Tina, Lightbox
WHAT’S THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITY?
CL It’s the wild west out there. It’s a fantastic time for factual producers if you’ve got a track record for producing good content and you’re fast of foot.
EH The fact that there are now so many buyers in the marketplace has changed everything, especially for documentary – it means we have more providers to pitch our ideas to. British expertise with docs is still recognised – the skill is pitching
platforms. Not because there isn’t opportunity with traditional terrestrial channels, but at the moment they’re dealing with a huge backlog.
SKILL IS PITCHING IDEAS THAT HAVE ENOUGH
INTERNATIONAL APPEAL
ideas that have enough international appeal. The streamers offer bigger commissions and different models, so not being confined to broadcast slots allows for programmes to be made in a way that absolutely plays to the strength of the material. Specialist factual is also in rude health for the SVODs, if you’re pitching big archaeology ideas and natural history.
DD It’s definitely with the innumerable streamers, big global
BRITISH EXPERTISE WITH DOCS IS STILL RECOGNISED – THE
FS For Naked, there’s an opportunity to deliver young skewing, diverse formats….channel defining programming brands. The days of pitching a 90-minute or 60-minute single are gone, unless there’s a unique piece of programming. The biggest opportunity is finding formats that tick the boxes. At Naked, we’ve got Secret
Crush for ITV, The Rap Game for BBC Three, 60 Days… for Channel 4.
WHERE IS ANY INCREASE IN DEMAND COMING FROM?
TM All of the global streamers are commissioning large scale factual – the tone, type and volume varies but the ambition is there across the piece. And it’s amazing to see the PSBs in the UK still so
committed to factual, from doc series to specialist factual. There’s also signs of emerging ‘local’ opportunity in countries such as India, Brazil, Australia and of course it’s a boom time for factual in the US. Sky Documentaries in the UK have commissioned a really exciting raft of premium factual in the past 12 months too – that’s already changing the UK factual landscape.
SM The obvious answer is the streamers, viewed through a UK or US lens. However, as the streamers become more global they also become more regional. For instance, in the last month I’ve spoken to two producers working in India and one in China: all are making shows for streamers commissioned locally in these territories that will also have global appeal.
WHAT’S THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE?
WD Strong competition for relatively few big projects and developing and securing a first commission for new on-screen talent.
BECOME AN INCREDIBLY COMMERCIALLY VIABLE BUSINESS IN RECENT TIMES
Despite the diversification of the US cable market into streaming, such as Discovery into Discovery+, it is a mistake to overlook the potential of traditional cable either for the channels or their streaming offerings.
DOCUMENTARY AND NON FICTION HAS
SC Competition for ideas, stories, access and talent has just become fiercer than it’s ever been. The biggest opportunity is the huge rise of buyers and streamers. The corollary is the competition has never been more intense, as documentary and non fiction has become an incredibly commercially viable business in recent times, in the global environment rather than UK terrestrial. It’s incredibly exciting, but incredibly competitive. We were a little bit early adopters ….Now many of
the scripted producers and talent in the US have their own non fiction divisions, so it’s tough.
FS The biggest thing for us is budgets and trying to match
See the Televisual Factual Films at
televisual.com 29
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