In a webinar moderated by PACT‘s Dawn McCarthy-Simpson, the veterans Dan Salerno and Michael Hoff joined me to explore the COVID-disrupted condition of the production and programming pipeline for U.S. Factual networks. The big question: Are we heading into a “Content Desert?” Watch the May 19 webinar or read our detailed notes here! My guests …
Quibi is a dud, as I predicted. Even with a free 90-day trial, the Quibi app has been installed by less than 3.5 million consumers. It ranks #125 among free iPhone app downloads. That’s behind Duolingo, the language app where I recently failed to learn much Swedish (“Hej, hej!”). Founder and Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg …
Rupert Murdoch stepped into his father’s shoes when he took aim at global power and profit. Rupert’s father Keith was the Australian kingmaker who taught the young Rupert how to blend media ownership and political influence. The son differs from the father by promoting racial and class resentment mixed with bigotry to build profitable audiences …
David Attenborough went head-to-head with Joe Exotic in the battle for the ‘Most Popular Launch of a Netflix Unscripted Series.’ Tiger King failed to deliver a knockout blow over Our Planet, instead winning on points. That’s the finding from Parrot Analytics‘ online Demand analysis — a methodology that scoops up and ranks all of a …
SUNNY SIDE OF THE DOC is France’s great international documentary market. My guest is MATHIEU BÉJOT, Sunny Side’s strategy director, who is locked down and safe in Paris. Sunny Side 2020 is branded “The Connected Edition” to capture the many layers of digital Content, Trend-spotting and Networking that delegates will experience from June 22-25. Podcast …
INSIDE WUHAN is a Case Study in how hard times bring out innovation and flexibility from filmmakers. The producer/ director Craig Thompson discusses his 22-minute, short turnaround special, commissioned by CTV-Canada’s W5 and produced by Ballinran Entertainment and White Pine Pictures. Tagline INSIDE WUHAN is an undercover documentary that foreshadows a world under quarantine and …
Monthly News Highlights is a co-publication with Sunny Side of the Doc. Netflix takes Wildlife genre to the the dark side TIGER KING: Murder, Mayhem and Madness is a True Crime docuseries that pulls its punches on animal cruelty as it dives into the outsize characters and high stakes of Big Cat world. It is emerging …
About the Series: A special quality that attracted me to cover GREAT INVENTIONS in my newsletter and podcast is that this 35-episode series was developed and funded by the distributor, ZDF ENTERPRISES without the typical building block of a financial commitment from a key buyer, usually a major network. ZDF Enterprises invested heavily in the …