Ben Simmons is an NBA All-star with a US$170 million contract. He sent a message to the Sports and Documentary worlds by signing on as an executive producer of THE AUSTRALIAN DREAM. Passion Pictures‘ feature documentary captures the struggle of Aboriginal professional footballer Adam Goodes. Goodes was driven from the local game by unrelenting racial …
This post covers the online demand for Netflix Original Documentaries in Australia. The Australian findings reveal an overwhelming similarity with the U.S. and UK, also English-speaking markets. Its as if Australia is a distant Wales or Hawaii with precious little national identity with respect to its Netflix audience’s appetite. Measuring Audience Demand The data is …
Discovery’s CEO David M Zazlav earned $128 million in 2018 That’s according to an executive compensation analysis published in today’s New York Times. Mr Zazlav’s 2018 payday was ranked #2 among all U.S. public companies. It was exceeded only by Elon Musk’s TESLA package ($2.8 billion). Context Discovery’s producers typically earn 10% of the …
Rupert Murdoch stepped into his father’s brogues when he took aim at global power and profit. Rupert’s father Keith was the Australian kingmaker who taught the young Rupert how to leverage media ownership into political power. The son differs from the father by promoting racial and class resentment mixed with bigotry as a key tool …
UNITED SKATES is an exceptional feature documentary that combines pure and often hilarious entertainment with a hard-hitting expose of how race and class force their crushing ways into the most innocent American pastimes — even roller-skating. For this case study, which is published with Sunny Side of the Doc, I spoke with the co-producer / …
Here are 6 reasons why the 2017 edition showed AIDC as rising towards the top tier of documentary conferences. “The Australian International Documentary Conference Board is delighted to announce that Alice Burgin, who programmed a very successful 30th anniversary conference in Melbourne earlier this year, has been appointed to the role of AIDC Director.” (May 1, 2017) …
Brian Beaton was a generous friend of this newsletter and of my consulting practice. I was so saddened to read of his sudden passing. I learned just this month that as a young man Brian was a leader of the anti-conscription movement that opposed Australia’s draft of young men to fight in Vietnam. That took real bravery! And …
