FACTUAL TV
HIGH-END DOCUMENTARY
documentary. In the UK, Fremantle subsidiary Naked is working on Planet Sex, fronted by Cara Delevingne, for Hulu and BBC 3. While Fremantle documentary acquisitions include documentary feature Day Zero, narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor. Red Bull Studios is at the start of creating a
portfolio of premium high-end documentaries. The Studios is “a hybrid of commissioner and financier,” says its global head Bernadette McDaid. “It’s not a business for the faint hearted, we’re placing big bets.” She’s looking for ideas that are on brand: “it’s not only sport, but ideas imbued with aspiration, inspiration, optimism, risk-taking – not just with the story, but also how it’s being executed.” She uses the adjectives “irreverent” and “playful” and counts out true crime and murder. McDaid’s ideal filmmakers are “passionistas…
They are often those that don’t have access to the Netflixs and Amazons of this world. We can provide them with funding and creative support.” It’s early days, but she hints at a project with a Pulitzer prize-winning talent behind it. While many producers with big documentary
ideas are already on the superdoc map, there are some new kids on the block. Telltale, which launched at the end of 2021, is looking to grow its TV business out of premium podcasts. While new player Collective Media Group is working on documentary feature Brazil 2002: The Real Story, which will run on Sky in the UK and on new streamer ViX, for Spanish speaking audiences. Collective is working with Entourage Sports & Entertainment and Trailer Films on the project.
TAKE BIG SWINGS. THERE’S NOT MUCH LEFT IN
“YOU’VE GOT TO
THE MIDDLE OF THE MARKET”
TOP END TALENT Access to sport, music or any top talent increasingly means sharing the billing. Nutopia works with Westbrook, the production company run by Will Smith and his partner Jada Pinkett Smith. Idris Elba’s company Green Door has worked with producers including Shine North, Workerbee and Woodcut Media. Story Films is producing BBC four-parter Fever Pitch, about the English Premier League, with David Beckham’s production company Studio 99. Fulwell 73 has its own talent on the team, with
James Corden being one of the company’s five partners; the slate now stretches across scripted and includes high profile music and sports documentaries, as well as Friends: The Reunion for HBO Max. Leo Pearlman is a co-partner in the business which started up back in 2007, with a cut-through documentary film In The Hands of the Gods about five footballers on a quest to meet Diego Maradona. “It showed us that this industry was changing, there was a need for real-life content,” says Pearlman. “And we believed the best stories were in the documentary space and that sports and music gave you the most engaging narrative.”
FAIR GAME With access to sports stories, the UK has played catch-up with the US, where cameras have been access-all-areas in top level sport for a decade or more. “NFL Films realised very quickly that they needed to produce and own all their own
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televisual.com Spring 2022
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