Wishing my friends and colleagues a happy holiday season from Stockholm! Our family is gathering in Uppsala for Christmas; its the first time that we’re all together since 2019! For 2022, I’m excited about providing you with more analysis and context, particularly covering how the revolutionary shift from channels to streamers is impacting documentary …
Essential Afghan Documentaries – War boosters & critics: 15 key documentaries about Afghanistan, From ‘Taxi to the Dark Side’ to ‘Hell and Back Again‘ // Variety ‘Pat Tillman‘ and other films both critical and supportive of the war // Washington Post Art Workers in France Mobilize to Help Afghan Creators // Artnet Women journalists fear brutal Taliban // Vice Director’s escape from …
Sylvia Bugg is PBS‘s highly-respected Chief Programming Executive & General Manager, General Audience Programming. Sylvia shares her strategy and program highlights in our engaging Meet the Executive session for Sunny Side of the Doc. Watch the Session: Key Themes I begin by asking Sylvia how PBS is adapting to the streaming era. She references clips …
Howard Swartz is the Senior Vice President Docs and Specials, Factual Networks & Streaming, for Discovery. For Sunny Side of the Doc‘s Meet the Executive session, he joined Peter Hamilton to share Discovery’s documentary strategy and key buckets. Following are session highlights, including clips of several projects that reveal Howard’s priorities. MISSION & STRATEGY What …
Three years ago, I wrote here: “Discovery must be in play after AT&T’s recent takeover of Time Warner with its Warner Bros, HBO and Turner programming assets.” (Discovery for Sale, June 20, 2018) ATT confirmed today that it will spin off its renamed WarnerMedia unit into Discovery Inc. My Initial Takeaways: 1.Discovery Transformed A leading …
Loren Baxter (Head of Acquisitions), Stefanie Fischer (MD of Sales) & Leila Monks (Head of Commissioning) joined me for a revealing Off the Fence webinar at Sunny Side’s Global Pitch. My key questions: What is your key focus in Sales, Acquisitions and Commissions? What is Off the Fence working on? How do you work together …
Meet Chris Schmidt and Julia Cort, Executive Producers of NOVA, and Melanie Wallace, Senior Series Producer. They joined me at this year’s Sunny Side of the Doc for a revealing MEET THE EXECUTIVE presentation, including clips of program highlights. Watch the NOVA / Sunny Side video here: And don’t miss my detailed coverage of NOVA …
Twelve documentary buyers and producers reveal what drives their decisions. Each commissioner is driven by a particular strategy, pipeline and budget ‘sweet spot’. Each producer describes a unique path from concept through funding and production to distribution. Since 2010, the mission of my Documentary Business newsletter has been to reveal how these individual production pathways …