Beyond Story Vol. 5 2021 Generous support provided by \ Volume 5 \ INTRODUCTION It was a match made at Sundance. The day after Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar’s much anticipated American Factory (2019) premiered at the Prospector Square Theater, members of their production team confidentially met with interested parties at the Washington School House Hotel to negotiate a three million dollar distribution deal. As other high-profile docu- mentaries had fetched multimillion dollar bids during their festival runs, it wasn’t simply the price tag that was significant. It was the fact that American Factory convened some of the most influential players in the field. Participant Media, which has served as a philanthrop- ic investor and outreach vehicle for socially engaged features since its founding in 2004, financed and co-produced American Factory. PLATFORM POLITICS: NETFLIX, THE Netflix had partnered with Participant the pre- MEDIA INDUSTRIES, AND THE VALUE vious year on Alfonso Cuarón’s neo-neorealist OF REALITY \ Roma (2018) and was no stranger to Sundance acquisitions. For each festival, the Washington JOSHUA GLICK School House Hotel served as the company’s home base as they went hunting for projects that tapped into the zeitgeist and generated awards buzz. Barack and Michelle Obama’s re- cently created Higher Ground Productions had signed a multi-picture contract with Netflix and was looking for their first big film. Also at the table, assisting with contract negotia- tions, was Submarine, which had helped broker distribution deals for six of the last twelve Oscar-winning documentaries.1 American Factory was an ideal documentary for these parties to collaborate on. It explores the initial production cycles of Fuyao Glass America, a Chinese-owned glass manufactur- ing company which had recently arrived at the Rust Belt town of Moraine, Ohio, literally set- ting up shop in a former General Motors auto plant. On a symbolic level, American Factory offered the opportunity to form the liberal analogue to the conservative media coali- tion of Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, and Fox News, and to repudiate the kind of alt-right propaganda they generate. In practical terms, American Factory focused on a topical subject that was at once hyper-local and transnation- al in scope, and would thus appeal to viewers Glick \ 59 domestically and abroad and potentially even project for Netflix and part of the studio’s across socioeconomic divides. larger effort to reboot liberal documentary for Reichert and Bognar, who have been making the streaming era. To be sure, nonfiction under incisive social documentaries and teaching the Netflix tent includes a vast array of genres, production in the region for over four decades, including sports chronicles, biopics, true-crime created a sweeping portrait of day-to-day serials, and social issue features. Nonetheless, factory life, capturing the perspective of as the company has built its slate of films, it Chinese and American workers and managers. has also developed a house style defined by Moreover, the film managed to do this in a me- the character-focused charge and high pro- dia landscape that either completely effaces duction values of classical Hollywood and the the sight of manual labor from popular film and relentless exposition of legacy television jour- television or sensationalizes it within the trap- nalism. The popularity of these films naturally pings of reality TV (Ice Road Truckers, Deadliest benefits Netflix’s bottom line, and they serve Catch, Undercover Boss, etc.). Instead, an important role in garnering accolades and American Factory presents a dignified account demonstrating its social conscience. Certainly of what factory labor looks like and what it not every documentary that appears on the means to those who do it. The documentary’s platform conforms to this format, especially tight focus on compelling characters, however, those select projects made by auteurs such as tends to draw attention to interpersonal rela- Ava DuVernay, Werner Herzog, and Errol Morris. tionships rather than contextualize the state These individuals come to the negotiating of US manufacturing or advocate for any kind table with an illustrious oeuvre and network, of transformative change to workplace con- thus commanding lucrative deals and a high ditions. As the film unfolds, it becomes more degree of creative flexibility. devoted to examining the “clash” of American Netflix’s investment in nonfiction has pro- versus Chinese cultures (depicting the former vided a venue for films that have struggled as “pro” and the latter as “anti” union), rath- to find a home in mainstream television and er than delving into how corporate capitalism the theatrical market, and has expanded the exploits workers around the globe. Looking to demographic for documentary. Additionally, it the future of industrial production in the US, has meant opportunities for filmmakers ea- the film concludes with the lofty call for all ger for an upfront paycheck as well as a way stakeholders, spanning those on the shop floor to showcase their work to a large audience. to the C-suite office, to come together in civil However, these opportunities have come with dialogue to determine the “future of work,” in- significant constraints concerning film form, stead of acknowledging the ongoing need for the way projects are packaged for audiences, labor organizing—albeit, perhaps, in new and and the conditions under which they live on- creative ways. In the Netflix promo featuring a and offline. Netflix views distribution as not roundtable discussion with the filmmakers and simply the mechanisms that enable media to the Obamas, the former president amplifies reach viewers, but carefully guarded pipelines this sentiment that goodwill and an open heart of lucrative proprietary data. In turn, these can transcend any system, bringing people of restrictions can neutralize the films’ rhetori- differing perspectives together: “If you know cal charge, limit viewers’ understanding of or someone, if you talk to them face to face, if relationship to the film’s subject, and curb the you know what their story is, you can forge a possibilities for community engagement. connection. You may not agree with them on Netflix is ultimately helping to drive a broad- everything, but there is some common ground er shift of documentary into the mainstream to be found and you can move forward togeth- of the media industries and popularize its own er.” American Factory went on to receive rave form of edutainment storytelling. The larg- reviews and a slew of awards, most notably the er surge stems from the aggressive move of Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. “content”-hungry digital distributors into the American Factory was at once a prestige realm of production, the relatively low cost of Glick \ 60 nonfiction, and a desire for “authentic” and CHANGING CHANNELS IN THE AGE OF “empathetic” storytelling in an era of clickbait MEDIA CONVERGENCE journalism, disinformation, and a reality TV presidency. Scholars have paid too little at- If you love documentaries, Blockbuster is tention to this flurry of nonfiction activity. One not for you . Instead, you’ll want to join reason is that research on documentary and Netflix the media industries is frequently siloed into —Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of separate endeavors. The former often focuses Wired5 on close readings of individual films, many of which stand against Hollywood’s tradition- Reed Hastings was never mean-spirited al genres of storytelling and industrial forms . it was simply as if everything, includ- of media making. The latter tends to focus ing human relationships, broke down to a on mainstream film and television and also mathematical equation. reaches beyond the screen itself, delving into —Gina Keating, journalist6 the policies and labor practices that shape media production, distribution, and exhibition. Documentary has been part of Netflix’s core As film historian Tom Schatz notes, there is offerings since its website launch in 1998. The too often a gap between a consideration of company made a name for itself by connect- “media ownership,” the “means and modes ing the cheap-to-mail format of the DVD to of production,” and close analysis of the the emerging e-commerce business and the “products” themselves.2 These divides play home rental market. Netflix attracted custom- out in examinations of Netflix. Much has been ers with its low-cost subscription plan, large written about the snail-mail-distributor turned inventory, and algorithmic recommendation mega-studio. Scholars have emphasized the system.7 As scholar and festival programmer company's innovative approach to production Sudeep Sharma argues, in its early years the and distribution (framing Netflix as an online distribution hub was more akin to a “digital global television network), its reshaping of newsstand” than a public library, archive, or viewing habits, and its creation of individual museum. Netflix differentiated itself within genre-bending series such as Orange is the a crowded marketplace through its support New Black (2013-19), House of Cards (2013-18), of harder-to-access documentary, art house and Stranger Things (2016-).3 Understanding cinema, Bollywood musicals, anime, and mar- the implications surrounding documentary’s tial arts films.8 These were films that behemoth close relationship to the media industries and rental chains neglected in their brick-and- the entrenched place it has come to occupy mortar stores. They were also