It is a 2011 project from History U.S. with important lessons about the patience and skills required to fulfill the promise of a hidden archival treasure.

———————–

The LOST Kennedy Home Movies is a two-hour special created by Harrison Engle and Stanley H. Moger.

Unique Archive

• The project was the decades-long dream of Executive Producer Stanley H. Moger, who owned a 30-min. reel of 16mm Kodachrome home movies inherited from his father.
• This rare archive footage had been given to Moger’s father, Art Moger, by Kennedy patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy in 1952, to possibly help with John Kennedy’s first senatorial campaign.
• This footage remained unseen by nearly everyone, including later Kennedy family members, until the film’s premiere in July, 2011.  It may have never even seen a projector.

Complicating Factor: Access

• The major problem was that Moger didn’t own the rights to televise this footage.
• Obtaining approval from so many present-day family members seemed unlikely.
• Moger held his ground for a more than decade, waiting to finally donate the footage to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, which controlled the Kennedy photo and film archives.
• Thus it was no longer necessary to get individual family members’ permission to use the footage.

Fraught With Perils

• The delicate rights situation was fraught with perils, despite a contract with History.
• If permissions were withheld, and additional archive footage wasn’t obtained, the project could easily have collapsed.
• According to Engle: “Moger’s persistence, and our incisive storytelling, ultimately won out.”

The Partners

• Executive Producer Stanley H. Moger has been producing, distributing, marketing and packaging quality television programming for more than 40 years.  His company, SFM Entertainment, is one of the few remaining independent syndicators and creators who has provided product to nearly every major network.   He enjoyed a long relationship with A+E Networks, History’s parent company.
• Harrison Engle is an award-winning director and producer who has directed or been otherwise involved in 80+ productions for CBS, Discovery, PBS, History, and more.
• Moger and Engle began their successful collaboration with their 1986 documentary, The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt.

Core beliefs

• “Strong stories with human interest and fresh entertainment elements, often dealing with history, biography and the arts.  We believe in telling stories creatively and thoughtfully.”
• “Viewers want to go on a journey with the filmmakers, and to actively participate in the story as it unfolds.”

Budget

• Budget: $500,000+/-

Initial Pitch

• “The Kennedy’s as you’ve never seen them before.”
• A short pitch reel was assembled as a sales tool for History channel.
• Stanley Moger then negotiated with John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, finally winning approval to use this material in the special.

History

• David McKillop commissioned the program.
• Susan Werbe was executive producer for History and guided its fit for the network.

Concept / Difficulties 

• The program was commissioned by History in December 2009.
• Moger and Engle licensed other very rare archive footage for the production.
• Compelling family scenes were carefully assembled, often overcoming the challenge of identifying locations and timelines of family members during the years 1938-1963.
• A technical challenge was re-mastering original 16mm Kodachrome footage from these archives.

Post-production

• Because of research, HD transfers, writing, the editing took nearly a year.

Format

• 2 Hours (88 minutes)

Elements

The contents of the delivered film are roughly:

• Moger’s unseen Kennedy footage (one third).
• Four other archives, including Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation (one third).
• Other: stills, interviews, etc. (one third).

Presentation on History

• The LOST Kennedy Home Movies premiered on History on July 11^th, 2011.
• The critical response was very positive.

Kennedy Family Reaction

• Though the Kennedy family had been wary about the project, they were “very pleased” with the final result.
• Moger and Engle wanted to make a “valentine” to the family, and not a scandal-mongering special like so many others.
• “That kind of story wasn’t in the nature of the footage.”
• Some of the lost footage from Art Moger was later used in Rory Kennedy’s HBO film, Ethel. 

Contacts

• Stanley H. Moger can be reached here.
• And recent coverage of his life’s work is captured here in The Madison Avenue Journal. Photos with Morgan Freeman and such others attest to Stan Moger’s prolific career.

Harrison Engle:

• www.harrisonengle.com

Outreach

• “The LOST Kennedy Home Movies” was the subject of two panel discussions dealing with the state of history-themed productions at 2012’s WestDoc Conference in Los Angeles.
• Here is a link for Westdoc 2013. We recommend attending!

Takeaways

• History’s trifecta of huge scripted hits The Bible, Vikings and Hatfields & McCoys is blazing the path ever further away from its heritage of archive-based historical series and specials.
• Discovery and Nat Geo followed suit by ramping up their own pipelines of scripted event specials and series.
• However, projects with unique access to a fascinating archive are actively considered by History and many other US and international channels.

The post The LOST Kennedy Home Movies – A Case Study in the History Archive appeared first on DocumentaryTelevision.com.

In this post:

• What is POV’s selection process, from Open Call to the Offer?
• What is the Timeline?
• Who makes the decisions?

From Palestine, the 2013 Oscar nominee
’5 Broken Cameras’

Selection Process

Filters

• Great non-fiction storytelling
• Address social issues and issues neglected elsewhere
• Have a strong point of view from the filmmaker and/or the characters
• Character-driven
  • “Our strand is called ‘POV’ for a reason” says VP of Programming & Production Chris White. “Our films are often a subjective take on a controversial issue.”
  • “POV films Involve viewers in an issue through the eyes of an active participant or observer.”
• Aesthetically bold: “The filmmaker has a unique editorial style that pushes the boundaries of the craft of filmmaking.”
• Emotional resonance

Curatorial Discretion

• POV’s filters are combined with a “curatorial eye”
  • The POV team ensures that themes and styles are not repeated.
  • And that needed topics are explored.

•  “Themes frequently emerge organically” says POV’s Executive Producer Simon Kilmurry. “Examples are human rights and immigration.”

Topics: Domestic? Or Global?

• U.S. topics: 10+/-
• International topics: 6+/-
  • “About half of these come from international filmmakers – but the mix varies from year to year.”

Marketing and Promotional Clout

We asked if it makes a difference if a project arrives with powerful marketing relationships in place:

• “We’re interested in hooks and ties that will expand a film’s audience. But it’s the quality of the film that leads the decision.”
• POV develops national public awareness campaigns which can include presenting films to critics at the Television Critics, satellite tv and radio media tours.

Technical Format

• HD
• Film

Homegoings

POV’s Acquisitions Process & Timeline

1. Open Call

• End of June
• POV receives 800-1,000 entries for 16+/- slots
• The entries fall into three categories based on their level of completion:
  • In the Works
    Treatment and some scenes are complete
    Few projects are funded that are in these early stages
    But many are watched or mentored for the next year’s Open Call
  • Completion Funding
    Substantially complete: rough cut or close
    They represent 50% of funded projects
  • Fine Cuts
    Films need post: 50% of projects

2. Scouting

POV staff also attends many markets and festivals scouting for projects in production

• These include Sundance, IDFA (Amsterdam), Hot Docs (Toronto), Sheffield Doc/Fest, Full Frame and others

3. Screening for Short List

• June- September
• 20 pre-screeners + 5 POV staff members sift through the 800-1,000 Open Call applicants
• They develop a shortlist of 25-30 films

4. Editorial Advisory Committee

• Selection panel is comprised of
  • 6 public TV station representatives
  • 6 independents, including filmmakers and festival programmers
• Panel is sequestered for a long weekend in early October
  • Each film is screened by 4 of 12 panelists
  • Each film is presented to the full panel, with extended clips
  • Final 15-16 films recommended by end of weekend
• The POV team exercises a final ‘curatorial filter’ in case a topic or style of filmmaking is over-represented
• The final decision made by POV’s executive producer

5. Contract

• Offers are sent out after final decision

Post/Completion

• Filmmakers who accept the offer complete their work and cut their film to the POV clock
• Kilmurry says “POV provides editorial feedback and support, but we don’t make the final cut. The filmmaker’s vision is key.”
• The work is completed either in the filmmaker’s facilities or in POV’s editing suites
• Winners are announced in early February

Broadcast

Schedule

• The POV slot is scheduled weekly on Monday nights at 10PM, June-October

Audience

• The PBS footprint covers 115 million TV households, and POV reaches 96%+/- of them
• Audience for premieres:
  • High: 1,900,000
  • Low: 500,000

High Tech, Low Life

Outreach

• POV has a mission to create dialogue in communities around issues that are raised in its films
• The POV team works in partnership with local organizations and PBS stations
• Lesson plans, discussion guides and resource lists are developed for all films
  • Examples of outreach resources are: Here, here, here and here

Other POV Initiatives

• American Documentary Inc is the non-profit organization that is the parent of POV.
• A new series AMERICA REFRAMED was launched in 2012 in collaboration with the WORLD.
• AMERICA REFRAMED licenses completed films focused on contemporary American stories.
• Films that are in a second window are eligible for AMERICA REFRAMED
• The license fee for AMERICA REFRAMED IS $1,500 for a one-year license.
• POV HACKATHONS – held 4 times per year, the HACKATHONS  are a place to experiment with new digital storytelling tools, matching filmmakers with coders and programmers to develop prototypes. Applications due by 5/31.
• Filmmaker Resources – POV launched a new online resource for filmmakers with opportunities for funding, distribution and festivals.

Partnerships

POV is entering its fourth year partnering with StoryCorps, to showcase original animated shorts based on NPR’s groundbreaking oral history project, StoryCorps.

POV 2013 Schedule
All regular programs air Mondays at 10 p.m.

June 24 — Homegoings by Christine Turner

July 1 — Special Flight by Fernand Melgar

July 8 — Herman’s House by Angad Singh Bhalla

July 15 — Only the Young by Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims

July 22 — High Tech, Low Life by Stephen Maing

July 29 — Neurotypical by Adam Larsen

Aug. 5 — Last Train Home by Lixin Fan

August 12 – The City Dark by Ian Cheney

August 19 – The Law in These Parts by Ra’anan Alexandrowicz and Liran Atzmor

August 26 – 5 Broken Cameras by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi

September 9 – Ping Pong by Hugh Hartford and Anson Hartford

September 16 – The World Before Her by Nisha Pahuja

September 23 – Best Kept Secret by Samatha Buck

Special Broadcast (PBS Independent Films Showcase) – Brooklyn Castle by Kate Dellamaggiore (date TBA)

Special Broadcast (PBS Independent Films Showcase) – 56 Up by Michael Apted (date TBA)

Fall/Winter Special Broadcast – American Promise by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stepheson (date TBA)

Fall/Winter Special Broadcast – StoryCorps Special by The Rauch Brothers (date TBA)

 Brooklyn Castle (below)

The post Inside PBS’s POV Strand (2/2): The Filters, Selection Process, Timeline & Decision-makers appeared first on DocumentaryTelevision.com.

Following are the key metrics, processes and timelines of the flagship PBS documentary strand.

Impact!

In its 26 seasons, POV has racked up an impressive list of accomplishments:

• More than 390 films
• Lots of Awards
  • Seventeen Oscar nominations, eight since 2005:
    • If a Tree Falls, The Barber of Birmingham, Food, Inc. The Most Dangerous Man in America, The Betrayal, My Country My Country, Street Fight, Hardwood, and more
  • 27 Emmy’s
  • Numerous DuPont and Peabody awards, including an upcoming Peabody for My Perestroika

Spending:

• More than $50 million since 1988
• $800K per year in production funding and licensing fees
• Plus $2 million per year on community engagement, education, online and public awareness campaigns that support each film
• A funding magnet
  • A POV commitment has given filmmakers the leverage to raise millions more from foundations, private investors and government agencies
• Audience and community impact
  • Each broadcast premiere reaches more than 1 million viewers, plus online streams
  • Community engagement, educational and online activities are central to all POV campaigns

The Pipeline

POV offers 20-25 films from feature length to shorts

• 14-16 premieres / year
• 2-6 encores – often of Academy Award nominees or notable films from previous season

Budgets

According to Simon Kilmurry:

• On the high end, production budgets are $1 million plus
• The average is about $375K to $450K
• And about $200K on the low end

Funding

The annual operating budget for POV is $3.2 million

Sources of funding are:

• PBS: $1.5 million
• McArthur Fund: $500K
• NEA: $100K
• CPB Diverse Voices: $300-400,000 in 2-3 year cycle
• New York State Council on the Arts: $40K
• Additional: “Grants and contributions vary from year to year. Our sources include the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the desJardins/Blachman Fund.”

Program Length

Feature Length (81:25)

• Around 7-8 / year
• Includes POV branding, sponsor messages, credits, DVD offer, etc.
• Most include a filmmaker interview
• (PBS slot is 86:46)

Hour (51:25)

• Around 6-7 / year
• Includes filmmaker interview, POV branding, etc.

Shorts

• 7-8 / year
• POV occasionally packages a broadcast hour comprised of half-hours and shorts
• And many features come in at 70+/- minutes, and they need shorts to fill the slot

Commercial Arrangements

License Fee

• The basic fee is $30,000/hour or $45,000 / feature
• The high mark is $150,000 / film

Rights

• 6 plays over 4 years
• Sometimes 4/3
• Online streaming catchup windows
• Limited PBS Free-VOD

DVD

Filmmakers cut their own DVD deals:

• “POV often facilitates deals and does not take a rev share”
• POV offers a DVD promotional tag at the close of each program
• PBS Home Video often acquires home video rights in deals directly with filmmakers

Takeaways

POV is a major broadcast player for the U.S. independent documentary community:

• POV, Independent Lens and HBO Docs offer the peak U.S. broadcast slots for feature documentarians.
• The longevity, scale and prominence of the POV slot all underline the tremendous value of the PBS system to independent filmmakers and their viewers.
• A greenlight from POV is not a one-stop solution for filmmakers. POV partially funds docs. However, POV commissioners do actively partner with international broadcasters and foundations to help complete budgets.

Next: The Filters

• POV’s acquisition criteria
• The selection process
• Timeline

The post Inside PBS’s POV Strand (1/2): How Many Docs? The Fees? Budgets? And Rights? appeared first on DocumentaryTelevision.com.

In ‘MBA terms’ I came to see the current inflated state of the development process as a ‘market imperfection’ for which there should be an immediate and track-able solution that lowers the cost and risk.

My researches led me to Media Predict, a company with a proven, new online ‘prediction market’ methodology for qualifying the likely success or failure of television program concepts.

The New York-based company is led by highly qualified veteran execs from Nielsen and related research fields. Several U.S. networks are clients.

And I recently set up the BLINC -Media Predict partnership in London: we are already working on a promising trial with a leading UK network.

This week’s post: my introduction to an exciting, new addition to the program developer’s toolbox. To learn more about Media Predict, send me an email.

————————–

“Nobody knows anything,” William Goldman famously wrote in Adventures in the Screen Trade.

“Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess.”

The phrase has become a truism in media.

Despite our modern technology and research, even today a huge amount of new content flops – and production companies and programmers are left stabbing in the dark when looking for their next hit.

But a new research company, Media Predict, is proving that – collectively – we might know something after all.

By tapping the so-called “wisdom of the crowds,” Media Predict is making steps toward cracking the mystery of finding good content.

How they do it may raise eyebrows. In a moment I’ll look at the blend of quantitative and qualitative research they produce through – you’re hearing it right – something a lot like futures trading.

Results

But the company’s results may be all that executives need to know:

• If Media Predict endorses a show, which it does often well before the green-light, the show will go on to perform above average 86% of the time.
• If their system pans a given show, often before the green-light, it will go on to perform below average 91% of the time.
• Media Predict’s pre-greenlight recommended shows have averaged 118% of the average premiere audience size on the target network.
• Not-recommended shows averaged only 80% of the average premiere audience size on the target network.

Crystal Ball?

Is it a crystal ball? No.

• But the method may well be establishing itself as a vital tool in any programmer’s toolkit.
• The company is testing both scripted and non-scripted shows for a variety of broadcast and cable clients in the U.S and now U.K.

Of course, research is supposed to have all of these problems solved.

• Via test audiences and focus groups, decision makers have always tried to get a read on what might work with audiences.
• But false positives abound, and focus groups usually only help programmers weed out their least promising options.

Prediction Market Methodology

In light of that, Media Predict threw traditional research methods out the window.

• Instead of paying people to answer survey questions, Media Predict gives study participants their money right off the bat.
• Then the company asks them, in effect, to place bets on how well show ideas might perform.
• If participants make a good bet, they make even more money. If participants are wrong, they lose it.

The idea is that profit motives make every participant tell the truth, instead of just clicking through a survey willy-nilly. Then – just like on Wall Street – market dynamics take over.

• If a hidden gem is undervalued, people will start buying shares, and projections will go up.
• If a projection for a big blockbuster is getting too high, short-sellers will step in and bring it back down to earth.

This “prediction market” methodology has been producing results for some time.

• The Iowa Electronic Markets, a research project at the University of Iowa, have used market trading to forecast the outcomes of political elections for over 24 years.
• Their results have outperformed the AP and the Gallup polls throughout that time – especially when predicting from 100 days away or more.

“The Following” – Spotting Winners … and Duds

Such long-range forecasting is probably the method’s strongest suit, Media Predict says.

• Last winter, the company opened trading on an edgy thriller for a major broadcast network.
• Prices spiked immediately, and then those prices went up even higher once it was revealed that Kevin Bacon would play the lead.
• That show of course became FOX’s “The Following.”
• And Media Predict’s audience estimates from almost a year away were correct within 1%.

But Media Predict is even better at spotting shows destined to fail.

• If Media Predict gives the thumbs-down to a show idea, the resulting product performed below average 91% of the time on the target network.

Niche Channels

The tool is not just for showpiece programs on the big nets:

• While audience estimates are more precise for networks averaging over a million viewers, directionally the tool can spot winners and losers for smaller nets as well.
• Over 45 tests for a non-fiction network, audience sizes for Media Predict-recommended on average were a remarkable 207% of shows that Media Predict panned.

Takeaways

• Media Predict doesn’t claim to produce perfect predictions every time.
• But for many clients, the insights of the marketplace will be more than enough.
• Media Predict’s qualitative information, for example, identifies what elements of a show are driving the really big bets – young men might be buying shares because of a title, while women might be driven by cast or a recent promotional campaign.
• If key elements change, like the title or cast, Media Predict will alert the community, and – just like a jobs report hitting Wall Street – the market will immediately adjust to the new reality.
• All along, the truth-serum of financial incentive gives these insights real credence.

Nobody knows anything, the saying goes. And it’s been hard to dispute. But Media Predict is indicating that – with enough people, working collectively – the marketplace might know something after all.

——————-

The Media Predict methodology is applicable to networks, larger-scale production companies and distributors, investors, governments, foundations and non-profit funders, and other users of qualitative and quantitative research.

• To learn more about Media Predict, send me an email.
• That’s Peter@DocumentaryTelevision.com.

————————-

Speaking Engagements

Hot Docs
Toronto, Canada
April 30, 9:30 AM

Courtney Sexton, VP Documentary, Participant Media
JC Mills, Director of development, National Geographic
Lizzie Kerner, Director of development & acquisitions, CNN
Moderator: Peter Hamilton

WHAT DO BROADCASTERS WANT?

• What are broadcasters looking for?
• How do you work with them?
• Get the latest scoop directly from network reps.

The post A New Online Research Tool Takes Cost & Risk Out of the Program Development Process appeared first on DocumentaryTelevision.com.

An ‘Australian Prince’

You can’t get a fix on Rupert until you understand the father:

• Keith Murdoch was the son of a Scottish Presbyterian minister who had settled in the respectable Eastern suburbs of far away Melbourne.
• Despite a severe stuttering problem, Keith excelled at Camberwell Grammar School and then during his cadetship as a reporter at The Age.
• He earned a series of rapid promotions to a position as a chief Parliamentary reporter where he established close ties with Australia’s political leaders

Gallipoli: Breaking the Cover Up

By 1915, Keith Murdoch was stationed in wartime London running the premiere Australian news wire.

• Australian Prime Minister Andrew Fisher asked him to report on conditions in the Dardanelles, where a British-led Australia & New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) force had been assigned to choke off the Ottoman heartland.
• It was a strategic folly cooked up by Winston Churchill.
• Murdoch defied British wartime censorship: exposing a ‘cover up’ that was disguised as a ‘matter of national security: He reported that the Dardanelles campaign was an incompetently-led disaster

A Myth for a New Nation

• Australia was a newly-formed union of six disparate and distant colonies
• The new federation lacked either a fight for independence or a nation-building narrative
• Murdoch told a story of heroic ANZAC lads who were pinned down on beaches and foothills
• They were trapped in a doomed struggle against two forces: withering Turkish fire from above, and an incompetent British high command that was safely moored off the Turkish coast

• It has been said since that ‘we went to Gallipoli as colonials and came back as Australians’
• In my own home and at school, I learned that Keith Murdoch was an author of the story of how ‘we became Australians’
• The ANZAC story captured a national tragedy of unthinkable scale

Casualties

Consider this:

• U.S. population in 1970: 200 million. Vietnam War dead: 58,000
• Australia’s population in 1915: 5 million. Great War dead: 59,000

ANZAC Day is scheduled on April 25, the anniversary of the Gallipoli landing:

• It is our most solemn national holiday, and in New Zealand, too.
• I don’t know of other nations whose major patriotic holiday celebrates a military defeat.
• And BTW, Rupert Murdoch was a principal funder of Peter Weir’s Gallipoli.

A ‘First Family’

Keith Murdoch was a living national legend who went on to acquire and publish newspapers:

• He was a key political power-broker until his premature death in 1952.
• His wife Dame Elizabeth, who recently passed away at 103, became a warmly-regarded philanthropist.
• The family was at the very center of the Australian political and social establishment.
• Visiting powers and potentates from all fields enjoyed the hospitality of Melbourne’s first family.
• For example, General Douglas MacArthur set up his HQ in Melbourne after the flight from Manila. It was on Collins Street that he began the campaign to roll back the Japanese from the Western Pacific. He was a frequent visitor to the Murdoch home. In our respectable, leafy suburbs, a post-War folk memory persisted that MacArthur took a personal shine to the young Rupert.

Takeaway

• Many who don’t know Australian history see Rupert Murdoch as a harshly-accented ‘outsider’
• But nothing could be further from the truth about the ‘Australian Prince’ who became the ‘Dirty Digger’!!

——————————

COMMENTS …

Regarding Rupert’s Mother, Dame Elizabeth: here is a quite recent (for a 102 year old) report on her discomfort with her son’s appetite for invading the privacy in the pursuit of a story.

——————————

Great piece.   That’s what I call essential reading!

For the record, there are a couple of parallels to your mob’s Anzac Day in terms of the national celebration of defeat:

• The Serbs are famously in awe of their own decimation at the hands of the Ottomans at the Battle of Kosovo (1389).
• And, a tad more recently, there is the Ur event in recent Chinese history: The Long March, which, while it saw the complete defeat of the Red Army and the longest “strategic retreat” in all of human history, yet it also cemented Mao’s iron grip over both power and propaganda in modern China.

——–

Your post on Keith and Rupert is a fantasy straight from a garden party in one of those “leafy” Melbourne suburbs that you New York-based expats long for.

Sure, the young wives of newly-minted surgeons and law partners practically fainted when they received their first invitation from Dame Elizabeth. They were in! But who was left out of the Murdoch-calibrated ranks of the respectable?

Take the Gallipoli story: Australians were bitterly divided over the Great War. Irish Catholics made up about a third of the population and they loathed their English colonial overlords.  They fiercely resisted moves to introduce conscription. Their leader was the youthful Archbishop Daniel Mannix who had been exiled from British-occupied Ireland (its ‘West Bank’) to Melbourne for advocating Irish independence. The powerful Labor movement resisted the Great War in Marxist terms as an Imperialist massacre of working class lads.

As the casualties piled up and up, the conservative political class needed to reframe their ‘demo-cide’ of Australian Males 20-40. That’s when Keith Murdoch said to his Establishment friends: ‘What can I do for you?’

His Gallipoli story provided an alternative narrative to wasted lives. It became unpatriotic to question or resist the war … ‘disrespectful’ to our heroic mates in the trenches.

Sound familiar? Fast forward to Rupert’s leadership of the media drum corps that banged away, day in and day out, for the attack on Sadaam’s Iraq.

Like father, like son. The Murdoch story is not about your Melbourne garden parties and phone hacking. That’s the froth on the surface. Underneath, it’s an ugly, inter-generational saga of how a ruthless family uses wars to seize and extend dynastic power.

——–

You fail to note that Keith Murdoch was himself accused of ‘hacking’ the Gallipoli story: he blew through the battle zone, and many say that he plagiarized the detailed field reports of Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett.

… More from the Left

Bruce Page: A Real History of Rupert Murdoch (Counterpunch, July 18, 2011)

… And New York Times

Maureen Dowd on the Gallipoli connection, July 20, 2011. Her article was published days after mine, and bears an unsettling resemblance to my work.

The post How Did Rupert Become ‘Rupert’? An ANZAC Day Reflection appeared first on DocumentaryTelevision.com.

Its a time when pitching skills are as important as the concept and content when it comes to attracting funders.

We asked story consultant Fernanda Rossi to share her practical guide to creating a successful video pitch.  Fernanda is author of Trailer Mechanics: How to Make Your Documentary Fundraising Demo.

—————————–

Documentary Fundraising: 10 Key How-to’s for Creating a Compelling Pitch Video

by Fernanda Rossi

1. What’s in a name?
No matter what you or other people in the film business call it—whether demo, sample, trailer, taster or sizzler—the function is more important than the name: think of it as an audiovisual pitch for fundraising, and throw away the dictionary.

2. Making sense
Make sure the demo is consistent in content and style with the rest of your proposal, meaning the written materials and pitch. Whatever the proposal says, the demo must demonstrate—fully.

3. Marketing vs. fundraising
A marketing trailer needs to convince lots of people to spend 90 minutes and US$10. That’s why it looks like a movie-preview-meets-music-video. A fundraising demo needs to persuade very few people to spend several years with you and many thousands on your project. That’s why it looks more like a short-without-an-ending. Yet crowdfunding demos merge the two.

Hot Docs Forum
Photo: Karina Astrup, 2012

4. Ticking clock
A demo or work-in-progress can range from 1 minute to 20 minutes in length. Shorter versions are mandated by pitch forums, ideal for first meetings and online crowdfunding. Longer versions are suitable for follow-up meetings and requested for some grants. The circumstances will determine the length of your sample.

5. How to open it
The opening of a fundraising demo conveys premise, who and what. It’s not the opening of the actual documentary—no long credits or moody slow panoramic shots. To the point, right away.

6. What to put in it
A fundraising sample has complete scenes as opposed to a fast-cut assortment of provocative sound bites and images. The purpose of a demo is to convey the essential points of your story and that you’re a good storyteller, not to prove that you have a great editor and tons of fancy software to do effects.

7. What to avoid
Montages or scenes cut to music, as well as beginning-to-end music and narration, are often used when a story doesn’t work well on its own. Don’t let any element overpower the demo.

8. To write or not to write
Slates with long and frequent explanatory text and fades to black are not as necessary as you might think. They make a demo look like a PSA (Public Service Announcement). Delay including them until there is no other option. Then use sparingly and, if possible, integrate text with image. Plus, catch those typos!

9. How to end without ending
A demo has an open ending, called a cliffhanger, which hints that there is more to the story. If the trailer offers proper closure to the prospective doc, then it’s a short film. You’ll be told it’s fine as it is, no need to make a longer film.

10. How not to end
A cliffhanger can create great expectations. Do not kill that emotional high by adding final credits or contact info or begging for money. That’s what your other materials are for. Let the viewer be moved and motivated to call you.

 ——————

About Fernanda Rossi

• Internationally renowned speaker and story consultant Fernanda Rossi has doctored more than 500 fiction scripts, fundraising samples and documentaries, including two nominated for the Academy Award® and many that received funding from ITVS International, NFB and others.
• She has given her workshops in more than 12 countries and at world markets, such as Hot Docs, Sheffield Doc/Fest and Sunny Side of the Doc.
• Her book Trailer Mechanics: How to Make Your Documentary Fundraising Demo, 2^nd Edition, is, according to industry professionals, the bible on demo production, and is also available at Amazon and for Kindle.
• For more about Fernanda, read DocumentaryDoctor.com.

 ——————

Our detailed coverage of Great Pitch Sessions

• How to Succeed at a Documentary Pitch Forum: Hot Docs 2012. 
• Amsterdam’s IDFA 2012 was covered by Eli Brown.
• And Bruni Burres on ‘Documentary Film Funds‘ at Asia Side of the Doc 2012.

——————-

Speaking Engagements

Hot Docs
Toronto, Canada
April 30, 9:30 AM

Courtney Sexton, VP Documentary, Participant Media
JC Mills, Director of development, National Geographic
Lizzie Kerner, Director of development & acquisitions, CNN
Moderator: Peter Hamilton

WHAT DO BROADCASTERS WANT?

• What are broadcasters looking for?
• How do you work with them?
• Get the latest scoop directly from network representatives including CNN, National Geographic Channel, and Participant TV.

————–

COMMENTS (A Selection)

From David K. Greenwald:

What I like about your presentation is the premise captured in its final sentence: “have a plan”.

Too often, filmmakers think that being creative is enough. However, successful films are perhaps based on two “plans”, one that’s creative (how to tell this story, i.e. its screenplay) and one that’s business (how to obtain financing and distribution).

Do documentary filmmakers often start with a premise and then try to film it or do many only discovering that there’s a more interesting angle when they start to review and edit footage? If it’s the latter, the film may end up being more compelling than the initial pitch for funding.

From Ed Darino:

Agreed with David, a PLAN – and follow it, is important. Same as the name, and the balance of creativity-business. Cool samples also.

From Jim Ruxin:

There seems to be some wisdom in each of Fernanda Rossi’s ten points.

But if you follow the first link to an example you will find a total mess of pitch that has a split personality…two completely different subjects not tied together through one person who is enigmatic because of his flamboyant costumes. His search for the connection between a deceased American of modest means and the Duke of Hungary is totally without weight or importance. The pursuit of the chilvary? making peace with a father dying of Huntington’s who may have killed himself.

It is not the “cliffhanger” Rossi prescribes, but confusing story lines that do not reinforce each other. Too much, too loosely connected to attract real money, and what might have been a search for meaning before life runs out became more about the choice of neckties and playfulness.

What might have been a fascinating juxtaposition of personalities and subject areas was scattered and trivialized instead of bringing the audience to some new level of possibility, some feeling or idea they had never experienced. What we see is just eccentricity for its own sake and confusing as hell. I think the filmmaker knows this
combination of subjects might be fascinating, but is not aware of how to take us there.

The other link similarly is a failed trailer. Boring. No stakes.

Perhaps we have here an academic making thoughtful recommendations with no eye or ear for the real thing.

Fernanda Responds:

Dear Jim,

Thank you for your feedback. You make good points. As a writer and story consultant [even though I do research to update my work, I’m not an academic] my job is to help my clients realize their vision, regardless of my opinion or “what I would do if I were them”.

The ultimate proof is whether a demo or not raises money in the film market. Both demos did. In retrospect, based on your comments, I realize that out of the hundreds of demos I have worked on and were successful in fundraising, I should have chosen the ones that had a more traditional structure.

Once again, thank you for your input and don’t hesitate to contact me if you have further comments.

The post Documentary Fundraising: 10 Key How-to’s for Creating a Compelling Pitch Video appeared first on DocumentaryTelevision.com.

Here are his Seven Takeaways and a mini-Case Study: Flight of the Butterflies, which is on track to gross $30+ million.

Takeaways

1. Projects that are originated for TV channels and then reformatted for GS are unlikely to work because GS has to be conceived as a theatrical experience.

2. Producers must understand the unique audience for GS:

• TV is a much narrower and more finely-targeted audience.
• The GS audience is aged ’8-98.’
• A film just won’t be selected by a GS exhibitor if its not appropriate for children.

3. You have to make a film that works for all projection systems: domes, 3D and GS:

• ‘Bugs’ grossed $50 Mn and is still playing 10 years later.
• Around 25% of our grosses for ‘Bugs’ have come from domes.

4. Films sell on title and topic:

• None of the GS players (with the exception of some recent Warner Bros/IMAX collaborations) are branded studios with huge marketing budgets and brand recognition.
• Most decisions are made by museum visitors as they stand in front of the box office, and knowing only topic, title and poster art.
• Theaters won’t book a film without these elements being inherently strong.

5. The biggest challenge is marketing:

• Exhibitors are responsible for marketing, and yet they don’t have the budgets.
• And when times are tough, as they have been recently, most nonprofits cut their marketing budgets to preserve operations.

6. The economic model is changing in two areas:

• PRINT COSTS
  A 3D analog print was $25,000 to $30,000 (normally paid by the exhibitor), but digitization has driven down the cost of prints to the hundreds. Many theaters are making the switch to digital. We are probably 2-3 years from the time when distributors will just give up on analog prints. Historically, Giant Screen films began as loss leaders for theater systems for IMAX Corp.

• SPLITS
  The split from box office was generally around 80/20 in favor of the exhibitor so that they could recoup their investment in systems, prints and marketing. Consequently, huge grosses were needed for a GS film to be successful for producers. In the new reality, this split is now becoming more favorable to distributors.

7. Jonathan Barker is bullish:

• “The big new opportunity is to expand the market of museums with digital screens of all sizes and deliver programming that is family friendly and consistent with their mission.”
• “These newcomers, with smaller audiences per venue, will deliver less revenue per venue than big players like the Smithsonian and AMNH, but there are many of them potentially coming on line.”

———————-

CASE STUDY: Flight of the Butterflies
($US)

• Production budget: $10 million.
• Marketing + fulfillment: $3 million.

Funding

• National Science Foundation $3 million.
• Mexico: governments: $4.5 million.
• Mexico: corporate sponsors $1.6 million.
• Balance: Tax credits in UK and Canada and SK/private investment.

Release

• October 2012.
• Now on 50 screens.
• Will have played on 100+ screens in 2013.

Gross

• Will gross $30+ million.
• (A hit nowadays is $30-50 million.)
• “Will have a good life on television after the first few years of its prime theatrical life. (Sky  3D, 3Net, etc.; 2D / HD broadcast and cab/sat in non-3D markets).”

SK Pipeline

• SK Films produces one in-house GS film at a time and as a distributor will release no more than one or two films per year.
• SK separately produces television: Currently in season 2 of The Water Brothers for TVO in Canada, sold internationally by Sky Vision.
• SK is based in Toronto.

MORE ON GIANT SCREEN / 3D / IMAX / DOMES

Our Takeaways from Sunnyside of the Doc 2012:

This unique niche can be remarkably profitable for a handful of long-running hits. Here are the All-time Top 5, with domestic box office (US millions):

The Dream is Alive  $125.9 (1985)
Everest  $87.2 (1998)
To Fly!  $86.6 (1976)
Space Station  $85.0 (2002)
Antarctica  $65.0 (1991)

The post MIPDoc Takeaways: “Butterflies’ Doc to Gross $30+ Mn. Trends in the Giant Screen Museum Market: Jonathan Barker, SK Films appeared first on DocumentaryTelevision.com.

Manitoba’s advantages came to our attention when we worked with the province’s leading non-fiction producers in the lead up to Real Screen 2013.

Here is a practical user’s guide to Manitoba’s industry – its structures, benefits and talent.

KEY AGENCIES / ORGANIZATIONS

Manitoba Film and Music

• Manitoba Film and Music is the provincial agency in Manitoba, Canada that is responsible for Film Commission duties, provincial tax credit incentives and an equity fund.
• It takes the lead in promoting Manitoba as a versatile and affordable filming location. Read more here.

On Screen Manitoba

• On Screen Manitoba is the provincial non-profit member-driven organization that represents the 1200 odd media production industry professionals of Manitoba, Canada.
• Its members include writers, directors, producers, unions, guilds, training organizations, film festivals and other industry stakeholders.
• On Screen Manitoba undertakes a number of market and business development initiatives to provide the Manitoba production industry with opportunity to connect with national and international industry leaders and decision-makers. Read more here.

INDUSTRY PROFILE

Talent & Scale

• Manitoba has a vibrant creative sector that includes many talented writers, directors and producers who contribute to the whole of the Canadian film, television and interactive media production sector.
• For 25+ years, Manitoba’s film and television production industry has developed experienced producers, a dependable infrastructure and award-winning talent.
• Manitoba has over 20 active production companies that create original content and that co-produce with partners from around the world.
• These production companies are led by seasoned service producers who have worked with and for international studios such as Fox, Universal and MGM.
• Reflecting Manitoba’s diverse population, content is produced in English, French and Aboriginal languages.
• Open to new experiences, languages and cultures our production community welcomes the opportunity to work with co-producers from other countries.

Flexibility

• Manitoba producers pride themselves on their capacity to work collaboratively with local and out-of-province partners to adapt rapidly to a changing media production environment.
• An increasing number of Manitoba producers have experience developing and managing interactive and/or multiplatform projects whether in television, film or web-based production.
• Manitoba has a well-established infrastructure that accommodates large or micro-budget projects with ease and flexibility.
• The province’s 14 year-old tax credit is a stable production incentive with a proven track record and no annual cap.

International and Cross-Border Experience

• From an international media production assurance company to financing and legal expertise, Manitoba production service suppliers are well versed in the challenges and opportunities of Canadian and international projects.
• Manitoba production industry suppliers have decades of experience working with large international studios, as well as small Indie productions.
• Combining a purpose built sound stage with adapted warehouses, Manitoba can comfortably accommodate multiple productions at any given time.
• We also have post-production facilities with a Dolby certified recording studio.
• Two dedicated film offices offer location scouting, permit and logistics support along with legendary financial incentives and problem solving at the speed of production.

Talent + Development

• Manitoba’s local talent pool has won awards on both sides of the camera.
• From writers, directors, actors and producers whose work is regularly showcased at major festivals such as TIFF, Berlin, Cannes, and Sundance to the talented keys that are sought after beyond our borders.
• Manitoba is a strong production centre with excellent training and professional development opportunities for all industry players.
• It is host province to Canada’s National Screen Institute, and boasts a thirty-year old artist-run film centre — The Winnipeg Film Group, post-secondary programs in both French and English, a burgeoning New Media sector and industry-driven training programs through Film Training Manitoba.

MANITOBA PRODUCTION INCENTIVES

Manitoba offers three tax credits:

• The film and video labour-based tax credit.
• The film and video cost-of-production tax credit.
• And the interactive digital media tax credit.

MANITOBA TAX CREDITS

Read more here.

Who Can Apply?

• Applicants must:
  • have a permanent establishment (as defined in the Income Tax Act) in Manitoba,
  • be incorporated in Canada (either federally or provincially),
  • and must be a taxable Canadian corporation primarily carrying on a business that is a film or video production.
  • A minimum 25% of the corporation’s T4 Summary must be paid to eligible Manitoba employees for work performed in Manitoba (excluding docs).

Are There Content Requirements?

• There are no Canada or Manitoba content requirements.

What Projects Are Eligible To Apply?

• Eligible projects include fully financed television movies, documentaries, feature films, dramatic series, variety, multimedia, animation, children’s programming, music programming and informational series, as well as digital and CD-ROM production.

What about Co-Productions?

• The Manitoba Labour-based Tax Credit and the Manitoba Cost-of-Production based Tax Credit were designed to encourage outside collaboration with non-Manitoba producers.

What about Copyright/Corporate Caps?

• No copyright ownership is required and there are no corporate caps regarding the number of applications or the amount of tax credit available.

What if I Have to Film Outside Of Manitoba?

• Recognizing that certain productions require shooting outside Manitoba, filming outside of the province is allowable within the spirit and intent of the Act;
• Therefore, the labour-based tax credit travels with Manitoba crew but in the case of the cost-of-production tax credit only Manitoba expenditures will be eligible.

What about the Federal Tax Credit?

• The Manitoba Cost-of-Salaries Tax Credit is compatible with the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC) and the Film or Video Production Services Tax Credit (PSTC).
• These are administered through the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO).
Tel: (888) 433-2200.

Manitoba Film and Video Labour-based Tax Credit (maximum 65%)

• Base rate of 45%, calculated on Eligible Manitoba Labour Expenditures.
• Manitoba Producer Bonus: Increase your tax credit to 50% by co-producing with a Manitoba producer.
• Frequent Filming Bonus: Increase your tax credit to 55% on the third film shot within a 2-year period. Keep the 10% bonus on subsequent 
projects by maintaining production activity so that three films are shot within a 2-year period.
• Rural and Northern Bonus: Increase your tax credit to 50% by shooting at least 50% of your Manitoba production days at least 35 km from Winnipeg’s center.
• Combine your Incentives! Increase your tax credit to 65% by qualifying for the Frequent Filming Bonus, the Manitoba Producer Bonus, and the Rural and Northern Incentive!

Manitoba Cost-of-Production Tax Credit

• The Manitoba Film & Video Production Cost-of-Production Tax Credit is the highest in Canada.
• It provides production companies with a 30% fully refundable corporate income tax credit based on all eligible Manitoba expenditures including labour and deemed labour, if applicable.
• Maximum: 30% on eligible Manitoba expenses.

Manitoba Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit (maximum 45% of eligible labour)

• This tax credit is designed to support the development of interactive media content in Manitoba.
• Application information is available here.

Manitoba Film and Music Support for Production

• Manitoba Film and Music provides support to Manitoba production companies for development and production of film, television and web-based content.
• Click here for further information.

————————-

Manitoba Producers Attending Real Screen 2013

Attending with Peter Hamilton Consultants:

• Les Productions Rivard (Louis Paquin)
• Merit Motion Pictures (Merit Jensen Carr and Alexa Rosentreter)
• CLG Communications (Larry Giesbrecht)
• Buffalo Gal Pictures (Jean du Toit)
• Fringe Film Works (Angela Heck)
• Spectra Productions (Byrnes Benoit)
• Lank/Beach Productions (Barry Lank)

The post Manitoba: A Skilled Production Community Backed by Generous Tax Credits appeared first on DocumentaryTelevision.com.

He defined Discovery as ‘the #1 platform media company in the world’ with ‘just one strategic goal – to build market share worldwide.’

• Mark Hollinger runs the international business as CEO & President of Discovery Networks International.

David Zaslav listed several key data points that capture Discovery’s astounding scale, growth and profitability:

Value

• Discovery Communications’ Enterprise Value: $30bn
• International: $12 bn or 40% of total

Profits

       2012

• Discovery Communications’ Profits: $2.1 bn
• International: $721 mn or 34%

       2007

• Profits: $721 mn
• International: $120 mn or 17%

Global

• 1.3 billion subscribers outside the U.S.
• 143 networks via 186 feeds in 218 countries and territories.
• 43 international offices in 31 countries.

Programming

• And most astounding of all: $1.2 billion budgeted for programming in 2013.
• That’s up from $550 mn in 2007.

STRATEGY

We talked about Discovery’s global strategy, which has recently diverged from its traditional focus on nonfiction programs.

A ‘1-2 Punch’

• “Our key strategy is to maintain a ‘platform advantage’ in more countries.”
• “That means expanding our platform of channels, which will drive up sub fees and advertising revenues.”
• “And then we will ‘lean in’ by offering increasingly competitive content that will accelerate the drive to value.”

International Channel Rollouts

• TLC launched in 180 territories in 2012.
• And the female-skewing ID crime channel is beginning its roll out in 2013.
• Zaslav described ID as “the fastest-growing U.S. cable network, and the #1 for length of tune-in.”

Market Share

• “The aggregate market share of all our U.S. channels rose by 8% in 2012.”
• “Our international market share was up 25% in 4Q 2012 versus 4Q 2011.”
• “But our corresponding international ad revenues were up by 18%. Those benchmarks should be aligned. That means that there’s a clear 7% international growth opportunity as more of our markets, particularly in Western Europe, recover from the recession.”
• He also pointed to high growth in the cab/sat subscription base in Eastern Europe, Russia, Brazil and Latin America, Asia and India

Content

But would David Zaslav categorize Discovery as ‘a great content company?’

• He replied that the company has “made a lot of progress” and that he ”wants creatives to run the channels … executives with deep experience in production and programming.”
• He pointed to recent hires of “outstanding creative people like Julian Bellamy the ex-Channel 4 controller who is running an expanded commissioning team in London that will create between 500-1,000 new hours a year.”

FROM THE ARCHIVE

When I sat down with David Zaslav in Cannes, I gave him a handsomely laminated document that sends a big message. It was the cover page and financial roll-up for my 1988 board presentation ‘The Discovery Channel Europe Business Plan.’

 

I served as senior consultant on the due diligence for Discovery’s first leap outside the U.S.  Discovery was barely making payroll in 1988, and yet its visionary key investor John Malone was already driving management towards a globally branded future.

The Year 1 revenues seemed ambitious at $3 million. We could not have imagined that twenty-five years later, Discovery International would be valued at $12 billion!!

EXPANDING THROUGH CORPORATE ACQUISITIONS

As well as harvesting the low-hanging fruit of an expanding base of cab/sat subscribers outside the U.S., Discovery is using its free cash flow to acquire international operations with strong management teams.

Zaslav’s corporate acquisitions strategy has made a clear break with Discovery’s past at two levels:

• He is not limited to the nonfiction genres that evolved out of its documentary heritage.
• Discovery is acquiring free-to-air broadcasters as well as cab/sat channels.

Broadcast

• In Italy, where cable/satellite lags free-to-air, “we owned a library of female-targeted content that could serve as a low cost launching pad to expand into broadcast.”
• “We acquired the women’s channel Real Time in 2010, and we gained a lot of confidence when we managed it profitably.”
• “We later acquired another Italian broadcaster, Switchover TV, which makes us the #3 broadcaster in the market.”
• The model was replicated in Spain with the acquisition of D-Max.

Recent Acquisitions

• Eurosport: DCI paid France’s TF1 $240 million for a 20 percent share, “a fantastic pan-European brand in 59 countries and 20 languages.”
• SBS Nordic: a $1.7bn acquisition for 12 channels, which expanded Discovery’s Scandinavian market share from around 5% to 30%.

Localization / Globalization

We discussed Discovery’s long-standing goal of creating universally-appealing content that can be localized via presenters and local languages, so that it feels local.

David Zaslav adds that each international channel is also developing true ‘mini-local’ programs:

• “The more local we get the better!”
• “What I’m excited about is that our culture is changing. We used to be two separate entities – Discovery International and Discovery U.S.”
• “We’re now committed to being a global company.”
• “We took our US channels and said ‘They’re not U.S. channels.  They’re global brands.’ “

MORE

More from DocumentaryTelevision.com

• Discovery Channel U.S. vs. History
• Recent viewing of Discovery U.S. channels
• Discovery Canada, in which DCI is limited by the CRTC to a 20% share.

 —————————-

 Speaking Engagements

Hot Docs
Toronto, Canada
April 30, 9:30 AM

Courtney Sexton, VP Documentary, Participant Media
JC Mills, Director of development, National Geographic
Lizzie Kerner, Director of development & acquisitions, CNN
Moderator: Peter Hamilton

WHAT DO BROADCASTERS WANT?

• What are broadcasters looking for?
• How do you work with them?
• Get the latest scoop directly from network representatives including CNN, National Geographic Channel, and Participant TV.

The post Discovery Communications’ $1.2 Billion Spend on Programming: CEO David M. Zaslav on Strategy, Prospects & More appeared first on DocumentaryTelevision.com.

Sylvie Peltier is president of LaDiDa Media, an experienced Vancouver-based factual producer who has been working with Canadian channels.

Sylvie decided to expand her horizons by attending MIPDoc. She was looking for international pre-buys and co-productions, as well as for opportunities to refresh her Canadian contacts.  Sylvie engaged us to help develop and execute LaDiDa’s MIPDoc marketing strategy.

Sylvie Peltier & Peter Hamilton in front of the CCTV banner that
dominated the entrance to the Palais. Photo: Greg  Nosaty

Takeaways

Here are Sylvie Peltier’s MIPDoc Takeaways:

1. “Access: We met with numerous senior level programming execs from U.S. and Europe, both socially and in meetings that we often arranged on the spur of the moment.”

2.  “An unexpected benefit was to continue the conversation with our current clients, who are located in Toronto and Montreal. We have always found it a challenge to fly out from Vancouver to Montreal and make appointments just to say hello. As a result, too much time elapses between meetings. It was easy to rekindle those relationships at MIPDoc.”

3. “An exciting meeting was with Pauline Mazenod from Windrose Distribution who showed that she can help get presales and perhaps coproduce for concepts that we are developing, and that hold promise for partial finding from Canada.”

4. “The commissioners’ presentations were really important… for example seeing how far Nat Geo has moved away from its yellow border heritage, but also understanding how eager they are for new ideas both at the U.S. and global levels.”

5. Big Takeaway: “Our brand and reputation took a big step forward just by presenting ourselves in the international market. The commissioners see our production company differently: not so so much as a ‘BC producer’ but as a ‘global producer based in BC.’ ”

 —————–

CCTV-9 Documentary Channel

Last year CCTV-9 made a big statement at MIPDoc and MIPTV.

This year, the message sent by CCTV’s delegation was: “OK, you all know that we’re an international player, and now we’re getting bigger and better!”

Here’s what we learned (and re-learned) last week about China’s documentary market.

1. CCTV

• CCTV is China’s national public broadcaster, operating 37 channels: 25 public and 12 premium channels, including CCTV9 Documentary and CCTV10 Education.
• Total domestic audience share in 2012: 32%.
• CCTV’s international channels are broadcast in English French, Spanish, Arabic and Russia.
• CCTV News operates 5 regional news hubs and 63 bureaux.
• Its entertainment channels actively import formats.

 2. CCTV-9 Documentary Channel

Co-productions

• 2013: 14 international copros, totaling 50 episodes.
• Partners include BBC, France Televisions, NGC Asia, NHK, NHNZ, Gebruder Beetz Films, Screen Australia and Bearcage Films.
• Copro investment: $8-12 million in 2013.

In-house

• In 2012, CCTV-9 announced 4 in-house signature productions at MIPTV.
• In 2013: 8.
• Total original production: 500 hours.

Acquisitions

• 800 hours of international acquisitions

Financial

• CCTV-9′s advertising Revenue rose from $32 mn in 2012 to a projected $63 mn in 2013.

CCTV-9 International

• “Window on China.”
• “40 million viewers in 60 countries and regions.”
• 1,000 hours of documentaries translated into English already.

Audience

• CCTV-9′s average prime time audience is said to be 63 million!

3. Outside CCTV-9

• CCTV-10, the educational channel is moving away from instructional programs to documentaries that entertain and inform. A new English-speaking acquisitions team is on board. Watch out for CCTV-10 as a growing national alternative to CCTV-9.
• According to Sunnyside of the Doc‘s Yves Jeanneau, China’s regions and cities are also competing to develop documentary channels and production centers. A very substantial Chinese delegation will attend this year’s Sunnyside in La Rochelle from June 24-28.

Takeaway for International Relations Buffs

• One curious development: China’s documentary and unscripted entertainment industry seems to have decided against attending the U.S. and Anglo-Saxon markets, and is focusing instead on European and particularly French ones.
• Since there’s a government-funded ‘soft power’ factor at work here, one wonders if the U.S. ‘pivot’ to Asia and its policy of containing a resurgent China aren’t shaping the Chinese industry’s tilt towards European marketing and perhaps copro partners? 

With Beijing Opera star on the beach in Cannes
Photo Ian Cross, Pilot Productions

The post MIPDoc Takeaways: Access for Vancouver’s LaDiDa Media / Latest on China’s CCTV-9 Documentary Channel and the ‘Pivot’ to Europe appeared first on DocumentaryTelevision.com.