDA Best Documentary. Sundance selection. Theatrical release 2004.

Ralph Ellison: An American Journey (2002), NEH proposal writer (awarded $600,000) for the first feature-length documentary on iconic 20th century American novelist, essayist, and thinker Ralph Ellison. Directed by Avon Kirkland, produced by Susan Lacy for American Masters (PBS).

Alfred Stieglitz: The Eloquent Eye (2000), NEA proposal (awarded $750,000) for a PBS documentary about pioneering American photographer and curator Alfred Steiglitz. Directed and produced by Perry Miller Adato for American Masters.

DOCUMENTARY PROPOSALS/NARRATION/TREATMENTS/SCRIPTS (Selected)

For PBS’ American Masters: Quincy Jones: In The Pocket; Dashiell Hammett: Detective. Writer; William Styron: The Way Of The Writer; for Great Performances: Itzhak Perlman: A Life with Music; and for HBO: Children Underground (Sundance Special Jury Prize; Academy Award Nominee); On The Ropes: Boxing In The Inner City (Sundance Special Jury Prize; DGA Award; Academy Award Nominee).

Please feel free to contact Anne to discuss your film project: anne.seidlitz3@gmail.com