Realscreen Winter 2024

WINTER 2024

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90 , 000 HOURS 3 CONTINENTS

60 LABELS WE’RE IN PRODUCTION, ALL AROUND THE WORLD

IN THIS ISSUE: 2024’S FACTUAL UNDER 40 • NEXT FRONTIERS FOR FAST • TRANSFORMING TRUE CRIME

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RAISING THE BAR IN UNSCRIPTED

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TWENTY TWENTY FOURWARD

THE EMERGING TALENT AND TRENDS THAT WILL CHANGE THE NON-FICTION CONTENT BUSINESS.

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TRANSFORMING TRUE CRIME

CONTENTS

WINTER 2024

The Great American Baking Show is part of Roku’s originalsfriendly FAST strategy.

WINTER 2024

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Sky’s Poppy Dixon on programming Sky factual channels; true-crime producers on evolving the genre.

THE EMERGING TALENT AND TRENDS THAT WILL CHANGE THE NON-FICTION CONTENT BUSINESS.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: TRANSFORMING TRUE CRIME

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ON THE COVER

Our Factual Under 40 and Trendwatch reports point the way towards new visions and visonaries in the unscripted content business. Art by Mark Lacoursiere.

THE NEW

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FIRST LOOK

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COLLABORATORS

Honoring HBO documentary toppers Nancy Abraham and Lisa Heller, and Creative Diversity Network CEO Deborah Williams.

TRENDWATCH 2024 A look inside the acronyms that will impact the industry this year: FAST, AI and M&A.

FACTUAL UNDER 40 2024 SPONSORED SUPPLEMENT How post & audio players are evolving to make tighter budgets work

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REALSCREEN AWARDS HALL OF FAME/ACTION AWARD

Programmers, producers, packagers, distributors and advisers shaping the non-fiction content business, as nominated by the industry itself.

WALKING THE LINE Gena McCarthy on navigating crisis through courage... and partnership.

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Reasons to be fearful?

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sually with columns such as these, the one that kicks off a new year does so with a whiff of optimism, touching on the challenges of the preceding 12 months but, somewhere over the course of the last two paragraphs, sunnily surmising that this year, things will be different.

I have a feeling this won’t be one of those columns.

As you’ll have already read in countless year-in-review pieces in the trades, 2023 was an annus horribilis to remember in a decade that’s had at least one such whopper already. The dual-strike scenario set into motion even more turmoil and uncertainty for the entertainment industry at large, and the unscripted content business undoubtedly felt the impact. The tumult also put into sharp relief a couple of areas that, if left unchecked, will pose even more serious problems ahead.

One of these focal points is perhaps still in its nascent stages when it comes to havoc-wreaking. While both the writers’ and actors’ guilds in the U.S. made the conversation around AI — its possible uses and abuses — a pillar in their negotiations, in the unscripted world, as you’ll see in our Trendwatch ’24 feature (beginning on page 21), some major players are eagerly embracing the tech regardless of — or perhaps because of — its disruptive potential.

I’m more than a little curious to see if AI will indeed inspire great creative leaps forward for the genre. While the past couple of decades have seen some unscripted series that have touted tech elements as central to their formats — see Alter Ego’s use of avatars, or Rising Star’s “interactive singing competition” conceit — such projects tend to fizzle fairly quickly.

While actors may be justifiably concerned about studios dumping their screen tests into AI-powered machines to render clones for content, and writers are keeping a close eye on ChatGPT’s latest iterations, the unscripted business is still very much in thrall to the idea of authenticity — characters that are at turns relatable, or outrageously “themselves.” It’s hard to see an Unreal Housewives spin-off coming anytime soon (admittedly, I might check it out if it does).

However, a very real existential threat enveloping the non-fiction content industry is the drying up of commissioning that reached worrying levels in 2023, both domestically and internationally. As Plimsoll’s Grant Mansfield points out in our “Big Question” (page 16), the mantra sweeping the business at present is “Stay alive ’til ‘25.” The sad reality is that if these commissioning conditions continue, some established companies won’t be able to. And skilled freelancers with years of experience will have no choice but to leave the industry.

If 2024 continues along the same rocky road as 2023, even the bots will have trouble landing a gig.

P.S. an actual human error occurred in our last issue’s “Content Climate” report, with Abacus Media Rights’ Will Stapley’s surname being misspelled. We regret the mistake.

Be well, Barry Walsh Content director/editorin-chief Realscreen

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Winter 2024 Volume 27, Issue 2 Realscreen is published 4 times a year by Brunico Communications Ltd., 100366 Adelaide Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5V 1R9 Tel. 416-408-2300 Fax 416-408-0870 www.realscreen.com

EVP Realscreen Mary Maddever mmaddever@brunico.com Content Director & Editor-in-Chief Barry Walsh bwalsh@brunico.com Art Director Mark Lacoursiere mlacoursiere@brunico.com Associate Editor Andrew Tracy atracy@brunico.com Special Reports Editor Justin Anderson janderson@brunico.com Contributors Fred Grinstein, Andrew Jeffrey, Gena McCarthy Lead Event Producer Tiffany Rushton trushton@brunico.com Associate Publisher Joel Pinto jpinto@brunico.com Senior Account Manager Kristen Skinner kskinner@brunico.com Marketing & Publishing Coordinator Karyna Dovnich kdovnich@brunico.com

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President & CEO Russell Goldstein rgoldstein@brunico.com EVP, Realscreen & Strategy/ Editorial Director, Brunico Mary Maddever mmaddever@brunico.com Director, Finance and Administration Michelle Plaskon mplaskon@brunico.com Creative Services & Distribution Manager Adriana Ortiz aortiz@brunico.com Manager, Customer Experience Christine McNalley cmcnalley@brunico.com All letters sent to Realscreen or its editors are assumed intended for publication. Realscreen invites editorial comment, but accepts no responsibility for its loss or destruction, howsoever arising, while in its office or in transit. All material to be returned must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Nothing may be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher.

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A LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

opportunities — take, for example, the quest of Hallmark Media’s David Stefanou, one of our “30 Minutes With” hosts, for kinder, more inclusive programming. Describing Hallmark’s unscripted strategy, he recently said: “The world is essentially Squid Game right now — it’s very nice and comforting to tell people I’m looking for shows that make you feel good.”

The approach that guided Summit programming — connecting North American producers and programmers with European and Asian counterparts via buyer spotlight sessions — also informs Realscreen’s publishing content strategy: looping in across markets wherever there’s a shift in audience tastes and programming trends that will have broader impact on your industry.

To that end, we deeply appreciate the Realscreen Summit Advisory board for sharing the issues that keep them up at night, and for identifying the people and platforms that are leading change.

A shout-out to Amazon UK’s Fozia Khan; Channel 4’s Shaminder Nahal; The CW’s Heather Olander; ABC’s Susie Jones; Yasmin Shackleton of theoldschool; Talpa’s Sebastien van Barneveld; Lifetime’s Brie Miranda Bryant; Scorpion TV’s David Cornwall; WME’s Ryan McNiely; Velvet Hammer’s Rebecca Quinn; and WBD’s Jason Sarlanis.

And kudos to this year’s Hall of Fame inductees and keynoters, HBO’s Nancy Abraham and Lisa Heller, as well as Action Award honoree Deborah Williams of the Creative Diversity Network, and all the Realscreen Award winners.

Deeper and more nuanced market intel, celebrating excellence, and recognizing those who raise the bar, are crucial at a time when we could all use an extra dollop of inspiration.

Puzzling times call for HI

As

I was recently sucked into one of the many New York Times news quizzes that pop up in my inbox, my husband asked why I was spending time on that versus reading the news. Hmmm.

My theory is that the widespread addiction to digital puzzles like Connections, Tiles and Thirdle is triggered by our need to spot patterns, find connections and get the immediate right/wrong validation that is increasingly elusive in the real world.

For the non-fiction industry, there’s so many big questions, with so much hinging on them, that planning can feel like rolling the dice right now. Will enough consumers watch enough FAST channels to justify enough ad investment to support a viable original commissioning stream? Will consolidation continue to contract platforms’ program-buying, or eventually bring strength?

If only we could push “Enter” to see the right answer and validate decisions on how to prioritize and strategize for the year(s) ahead.

This issue, our team explored the urgent questions that will impact the next 12 months (see “Trendwatch,” page 21), but sometimes answers prompt more questions.

Until AI perfects an algorithm for data-crunching that reveals the future, being nimble may vie with scale on the strategic advantage front. But whether you’re self-bankrolling or part of a conglomerate, you need to pick a lane (or two) and the best way to do that is HI — human intel.

That’s why this year’s Realscreen Summit brings so many different corners of the industry together in New Orleans, from January 29 to February 1 — to kick the year off with a full-scale check-in on global unscripted market opportunities. With sessions featuring execs from Channel 4 and Sky to NHK and SBS, our goal is to create a platform for collaboration, coproduction and deeper cross-market understanding. Increasingly, that’s what’s needed to get projects off the ground.

And because pitching is best in person, networking opportunities are more important than ever to understand the nuances of linear versus streaming audiences. New needs also bring new 008

WINTER ‘24

Cheers, mm P.S. To our RSA Jury chairs — BET’s Tiffany Williams, S4C’s Iwan England, UKTV’s Tracy-Jean, RTL’s Inga Leshek, OWN’s Drew Tappon and John Godfrey of SBS — and everyone on our global jury, we appreciate you!!!

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FIRST LOOK

Spector from Lightbox is a true crime project with “layers and purpose,” according to Poppy Dixon.

THE BRIEF: Poppy Dixon DIRECTOR, DOCUMENTARIES AND FACTUAL, SKY

In

early 2020, UK broadcaster Sky unveiled a dedicated investment in factual content through the launch of two channels, Sky Documentaries and Sky Nature, which joined other unscriptedskewing channels such as Sky History and Sky Crime on the roster. Shortly thereafter, Sky revealed who would be overseeing commissioning for the new channels — veteran production and development exec Poppy Dixon, who came to the company following successful stints at UK prodcos Raw and Arrow Media.

While Dixon’s remit is wide in scope, the bulk of her commissioning is for Sky Documentaries, with Sky Nature airing mostly acquired content — the one or two tentpoles commissioned in that space annually “need to be ambitious, landmark titles,” says Dixon. In terms of crime content, the onus for Dixon is on premium. “There is such a huge audience for true crime, and we lean into this appetite by making plenty of it, but ensuring we make it really well — both in terms of compelling, quality storytelling, [and] also by ensuring the approach always has real purpose and integrity.”

Sky’s Poppy Dixon, who heads up commissioning for the UK satcaster’s array of factual channels, tells Realscreen that compelling storytelling with an eye towards the zeitgeist is key.

By Barry Walsh

Are there some sub-genres within the doc space that are preferred, and some that aren’t of interest? Is there a preference for one-offs, or limited box sets?

We commission feature-length docs and limited/ box set series. We’re not looking for single hours, for anything formatted or constructed, or series with standalone eps. We’re all about narrative, so we look for a strong, propulsive story, with great characters, a strong directorial vision, and ideas with inherent talkability. We do tend towards UK-facing stories, unless it’s a big, recognizable international name, and we prefer contemporary stories [that] have noisy, zeitgeisty appeal.

Given the saturation of true-crime content on the market now, are there sub-genres within crime that are preferred?

We cover everything from the darkest violent crimes to capers and cons, and we look for stories that have layers and purpose, rather than simply revisit a story for entertainment’s sake. Libby, Are You Home Yet? and Spector are both great examples of this, with Libby speaking to the conversation around violence against women and girls, and both titles foregrounding the victim — giving them a voice, rather than simply profiling the killer.

White-collar crimes can work when there are other elements to the story — like our series The Man Who Bought Cricket, which was a white-collar crime investigation in a sporting arena, and did really well for us.

It’s been a challenging year for buyers and producers alike. How do you see the year ahead?

We actually adopted the “fewer, bigger, better” approach over a year ago, as an opportunity to home in on fewer titles, resource them better, and ensure the full might of the Sky PR and marketing machine can get behind them. I appreciate it’s a tough time in the industry right now for many, but we are very much open for business and there are plenty of opportunities for 2025, for which we are deep in commissioning right now.

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FIRST LOOK

TRANSFORMING TRUE CRIME

By Andrew Jeffrey

Those in the true-crime content space will often tell you that as much as the form’s popularity has risen in the last decade, its appeal is steeped in a long history of murder-mystery storytelling that’s always remained popular.

But while the genre’s popularity isn’t waning, audience expectations are evolving. As many viewers of true-crime content are ardent fans of the genre, they’ve become overly familiar with the tropes that have developed over the years.

It used to be that there was only one way to tell a true-crime story on TV, says Arrow Media executive producer Stephen Dost: a whodunnit with a few suspects, some red herrings, detectives piecing together the clues, and justice served at the end of the day. But now, more sophisticated audiences necessitate a higher bar for the genre to meet.

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With true crime being one of the most popular — and dominant — genres in nonfiction screen content today, innovative approaches to crafting programming are increasingly a necessity. Here, producers and buyers weigh in on how they are aiming to cut through true-crime clutter and evolve the genre.

“What [audiences] want is real archive that takes them into a world they haven’t seen before, authentic story beats, the formats that don’t feel overly produced,” Dost says. He notes that Arrow titles such as High Speed Chase and Hostage 911, which air on Warner Bros. Discovery’s truecrime cable net Investigation Discovery (ID), both use found footage from iPhones, dash cams, body cams and archival material to provide a more immersive viewing experience.

Similarly, Nancy Glass, CEO of Philadelphia-headquartered Glass Entertainment Group, says her company is aiming at a heightened level of immersion and realism with its latest A&E series, Murder in the 21st, which eschews narration, voiceovers and interviews in favor of social media footage, body cams, podcast audio and text messages.

“Because viewers have seen everything, they want something that feels a little closer, a little bit more of a lean-in. They’re smart,”

Arrow Media’s High Speed Chase (ID) marks a move away from “over-produced” crime content.

Glass says. “If you tell a story in a way that is more immersive, it becomes more interesting.”

But while viewers may be calling for more immersive crime content, they also appreciate closure.

“Going back to the things we know they want, they want justice, they want these things which the adjudicated, repeatable series really deliver on,” says Texas Crew Productions CEO David Karabinas. “I don’t know that the audience is going to go along for 10 episodes anymore that go nowhere.”

Referencing the move towards stories about fraud and scams, Karabinas also says he hasn’t seen an adjudicated, repeatable true-crime series in that area with an impact that’s comparable to the kinds of long-running series about murder that are core to true-crime TV. But, in the spirit of evolving the genre, he sees this as an opportunity for producers.

Into the Congo with Ben Fogle Producer: Mentorn Media

NFT: WTF? Producer: Baaersea Pictures / Atomized Studios

Bold, enteeaining factual content

Engineering Reborn

Beeer Date than Never

Producer: Pioneer Productions

Producer: Noohern Pictures

FIRST LOOK

Nancy Glass

Jason Sarlanis David Karabinas

Stephen Dost

Another aspect that makes it challenging to push the genre forward is buyers’ preference for spotlighting high-profile crime stories, which can result in multiple treatments of single cases — or, as Glass calls them, “cases with IP.” Dost says that a few years ago, having a story with wild twists and turns was enough to have a series picked up. But now, with less marketing budgets across the board, buyers are more interested in series that can sell themselves.

“One of the things we hear a lot is that [the series] has to market itself. And how does the show market itself? It has to have some built-in familiarity,” Dost says. “If you have to explain the story from scratch, it’s going to be very hard now to get someone on board.”

But locating new ways into well-told stories can be like the proverbial search for a needle in a haystack, Dost warns. That’s where the importance of having great archivists, researchers and journalists on your team comes into play, especially when several other 014

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Cori Abraham

prodcos are often digging into the same case at the same time.

Cori Abraham, NBCUniversal’s development head for doc and crime programming, agrees that recognizable, “pulled from the headlines” projects have resonated most with true-crime audiences on Peacock and Oxygen. Bizarre circumstances and memorable characters work as well, but generally, familiarity provides the most reliable entry point for viewers.

Speaking to how audience tastes are changing, Abraham points to the move towards using more verité footage and less recreation, as well as to how true-crime content can now veer away from its origins in the whodunnit to encompass thrilling action series or lighter stories about lower-stakes crimes.

Still, Abraham says there’s a limit to experimenting with the genre when it comes to serious subject matter.

“There’s no humor in true crime, and we get pitched that a lot,” Abraham says. “We’re talking

about murder, and we have to take that very seriously. There are victims, there are families that are associated with every single one of these episodes.”

In the case of Investigation Discovery, while the network’s focus was historically all about murder mysteries, Jason Sarlanis — Warner Bros.

Discovery’s president of crime and investigation content, linear and streaming — says that the network is now exploring other buckets, even as whodunnits remain foundational to its slate.

According to Sarlanis, ID is increasingly interested in series that delve into how criminals think, or titles that offer a fly-onthe-wall look at law enforcement, all while striking a balance between well-known cases and more bizarre, out-there stories.

“Because ID is a leader in the genre, we need it all,” Sarlanis says. “We are constantly serving our viewer the most topical, zeitgeisty true-crime stories that are out there, and ideally always trying to be first to market or

best to market or both. But at the same time, we really pride ourselves on finding those uncovered gems of stories.”

Sarlanis says a pitch is judged on how original the project will feel to viewers, the talent involved behind the camera, on-screen talent authentically connected to the story, and key access points.

Lately, the network has been interested in the intersection of topical pop culture and true crime, such as in Death by Fame, The Price of Glee or The Playboy Murders. In these and other projects, the emphasis is on content that will generate buzz and discussion on social media.

“The true-crime limited documentary series has become the nuclear arms race of the streaming wars,” Sarlanis says.

“Every single outlet out there wants their big prestige doc, and I think for a lot of them, they do it to have a prestige play. They just want to go win an award. “[But] our goal with every big story we tell is: are we going to break the internet?”

From A Real Bugs Life to Love Island, Hell’s Kitchen to Squid Game: The Challenge, our award-winning non-scripted productions are capturing moments to entertain audiences all over the world

FIRST LOOK

“THE SHOW I WISH I MADE…” Realscreen reached out to members of the unscripted production community to ask them what show from the past year they wished they’d made, and why.

Selling Sunset

CARLOS KING Founder & CEO, Kingdom Reign Entertainment “Selling Sunset (Netflix). The show is the perfect blend of beautiful aesthetics and gritty dialogue, matched with a fashionable cast of go-getters. It’s like nothing else on television, and keeps me on the edge of my seat.”

ELI BALDRIGE SVP, development, A. Smith & Co. Productions “At Home with the Furys (Netflix) is such a rich family docuseries that checks so many boxes — multi-generational, great characters, incredible access, strong story — what more could you ask for? And, as a sports fan, I loved seeing the family side of the best heavyweight boxer in the world.”

NAIMAH HOLMES President, Hot Snakes Media “The Golden Bachelor (ABC). This long-running series managed to refresh itself in a very bold and timely way — it taps into a cultural conversation, and it feels more honest, raw and real as a result. If I produced it, I would have cast for more diversity, as there are some amazing golden women out there.”

MATTHEW OSTROM Co-founder & executive producer, Magilla Entertainment “Beckham (Netflix). Besides getting to hang with David and Victoria in the English countryside, I found the story of his rise to ultimate athlete and his family dynamics compelling. I was not expecting to be as moved as I was.”

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BIGQUESTION

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Given the state of the industry in 2023, are you optimistic that 2024 will be an improvement?

Grant Mansfield is the CEO and founder of Bristolheadquartered Plimsoll Productions, part of the ITV Studios roster of prodcos.

With oversight on such genrespanning titles as Night on Earth (Netflix), Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker (Channel 4) and the recently premiered A Real Bug’s Life (Disney+), we wanted to know his take on what might be ahead for unscripted in 2024.

“It’s been a tough year, hasn’t it? It is true that we’ve been insulated to a degree against it because we’re a bigger company and we have a lot of shows that, by their very nature, have been in production for a long time. There’s a gallows humor that I ran into when I was in L.A., with a couple of agents quoting to me the phrase, ‘Stay alive ’til ‘25!’ I’m very aware of the fact that there are a number of companies that have fallen over. Some haven’t had commissions all year. If you’re a small company — and some of the smaller companies are some of the most creative in our industry — that kind of thing is an existential crisis.

“Everyone’s looking for some kind of uptick. Unscripted had an incredible boom time for the last few years, but there are three things that happened over the last year to 18 months that led to a perfect storm: an economic recession, the Hollywood strikes, and industry consolidation. And that has all certainly caused a pause on commissioning, with buyers trying to work out the size of their budgets.

“There are definite signs of things easing up, and not just the strikes [being over]. Dare I say it, the economic outlook is looking a little more positive, and the consolidation that has been happening seems to be working its way through the system. So I feel cautiously optimistic for 2024. But you also have to be pragmatic, and if you’ve done this job for a while, you know that these things are cyclical.

“I definitely feel that the outlook for the future of unscripted is incredibly positive. As streamers grow and look more and more like old-fashioned TV stations, they need lots of new content, and unscripted is becoming increasingly important. Frankly, quite often you get a better return on your investment.

“I think the future is quite bright for a company like ours for the next decade. But ask me about 2024 at the end of it.”

CONNECT WITH THE ATLANTIC CANADIAN DELEGATION AT REALSCREEN SUMMIT: Arcadia Content Clerisy Entertainment Ocean Entertainment Screen Nova Scotia Tell Tale Productions TomCod Media

screennovascotia.com

HALL OF FAME

NANCY ABRAHAM and LISA HELLER CO-EVPs, HBO Documentary and Family Programming

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ith Nancy Abraham and Lisa Heller at the helm since 2018, HBO Documentaries has remained the premier destination for filmmakers within the documentary world, and the brand continues to be in a league of its own. With a deep respect for filmmakers and collaborators both renowned and emerging, Abraham and Heller are unique in their ability to work with creative talent and let the story, art, and craft drive each title.

Their commitment to diverse stories and storytellers means that their slate always features a unique mix of styles and subject matters.

Both women have long histories with HBO’s renowned documentary division, with Abraham being named VP, HBO Documentary Programming in 1998, and Heller joining HBO in 2000 and moving into her VP role a year later.

Over the course of their careers, they have delivered unparalleled slates of groundbreaking, risk-taking and genre-defining documentary features and series, including such recent projects as Telemarketers, Last Call and Being Mary Tyler Moore, and myriad acclaimed and award-winning titles such as 2019’s Leaving Neverland; 2020’s McMillion$, The Apollo and I’ll Be Gone in the Dark; 2021’s Allen v.

Farrow and Exterminate All the Brutes; and 2022’s 100 Foot Wave and George Carlin’s American Dream.

W The annual Realscreen Awards honor the best in global nonfiction and unscripted programming, and its Hall of Fame recognizes the individuals who shape the business through a mix of creativity, innovation and acumen. Here, we present this year’s Hall of Fame inductees, and the recipient of our Action Award.

Recent and upcoming titles include aka Mr. Chow; Stand Up and Shout: Songs from a Philly High School; You Were My First Boyfriend; Albert Brooks: Defending My Life; Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reckoning; and the newly announced six-episode documentary series The Jinx – Part 2, a continuation of the Emmy-winning series from Andrew Jarecki.

Other titles coming in 2024 include Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project and Stax: Soulsville, USA. Perhaps the final word can go to acclaimed documentary filmmaker (and fellow Realscreen Hall of Fame inductee) Alex Gibney, a longtime collaborator with HBO and a frequent partner of the Abraham/Heller team.

“Nancy Abraham and Lisa Heller are not just executives and commissioning editors; they are partners in crime for some of the greatest and most subversive documentaries made in the last 30 years. They develop; they fund; and they have mastered the peculiar art of critical encouragement, in which they support the vision of directors even as they encourage us to pull our films apart and put them back together again. And we do it, smiling despite the blood splattering on our smocks, because we know they are helping us save the life of the patient.

“Here’s to Lisa and Nancy: you help make provocative films — even in this dire moment when other networks are running away from controversy — and you always make them better.”

L FAME OF

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DEBORAH WILLIAMS, OBE CEO, Creative Diversity Netwrok

he Realscreen Action Award is designed to recognize the work of individuals within the unscripted and non-fiction screen content industry who aim to create positive change both within the industry and the world at large. This year’s recipient is more than deserving of the honor.

Deborah Williams OBE is CEO of The Creative Diversity Network (CDN), the body funded by the UK’s major broadcasters, which brings together organizations across the UK television industry to promote, celebrate and share good practice around the diversity agenda.

As executive director, Williams is responsible for delivering all aspects of the organization’s activities, including the ground-breaking Diamond diversity monitoring scheme; Doubling Disability, the broadcaster-backed initiative to double the number of disabled people working off screen in British television; online resources and the Television Diversity Awards.

Prior to joining CDN, Williams was diversity manager at the British Film Institute (BFI), where she opened and managed a £1m lottery fund for diversity; designed the BFI diversity standards for film, which were adopted by The Oscars and BAFTA in 2020; and contributed to the BFI’s business plan and strategy. Before joining the BFI, Williams was the senior officer for equality and diversity at Arts Council England. Williams is also an award winning actor, as well as

being a writer and theatre maker with 20 years’ experience in creating and presenting distinctive, high quality work that challenges ideas of difference and diversity.

In June 2022, Williams was awarded an OBE in the Queens Platinum Jubilee Birthday honors, for services to diversity in arts and creative industries.

“Deborah Williams’ work over her career thus far perfectly illustrates what the Action Award represents,” says Realscreen content director and editorin-chief Barry Walsh.

We asked Deborah Williams how she feels the Diamond program has impacted UK broadcasting thus far.

When we started collecting and monitoring the demographics of the UK broadcasting industry in 2016, it was the first time competitors had come together to consider how our production community represented the UK’s diverse population.

There was a sense that real change was possible. Not that we would simply consider or ponder it, but that we were actually doing something to make change happen. It’s a testament to Diamond that now every linear UK broadcaster has robust and wide-ranging diversity data that they can use to help decide on every element of scripted and unscripted content. The streamers here are also thinking about how they can get involved or create their own versions.

ACTION AWARD 020

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TREND WATCH ‘24

TREND

WATCH

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As the old adage goes, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” And that’s precisely what happens in the screen content production and distribution business — models come and go, practices evolve.

Here, Realscreen looks at three areas that we expect to take the non-fiction content business into new directions in the year ahead.

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TREND WATCH ‘24

THEFUTURE OFFAST

Fremantle’s The Price is Right channel is one of numerous single-IP FAST channels built around catalog titles.

While the content industry at large is eyeing the FAST model as a promising way forward, there are still areas in which substantial growth and investment are needed to drive more market penetration — with original content being a key factor.

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Free ad-supported streaming (FAST) continues to grow in both reach and revenue, with nearly 2,000 channels available across the major providers heading into 2024, and forecasts predicting that the services will hit upwards of $10 billion in annual ad revenue within the next few years. But even as the platform has experienced considerable success in building upon and updating the durable linear television model, many players in and watchers of the space have been quick to point out that FAST has yet to reach real maturity. And one of the reasons for this is that the prevailing programming philosophy that has

allowed it to prosper is also, to some extent, hindering its growth.

To date, catalog titles have constituted the vast majority of available programming on the platform, whether packaged as singleIP or genre-curated channels. But many FAST players say that channel providers need to start capitalizing on one of the fundamental pillars of the linear model — original productions — in order to truly drive growth and sustained viewer engagement.

“As with any other network, user acquisition is driven by the ‘new’ while user retention is driven by the ‘familiar.’

[So] in order to maintain growth,

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originals will be key [for FAST],” says Tejas Shah, SVP of commercial strategy and analytics for NY-based studio and streamer FilmRise.

Shah goes on to point out that unscripted is the “lowesthanging fruit” for FAST originals, due to its low upfront costs and ability to be quickly scaled if successful — which, he says, dovetails nicely with the low-overhead advantages of the platform. “[FAST’s] lowoverhead profile gives more time for IP to find its audience,” says Shah, noting that this to some degree offsets the inevitable costs of promoting a new show. “No need for sleepless nights waiting for overnight ratings: [you can] be patient in allowing your IP to get through the cold start.”

BUILDING BRANDS It won’t hurt if your prospective FAST original can piggyback on a genre, or title, with which you’ve already had success.

Laura Florence, head of global FAST strategy for Fremantle, singles out game shows as particularly fertile originals ground for the global producer-distributor, given its success with the game-show FAST channel Buzzr and single-IP streams for legacy shows like The Price is Right.

“As soon as we see what all those [emerging FAST] markets are going to be able to produce in terms of viewership as well as advertising, we’re going to be able to see how we can [make originals for them], for a category we play really strongly in,” says Florence.

“Game shows is a big one, [and] entertainment categories in general [are] a really great way to pull in users.”

Florence adds that these kinds of genre groupings are

an effective means for allowing originals to bypass the allimportant FAST prerequisite of volume. “You really need to have 200 to 300 hours to support a new channel, [so] our Buzzr channel could easily launch a new series and not have to worry about volume,” she says.

In another example of buttressing in-house originals with familiar surroundings, Roku head of originals Brian Tannenbaum and VP of content and acquisitions Jennifer Vaux cite their platform’s success in reviving The Great American Baking Show, the U.S. edition of The Great British Bake Off. “We not only have The Great American Baking Show as a Roku Original, but we also worked with Jenn’s team to license over 100 episodes of the British show for VOD, as well as a Baking Show FAST channel,” says Tannenbaum.

“So there are opportunities here for advertisers to surround themselves around that IP 360°, and the originals are a great way to provide content that is differentiated.”

“When FAST presents you with a single, strong IP like the Bake Off series, you can sit there and be delighted by Brian’s new programming, but also have the comfort of the library,” adds Vaux.

SHARING THE WEALTH For Roku, that principle of interdependence extends as well to the question of platform exclusivity for originals. Despite fears that multi-platform availability could potentially cannibalize audiences for a new title, Tannenbaum contends that making originals available via a variety of means can only help their chances for success. “[We want

Brian Tannenbaum

Jennifer Vaux

Laura Florence

Tejas Shah

audiences] to be able to leverage the different touchpoints of the [Roku] platform, whether it be FAST or VOD,” he says.

Fremantle’s Florence largely concurs with that viewpoint.

“FAST is still a new tool that people are learning to use, so in order to get enough market awareness [for an original] it is better to have broader distribution, unless it’s truly big enough to drive people to tune in,” she observes. “But it would take a special talent [attached] and a huge marketing budget to do that, so I think that the nonexclusive path [is preferable] for the broader reach we would get.”

In this, Tannenbaum and Florence evince a perspective on FAST that is coming into sharper focus as the platform continues

to spread to new markets — one that views it not as a magic bullet for an advertiser-abandoned industry, but as one of several mutually reinforcing delivery systems (FAST, AVOD, TVOD, etc.) that could, potentially, attain something like the maturity of the long-lived linear model. And within that new digital ecosystem, original content needs to play the role it has always played: to bring that shiny glint of the new that can attract ever-more distracted viewer eyes, and ever-more wary advertiser dollars.

“Ultimately, there needs to be some component of refresh; this is a tactic employed since the earliest days of radio,” declares FilmRise’s Shah. “FAST is making everything old new again.”

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TREND WATCH ‘24

AIMING FOR T

Artificial intelligence is for some a tantalizing opportunity to take creativity to new heights, and for others, a technology to keep a careful eye on. As its use accelerates within the content creation process, producers may find that both things can be true.

Left and right: Deepfaked versions of former Spanish prime ministers Felipe González and José María Aznar; above: The actors portraying them for la Sexta’s El Intermedio.

Even as artificial intelligence became a flashpoint for skirmishes within the entertainment industry and elsewhere throughout 2023, the adage that “AI won’t replace you, but someone using AI will” began to settle in for many this past year.

In the face of this seeming inevitability, some of these former opponents are now tentatively setting aside their doomsday fears and instead wondering if they should take this new hoverboard for a ride.

Of course, “new” is a bit of a misnomer. In the unscripted production sector, networks and production companies have been using AI in myriad ways for some time now, for tasks ranging from dubbing to transcription, editing to voice cloning. (The latter technique caused some 024

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controversy for filmmaker Morgan Neville when he used it to have the late Anthony Bourdain “narrate” scenes from Roadrunner, his documentary about the celebrated chef.) But, given the rapid advances in generative AI (GAI), the tech is bound to have an even greater impact on creative going forward, as production companies look for ways to marry its potential for innovation with the allimportant Great Idea.

Of the major production groups, Paris-headquartered Banijay was the first to announce its AI intentions with the establishment of the AI Creative Fund, which was billed as a “group-level investment” that would supply development funding to concepts from “visionaries

within Banijay who are developing ideas using tech, and those that are keen to explore the endless possibilities in the world of this new technology.” “[It] aligns with our broader strategy to diversify, push boundaries, and stay ahead in the ever-evolving television landscape,” says Banijay’s chief content officer James Townley. “Reality shows could embrace this tech easily, as we are always trying to reflect those ‘mirror moments’ for the audience [and AI is now] becoming such a relatable day-to-day experience. Game shows also feel ripe, but I really don’t think we are limited by genre… We’re excited to see what comes next, and how this benefits the non-scripted community as a whole.”

R THE SKY FROM POST FIXES TO DEEPFAKES Randy Counsman, SVP of development at U.S.-based Banijay label Stephen David Entertainment, says he’s “really bullish” about integrating AI into the production process. The utility sells itself, he says, whether it’s using Adobe Photoshop’s Generative Fill on development decks, instantly wiping out unwanted powerlines in the background of a Civil War–era pitch reel, or employing AI editing software that automatically transcribes and accelerates stringing out a paper cut.

Beyond such utilitarian benefits, Counsman also points to the creative possibilities of the tech. Citing how the advent of HD led to such groundbreaking titles as World War II in HD — the History Channel event series from Lou Reda Productions that up-rezzed recently discovered war footage for a new generation of HD screens — he says that he is excited by the opportunities to use AI within the historical programming space, specifically regarding the rejuvenation of archival content.

“Even more exciting to me is the potential for live content... live face replacement, VFX layers that happen live,” he adds, saying that such an approach is “ultimately experimenting with the realtime feedback loop between audience and content.”

Madrid-based VFX artists Alejandro Perez and Francisco

“Paco” Fernandez have been immersed in deepfake technology since 2017, producing AI-enhanced content for Spanish film and TV, commercials and comedy skits. While the term “deepfake” rings alarm bells for many AI newcomers, Perez and Fernandez believe that doomsday worries about deepfakeempowered misinformation are overblown, and that audiences exposed to this content quickly develop a new kind of media literacy.

Like Counsman, the duo also draws attention to AI’s value as a utility player, such as fixing those pesky blurs producers have to put over uncleared product logos or unreleased people in the background of shots. The magic wand of deepfake video can replace those blurs with newly animated “real” images that are precleared — because they don’t even exist.

TRANSPARENCY MATTERS Still, it’s worth noting that many are calling for the industry to proceed with caution when it comes to AI. In November, the Archival Producers Alliance (APA) — a new advocacy group founded by Jennifer Petrucelli and Rachel Antell of Sub-Basement Archival and Stephanie Jenkins of Florentine Films (the company behind Ken Burns’ work) — issued an open letter citing recent uses of

GAI in doc work that they see as concerning, including “a lack of transparency with audiences when historical voices are generated by AI, leading viewers to believe they are hearing authentic primary sources when they are not,” and creating “AIgenerated ‘historical’ images to depict people and events, rather than sourcing real ones where available in order to save time and money.”

The letter, which is signed by 100 members of the APA, adds that, “without standards, [the] use of GAI threatens to distort history and transform the relationship we have with audiences…. if neither images [nor] audio can be believed, then the non-fiction genre is hopelessly compromised.”

Some broadcasters are also taking the ethical questions raised by GAI into consideration. The BBC formulated what it calls its “Machine Learning Engine Principles” in 2019, while in the U.S., CBS established CBS News Confirmed, a division dedicated to ferreting out deepfaked content that is being passed off as authentic.

Concerns about the tech are, of course, legitimate, but it’s a safe bet that they won’t derail the oncoming AI train entirely. Tech advances and unscripted/ non-fiction storytelling have been cozy bedfellows for decades. Whether it’s GoPros energizing observational doc series, drones taking us

James Townley

Chachi Senior

to new vistas in natural history content, or night vision tech letting us see what happens when people (and other animals) date in the dark, scores of memorable moments in television have come from clever producers playing with new toys.

That said, true innovation won’t come from those toys alone.

“Sometimes the lowest-hanging fruit seems easiest, [and] everyone chases it,” says Chachi Senior, EVP and head of development at U.S. Banijay label Truly Original, who is also working with his team on AI-aided ideas. “The person who wins is the one that comes up with the best show where the tech is necessary to the story.”

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In the wake of assorted recent megamergers that have reshaped the content industry, it’s understandable that many are hoping for a period of stability and relative quiet in the M&A space, as opposed to the flux that usually accompanies consolidation. But those in the know say there’s Thomas Dey more to come.

M&A’S NEXT MOVES

The past year saw its share of mergers and acquisitions activity, with Disney buying Comcast’s stake in Hulu for approximately US$8.6 billion, and Lionsgate acquiring eOne from Hasbro for $500 million.

But as of this writing, there were no deals that rivaled the 2022 megamerger that created Warner Bros. Discovery, the effects of which are still being felt across the industry.

While economic factors can certainly be seen as the main cause of the recent lull in M&A action, one other reason that blockbuster deals seem less common this year is the increased 026

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willingness of governments to wield antitrust laws.

“Regulatory scrutiny of M&A deals, particularly on anti-competition and national security grounds, is increasing, and will continue to be a major factor hindering large M&A deals in 2024,” declared U.S.based consulting firm Gartner in a report issued in November.

“We also anticipate greater regulatory actions aimed at curbing antitrust and anticompetitive practices will result in blocked tech and digital media acquisitions in 2024,” states management consulting firm Alix Partners

in its 2024 Media & Entertainment Industry Predictions Report, which concludes that, “it’s unlikely that we will see a substantial surge in media deal volume in 2024 beyond a slight uptick.”

GOT $$$?

But swallowing up network groups whole or snapping up prodcos aren’t the only ways to build scale and fill the coffers. While it wasn’t a merger, one major unscripted deal that turned heads in the fall of 2022 was the move by Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment to securitize the Got Talent IP, worth some $125 million.

ACF Investment Bank served as an advisor on that transaction, and ACF’s Thomas Dey, who worked on that deal, tells Realscreen that he’s surprised that more unscripted prodcos haven’t followed suit. “I thought there’d be a big queue of people coming [to us for similar deals], because it’s a really nice off-balance-sheet finance.... I do think a lot of people have been looking at it, but I haven’t heard of multiple deals closing,” says Dey, who adds that he is trying to turn the process behind the Syco deal into a more standard practice for his firm.

WHO’S NEXT? Despite the consensus about a largely cooled-off M&A environment in 2023, some are still predicting major moves are possible in the coming months and years. Many pundits have been predicting a Comcast push towards acquiring the still debt-ridden WBD (which would surely set governmental antitrust apparatus into overdrive), with

some even suggesting that banks have already been consulted.

There are also a couple of market realities that could accelerate the action on the horizon. Cord-cutting isn’t going away anytime soon, with Ampere Analysis predicting that global pay-TV penetration will see its first-ever annual global decline in 2024. And with the streaming landscape cluttered to the point of saturation, consolidation within that sector is less a question of “if” than “when.”

For his part, ACF’s Dey believes there’s a massive deal yet to come — potentially the largest in the history of the streaming business — along with more merger activity in that particular space.

“I see a consolidation [in] the streaming platforms[:] the smaller ones being bought out by the bigger ones, or merging with [them],” he says.

“The second thing I see is the big digital companies buying studios and streaming platforms.

They’re not able to compete with Netflix spending $10 billion a year on original content.”

Still, there are even bigger fish than Netflix swimming in the streaming pond. Calling it “an obvious play,” Dey predicts that what would probably be seen as the mother of all streaming acquisitions will be coming soon.

“How can Netflix, as a standalone business, compete with Apple and [Amazon] Prime when [streaming is] a side business for them? I see Apple buying Netflix; I think it would be the perfect acquisition.”

From that point, Dey says he can see a potential full-circle moment for streamers.

“I see them actually moving into distribution and maybe even broadcast,” he explains.

“Could we see an [Amazon] or a Netflix buying a studio, or buying an ITV?” Justin Anderson

FACTUAL UNDER 40

From deal-making to development, producing to programming, this year’s list of emerging execs and creatives who are 40 and under features 30 of the top talents shaping the unscripted and non-fiction content business today, nominated by their peers in the industry.

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FACTUAL UNDER 40

Adviser to non-fiction filmmakers on deal-making and more

EL DANI

AIN

el Couns p m u Page J Reavis

At New York–based Reavis Page Jump (RPJ), Ain’s expertise has aided several high-profile directors and EPs at the negotiation table in connection with projects for Nat Geo, Time Studios, Vice, SkyDance, and Apple. He’s contributed to several projects for RPJ client Multitude Films, including 2023’s Indigo Girls doc It’s Only Life After All, and also advised Peter Chernin–backed prodco Words + Pictures on several projects, including an upcoming doc about Christopher Reeve (produced with Passion Pictures) and a docuseries about MLB slugger Barry Bonds for HBO. Barry Walsh

Multi-hypenate with a penchant for archive production

OVICH K S I r N A directo CELIA under,

s Fo ne Film Dial To

With colleagues citing her ability to “do it all and at a high level,” Aniskovich’s producing and directing credits include the Woodstock’ 99 doc Burn It Down! for MRC Studios and Rolling Stone, the Realscreen Award–nominated Fruitcake Fraud for Discovery+, Lifetime’s Surviving Jeffrey Epstein, and two projects for HBO Max, Beanie Mania and Call Me Miss Cleo.

Aniskovich also provides archive production and consultancy services through her Dial Tone shop, and served as an archive producer on the 2022 doc Flight/Risk for Prime Video. BW

What changes would you like to see or help create in the industry?

Even with more consolidation among streamers likely, I am optimistic that we will see innovation in theatrical and streaming, and a new willingness from buyers to take measured risk on worthy projects.

In the meantime, I will continue to advocate day in and day out for my immensely talented clients who are making docs that are beautiful, meaningful and often essential.

What changes would you like to see or help create in the industry?

Our industry tends to make decisions based on what has worked in the past, particularly in a contracting economy. But if we want factual content to succeed, what we need to be doing right now is taking risks. I’d like to see us highlighting deeply human stories and building teams intentionally, with diverse perspectives that challenge and deliberately enhance our storytelling.

Pop-culture aficionado with a keen eye for raw talent

WIN AULD ming B S I R ogram dia PA VP, pr e ette M

Antoin

Overseeing a broad slate of programming produced for Paramount, Bauldwin has aided in the longevity of monster franchises and the successful launch of others, having worked on the Love & Hip Hop franchise and served as executive producer on titles including Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, VH1 Family Reunion and more.

Antoinette Media founder Lashan Browning calls Bauldwin “a catalyst for success, driving her team towards new heights of achievement.” Justin Anderson

Problem-solver and champion of diversity in production management

KL -FRAN R E W , uction IE BRE

KAT

d r of pro ts Directo nt and even e s m io in d a u t t r BBC S al ente

factu

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Brewer-Frankl leads production, commercial and business teams for the fact ent unit’s five bases across the UK, with a slate that includes such programs as Antiques Roadshow, Top Gear, Dragons Den and The One Show, as well as event programming. In 2023, her 120-person team helped successfully execute coverage of two major UK historic events: the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, and the coronation of King Charles.

“A true force of nature, she is not only jaw-droppingly clever but also the bedrock of our factual entertainment unit, even after just two short years in the role,” says its MD, Hannah Wyatt. BW

What’s your most significant career achievement to date?

Completing my first feature film. I was a graduate student with lofty dreams, and finishing the film meant those dreams could become my reality. Had I not seen that first dream come true, I would likely have been too afraid to chase down the others.

What changes would you like help create in the industry?

While creative excellence deserves applause, there’s ample space to also acknowledge and appreciate excellence in production management. I intend to continue championing production excellence and highlighting the invaluable contribution, often made by women, in these pivotal roles.

FACTUAL UNDER 40

Bringing new twists and IP to unscripted dating formats

ELLE MICH

S BYAR

ment evelop SVP, d rtainment te ITV En

N MERO A C I ment IKK evelop

N

ns r of d Directo ray Productio r u /M Bunim

In 2023, two new formats from Byars and team made their debuts: Love Island Games for Peacock, the first-ever spinoff of the global hit; and Twin Love, a new dating format for Prime Video. Byars is currently at work on a new slate of projects that include spin-offs and extensions of ITV-owned IP, as well as original concepts.

Before ITV, Byars spent eight years on the buying side at Turner Broadcasting, where she was part of the team behind the relaunch of TBS’ unscripted slate. BW

Taking multicultural reality content to the masses A key part of the development team at pioneering reality-TV prodco Bunim/Murray, Cameron is focused on multicultural content development for cable, broadcast and streamers. Lauded by her peers for her creative instincts, resourcefulness and tenacity, Cameron has worked across many of Bunim/Murray’s top series, including Family or Fiancé and the Emmywinning Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, and has also led development on a number of new series making their debuts on cable networks and streaming platforms in the coming months. JA

What’s the dream project you’d like to get on the air over the course of your career?

I love music, fashion and art, [and] would love to make a groundbreaking competition series that not only spotlights an untapped community in these areas, but also offers viewers thrills, high stakes and adventure — passion, artistry and competition all wrapped into one fun premium series.

It’s what I love most about shows like Drag Race and Legendary — big, fun, formatted shows!

Transporting FBoys and FGirls to a new broadcast home

RRIER U C N Agent ADE

BR

Currier had a productive 2023 as a member of WME’s alternative division. Among the highlights were moving the third season of buzzy reality dating competition FBoy Island to The CW after its cancellation at Max while also setting up the spin-off series FGirl Island, and securing producer Elan Gale and his banner TheYearOfElan a new overall deal with ITV America. Other notable clients on his roster include Renegade 83 (the Naked and Afraid franchise) and October Films (Max’s Beanie Mania; CNN’s First Ladies and Diana). BW

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Who would be your dream client?

I love representing an array of clients with different ways of thinking. In this market, having clients that want to work together creatively to turn ideas into reality is important in converting wins.

WME

Capturing audiences with true-crime content

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What do you want to be doing in 2025?

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’d like to focus on having a successful 2024 for not only myself, but my friends and colleagues across the industry.

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Dammann oversees and leads development on the slate of unscripted content from ITV America’s crime and investigation label.

The past year was a good one for Good Caper, with Dammann delivering such programming as the Netflix hit Escaping Twin Flames; Exposing Parchman, a collaboration with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation for A&E; and second seasons of New York Homicide and Final Moments for Oxygen. On the way: a spooky spin on the crime genre with Mr. Entity, produced in partnership with Blumhouse Television. BW

What’s the dream project you’d like to get on the air?

I firmly believe that if my gut tells me something is special, I just need to keep pushing for it to find a home. I’m currently developing a project that is very near to my heart, because it involves the unsolved death of a close friend.

It’s the reason I became interested in true crime, and now is finally the right time to expose the full scope and scale of the story.

The “secret weapon” behind one of the UK’s top unscripted producers

URY ms DUXB E I C progra LU ead of en H

ard The G

A team member at ITV-owned factual producer The Garden since 2016, Duxbury was promoted this year to the role of head of programs, in which capacity she oversees a slate of over 70 hours of programming ranging from a forthcoming documentary on the 1984-85 UK miners’ strike to the recently renewed Netflix competition format Squid Game: The Challenge. As a producer and director, she has credits on such titles as 24 Hours in A&E, Superhospital and 24 Hours in Police Custody.

“Lucie has long been The Garden’s secret weapon, but in the last year she has emerged — deservedly — into the limelight,” says The Garden CEO John Hay. Andrew Tracy

Boldly building Amazon MGM Studios’ unscripted identity

F LKOF A F Y series reality ENN

J

of udios Head GM St M n o z Ama

In her current role at Amazon MGM Studios, Falkoff oversees such Prime Video unscripted series and specials as Judy Justice, Hollywood Houselift with Jeff Lewis, ATK: The Next Generation, The GOAT and The 1% Club. “No matter how many directions she’s pulled in, Jenny always finds a way to give you and your project the full attention it deserves,” says a producer peer.

Beginning her career as an agent trainee at ICM Partners, Falkoff’s pre-Amazon production work included stints on Love Island, Hell’s Kitchen and Big Brother. BW

A key creative voice for UTAS’ current unscripted programming

JOEY

FEMIA

mming progra ision t n e r r VP, cu iversal Telev io Un tud ative S Altern

Femia manages day-to-day operations across the UTAS unscripted slate, overseeing such titles as Weakest Link, The Wall, The End is Nye and both the U.S. and UK versions of That’s My Jam. Coming up on 10 years at NBCUniversal, he has established himself as a key creative voice across a wide range of the media giant’s unscripted production, from reality competitions and game shows to natural history and documentary.

Upcoming for Femia are the blue-chip history series The Americas and buzzworthy travel adventure format Destination X, both collaborations with the BBC. AT

Making representation on-camera and on-set a reality

N FLYN r N E E directo COLL eative ctions der, cr u n Co-fou Flicker Prod

Co-founding Flicker in 2016 with joint MD Nick Underhill, Flynn aimed for the company to become a supportive and inclusive place for diverse talent, and a leader in promoting women in factual both on-screen and behind the scenes.

Flynn’s credits this year alone include Katie Piper: Jailhouse Mums for UKTV, The Flight Attendant Murders for Channel 4, Sundance Now and BossaNova, Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family for ITV and Wayne Couzens: Hidden in Plain Sight for Five. JA

What’s your most significant career achievement to date?

My first BAFTA nomination for 24 Hours in A&E — it was amazing to get industry recognition for the blood, sweat and tears that the entire team put into crafting each episode whilst delivering a medical documentary series on an unprecedented scale.

What change would you like to help create in the industry?

Some people still consider unscripted television a guilty pleasure. Over the past several years, though, there has been a proliferation of compelling content on both the reality and doc sides of the genre. As the industry evolves, I hope not only to bring more of these shows to life, but also improve public perception of them as we broaden viewership.

What is your most significant career achievement to date?

Having grown up in a small country town, I’m in awe of the global reach of our series. From the worldwide impact of World of Dance to The Wall being produced in 29 territories and now That’s My Jam becoming one of the fastest-selling international formats, I’m profoundly grateful to have a hand in entertaining audiences around the world.

What’s the dream project you’d like to get on the air?

As an independent production company owner with dreams of retiring one day, my head says creating a global format that sells like hot cakes across all territories.

In my heart, I would love to create documentary programming that would engage a global audience on issues affecting women around the world.

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FACTUAL UNDER 40

Documenting movers, shakers and zeitgeist-makers

M KARA

GILL

aker r, filmm tive e d n u Co-fo Crea MGX

At 29, filmmaker and creative director Gill is one of the most sought-after directors in the burgeoning pop culture doc space. He made his directorial debut at age 22 with the 2017 SXSW world premiere G Funk, making him the youngest director to ever debut a feature doc at the Austin festival. That year, he also cofounded MGX Creative with Daniel Malikyar.

Most recently, Gill directed and produced Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby for Prime Video and the Hulu docuseries RapCaviar Presents. BW

What’s the dream project you’d like to get on the air?

Anything in the international soccer space. I was fortunate to play my entire life all the way up to the college level, so revisiting the sport through a filmmaking perspective would be a dream. With the World Cup coming to the U.S. in 2026 and interest growing year over year domestically, I’m hoping to find the right project in the near future.

Scoring deals for clients while making room for mentoring

R MME A H E ELL Agent DANI WME 032

An agent at WME for the past 11 years, in 2023, Hammer packaged/ sold projects for clients such as Scout Productions (Hulu’s Living for the Dead), Vanity Fair Studios (The Secrets of Hillsong, produced with Scout Productions for FX), and Half Yard Productions (Secrets & Sisterhood: The Sozahdahs, also for Hulu). She also struck a new overall deal for chef Kardea Brown (Delicious Miss Brown) at Food Network.

Internally, Hammer created a monthly newsletter dedicated to nonfiction content to give the genre more visibility within the agency, and also established a series of seminars for assistants in the company to provide mentorship, education and support. BW

Who’s your dream client?

Feminist icon Elle Woods.

A smart, driven woman who never sacrifices her bright pink wardrobe in pursuit of career goals.

I love how she bounces back time and time again from each setback. She’d also make a great Real Housewife...

Devising unique distribution solutions

Y PHRE M U er H Found MY

JIM

de Sky

ala Marm

After 15 years of experience in distribution with such companies as Fremantle, Banijay and others, Humphrey founded his own new-model distributor/consultancy in 2020. By mixing representation for finished programming with finding distributors for projects, he’s garnered praise from clients and distributors alike.

“Jimmy is a super operator, [and] an incredibly plugged in executive,“ says Atomic Television’s Stephen McQuillan. BW

Crafting fun, family-friendly formats

E r AUBL oduce tive pr WES K u t c e n x e e m t, n ain Preside bang Entert o r r e t n I

Kauble’s made a mark in the game-based format space, creating such shows as Beat Shazam and Cherries Wild for Fox and Easy Bake Battle for Netflix. He has also served as showrunner on such projects as Supermarket Sweep for ABC and Prime Video’s The 1% Club.

“Wes is a valuable and trusted partner, and what makes working with him so rewarding is his unique ability to combine amazing creative instincts, brilliance with talent and infectious enthusiasm to always deliver on the promise of the vision,” says Fox unscripted programming topper Allison Wallach. JA

What would you say is your most significant career achievement to date?

I’m really proud to have set up my own business just over three years ago, and to be providing a bespoke and targeted distribution consultancy service for producers around the world. Having worked at a variety of distributors over my career, I’ve built a broad international network that I now feel confident in accessing to support indies in raising production finance and packaging their rights.

What made you want to be part of this industry?

When I was in high school, I was flown out to Los Angeles from Kansas City and won The Weakest Link. The experience completely changed the trajectory of my life: it paid for college, it made me fall in love with game shows, and it left me wondering how I could make a living giving other people the same opportunity to have their future pivot in an instant.

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FACTUAL UNDER 40

East Coast verve and a knack for tapping top talent

LBEN O K E I ive and KAT lternat

g ,a Agent programmin l G a u A t I c fa

Joining the alternative division of IAG (formerly known as APA) in 2022 after 12 years at ICM, Kolben holds down the fort at the agency’s New York office, repping prodcos, directors, showrunners and talent across all unscripted sub-genres, ranging from reality docusoaps to documentary films.

Kolben was part of the team that signed major unscripted talents such as Patty Stanger, Scheana Shay, and Chef Roze Traore, and her clients have worked on such programming as Bravo’s Winter House, FX’s The New York Times Presents: The Miss Universe Pageant and HGTV’s forthcoming Zillow Gone Wild. BW

Giving non-fiction producer clients a global platform

ER ALIST C M Y Head POPP

tional

terna TVF In

After serving as TVF’s head of sales, McAlister took on the top role at the London-based outfit in 2022. Still in her 20s, she leads a team of 15 across international sales, acquisitions, production, marketing, finance and operations, and spearheads TVF’s broadcaster and producer partnerships across the UK, North America, Australia and New Zealand, while also setting up first-look, development and output deals. Notable unscripted titles that she has overseen include Unbelievable Me from Future Studios for Discovery+, and Attitude Pictures’ disability-first dating series Down for Love, for which she secured a global deal with Netflix. BW

Unearthing A-listers with an affinity for history

F ALLE C I M AX

st st Coa nt, We annel e m p evelo y Ch Histor ad of d VP, he

M

Joining History in 2018 after over a decade at the Discovery Channel, Micallef quickly made an impact on the network’s editorial direction and ratings. Among the programs he has developed and produced are Great Escapes with Morgan Freeman, the success of which resulted in the Oscar-winning actor signing on as a brand ambassador for the net.

“He has a keen understanding of the factual content space, and a track record that reflects his passion for his job,” says History’s EVP of programming Eli Lehrer. AT

Cornering the market in celeb-led docs

L D. ICHAE

M

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ER RATN

CEO er and dia Found e OBB M

WINTER ‘24

Ratner founded multimedia studio OBB Media with brother Scott in 2016, and the firm has hit its stride via celeb-led docs such as YouTube Originals docuseries Justin Bieber: Seasons and Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil. Recently, Ratner and team signed a deal with Walt Disney Television Alternative to develop Gen Z-friendly unscripted content for all Disney platforms.

At the time of the deal, Disney alternative EVP Rob Mills cited Ratner’s “ability to connect with top talent” and to “create a space for people to tell their stories” as part of what makes him “an invaluable partner.” BW

Who’s your dream client?

My dream client loves to collaborate. They see their agent as an extension of themselves, and recognizes that we’re here to help row the boat in the same direction. It’s OK if we have different tastes and opinions, but we should always remain respectful of each other.

What made you want to be part of this industry?

Being able to screen, acquire and sell some of the world’s most impactful documentaries is a total privilege and a joy.

Television really is the cultural medium with the widest reach, so bringing programming to audiences around the world that has the power to change the way we think is one of the best parts of the business.

What is your most significant career achievement to date?

I met my wife at work, so I want to make sure I lead with that. But if you’re looking for something show-specific, I would say building out the History’s Greatest franchise, which brought Morgan Freeman, Pierce Brosnan, and a few other (upcoming) brand ambassadors and storytellers to the network.

What changes would you like to see or help create in the industry?

Premium self-distributed content is a newer concept and one that is going to continue becoming more prevalent in our industry, and I’m excited to see talent utilize their direct connection to audiences for more authentic storytelling. We take pride in picking the best home for each story, whether that’s an owned and operated channel, a streamer, or network.

Tracking down formats with global potential

I RAWJ N I twork M d — ne ent YAS e t ip r c m ns EVP, u

tertain Fox En

Bringing what’s-trending insight and multi-genre experience to the unscripted space, Rawji oversees the development and production of Fox’s entire reality slate, and also works with the broadcaster’s in-house studio Fox Alternative Entertainment to manage the company’s international unscripted format fund. Among the titles she’s worked on are megahit The Masked Singer, a slew of Gordon Ramsay–fronted series (including Next Level Chef), game show Snake Oil with David Spade, and the upcoming U.S. edition of Talpa Studios’ The Floor. AT

Keeping the creative wheels turning with character-led series

NER GARD

REED

ment evelop SVP, d rtainment Ente lhouse

A longtime member of the unscripted development team for Brent Montgomery and Jimmy Kimmel’s Wheelhouse Entertainment, Reed’s primary focus is character-driven content. The past year was a busy one for Reed, with the launch of three series he developed: King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch and Designing Miami for Netflix, and History’s Secret Restoration.

Previously, Reed spent four years in development at ITV America’s Leftfield Pictures, working on such series as OWN’s The Book of John Gray and Bravo’s Bethenny and Fredrik. BW

What changes would you like to see in the industry?

No matter the medium, art should push boundaries and expand how people see the world, and the potential of our business to entertain and enthrall is astounding. From a creative point of view, a balance between what has worked and what could work is so important; and right now, the opportunity to look forward, stretch and put ourselves out there is what we all should be focused on.

What’s the dream project you’d like to get on the air?

I have a few dream projects currently in the works, including a docuseries set in a visually stunning, historically diverse, affluent subculture that deserves to be spotlighted, in a really fun way. I’m also determined to develop a series set in Savannah, GA, where my mom currently lives and my family has spent a lot of time over the past 20 years.

Whee

Proving that authenticity belongs in unscripted

A SARIN

ROMA

riginals EVP, o tures ic walk P Board

Coming to Santa Monica–headquartered Boardwalk Pictures after working as a freelance showrunner and producer, Roma oversees the prodco’s slate of acclaimed premium non-fiction series, including such Netflix titles as “follow-doc” series Cheer and Last Chance U and competition format Chef’s Table.

Recent successes include Showtime’s We Need to Talk About Cosby; Welcome to Wrexham for Hulu; the Realscreen Award– nominated Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? for Netflix; and The Big Brunch, an HBO Max cooking competition hosted by Dan Levy. BW

Staying ahead of the docureality curve

A A ROS

, pment develo eries d e t ip s nscr ocu SVP, u estyle and d nt lif tainme r e t n E l a nivers NBCU

JENN

Brought on board at NBCU as development director for Bravo in 2014, Rosa now has a remit that spans across Bravo, E!, Oxygen, USA Network and Peacock, and encompasses such hit titles as The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Summer House and its spin-off Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard, and Below Deck: Adventure. “[Jenna] is a gifted developer, always ahead of the curve in terms of trend and talent-spotting,” says Rachel Smith, NBCUniversal’s EVP, unscripted content, lifestyle & documentaries. AT

What’s your most significant career achievement to date?

The recognition received on We Need to Talk About Cosby was tremendous. It was the most hard-hitting project I have produced to date. We’re always looking to help amplify important stories.

What change would you like to help create in the industry?

The industry is very risk-averse right now; I would love to see more original ideas that feel like bigger swings. I understand the built-in audience that theoretically comes with existing IP, but we must innovate to continue to push the industry forward and tell diverse stories.

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Bringing talent across mediums into the unscripted fold

NA BRIAN

BY SHEB

Agent UTA

Moving to UTA from WME in 2021, Shebby has carved out a formidable roster with prodcos such as Story Syndicate and Nobody’s Hero, showrunners such as Lego Masters’ Pip Wells, and doc-makers including Laura McGann (The Deepest Breath) and Moses Bwayo (Bobi Wine: The People’s President).

Beyond the prodcos specializing in unscripted, Shebby also works with talent across the agency such as Issa Rae, Karli Kloss and Tyra Banks on their non-fiction projects, and also helps recording artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Cardi B and Lizzo with their nonfiction and unscripted ambitions. BW

Building a remarkable reality roster

MAN CKER l A W factua RYAN e and iv t g a in n r m e lt SVP, a

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progra

IAG

Wackerman moved over to the former APA in 2022 after 11 years at ICM. In his career to date, he’s sold series and landed showrunner and overall deals at a wide swath of networks and platforms — including ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Roku, HGTV, Magnolia, MTV, WE tv, Discovery, Oxygen, ID and Lifetime, among others — and the producers and showrunners he’s repped are behind some of TV’s biggest unscripted staples, including The Bachelor, The Amazing Race, Big Brother, America’s Got Talent, The Real World, and scores more.

In addition to selling shows to series, he has also built an enviable roster of directors and line producers. BW

What change would you most like to see in the industry?

I am excited about a future that embraces technology, innovation and disruption, and that allows us to create new models and opportunities for our clients to tell stories through brandfunded partnerships.

Who’s your dream client?

Despite all of Orson Welles’ storied successes in scripted, he had very few unscripted credits to his name. With my team’s help I’m certain he would have been able to exec produce buzzy social experiments, host must-watch shiny-floor competitions, and co-star in a relevant, provocative ensemble docuseries.

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Connecting content with global buyers and audiences

ON WATS ships A C I S artner JES ios tegic p les and

VP, sa

tud stra ocker S Boat R

Watson had already notched years of experience in content sales and acquisitions at eOne and Astral Media when she joined the rights division of Toronto-headquartered Boat Rocker Media in 2016. At Boat Rocker Studios, she’s tasked with driving sales initiatives and fostering strategic collaborations with producers, broadcasters and global content buyers across scripted, factual, and kids content.

Recent success stories include helping transform MasterChef Canada winner Mary Berg into a presenter with international flavor by licensing her programs around the world. BW

Gaining renown with fresh takes on non-fiction

ELCH

MAX W

nder Co-fou ms ned Fil Renow

A university dropout turned award-winning unscripted executive producer and entrepreneur, Welch acts as CEO, head creative and executive producer for Renowned Films (Discovery’s Ice Cold Catch, BBC 3’s The Drop) across all output in the UK and U.S. In recent years he has spearheaded the prodco’s expansion into the American market, landing series pick-ups on Discovery, Discovery+, BET, Bravo, Paramount+, Prime Video, Peacock, YouTube Originals, Oxygen and Fox. In the words of former Channel 4 chief executive David Abraham, Welch is “a hardworking, committed, and passionate program maker.” JA

What made you want to get into this industry?

TV has always been a way for me to connect with other people.

When I was young, in the time of appointment viewing, I would gather around the television with my family to watch our favorite shows. I still share inside jokes and lively discussions with friends about our preferred programs, and even my hairdresser still asks me “if I’m watching anything good.”

What change would you like to see in the industry?

I want to see buyers continue to invest, build, and take bigger swings on unscripted plays that offer new perspectives and tackle difficult subjects, many of which Renowned has been fortunate enough to focus on — such as Copwatch America — so these types of stories continue to be told and find audiences globally.

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FACTUAL UNDER 40

Blazing trails in immersive content creation

D EHEA T I H EW irector BRIEG ative d

re s r and c park Picture S e Whit

e Found

A Perth-based producer, director and writer who has made programming for such outlets as National Geographic and Netflix, Whitehead founded White Spark Pictures in 2017 to produce both traditional factual programming and VR-driven docs. A trailblazer in the emerging field of immersive factual production, she has helmed a pair of science-themed VR docs — The Antarctica Experience and Beyond the Milky Way — and this year launched a new division, Surround Sync, with proprietary tech that aims to allow hundreds of VR users to share experiences simultaneously. AT

Marrying strategic thinking with big swings

D DWAR O O GIA W ager al man res r GEOR e n e G u n Pict

r Southe

Lauded by peers for her ability to meld creativity with strategic and analytical prowess, Woodward joined Southern Pictures — an independent, female-owned production company — in 2021, when, at 29, she was awarded an Enterprise Career Placement with the prodco from Screen Australia. Serving as a development and supervising producer on such programs as The Swap (SBS), Missing Persons Investigation (Nine Network, Fremantle U.S.), Miriam Margolyes: Australia Unmasked (BBC/ ABC) and Magda’s Big National Health Check (ABC), a year later, she was named GM. BW

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Liz is the 2024 Realscreen Awards announcer

What’s your ultimate goal for your career in this business?

To be doing what I’m doing now, but on a much larger scale — and with more crossover between high-end TV series as well as VR, immersing audiences in places that are hard to reach and telling important stories about our planet. I’d also like to look at creating major immersive entertainment experiences, such as a Taylor Swift concert, or even being part of a big movie franchise.

What’s the dream project you’d like to get on the air?

I’m developing a few shows at the moment that have longevity.

As part of the creative process, I feel it’s important to think strategically about partnerships, placement and audience.

My dream show is a global, returnable format that leverages innovative partnerships and bold storytelling elements to bring it to screen.

S P O N S O R E D

THE NEW

R E P O R T

COLLABORATORS

DELIVERING GREAT UNSCRIPTED CONTENT IS A COLLABORATIVE THING.

BUDGETARY CONSTRAINTS, COMBINED WITH ELEVATED EXPECTATIONS, MADE THAT EVEN MORE CRUCIAL THIS YEAR.

To see how the industry is adapting, Realscreen checks in with key behind-thescenes partners who are prolific collaborators in the unscripted/documentary space, to see how they’re helping producers make it work.

Check out how services are evolving to meet new market needs, from increased efficiency to easing complexity…

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THE NEW

COLLABORATORS

APM’s music has been featured in hundreds of Emmy, Golden Globe and Oscar-winning productions.

Finding just the right tone APM Music’s 1.2 million track catalog helps creatives achieve their goals affordably.

In the complex labyrinth of the entertainment industry, where every visual narrative demands a fitting soundtrack, Hollywood-based APM Music stands out as a problem solver. With 40 years of experience crafting musical landscapes for films and television (plus commercials, podcasts, sports content, and more), it has become a go-to resource for creators seeking the perfect harmony for their visuals.

Guided by a team of eight in-house music directors, a knowledgeable and quick-to-help sales team and a customer service-oriented support staff, APM prides itself on its unobtrusive role in the creative process. They aim to find exactly what you’re looking for, providing playlists based on a desired direction or reference (a complimentary service they provide).

But APM’s true strength lies in its vast musical library, to which it adds more than 170 new albums every month. With

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SPONSORED REPORT

210 catalogs that span the globe and 120 years of archived recordings (dating back to 1901), it’s a repository of sonic history.

The meticulously organized collection is cataloged by decade and genre, preferred documentary and unscripted playlists, as well as original scores, offering creators a rich palette to paint their stories.

But it’s also about affordability.

Acknowledging the industry’s flux, APM’s unscripted/non-fiction team has adapted, adjusting its rates and pivoting to blanket partnerships for unlimited, ‘all-youcan-eat’ use of its 1.2M+ track catalog, covering entire slates at the network, streamer or production company level.

Says Account Director Jim Cathcart, APM aims to extend flexibility and remove administrative burdens, making music a comprehensive budgeted line item that can be factored in advance of the postproduction stage. “We’ve significantly tailored fees to be commensurate with

current budget trends while we continue to heavily invest in new music to inspire editors,” he explains. “Additionally, we’ve become a major time saving and costfriendly solution for elevating productions in the initial stages, helping them get sold.”

From the kitchens of Chopped (which has used APM in nearly 56 seasons) to the glamorous nuptials in the Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker Wedding Special, APM’s compositions seamlessly weave into narratives. Documentaries and docuseries contributions include Attenborourgh’s Life in Colour, The Last Dance and The Invisible War. Producers can tap into resources like the NFL Film Music and MLB libraries, which are frequently used in sports related doc series such as Hard Knocks: Training Camp With The New York Jets. APM offers exceptional music written and recorded by Oscar-, Emmy- and Grammy-winning composers and artists from Ennio Morricone to Bonobo.

A reliable, worry-free resource backed

by E&O insurance, Cathcart explains that “in contrast to myriad upstart crowdsourced stock music companies operating abroad, APM has a time-tested and trusted legacy of excellence as a stable resource including indemnification with each license.”

The company navigates tight turnarounds with ease. “APM doesn’t just deliver music,” he says, “it fosters an experience, adapting to the unique needs of each collaboration with the same passion that creators infuse into their projects.”

“Every song tells a story,” he summarizes, “and when you find the right one, it can help you tell the story you want to. Music has the power to transport audiences to a specific place, time or feeling. The more authentic, the better.”

APM MUSIC

apmmusic.com info@apmmusic.com Contact: Jim Cathcart jcathcart@apmmusic.com

THE NEW

COLLABORATORS

Demand at Sydney-based Evolution Post Productions has seen the Australian company expand its operation to meet growing demand from North American and European producers.

How global post saves time and money Evolution triples capacity as more unscripted producers realize budget and sked advantages In a world where every dollar and minute on set has to count, one post facility has figured out a way to make the day last longer — Australia’s Evolution Post Production.

Based in Sydney with additional studios in Perth and Auckland, for 25 years Evolution has been the go-to post house for thousands of hours of award-winning, multi-genre content.

Independently owned and operated, the Evolution team is made up of world-class video and audio editors, as well as a cadre of experienced finishing artists — but the company’s success may have as much to do with its approach as its offering.

Evolution gives producers real-time, remote access to editors from anywhere in the world — meaning North American filmmakers can tap into a continuous, around-the-clock workflow. By running post through Australia or New Zealand, US and Canadian production companies can shoot by day while the post house edits by

night, creating a 24-hour production cycle.

And then there’s the money. By bringing post work to Australia and NZ, clients benefit from favorable currency exchange rates, lower facility and crew fees, and enticing tax incentives.

So, it’s not really surprising that Evolution has become a mainstay in the post-production realm, transcending borders to help redefine the storytelling experience. The company has contributed to a large and diverse library of properties, from Amazon Freevee hit Troppo, to HGTV anchors like No Demo Reno and Restored.

Or consider recent work the team has done on Without Exception Films’ docuseries Unmuted, Acorn TV’s Under the Vines or C4’s current UK breakout hit Bill Bailey’s Australian Adventure.

“Having delivered to most territories around the world, we have a fully tested pipeline, passionate people and experience across multiple genres for all markets,” says

Managing Director Dave Cole. “For years we’ve been saving our U.S. clients a quarter to a third in their post costs.

But now we’re seeing U.S. productions encounter even more budget squeeze.

So this year we tripled our capacity to 200 offline and 20 color grade, online and audio mix suites, expanding our winning formula.”

In an era where even the traditionally moderate budgets for unscripted shows in the U.S. face unprecedented constraints, Evolution emerges as a lifeline for producers, offering not just savings but an experienced hand that can help with the storytelling.

EVOLUTION POST PRODUCTION

www.evolutionpost.com.au Dave Cole dave@evolutionpost.com.au +61 413 611 784

SPONSORED REPORT

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WALKING THE LINE

HELP ME O HELP YOU

nce upon a time, I, like millions of Americans, enjoyed the communal pleasures of Pod Culture.

My work space was attached to five identical, cozy pods. A completely normal construct, but one with no privacy.

You could hear your colleagues sneeze, with a mix of people at the company. As they held court, giggle and digest their lunches. You they admitted how much they hated a particular series could smell their lunches too, which was and thought it was awful and just shouldn’t exist. not so pleasant on the days when “Bob” ordered his salami I nearly choked on my danish when I realized they were sub. You could hear every personal conversation, and discussing one of my shows, and within minutes it would everyone heard professional discussions as well. be my turn to talk about it. When I mentioned the title, the One of my former pod-mates enjoyed broadcasting silence was deafening. And instead of defending the show, his business calls on speaker phone. We got I think I mumbled the polite equivalent of used to overhearing the highs and lows of “Thank you ma’am, may I have another.” mundane assignments, and for the most part But I was really thinking, “You’re welcome.”

At times of uncertainty, it’s ignored it all. Once, this pod-mate — let’s A colleague who also attended the always tempting to fall back call him “Jonathan” — had a very bad day. session followed me into my office and A massive logistical operation seemed to be began laughing. He told me that in his 25 into the familiar. But when it teetering on the brink of disaster. He was years in the business, he’d never witnessed comes to creating unscripted talking to someone in another city who was anything like that. Seeing me feel guilty and trying to clarify directives to complete his bad about a hit show stunned him. content that’ll cut through, assignment. Every time this person asked a That particular show may have diverged working together to take logical question, it was met with what I can from the comfortable norms, but it was smart risks is necessary, says only describe as quivering hysteria, or silence. regenerating an amazing brand that Jonathan was shutting down, and slamming needed some help in the ratings. The Gena McCarthy. the door on possible new paths to success. network team had the courage and What caught my ear on that day was conviction to try something different, and the calm, clear voice on the line saying, “Jonathan? Jonathan, don’t the risk paid off in performance and profits. In growth. hang up the phone. Don’t hang up the phone, Jonathan. Let me When so many platforms are ravaged by the winds of industry help you, Jonathan.” This went on for about 40 minutes, and I hate change, it’s always easier to stick with what’s tried and true. Work to admit it, but I found the whole thing somewhat comical — the with only known and proven IP. Eliminate all risk. I understand. I’ve man behind the disembodied voice was clearly at his wit’s end, but done it myself. But I also know there’s still room to simultaneously trying to stay rational to find a way forward. take bold creative swings. It’s the only way to remain relevant.

Everything worked out, thanks to the persistence of that voice on Now, as the head of a production label in discussions with buyers, the phone. Indeed, I learned a year later that it was my husbandI’m channeling the words of Mr. Maguire. Help us help you. Take a to-be talking Jonathan through the crisis, and making me laugh mitigated risk on new talent. Take a Bryce Harper swing on a loud, long before I ever met him. But beyond that bizarre coincidence, fresh concept that excites you. Let the producers you trust be that the whole affair reminded me of my favorite scene from the movie calm, clear voice that helps navigate the crisis in partnership with you.

Jerry Maguire, in which Tom Cruise’s character begs his client to try There are always ways to protect performance and the bottom line, something new to grow their collective business. “HELP me help you. but without innovation, nothing grows.

Help ME help YOU!!” We’ve all been there.

And it’s definitely time for unscripted to grow again.

For example, I was there when I attended a coffee klatsch hosted by a Very Important Person somewhere in the mists of time. This Gena McCarthy is the president and founder of Unconventional person was taking time from their busy schedule to generously interact Entertainment, a part of Sony Pictures Television.

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WHO WILL MAKE THE LIST? Tell us which unscripted prodcos stood out this year

DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 12, 2024