DOCS WITH GLOBAL APPEAL
FACTUAL TV
appeal – we all have families and all have identities. It doesn’t matter where you live and doesn’t matter where you’re born.” The story, like Three Identical Strangers before it, is US-based, but Evans is insistent that the location doesn’t have to be Stateside. “I’m currently pitching things from all over the world. It’s about finding a big story…
..The global streamers are interested in their different territories, they are catering to different territories.” Having supplied Discovery with Gold Rush, one
of the jewels in its crown, Raw is naturally looking at the opportunities with its new global streaming service Discovery +, which Evans describes as “exciting”. Talking with Amazon, they’re focused on stand-out ideas. “With Netflix you trawl, Amazon doesn’t have that relationship with the audience yet, so there’s a challenge from our perspective to broaden their range and build on factual output… They need big headline things to bring people in.”
ALL IN THE GAME Amazon’s documentary slate has been skewed towards sport and this shows no sign of becoming less important. Sport documentaries on the right scale have built-in global appeal. Anouk Mertens is md of Neo Studios, production company behind eight-parter Take Us Home: Leeds United which was streamed on Amazon. “The appetite for deep dives into the world of sport has seen a major spike in recent years,” she says. “On demand services like Netflix and Amazon offer a home to sports documentaries in a way that linear channels haven’t been able to in the past. They have created a new appetite for episodic content over single feature-length pieces.” With fierce competition for rights to global
IN THE PIPELINE
Netflix: Two new true crime series: four parter on Sophie Toscan du Plantier’s murder from Lightbox and Michael Harte directing a feature doc on Dennis Nilsen through Raw TV and Eleven Films. Another feature doc on rapper Nipsey Hussle from Ava Du Vernay is on its way . Pope Francis’ book Sharing The Wisdom of Time is becoming a four- parter produced by Stand By Me. In sport, WWE’s eccentric chairman Vince McMahon is getting a series, and Garrett Bradley directs a docuseries on WTA champion Naomi Osaka. Freeborne Productions’ multi-year deal includes an upcoming series on the oceans. While Obama’s prodco is behind nature series, Great National Parks. Apple: Apple TV + is cooking a four part doc series from creators of McMillions, Brian Lazarte and James Lee Hernandez, on a government scam. The much anticipated CGI dinosaur landmark from Jon Favreau and Mike Gunton out of BBC Studios is in production, as is 12-parter Earthsound from Offspring Films, natural history told through advanced audio technology. It has purchased rights to Todd Haynes’ The Velvet Underground documentary. Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea are working on docuseries Gutsy Women and Apple’s partnership with Oprah Winfrey includes a worldwide book club discussion series and a series on mental health, featuring Prince Harry. Amazon Focusing on sport, there’s upcoming series on Bayern Munich and on Australian AFLW star Taylar Harris, Kick Like Tayla. Another in its All or Nothing series will look at ice hockey team the
Toronto Maple Leafs, from NHL Productions. Plus there’s a re-commission for its series on Spanish footballer El Corazon de Sergio Ramos Disney +, Nat Geo: Dr. Anthony Fauci is the subject of a feature documentary. While Nat Geo has commissioned a slate of four projects from the Free Solo alumni behind Little Monster Films: two features, a 10-parter and a pilot, including feature doc Thai Cave Rescue. Epic six-parter Oceanxplorers is in production with BBC Studios with James Cameron executive producing; Cameron is also making four-parter Secrets of the Whale, from Red Rock Films. Costantini and Foster are making Own the Room, a feature doc for Disney + about young entrepreneurs. Sky: Sky recently came on board with Alba Sotorra Clua’s feature The Return: Life after ISIS. It has also backed Lightbox features about Tina Turner and Princess Diana. The latter will have a theatrical release, then stream on HBO Max in the US and Sky Documentaries in the UK. Other feature documentaries upcoming: Hawking from Atlantic Productions; Tyson Bruno from Workerbee; The United Way on Eric Cantona from Matthew Lorenzo Production; Look Away, about rape in the music industry, by Top Hat Productions. In true crime, there’s Louis Theroux’s Mindhouse Productions three -parter The Bambers: Murder at the Farm (w/t). Historical film Lancaster from Tall Boy Films is also in production. James Jones is behind 90-minute film Chernobyl ’86. While Blast! Films will make drama-doc Liverpool Narcos and Arrow Pictures will examine the UK’s AIDS crisis in Positive. In natural history, True to Nature is making 5-part Gangs of Macaque Island for Sky Nature.
Spring 2021
televisual.com
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