Kimberley Brown
Ann Julienne reflects
TVAfter more than 15 years spent programming docs, France 5′s head of acquisitions and international coproductions, Ann Julienne, is taking a year off to gain a fresh perspective on the future of television and her role as commissioning editor. The departure came just as public TV in France was delivered its biggest challenge yet: to figure out a new funding model – and fast. She says don’t dismiss the message because you don’t like its delivery.
Canadian consolidation
NEWSIt’s summer, it’s hot and Canadians are busy hooking up. In the steamy months usually reserved for cottage retreats and midday cocktails, four of Canada’s most significant production and distribution players inked a marriage with fellow domestic Entertainment One that promises the parties involved better odds at seducing international funds and opportunities. Among the lusty bunch are Toronto tv prodcos Blueprint Entertainment and Barna-Alper Productions, as well as neighboring distributors Oasis International and Maximum Films. The merger hopes to fill a gap created when Alliance Atlantis’ sales arm was purchased by us firm Goldman Sachs, which many feel left domestic producers without a globally strong, locally based distribution partner. But it’s unlikely this will be a singular event. Most industry insiders see such activity as only the beginning of a trend towards consolidation in Canada, one widely recognized as inevitable, necessary and beneficial. It’s also a trend that is already changing the domestic landscape and its relationship with potential partners in the us and overseas.
All the television fit to print
NEWSNational Geographic got it right as early as 1965. While even recent print-to-tv ventures have faltered because they were too literal, Nat Geo wisely sought to expand its general brand mission – not the magazine’s format, columns or features – to the then-emerging platform. Americans on Everest, the first National Geographic tv special, aired on cbs and delivered on the magazine’s tradition of breathtaking images and out-of-this-world stories. ‘Those were and are two great assets of the magazine that lend themselves to television in a direct way,’ says Michael Rosenfeld, president of National Geographic Television. The brand’s penetration speaks to the success of the approach. Nat Geo Channels International, which debuted in fall 1997, reaches about 190 million households in 34 languages. Nat Geo Channel US, launched in 2001, is available in 64 million homes. (The flagship magazine has a circulation of about 8.5 million people worldwide.)
Maverick: HBO (US)
NEWSTime Magazine’s tv and media critic James Poniewozik recently asked his blog audience if anyone was considering dumping hbo after June 10, following the series finale of its most-watched program, The Sopranos. While Poniewozik’s well-informed readers pondered the merits of Entourage, questioned the viability of pay cablenets in the face of on-demand and posited that the future of hbo would be determined by who was hired to replace ousted ceo Chris Albrecht, there was not one mention of the channel’s docs. But Lisa Heller, vp of documentary films for hbo, isn’t fazed. ‘We’re not naïve about our content in relationship to the fiction strands,’ she says, noting that the fiction series have been key in establishing hbo’s reputation as an outlet actively on the cutting edge of programming. ‘The Sopranos is a landmark series that points to hbo as a laboratory for experimenting with new forms and new talent, and pushing things in new ways. We see ourselves doing that in our genre and the mainstream series do it in their role.’
Tales from the wild
NEWS‘We worked with a lot of Inuit, and when we first began filming they wanted to tie a rope around [cameraman Adam Ravetch] while he was shooting underwater. When I asked why, they said that was the only way we would get his body back. They told us that walruses can hold a man in his flippers and suck his brains out. We thought that was myth, but when we looked into it, there are walruses in the northern arctic who are known to eat seals. And that’s what they do, they hold them in their flippers, puncture a hole in their head and suck their brains out.’
Camped out at TIFF
NEWSOn one of the busy nights of the recent 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, execs from Discovery Film and the Documentary Channel (among others) gathered around a makeshift bonfire in a parking lot with numerous distributors, sales agents and press to roast marshmallows and sing camp songs with psychedelic alt rock band The Flaming Lips. Hosted by directors Brad Beesley and Sarah Price to promote their film Summercamp!, the event provided a welcome break from the usual red carpet affair and offered indisputable proof of the allure of recapturing one’s youth.
Rebel Yell
NEWSMichael Tucker’s sound bites are typical of most independent documentary filmmakers. ‘What do I need funding for?’ he asks without a trace irony when discussing budgets. And although his first film, 2004′s Gunner Palace, was a commercial success because of its theatrical release, he admits he likes the confines of the tv hour. ‘It’s good to have limits up front, because it forces you to focus more,’ he says. As a relative newcomer to the doc scene – his second feature film, The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair, has its world premiere this month at the Toronto International Film Festival – it’s possible Tucker simply hasn’t yet learned his lines. What’s more likely, however, is that this is a filmmaker willing to break the mold.
Nancy Abraham, HBO (US)
NEWSIt’s a tall order, programming documentaries that can hold their own on a schedule that includes such ground-breaking hits as The Sopranos and Entourage. Viewers expect films that delight, challenge, surprise and occasionally titillate or even terrify, but never fail to push the envelope. That hbo consistently delivers is creditable in large part to a willingness to break with its own traditions.
Matthew Blank, Showtime Networks (US)
NEWSShowtime Networks ceo Matthew Blank raised the ire of the documentary community in March when he inked a deal with the publicly funded Smithsonian Institute to form Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture that will develop branded original content for distribution. But as cultural institutions ache for funding and commercial broadcasters look to cut costs, quicken production timelines and build promotional partnerships, could similar collaborations be far behind?
Patrick de Carolis, France Television (France)
NEWSWhen Patrick de Carolis replaced Marc Tessier as president of France Television last summer, the community was optimistic about his tenure. Here was a journalist and producer taking over the reins of the country’s five public channels, which together command more than 38% audience share. He owned his own prodco, Eclectic Productions, and as presenter of France 2′s popular current affairs show Des raciness et des ailes (Roots and Wings), he himself commissioned docs. He understood the industry. He’d also won his bid for the presidency by promising to improve the quality of programming on the channels while also raising viewership numbers.
The definitive factual resource.Over 5,000 company listings!
Photos
Factual Entertainment Forum 2011 - Caroline Baumgard, SVP development at Endemol USA, at Realscreen’s Factual Entertainment Forum.