POMPEII RISING is an ambitious €1.6 million budget Science / History project from France’s Gedeon Programmes. Coproduction partners include French, German, Japanese and other international public broadcasters, and the online subscription platform CuriosityStream. In this Case Study for Sunny Side of the Doc we capture the development, production, distribution and select deal highlights of POMPEII …
CuriosityStream is the subscription video online service created by Discovery founder John Hendricks to serve the audience that loves classic factual programs. Clint Stinchcomb is a veteran of the Discovery senior executive team. He went on to start up and lead other digital and traditional media franchises, and is now president and CEO of CuriosityStream. …
Last week I shared my survey of the PBS audience in the Netflix Era. Many readers commented on my Takeaway that PBS is defying its recent reputation as ‘old school’ and ‘yesterday.’ PBS is gaining stature against the Wild West of online viewing because it is a brand that is highly trusted for its curated …
The American PBS system completed its annual general meeting last week in Nashville, Tennessee. The theme was “Our Country: Our Stories.” The state of the PBS viewing audience was a key focus. I’m particularly interested in two stories: Is the PBS audience holding up in the age of Netflix? And, particularly, how are the Science …
THE SIEGE OF MECCA is a compelling investigation into a violent event that has shaped recent history, but that is still wrapped in secrecy in France, Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and elsewhere. This Sunny Side of the Doc / DocumentaryBusiness.com Case Study reveals a 5-year commitment to a German/French copro with a €620,000+ budget. THE STORY …
THE SIEGE OF MECCA uncovers the violent event in 1979 that has shaped recent history, but that is still wrapped in secrecy. My Podcast / Case Study combo with Dirk van den Berg details how he and Pascal Verroust secured mainly European funding for their 620,000+ Euros project, beginning with a fast 150,000 Euros commitment …
The “Best of British” is one of my more popular posts. I list the year’s highest-rated unscripted programs, usually to honor UK producers in time for their PACT party at Realscreen. For a different look at 2018, I combined the Documentary, Factual, Lifestyle & Current Affairs categories, showing the best single episode for series. It’s …
A Sundance Film Festival award lags only behind an Oscar nomination as a measure of success for documentarians. But what are the odds that a U.S. or international documentary will earn a slot on the program? Submissions 2,649 Documentary Features were submitted to the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, which opens on January 24: 767 were from the …