by Robin McGahey: This past week, I had the incredible opportunity to attend the 3rd annual Nature Environment Wildlife Filmmakers Congress (NEWF) in Durban, South Africa. Fearlessly led by Noel Kok and his partner Pragna, the theme was #Partnership. I arrived unsure of what to expect, and left feeling awe, inspiration, drive, and hope for …
Netflix programming exec Diego Buñuel presented to two standing-room-only audiences last Tuesday at Sunny Side of the Doc in beautiful La Rochelle. It was the ‘event with the event.’ Delegates lined up for an hour beforehand to secure their seats. Netflix is that hot! The generous Diego is a former producer who comes from that great …
The sharing of costs and rights on editorial partnerships is becoming increasingly important in the ‘Netflix Era.’ Our STORMBORN Case Study is an inspiring example of a successful coproduction. It’s the story of how a medium-sized Scottish production company developed a compelling Natural History concept that attracted the multiple partners who could realize a limited …
POMPEII RISING is an ambitious €1.6 million budget Science / History project from France’s Gedeon Programmes. Coproduction partners include French, German, Japanese and other international public broadcasters, and the online subscription platform CuriosityStream. In this Case Study for Sunny Side of the Doc we capture the development, production, distribution and select deal highlights of POMPEII …
CuriosityStream is the subscription video online service created by Discovery founder John Hendricks to serve the audience that loves classic factual programs. Clint Stinchcomb is a veteran of the Discovery senior executive team. He went on to start up and lead other digital and traditional media franchises, and is now president and CEO of CuriosityStream. …
Last week I shared my survey of the PBS audience in the Netflix Era. Many readers commented on my Takeaway that PBS is defying its recent reputation as ‘old school’ and ‘yesterday.’ PBS is gaining stature against the Wild West of online viewing because it is a brand that is highly trusted for its curated …
The distribution footprint and average primetime audience of Cab/Sat channels are key measures of scale and performance. These metrics are of intense interest as Realscreen West kicks off in LA and Sunny Side of the Doc approaches in La Rochelle, France. Today’s coverage and ratings snapshot is for 40+ U.S. networks, from Factual leaders like …
The American PBS system completed its annual general meeting last week in Nashville, Tennessee. The theme was “Our Country: Our Stories.” The state of the PBS viewing audience was a key focus. I’m particularly interested in two stories: Is the PBS audience holding up in the age of Netflix? And, particularly, how are the Science …