Insight on screen TBIvision.com | April/May 2019 | MIPTV Issue Television Business International Old money vs. new players The state of unscripted 2 Inside Neverland TBI Factual Dan Reed on storytelling 16 Original Factual Series Coming 2019 FactualpOFC TBI Main AprMay19.indd 1 27/03/2019 22:26 REAL TIME, UNCENSORED AND UNCUT Original Factual Series 2019 p115 Operation Live AprMay19.indd 1 25/03/2019 18:41 ITV0242_OperationLive_TBIFactual_FP_AW.indd 1 20/03/2019 12:20 TBI Factual | This Issue Contents April/May 2019 Contact us Editor Manori Ravindran [email protected] Direct line +44 (0) 20 3377 3832 Twitter @manori_r Managing editor Kaltrina Bylykbashi [email protected] Direct line +44 (0) 20 7017 5390 Twitter @bylykbashi 2 Sales manager Michael Callan [email protected] Direct line +44 (0) 20 7017 5295 Art director Matthew Humberstone [email protected] Direct line +44 (0) 20 7017 5336 Marketing executive Abigail Dede [email protected] Direct line +44 (0) 20 7017 6018 Editorial director Stuart.Thomson [email protected] Direct line +44 (0) 20 7017 5314 6 8 Commercial director Patricia Arescy [email protected] 2. Old money, new players face o for unscripted Direct line +44 (0) 20 7017 5320 Despite shiny new digital entrants, sustainable business models lag behind 6. Close-Up: CNN’s Amy Entelis The CNN Worldwide exec breaks down how to build world-class docs such as RBG and Three Identical Strangers @TBImagazine 8. Knocking down Netix Published by KNect365 TMT, Maple House, What drove the record-breaking deal for a feature doc on US Congresswoman 149 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7AD Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Tel: +44 (0)20 7017 5000 e-mail: [email protected] web: www.tbivision.com Printed in England by Walstead Roche Ltd, 10. Factual Hot Picks St Austell, Cornwall PL26 8LX. © 2019 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved 16. Viewpoint: Leaving Neverland’s Dan Reed Reproduction without permission is prohibited April/May 2019 1 Factualp01 Contents AprMay19.indd 1 27/03/2019 22:16 TBI Factual | Realscreen Old money, new players face o for unscripted A wealth of shiny digital entrants may well suggest TV is currently a supplier’s market, but sustainable business models in unscripted are still lacking, particularly as stalwarts such as Discovery and Nat Geo endure major upheaval. Manori Ravindran reports 2 April/May 2019 p108-110 US Factual AprMay19MCMRKBPASS.indd 2 27/03/2019 21:28 TBI Factual | Realscreen ld money” cable networks and trying to figure it out, and over the next couple of Nat Geo’s Free Solo broadcasters and cash-flush years, OTT will become very well-defined,” he (opposite) digital players converged earlier tells TBI. this year for what is becoming an “There are more platforms than ever and more “Oannual face-off at the Realscreen Summit, with the channels to distribute to, so that gives producers a former staging much public hand-wringing around the lot more choice to get their content out to market. It embattled US cable landscape while the latter conduct also puts us in the driver’s seat in negotiations, where low-key meetings with international producers, with we can be upfront about the fact that a series can be the likes of Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi seducing indie perfect for PBS but can also be sold into Netflix.” producers with upwards of $120,000 per-minute However, Mathew Gonzalez of Colorado-based budgets for high-end content. Plebian Pictures warns that while there is “a lot of However, it was abundantly clear that a production money lying on the table, it is too widely dispersed.” community increasingly spoilt for choice between “Historically, when the market was dominated by linear and digital partners is still grappling with linear players and those brands were thriving, you shrinking economies as it struggles to recoup back-end could be a producer working for a few networks revenue and rights. because you had your niche and the budgets were strong. But now with all the online buyers, you’re New players, new models splitting up the pie in so many ways that the money isn’t as good as it was in one place.” The number of digital buyers who made the trip to John Ford, GM of US producers’ trade body New Orleans was notably greater than in previous NPACT, estimates that the value of a typical nonfiction years, and included the likes of Facebook unscripted programme during its cable or network run has boss Toby Faulkner and Snap unscripted head Seth declined 10-20% – a scenario that has led to some Goolnik. Amazon Studios also sent an acquisitions networks mandating around 10-30% reductions in exec and business affairs exec to the market for a budgets year-on-year; reducing or eliminating budget limited period. bumps when renewing series; and placing smaller However, the one player that had prodcos buzzing series orders. was mobile streamer Quibi, who was represented on Sam Sniderman, EVP of global production for Blue the ground by new acquisitions exec Kate Presutti. Ant Media, notes that some of the Canadian business’ Set to launch later this year with AVOD and SVOD roster of prodcos have historically been “very reliant tiers, the business is to spend an estimated $497m on on the US cable industry, and that has hurt.” acquired content made at premium levels. While a “Things are still happening but they’re slower than “super-premium” scripted show could fetch $125,000 they used to be. We are trying to shift the business to per minute, an unscripted original could receive a be able to sell to new players in the market. They buy budget of $50,000 per minute. some of the same shows but their approach is different “ere is plenty Elsewhere, producers were also the targets of charm and has required us to reorganise things a little bit.” of great stu offensives by new AVOD – or ad-supported – entrants Selling into Netflix and Amazon, says Sniderman, being developed, Tubi and Pluto TV, which has been newly acquired by requires a different development process as the conceived and Viacom. platforms are more talent-focused and keen on star explored in the Noting that AVOD is the future of linear TV, Tubi directors and EPs than cable networks. market, but the chief content officer Adam Lewinson claims that in Gonzalez, whose recent credits include Food concepts are more two years, AVOD and SVOD partners will achieve Network’s Food Truck Fan Fight with celeb chef Eddie strongly thought parity in the market around viewership and highlighted Jackson, adds that producers increasingly have to do through and tightly the “strategic advantages for unscripted content living the talent packaging that, traditionally, an agent would focused” within an ad-supported environment.” do, and spend longer developing these projects. Chris Bonney “The beauty of classic reality TV is that the content Cineflix Rights “Trial and error” time for producers is relatively inexpensive, because you’re dealing with real people, so you can go out and make tape cheaply. James Joyce, head of development for finance But as we start to go and engage celebs because they programming-focused prodco and SVOD Real Vision, will cut through, it’s costing a lot more money because points out that producers are desperately trying to big-name talent wants a slice of the project. figure out “how to play in digital” when the OTT While the climate may lead some to wonder what landscape still remains “uncharted”. ‘premium’ even means if so much content is now “People are doing a lot of trial and error right now made at premium levels, Chris Bonney, CEO of April/May 2019 3 p108-110 US Factual AprMay19MCMRKBPASS.indd 3 27/03/2019 21:28 TBI Factual | Realscreen Cineflix Rights, says distributors are not necessarily brands,” explains Plebian’s Gonzalez. complaining. “You have a tremendous churn around where “There is plenty of great stuff being developed, executives end up, and there’s been a lot of shifting. conceived and explored in the market, but the concepts Anytime you have that kind of mix, it’s going to are more strongly thought through and tightly focused. be challenging.” That’s been welcome. The demands and trendsetting of TBI understands that some channels within Scripps the SVOD players has helped to shape the quality.” portfolio are now being restructured to focus more However, Bonney notes that the challenges are on second-run content, with new programming out “even greater” to secure the right business model of the Cooking Channel, for example, coming to a for financing. standstill, and commissioning instead coming out of “Because linear broadcasters have slightly tighter the Food Network – one of Scripps’ more established purse strings and less per-hour budgets available, it is brands. putting pressure on producers. But for distributors, it is Indeed, Nancy Daniels, chief brand officer for creating opportunity and we are playing a more pivotal Discovery and Factual, jokingly admitted that the role in the financing process at an earlier stage.” flagship brand is “stealing” top shows on smaller channels, with programming such as Travel Nat Geo and Discovery’s new normal Channel’s Expedition Unknown now getting a second window on the main Discovery channel. Another factor affecting the US unscripted market is While the added exposure is beneficial, it could the “identity shift” taking place at companies such as mean there is potentially less opportunity to incubate Discovery, which marked its Realscreen debut as a talent on smaller channels and grow a brand, as merged entity with Scripps; as well as Nat Geo, which ratings pressure will be much higher on Discovery.