The D-Word

The D-Word is a worldwide online community for professionals in the documentary film industry. Discussions include creative, business, technical, and social topics related to documentary filmmaking.

The name "D-Word" is ironically defined as "industry euphemism for documentary", as in: "We love your film but we don't know how to sell it. It's a d-word."

The D-Word is the longest-running online platform in the documentary industry. It was established in 1999 in New York City by filmmaker Doug Block and writer and online community builder Dan Richards as a result of Block's feature documentary, Home Page, and encouraged by protagonists of this film, Justin Hall and Howard Rheingold.

Block continues to be a co-host of The D-Word, together with documentary makers Ben Kempas in Munich (from 2001), John Burgan in the United Kingdom (from 2005) and Marjan Safinia in Los Angeles (from 2009).

Members of The D-Word engaged in two collaborative projects, composed of short films themed around Essays on Docs, a reflection on filmmaking, as well as War and Peace, the community's reaction to the September 11, 2001 attacks. A novelty at the time, these films were streamed online and presented at industry events like the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam.

As of October 2016^[update], according to the website's database, The D-Word has more than 14,000 members in 127 countries.

For her dissertation on the success of an online community, Lara Celini chose The D-Word as the case study: "The D-Word Community provides an interesting example of an online community that harnesses the power of the technology to help meet the demands of today’s fast-paced, international media environment, connecting documentary professionals on a level that was never previously possible without huge expenses and co-ordination."

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