Here are the Top 25-rated British Wildlife and Pets/Lifestyle programs in 1H 2020. The nostalgic “Land & Country” theme that I described in my Top 100 UK Factual and Top 25 History posts is less prominent in the Natural History category. Viewers who love Wildlife enjoy being transported to remote locations that are mostly beyond …
REELZ commissions around 200 originals each year and acquires another 50+ programs. The focus is on: Celebrity, particularly from the world of entertainment, and Notoriety, in the True Crime genre. Unlike most platforms like Netflix or U.S. cable nets, REELZ acquires only U.S. rights, allowing producers to profitably exploit rest-of-world in a popular genre. I …
In this intense U.S. election year, I caught up with filmmaker Pat McGee to explore his fast-track production of “Bernie Blackout: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”. Broadcast on VICE network on May 13, 2020, McGee‘s investigative documentary asks: How did the news media affect Bernie Sanders‘ 2020 presidential campaign? Was his campaign sabotaged by corporate …
Virtual documentary festivals and markets are here to stay! Online offerings won’t replace LIVE events after Covid. But virtual formats and features will enrich live programs and can dramatically extend their reach. Two Different Documentary Events: Distribution consultant Peter Broderick has written the definitive special report on CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen-based documentary festival. I helped with …
Footage.net is dedicated to making the world’s best stock, news and archival footage searchable from a single site, and to giving footage users the tools they need to discover and license the most relevant footage for their particular needs. David Seevers, Chief Marketing Officer and footage industry veteran shared his company’s vision and operations in …
Here is the audio / podcast of the webinar moderated by PACT‘s Dawn McCarthy-Simpson with veterans — programming exec Dan Salerno and prolific producer Michael Hoff. We explored the COVID-disrupted condition of the production and programming pipeline for U.S. Factual networks. The big question: Are we heading into a “Content Desert?” Listen to the May …
David Attenborough went head-to-head with Joe Exotic in the battle for the ‘Most Popular Launch of a Netflix Unscripted Series.’ Tiger King failed to deliver a knockout blow over Our Planet, instead winning on points. That’s the finding from Parrot Analytics‘ online Demand analysis — a methodology that scoops up and ranks all of a …
In these hectic early weeks of the crisis, I thought that it would be helpful to take some time out to reflect on the seismic changes that our industry is experiencing. Veteran consultant Ed Hersh joins me in a pod-versation to provide a cautious snapshot for our colleagues. We focus on three questions: Is there …