‘The Vietnam War’ from Ken Burns & Lynn Novick earned a hit-level PBS audience. This post on the 18-hour, $30 million ‘Vietnam’ series wraps up my coverage of PBS’s impressive factual ratings. I added a comment on ‘Vietnam’ that is based on my eyewitness experience in wartime Laos as a 22 year old researcher / reporter. The …
This post continues my coverage of the PBS audience for History and Science for delegates attending WCSFP Congress in San Francisco. The focus here is on the strands American Experience, American Masters and Secrets of the Dead. Also profiled are the highest-rated PBS History specials and limited series outside the strands. Next post: The Vietnam War. …
Archive Valley is an innovative online platform that gives documentary filmmakers convenient access to fresh archive footage sources and to top archive researchers worldwide. This new efficient archive research solution is online, and Archive Valley encourages you to take advantage of free access to our Beta platform! Our Mission Archive Valley’s goal is to make it faster, …
Nat Geo Channel today announced the September premiere of Diana: In Her Own Words. It’s the latest in a series of network specials timed for the 20th anniversary of Diana’s passing. Here is NGC’s powerful trailer: No Narration: The program is created in the “no narration /cinematic” style that is bringing the archive back into …
A highlight of Sunny Side 2017 was my Archive Masterclass on Grammy and Focal Award winner THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK. The stars of our standing-room-only panel were Apple Corps executive producer Jonathan Clyde and Matthew White who originated the concept to create an archive-based film about Beatlemania. Takeaways About the archive… Home movie footage related to …
Letters From Baghdad is a beautiful documentary that uncovers the story of British adventurer, diplomat and Arabist, Gertrude Bell. Filmmakers Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl reveal the struggles of a brilliant, lone woman in an all-male world. Their research uncovered a largely forgotten but mesmerizing film and photographic archive of the early 20th century. Their film blends footage …
Is the archive on the way back? We think so, and we explored the factors driving changes in the archive landscape with Footage.net‘s David Seevers in an interview with myself and Peabody Award-winning producer Tom Jennings. DocumentaryTelevision.com’s coverage of the archive is sponsored by ITN Source. FN: In a recent edition of DocumentaryTelevision.com, you noted that “History channel’s …
Recent press releases from Amazon, Netflix and Nat Geo reveal trends in the “Post-Schedule Economy”. I quickly applied several criteria to a sample of seven films, including Amazon’s 13-parter on Hugh Hefner. Five of them focus on Big Names (e.g., Hefner) and/or involve A-Listers in the production team (e.g., Leo Dicaprio). Four involve Crime, Violence …