HIGH-END DOCUMENTARY


FACTUAL TV


help to give a channel identity. Root’s success with the form came out of her experience as channel controller at BBC2 and president of Discovery Networks in the US. “What I lacked at both networks was channel-defining shows,” she says. “You just needed a small number to catapult your network.” Fast forward to 2022 and she believes that channels are still not getting enough mega pitches. The bar is high: “if you’re on the network side of the table, you have to believe the company will be able to deliver.” Several of Nutopia’s megadocs are with Disney


+/ Nat Geo. For these, A-list talent is central: Jeff Goldblum, Chris Hemsworth, Will Smith. Courteney Monroe, president of National Geographic Global Networks has been a driving force, says Root. “Her strategy was that you could put these incredible stars into these shows and that would be different to what everybody else was doing.” The launch of major, multi-part factual series is


now commonplace. A-list talent is taking a bigger slice of the action and there’s a surge in sports documentaries, with unprecedented access. But there is also room for stories about scammers, university applications and molluscs, great ideas that come with a team that can deliver a polished production.


AIMING HIGH While the streamers are firmly in this market, traditional channels, helped by co-production funding, are aiming to keep up the pace. Despite looming budget cuts at the BBC, there are no


DOCUMENTARIES, THEY HAVE THE SAME GLOSS


AND TONE AS A PREMIUM DRAMA”


THAT IF YOU’VE MADE REALLY HIGH-END


“THEY’VE REALISED


signs yet of a shift away from the commitment to premium factual. Powerful recent docs include Rise of the Nazis from 72 Films and Adam Wishart’s 9/11 Inside The President’s War Room with Apple TV+; upcoming is natural history landmark Kingdom – a co-production with BBC America - and three-parter The Bolsanaros, both from BBC Studios. The BBC’s celebrated Storyville strand had


a change at the helm in mid 2021. Philippa Kowarksy has replaced Mandy Chang as commissioning editor. Kowarsky, together with Jo Lapping, head of factual acquisitions, has a brief to expand the range of feature documentaries on iPlayer. Sky continues to commission stand-out


documentary, recently announcing natural history series Predators from True to Life, a co-production with Netflix, plus three-parter Death on the Beach from Blast! Films and feature doc Gabon from Keo. Speaking to Televisual at the end of last year for the online Televisual Factual Films series, Sky UK’s Poppy Dixon, director of Documentaries and Factual, outlined the briefs for just over 30 premium series and features each year, across Sky Documentaries, Sky Crime and Sky Nature. While A+E Networks in the UK will dig deep a few times each year for a Sky History production. On top of this demand, there are many


smaller streaming services ready to co-produce, while big producer/distributors are building out documentary slates. Fremantle has created a new Global Factual division dedicated to high-end


Spring 2022 televisual.com 53


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