TV Real June 2020

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JUNE 2020

Wildlife / CuriosityStream’s John Hendricks

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CONTENTS Publisher Ricardo Seguin Guise Group Editorial Director Anna Carugati Editor Mansha Daswani Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Associate Editor Chelsea Regan Editor, Spanish-Language Publications Elizabeth Bowen-Tombari Contributing Editor Elizabeth Guider Production & Design Director David Diehl Online Director Simon Weaver Art Director Phyllis Q. Busell Senior Sales & Marketing Manager Dana Mattison Sales & Marketing Coordinator Genovick Acevedo Business Affairs Manager Andrea Moreno Contributing Writers Steve Clarke Andy Fry Joanna Stephens Jay Stuart David Wood

4 CALL OF THE WILD New narrative and production techniques are being used in wildlife filmmaking, with messages of conservation front and center.

12 JOHN HENDRICKS Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Real ©2020 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 www.tvreal.ws

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The cable industry veteran discusses how he is serving factual programming fans through the streaming service CuriosityStream, which is aggressively expanding worldwide and upping its originals slate.

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ZDF Enterprises’ Wild Bavaria.

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CALL WILD of the

New narrative and production techniques are being used in wildlife filmmaking, with messages of conservation front and center.

By Kristin Brzoznowski

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ith its ability to bring viewers up close and personal with mighty jungle animals, endearing woodland creatures, terrifying ocean predators and awe-inspiring insects alike, nature programming has long been a solid draw with audiences. But the days of a narrator quietly whispering over delicate images of elephants drinking from a waterhole have given way to something much more dynamic. Today’s popular wildlife programs are bigger, bolder and more ambitious than the genre has ever been. And rightfully so, as the messages they can carry are pressing to be heard in this time of environmental threat and looming extinctions.

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Portugal—Wild Land on the Edge is part of ORF-Enterprise’s Universum slate.

“As a genre, natural history is going from strength to strength,” says Patricia Fearnley, the head of natural history, unscripted and content partnerships at BBC Studios. “It used to be seen as attracting only the older demographic, but since Planet Earth II, younger audiences and families have been coming to natural history in a way we haven’t seen before.”

While the images themselves have always been arresting, it’s become more imperative nowadays that the stories are too.

“Natural-history content is more character-driven than it was five or ten years ago,” Fearnley says. “We are far more likely to care about an individual animal with relatable characteristics rather than a generic group of animals.”

Narratives around climate change, carbon emissions and environmental issues at large are now “inevitably woven into most natural-history content,” she adds. “Even five years ago, that is something that would have been less palatable to audiences. It’s now an expectation. It’s virtually impossible to tell a 60 WORLD SCREEN 6/20

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story about the natural world without illustrating how behavior has changed in response to the changing environment.”

Indeed, there has been a rise in green thinking all across the world, “in particular by the younger generation,” says Anne Olzmann, managing director of Albatross World Sales. “People have become more environmentally conscious and thus are more interested in seeing what is going on on our planet, what it has to offer and what is at stake. So, there is an even higher need for wildlife and nature programming at the moment.”

“Natural-history content is more character-driven than it was five years ago.”

—Patricia Fearnley, BBC Studios

Olzmann believes that with the current environmental movement, “the C-word”—meaning conservation—is no longer a nogo. “Five years ago, we had buyers who were only looking for beautiful landscape films where the story didn’t really matter, and especially environmental issues did not work for them,” she explains. “Since this has now changed, we’ve been doing really well with wildlife films that feature a conservation story.”

“Humankind’s future on our planet Earth is undoubtedly at stake, and we as a media industry bear a specific responsibility by covering the diversity of life,” says Armin Luttenberger, the head 6/20 WORLD SCREEN 61

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of content sales international at ORFEnterprise. “By presenting high-quality documentaries in the field of nature and wildlife to the public, viewers all over the world experience the flora and fauna Humor is a key element in Albatross World Sales’ Going Nuts: regardless if it’s right Tales from the Squirrel World. on their doorstep or in faraway places. We are raising awareness about the fragile balance of nature, not only by showing its beauty but also by acknowledging our responsibility in preserving it for future generations.”

Ralf Rückauer, ZDF Enterprises’ VP of ZDFE.unscripted, agrees that there’s been a shift in how people view wildlife and nature, and this is being reflected back in natural-history programming. “The perspective has dramatically changed from just saying, yes the Earth is nice and we love cute animals,” he says.

“Now, we’re shifting in another direction, where we really think about the state of our Mother Earth and almost worship it.

“On the other side, people are a little bit fed up with all of the climate-change discussions,” he continues. “So, we have to balance that. The question is more, can people learn while they watch TV programming about wildlife, nature and the changes that humankind has brought to the Earth?”

Céline Payot-Lehmann, head of international distribution at ARTE France, also acknowledges that wildlife programs should help promote ecological messages, “but it has to stay entertaining,” 62 WORLD SCREEN 6/20

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she cautions. “You don’t want to overwhelm or depress the viewer.

The way you can do that is to show the beauty of nature, what’s fascinating about it. We need to say what the problem is, but also what the solution is, or at least say what is being done, keeping a positive take on things.”

Payot-Lehmann emphasizes that it’s important to have a strong story at the heart of the program. “It’s not just about putting your camera up and watching nature,” she says. “There has to be a story—a beginning, middle and ending, with a storyline that gets viewers attached.”

Backing that up with science is also increasingly crucial, she adds. “There has to be scientific facts and a scientific base.”

For as much as narrative techniques are evolving, technological advancements have had an even greater impact on the natural-history genre. Albatross’ Olzmann is particularly enthused by the new low light/high ISO cameras, which can capture animal behavior in twilight and even almost complete darkness.

And while she admits that the move from HD to 4K has been a bit slow on the broadcaster side, Olzmann asserts that for wildlife, it is the way forward. “I strongly recommend any proBBC Studios’ Seven Worlds, One Planet used new technology ducers to produce in to provide an up-close look at animals in the wild.

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4K now, as this will become the standard in the next year or two. Since it usually takes several years to finish a film, it is important to keep up with the latest technology as it gives you more possibilities to sell the film afterward. There are more and ARTE is offering up The Private Life of Sharks. more buyers now who will only buy 4K, while others prepare to test 8K.” “Every time there has been a next-step scenario, like with the move to HD, for example, people have gotten more interested in wildlife—the same is true with 4K,” says ZDF Enterprises’ Rückauer. “Now we have 8K around the corner, so people are looking at nature again because there are all these beautiful pictures and they are getting even more detailed than ever before.

Plus, there’s HDR, and this is very interesting.”

Heat-sensitive cameras, drones and stabilized rigs are all part of the filmmaking arsenal helping to capture new angles and get closer than ever to the action. The MoVI Pro stabilizer used on BBC Studios’ Planet Earth II, for example, gave viewers an on-the-shoulder perspective. “The intimacy this added to the series was tangible,” says Fearnley. “Seven Worlds, One Planet used this same technology alongside some incredible advances in drones, which meant they could fly longer in the air, to places further away and with far more accuracy. They were also much quieter, meaning so much more could be shot with them, offering a perspective we hadn’t had previously.”

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Of course, none of this comes cheap, making co-productions necessary. Most of the wildlife films in Albatross’ catalog have been commissioned or co-produced by German and international partners, according to Olzmann. “With lower budgets from the broadcasters’ side, it is now crucial to get more than one partner on board to get a project off the ground, and with the needs of different partners, it takes some time to get the financing.”

Bigger budgets mean shows can be more ambitious, which is essential for cutting through in the market today. “The times are

“The times are over when you can just show beautiful pictures of the planet and be happy with that.”

—Ralf Rückauer, ZDF Enterprises over when you can just show beautiful pictures of the planet and be happy with that,” Rückauer asserts. “You have to do more because people have a different perspective now. One way could be that you become a little bit more political and really make a statement about extinction or hunting animals. On the other side of that spectrum, it can be more about the personal involvement and relationship; you could show people who are trying to preserve animals of any kind of species around the world. The connection, or really the reconnection, with nature is more and more in the foreground.”

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John Hendricks

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pioneer of the U.S. cable industry, John Hendricks was so convinced that millions of people would share his passion for documentaries that he launched Discovery Channel in 1985. After he stepped down as chairman of Discovery, Hendricks once again bet on people’s interest in science, technology, nature, history and society—this time choosing to address consumers directly—and founded the OTT service CuriosityStream.

Hendricks and his teams are expanding the platform’s slate of originals and aggressively pursuing international expansion in a variety of ways.

Hendricks tells TV Real about the early days of the cable industry, the advantages of serving factual programming fans through a streaming service, the importance of price points in the streaming wars and the value of stimulating curiosity and rendering accessible the big questions about our universe, our world and ourselves.

By Anna Carugati

TV REAL: Why is curiosity so important?

HENDRICKS: Curiosity is a fundamental human trait that drives [us] toward progress. Curiosity is behind all entrepreneurial efforts, but it’s also part of driving civilization forward. It’s fundamental to who we are as humans.

I’ve discovered in my career that in terms of television, all humans are curious, but about 40 percent are deeply curious— about where we came from, our history, where we’re going.

They’re passionate about science and technology. My career has been focused on trying to satisfy curiosity through this magical medium of television, which has progressed through the years.

Now we have on-demand streaming, which is what I think of as the third revolution of television. We’re pleased to offer this service to help satisfy curiosity.

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David Attenborough’s Light on Earth was co-produced with Terra Mater Factual Studios.

TV REAL: What is CuriosityStream’s mission?

HENDRICKS: There are four big, durable categories of television: movies and scripted content; factual; general entertainment, with everything from sitcoms to game shows and reality TV; and live sporting events. When you look at factual entertainment, it’s been durable through broadcasting. We address the entire category of factual entertainment; we are not a niche service. By doing so, we embrace and encompass all of the many niches under factual.

There’s science, nature, history, technology, human interest stories about the human spirit and there’s also a big category that we label as “society,” which covers current-events programming, and we offer that through our short-form feature Bright Now. We address the full category of factual entertainment, and we think that’s the best way to help satisfy curiosity.

We have noticed that in the streaming business, it’s very perilous if you’re a niche service. We’ve seen several niche movie services that have shut down. We think it’s safer to play the full factual category the way that Netflix has certainly played all the categories of movies; that’s going to have a bigger future than 68 WORLD SCREEN 6/20

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someone who addresses a niche. That’s the big lesson from our years in the business.

TV REAL: At what point in your career did you start to understand the power of on-demand programming?

HENDRICKS: My early insight was when we did a very expensive original production called In the Company of Whales. Many people were ordering the VHS tape, paying $19.99, waiting five or six days for delivery. That was our first indication that people would pay money and be patient to try to get control of one great video.

We began to test near-video-on-demand in the early ’90s, when digital started to materialize; we created channels dedicated to individual TV shows. We saw again that the consumer would readily respond to that. And we tested if consumers would pay $8 a month—this was back in 1993—to have a menu of content that they could watch at any time, and we saw that the results were very encouraging.

As a result of that, at Discovery, we were one of the earlier investors in TiVo because TiVo allowed people to get more control of the content they wanted to view. I’ve been armed with this knowledge since the late ’80s, early ’90s, that when streaming would materialize or tech would allow people to watch what they want to watch, it would sweep the planet.

TV REAL: Since you launched CuriosityStream, what have you learned about viewers’ tastes, and how does that inform what new programming to produce or acquire?

HENDRICKS: We closely monitor the viewing interests of our viewers. For years in linear TV, we only had audience estimates through Nielsen. But now we know exactly what people are watching.

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From the very beginning, I was surprised by the interest in subjects as deep as quantum physics! Maybe that was because, during our launch years, there was the search for the Higgs boson particle, which was finally discovered. I think a lot of people CuriosityStream’s slate of originals includes Classic Cars. didn’t study quantum physics in college and wanted to understand more about that; television and CuriosityStream was a great way to do that.

We’ve also looked at subjects that people have an interest in, like home and food. By tackling all of the topics under factual television, we can leave ourselves open to follow the viewers’ interests.

We are pleased to see the interest in our history programming. At the same time, there can be [interest in] a large animal like some of the big cats that roam the planet. I would put nature, science and history programming at the top of the list. Then there’s lifestyle programming, for people who just want to know about things that they encounter in their lives like cuisine and homes.

TV REAL: How are you looking to grow the service’s subscriber base?

HENDRICKS: We want everybody on the planet to be able to access CuriosityStream if they have a broadband connection. We 70 WORLD SCREEN 6/20

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want to make it extremely affordable. Twenty years ago, people would pay $4 to rent a movie for a few days or $19.99 for one DVD or VHS. Our service has an annual plan that costs only $19.99, so, for $19.99—what we used to pay for a DVD—you can have all 3,000 titles of CuriosityStream available at any moment for a whole year. That’s one way we continue to drive our service, going direct-to-consumer, over-the-top.

In addition to that, we are working with major distributors—from Comcast and Cox to Amazon and Apple TV+—to make sure that our

“We address the full category of factual entertainment, and we think that’s the best way to satisfy curiosity.”

content is easily accessible for everybody who has a satellite service, cable connection or streaming connection. We call that “working back through the middle,” as services like Netflix and CuriosityStream are offered more and more through distributors.

To grow that, we’re coming up with exciting plans where we’re now bundled as part of the basic customer offering of major distributors. One of the first of those distribution arrangements was with a large cable system in Singapore, StarHub. All of the StarHub subscribers have access to CuriosityStream. In the U.S., we made a similar arrangement with Altice. We refer to those as 6/20 WORLD SCREEN 71

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Out of the Cradle, featuring CGI from Square Enix, explores human evolution.

bundled relationships, and that will be the key to our growth into tens of millions of households around the world.

TV REAL: Which territories are you focusing on for expansion?

HENDRICKS: Outside of the U.S., we’re focused on Europe. We have an agreement with SKY in New Zealand. We are looking at Africa; we launched in South Africa on DStv. We’re looking at all the continents. We started in the United States, but within a few months, we had our service available in over 175 countries.

Our platform is very robust. When we produce original content, we own all the rights, worldwide, in perpetuity in all forms of media. When we acquire rights from a third party, sometimes it’s partial rights. We have done a great job of clearing most of the rights for a worldwide exhibition. It’s challenging for everybody who wants to be an international streamer, but the rewards are many when you get your service viewed worldwide by families on every continent.

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TV REAL: The streaming wars have begun. Where does CuriosityStream sit in this landscape?

HENDRICKS: The first advantage that we have is that factual content doesn’t cost nearly the amount that a scripted series or movie costs. There’s a huge cost advantage when you don’t have to pay actors and film producers and film directors.

The big competition in the streaming world is largely in that scripted space. To demand a $12.99-and-above price [per month] for a scripted SVOD service, you need to invest enormous sums.

“We are right in the midst of the streaming wars, and we want to keep safely in the factual space, where the content spend is much less.”

And they have to have exclusive content, which means exclusive relationships with certain producers and directors.

We are right in the midst of the streaming wars, and we want to keep safely in the factual space, where the content spend is much less. We also have the advantage of not playing in a niche area. We think there might be a lot of competition in niches within factual, so we want to stay above the niche plays and play the full factual category. That’s a safer place to be to develop a service that has universal appeal; that has a much greater chance of getting packaged in a bundle on distribution systems around the world.

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