After years of talk about the difficulty of funding premium docs, there’s a sense of buoyancy in the documentary industry.
“Documentary has become part of watercooler conversations,” says Leo Pearlman, managing partner, Fulwell 73, whose credits include Amazon original “All or Nothing: Juventus” and “I Am Bolt.”
Although for years “documentaries were something that strange cinephiles spoke about in corners,” Pearlman says, streamers have played a big role in driving demand, and opening up new financing opportunities for producers beyond traditional theatrical and TV investors. Netflix, for example, has the breakout hit “My Octopus Teacher” and “Crip Camp,” which was produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Prods. Apple TV Plus, meanwhile, picked up “Billie Eilish — The World’s a Little Blurry,” while Discovery Plus pushed hard into the premium doc space, unveiling a slew of commissions in February.
(It’s not just the streamers, though: Last year...
“Documentary has become part of watercooler conversations,” says Leo Pearlman, managing partner, Fulwell 73, whose credits include Amazon original “All or Nothing: Juventus” and “I Am Bolt.”
Although for years “documentaries were something that strange cinephiles spoke about in corners,” Pearlman says, streamers have played a big role in driving demand, and opening up new financing opportunities for producers beyond traditional theatrical and TV investors. Netflix, for example, has the breakout hit “My Octopus Teacher” and “Crip Camp,” which was produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Prods. Apple TV Plus, meanwhile, picked up “Billie Eilish — The World’s a Little Blurry,” while Discovery Plus pushed hard into the premium doc space, unveiling a slew of commissions in February.
(It’s not just the streamers, though: Last year...
- 4/12/2021
- by Tim Dams
- Variety Film + TV
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