FACTUAL TV
GENRE REPORT
on Discovery + so far include The Single Life and Queen of Meth and the service is ramping up its commissioning of documentaries, but it’s also stretching into more heavily formatted productions. Lisa Holme, Group SVP of Content and Commercial Strategy for Discovery+ says: “I think one of the things that you’ll see us dabble in, particularly in Discovery+ is a more heavily produced invention, more formatted shows in the reality space. Naked and Afraid of Love is an example…What’s our Bling Empire?” While the merger between Discovery and
Warner Bros is not yet finalised, WarnerMedia EVP of programming, EMEA, Hannes Heyelmann says that HBO Max is upping its factual content. “We are really going to tap into a much broader unscripted offering.” Those sought-after documentaries about sports, music or celebrities, as well unscripted formats like singing contests, dating series, lifestyle and cooking, will sit alongside true crime titles. Hits for HBO Max so far include dating format FBoy Island and Selena + Chef. Heyelmann stresses that the service doesn’t want “trashy” or “low brow.” With the pressure on to maintain the quality
allowed you to tell those stories in more detail, in longer formats,” says Iain Scollay, Creative Director at Glasgow-based Firecrest Films. “When it’s well done, it’s exceptional.” At Windfall, Massarella notes a corresponding rise in the quality of journalism “We feel really proud of the journalism content in the last year, or two years, getting to the nub of a big question.”
SIZE IS IMPORTANT Windfall executive producer Misbah Alvi,
working in the features and lifestyle space, sees an international demand for ambitious lifestyle projects, such as make-overs. Windfall’s own Great British Home Restoration is a huge project, financed across territories. “The demand is for grand transformation, it’s not small scale.” For all platforms, scale and talent are important.
“Big, show-off ideas are absolutely king,” says Salaria. “You have to go in with big talent names who are exploring big and broad subject matter.” At Firecrest, lockdown presented an opportunity for a show with Michael Palin reflecting on an archive of travel memories. “The draw of a name like Michael Palin was extraordinary,” says Creative Director Iain Scollay. On ITV, with an ever present need to fill that 9 o’clock slot, Sue Murphy employs a catchphrase:
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televisual.com Autumn 2021
“personalities, pressure and purpose.” One example is bringing an ensemble together to reinvent a classic territory: Gordon Ramsay, Gino D’Acampo and Fred Sirieix on a road trip in Greece ticks all the boxes. At Naked, Salaria knows that readying those
big ideas with key talent is harder for smaller indies with less resource. But development money is there for the right ideas, services can sometimes attach talent and partnerships are another way forward. Naked’s six-parter for BBC3, Tonight with Target is made with music agency New Wave. “Those kind of partnerships are the way forward,” says Salaria. “It’s really important that our industry doesn’t just become dominated by 45 indies. You climb the ladder, but you don’t pull it up behind you.” There’s certainly room for smaller indies. At
Firecrest, business is focused on the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5 and landing returning series. Its Highland Blues eight-parter for the BBC and six-parter Network Trauma for Channel 4 are two recent commissions. While their hands are full, they still find time to talk with streamers, says Scollay. “They’re more accessible to pitch to than they every have been.” Discovery has an unscripted head start on
other streamers, given its traditional focus on factual for a mass audience. Best performers
of programming, finding partner investors is one solution. At Windfall, with its specialist factual roots, Massarella has watched co-production get busier. “We’ve been co producing for 25 years and what’s changed over the last 10 years is the number of partners.” There are more partners and more scope for partners, with territories including China, Poland, New Zealand or Australia regularly collaborating and increased interest from streamers. Netflix recently confirmed that it would like to co-produce more with UK broadcasters.
FOUR CONCERNS The fate of one of those UK broadcasters is one
of the chief preoccupations for factual indies large and small as we head into 2022. It remains to be seen if the government will go ahead and privatise Channel 4, but the mood music makes that eventuality seem likely. In a report by Ampere Analysis, it was estimated that the commercial PSB would likely reduce its content budget significantly to boost profits. The role that it plays in nurturing production companies would surely be curtailed. Even if much of Channel 4’s PSB remit was retained, the factual production community would feel the repercussions strongly. “The kind of programmes we love pitching to
Channel 4 are very different to the kind of ideas we’d pitch to the BBC,” says Salaria at Naked. “Shows like The Love Triangle are inherent Channel 4 shows….PSBs have built the business, raised the standards, made British production great.”
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