Sunny Side of the Doc 2019 broke new ground for attendance from all sectors of the documentary eco-system. And that’s aside from the big step up in engagement that all the delegates felt throughout this year’s exciting event in beautiful La Rochelle. The highlight was the packed presentation by Netflix documentary executive Diego Buñuel. Here …
Netflix is flooding subscribers with 73 original releases, series and specials. In November! A friend who is a veteran cable programming exec calls it “stunning.” I agree: That’s what an estimated $12 billion (2018) and $15 billion (2019) content spend can deliver. For consumers, its a powerful motivator to retain their Netflix subscription. It underlines …
The 18,000-member D-Word documentary community is hosting my online conversation on the topic : Dealing with Netflix: What you need to know NOW! Here is how host Doug Block set up the conversation: In the current documentary landscape, Netflix is the giant elephant in the room, and everyone else — be it filmmaker, broadcaster, distributor …
TRUE ROYALTY is a London-based subscription video service dedicated to British Royalty. Co-founder GREGOR ANGUS describes True Royalty as a “clearly-defined interest” or mega-niche. His analysis points to tens of millions of hyper-engaged Royal TV viewers. They are concentrated in the U.S. and Commonwealth countries. True Royalty’s business case was endorsed by U.S. box office …
The Nyoongar Stadium Documentary project is an inspiring story of how new digital screens, multi-platform distribution and an imaginative approach to outreach combined to create a well-funded documentary format. The Challenge: Perth’s state-of-the-art football stadium was being built on a traditionally significant meeting ground of the Aboriginal first nation Nyoongar people. How could West Australia’s …
Sue Dando has been the head of The Nature of Things, CBC Television’s flagship documentary science and nature series, for seven years. The strand is one of the most successful television series in the world: it is now heading into its 59th season. Sue shared her strategy and commissioning process at Sunny Side’s Science-themed Meet The …
Chris Hoelzl is SVP, Program Development, Smithsonian Networks (USA). He is responsible for the development of original productions, co-productions and the acquisition of completed programming. He shared his strategy and commissioning process at Sunny Side’s Science-themed Meet The Executive session, estimating that 5-10% of Smithsonianʼs annual 200 hours of production is Science-based. We are publishing …
Greg Boustead is director of Science Sandbox, a portfolio of strategic grantmaking at the Simons Foundation, focused on outreach and engaging new audiences with science. He shared his strategy and grant-making process at Sunny Side of the Doc’s Science-themed Meet The Executive session. We are publishing Greg’s very informative session as a podcast, though without …