REAL_0411_COVER_KID_108_COVER 3/17/11 11:30 AM Page 2
Current Affairs Workplace Reality Discovery’s John Hendricks Simon Schama www.tvreal.ws
MIPTV, MIPDOC & HOT DOCS EDITION THE MAGAZINE OF FACTUAL PROGRAMMING
APRIL 2011
REAL_0411_NHU_Layout 1 3/11/11 6:54 PM Page 1
REAL_0411_NHU_Layout 1 3/11/11 6:55 PM Page 2
REAL_0411_SOLID_ENT_Layout 1 3/11/11 6:56 PM Page 1
REAL_0411_SOLID_ENT_Layout 1 3/11/11 6:57 PM Page 2
REAL_411_UPFRONT_EUR_1006_ELLENDER 3/17/11 12:18 PM Page 1
6
TV REAL
AETN International www.aetninternational.com • • • • •
Beyond Scared Straight
Seriously Funny Kids Beyond Scared Straight Gettysburg Heavy Storage Wars
The supermodel turned super-mom Heidi Klum can now be seen hosting the new entertainment show Seriously Funny Kids, on offer from AETN International.The 20x30minute series features the German beauty as she interacts with children, bringing out the humorous and insightful things they say.There’s also a trio of series from the real-life genre that AETN is highlighting: Beyond Scared Straight, Heavy and Storage Wars. Beyond Scared Straight profiles modern-day inmate-run juvenile intervention programs, and the measures they’re taking to keep today’s youth from becoming tomorrow’s convicts. Heavy spotlights people who are facing lifethreatening consequences as a result of their obesity. Storage Wars features opportunistic individuals who hunt for treasures in storage-unit auctions. AETN’s slate is complemented by longer documentary fare, including Gettysburg, which presents the events of the U.S. Civil War in a new light.
Storage Wars
AFL Productions www.aflproductions.com • Naked and Funny • Funny and Funnier • Camera of Laughs • Seven Clowns in White Raincoats • Wild & Crazy: Caught on Tape
IN THIS ISSUE
Eyes on the World Current-affairs docs are always in demand 22
On the Job Reality series set in the workplace are finding slots worldwide
28
Interviews Discovery’s John Hendricks Simon Schama
32 34
Having a stable of non-dialogue shows has been key for AFL, since these programs bypass language barriers and are ready for international broadcast upon purchase. One such show, Naked and Funny, has seven seasons available for immediate delivery. “Our high-rating hidden-camera show Naked and Funny sold to 50 countries and last year we covered the territory of the U.S.,” says Yuri Volodarsky, the head of development and distribution. The catalogue also includes the non-dialogue series Funny and Funnier, the hidden-camera show Camera of Laughs, Seven Clowns in White Raincoats and Wild & Crazy: Caught on Tape. “The ratings and shares of our programs during the time of their premieres have been exceptionally high, and therefore, they all have great potential and profitable life spans in re-runs and worldwide distribution,” Volodarsky notes.
“Our programs grab the target audience’s immediate attention and send them soaring through a world that they have never experienced before.
”
Funny and Funnier
—Yuri Volodarsky
REAL_0411_PASSION_DISTR_Layout 1 3/11/11 7:02 PM Page 1
REAL_411_UPFRONT_EUR_1006_ELLENDER 3/17/11 12:18 PM Page 2
8
TV REAL
APT Worldwide www.aptww.org Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission
• The Artist Toolbox • Bag It • Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission • Digital Media: New Learners of the 21st Century • Keeping Score: Gustav Mahler
Ricardo Seguin Guise
Publisher Anna Carugati
Editor Mansha Daswani
Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski
Managing Editor Morgan Grice
Editorial Assistant Matthew Rippetoe Lauren Uda
Production and Design Directors
As a leading source for U.S. public-TV programming in the international market, APT Worldwide focuses on high-quality nonfiction content that spans a number of genres. Judy Barlow, the VP of international sales, explains the appeal of some of the top MIPTV highlights. “The Artist Toolbox is a series that delivers big-name talent for buyers and satisfies the curiosity of fans who want to go behind the scenes and see what their favorite artists are like in their daily lives,” she says.“Bag It is a provocative, funny and shocking film that goes beyond attracting viewers to actually engaging them and promoting action on a personal level.” As for Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission, Barlow says the story is “truly entertaining—an eccentric, inspiring life which will draw viewers in with wonder and amazement.” Keeping Score is a music franchise, featuring artists such as Gustav Mahler.
“ As new media matures, we’re keeping an eye out for proven revenue streams and partnerships that will help keep entry costs down for these platforms.
”
—Judy Barlow
Simon Weaver
Online Director Phyllis Q. Busell
Art Director Cesar Suero
Sales & Marketing Manager Terry Acunzo
Business Affairs Manager Alyssa Menard
Sales & Marketing Coordinator
Ricardo Seguin Guise
President Anna Carugati
Executive VP and Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani
VP of Strategic Development TV Real © 2011 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website:
www.tvreal.ws
CABLEready www.cableready.net • Clunkers • Dream Detectives • Rescue Helicopter • TV with TV’s Jonathan Torrens • Saw Dogs
As the market continues to fill up with new shows, CABLEready is looking to cut through the clutter by providing programs that put a new twist on established concepts. “How many more property shows or cooking competitions do viewers want?” asks Gary Lico, the president and CEO. One title offering a new spin is Dream Detectives. “The paranormal space is crowded,” Lico notes,“so here’s a much more relatable and fresh approach.” Saw Dogs, meanwhile, features men with chain saws, passion and vision. Comedian Jonathan Torrens puts his own personal blend of humor into TV with TV’s Jonathan Torrens. In addition, CABLEready is offering the actionpacked Rescue Helicopter.The company also has its first sitcom, Clunkers, a semi-scripted comedy about two highschool best friends who reunite to work together as used-car salesmen.
Rescue Helicopter
“ Action/reality series like Rescue Helicopter are always popular, and this one is Finlandproduced, a testimony of how well good series can travel.
”
—Gary Lico
Get TV Real Weekly— delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. For a free subscription, visit: www.worldscreen.com
REAL_411_ITV_Layout 1 3/11/11 6:53 PM Page 1
REAL_411_UPFRONT_EUR_1006_ELLENDER 3/17/11 12:19 PM Page 4
10
TV REAL
Canamedia www.canamedia.com Ice Hotels
• The World’s Greatest Carnivals • Ice Hotels • Stratton in Time • Alien Invaders! • When the Devil Knocks
3D has been a hot topic among the media community and Canamedia is already on board. “Canamedia is now working with Daniel D’Or, one of North America’s foremost experts on 3D production, to create and develop Canamedia’s own catalogue of original 3D programming,” says Andrea Stokes, the international sales and acquisitions manager.This slate includes TheWorld’s Greatest Carnivals, a travel and culture show; Ice Hotels, featuring a Quebec City attraction with 36 themed suites; and Stratton in Time, which puts Maestro Kerry Stratton face-to-face with luminary composers of the past. Canamedia has a range of HD factual programming as well, with Alien Invaders!, a show combining adventure, travel, wildlife and science, and When the Devil Knocks, the story of a woman suffering from dissociative identity disorder. Stokes says Canamedia is“focusing on bringing our updated company look, feel, distribution and production team and 3D knowledge to a new generation of buyers.”
“3D is the natural progression of the industry, and we plan to be front and center with thoughtful and intriguing factual 3D fare.
”
—Andrea Stokes
ITV Studios Global Entertainment www.itvstudios.com Jean Claude Van Damme: Behind Closed Doors
• Jean Claude Van Damme: Behind Closed Doors • Jeremy Kyle USA • Kate & William: A Modern Royal Romance • River Monsters • Animal Cops: Houston
The excitement in the run-up to the royal nuptials of Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton is sure to drum up interest in programming spotlighting the young couple, which bodes well for ITV Studios Global Entertainment. “We’re…excited to be offering buyers Kate & William: A Modern Royal Romance, which we expect to do particularly well this market as broadcasters plan to mark the most talked about wedding for years,” says Tobias de Graaff, the director of global television distribution. He adds that there are also high hopes for Jeremy Kyle USA, which launches in U.S. syndication this fall and has already been licensed to ITV in the U.K.The breadth of the catalogue is another key selling point that de Graaff points out, with titles such as River Monsters, featuring biologist Jeremy Wade, and Jean Claude Van Damme: Behind Closed Doors, a glimpse into the personal life of the genuine Hollywood legend, along with Animal Cops: Houston.
“As a multigenre distributor, [we have a portfolio with] a wide breadth of factual content across the whole spectrum.
”
—Tobias de Graaff 170
World Screen
4/11
REAL_0411_CABLEREADY_Layout 1 3/11/11 6:59 PM Page 1
REAL_411_UPFRONT_EUR_1006_ELLENDER 3/17/11 12:20 PM Page 6
12
TV REAL
Jelly Bean Films & Distribution www.jellybeanfilm.com The Vanishing City
• Burma: A Human Tragedy • Life, Death, & Reincarnation with the Dalai Lama • The Vanishing City • The Cross Upon the Hill • The Deity Puppets
Jelly Bean is passionate about promoting projects from East to West and from West to East, bridging the connection between the two. Its catalogue for MIPTV is filled with titles that further serve this goal. Burma: A Human Tragedy, narrated by Anjelica Huston, is a humanitarian film that turns a light on what’s happening to the people of Burma. Life, Death, & Reincarnation with the Dalai Lama looks at His Holiness’s experience with life, what he thinks about death and reincarnation. The Vanishing City focuses on the “luxurification” of New York City and the effects it’s having on the middle class and working poor. Jelly Bean is also highlighting The Cross Upon the Hill and The Deity Puppets. “I believe these programs are [focused on] subjects that viewers want to know and learn about,” says Sabrina Chen-Louie, the president of Jelly Bean. She notes that the topics are controversial, based on fact and are “spiritually interesting.”
“Our dream and passion is to take good stories and produce them into different media so everyone around the world can share and learn about the East and the West.
”
—Sabrina Chen-Louie
MultiVisionnaire www.multivisionnaire.com • Flesh Air: Sexy Gals & Hot Cars • The Four-Faced Liar • An Affirmative Act
MultiVisionnaire, which handles more than 70 titles, is introducing its original reality series Flesh Air: Sexy Gals & Hot Cars. The show features a popular airbrush artist, Wayne Harrison, as he custom-paints fancy cars for famous clients. Afterward, Harrison body-paints a nude woman to complement the car, while celebrity photographer David Anderson takes pictures for a calendar. The company will also be offering two TV movies based on social and gender issues. The Four-Faced Liar, a film about a young woman who has fallen in love with another woman while in a long-term relationship with a man, has been airing on pay-TV networks worldwide, including HBO and Cinemax in Central Europe and MTV’s Logo. An Affirmative Act deals with a lesbian couple who adopt a child and a legal battle that ensues. Sean Haley, managing partner at MultiVisionnaire, says of the offerings, “We’re focusing on sexy programming and sexuality as alternative content for buyers looking for a more mature product for their audience.”
“ Our expectations for MIPTV are high, and we’re looking forward to connecting with our existing buyers and new buyers about our original series.
”
—Sean Haley
172
World Screen
Flesh Air: Sexy Gals & Hot Cars
4/11
REAL_0411_TERRANOA_Layout 1 3/11/11 7:00 PM Page 1
REAL_411_UPFRONT_EUR_1006_ELLENDER 3/17/11 12:20 PM Page 8
14
TV REAL
National Geographic Channels www.ngcimedia.com Beast Man
• Beast Man • The Truth Behind Zombies • Chilean Miners: Buried Alive • Warrior Road Trip • Clash of the Continents
Viewers worldwide were glued to their TV sets for the rescue of the trapped miners in Chile last year, and National Geographic Channels is now offering Chilean Miners: Buried Alive.The company has also kept up with pop-culture trends with programming such as The Truth Behind Zombies. The catalogue features programming from the wildlife genre, with Beast Man; travel and adventure series, such as Warrior Road Trip; and science fare, including Clash of the Continents. “The programs being unveiled at MIPTV represent a range of genres that perform well across factual schedules and reflect the overall strengths of National Geographic Channels’ productions,” says Germaine Deagan Sweet, the VP of global content sales.“From character-driven wildlife series to explorations in pop culture, relevant current-affairs stories and strong science, National Geographic Channels’ catalogue of programming has an increasing volume of fresh [genderneutral content].”
“ Our overall slate offers flexibility for buyers
”
looking for innovative and smart programming.
—Germaine Deagan Sweet
NHU Africa www.nhuafrica.com Paseka the Easter Elephant
• Touching the Dragon • Dragon’s Feast 3D • Paseka the Easter Elephant • Saving Rhino Phila • Leopard on My Branch
As 3D has become a buzz word in the industry, NHU Africa is looking forward to showcasing its first 3D production, Dragon’s Feast 3D.This is the latest installment in the “Dragons Trilogy” from NHU.Viewers first began to follow the quests of marine photographer Roger Horrocks in Into the Dragon’s Lair. His stories of close encounters with crocodiles have extended into Touching the Dragon. In Dragon’s Feast 3D, the pieces come together and Horrocks’s adventures are brought to a conclusion. “The Dragons Trilogy is a thrilling, nail-biting series of films that will shock and awe, but also take the viewer on a journey to understand the relationship between man and beast,” says SophieVartan, CEO.The catalogue also includes Saving Rhino Phila, Paseka the Easter Elephant and Leopard on My Branch.“Our programming features strong character-driven and humananimal-interaction stories, charismatic wildlife species and footage that will blow buyers away,”Vartan says.
“ NHU Africa has a catalogue bursting with distinctive African stories that are breaking new ground in the wildlife documentary genre.
”
—Sophie Vartan
174
World Screen
4/11
REAL_0411_NEW_DOMINION_Layout 1 3/11/11 6:57 PM Page 1
REAL_411_UPFRONT_EUR_1006_ELLENDER 3/17/11 12:21 PM Page 10
Passion Distribution www.passiondistribution.com • Pretty Hurts • Ice Brigade • All on the Line • Secrets from a Stylist • Love/Lust
Ice Brigade
A number of the new series from Passion’s MIPTV slate spotlight real-life happenings in unique workplace settings. One such show is Ice Brigade. Sally Miles, Passion’s CEO, says the show is “going to be our new Ace of Cakes, but for ice, with ice sculptors.” Pretty Hurts looks inside a Beverly Hills skincare clinic, spotlighting “injector to the stars” Rand Rusher and his team. Delving into the fashion world is All on the Line. “We’ve got other fashion programming that’s going to complement that,” Miles says, noting that “buyers like to have [related] programming.” The slate also includes Secrets from a Stylist, helping homeowners unleash their inner personal style, and Love/Lust, looking at innovative products and ideas.
“ We see these shows selling across the schedule, from just slightly off-peak to peak.
”
—Sally Miles
Solid Entertainment www.solidentertainment.com • Catchin’ Air • Undersea Edens • One Six Right:The Romance of Flying • Rally On!
Solid Entertainment’s Catchin’Air delves into the extreme sports arena.“Kite-surfing is well under way to become the next big water and beach sport,” says Richard Propper, the founder and president. Another “extreme” offering is Rally On!, which looks at a crosscountry automotive race called the Gumball 3000. “While not all audiences want to do something this crazy in their lives, they certainly want to watch those who do,” Propper says. Further highlights include Undersea Edens. “This is one of the best underwater documentaries I’ve ever seen on our ocean world, and I’ve been selling them for 16 years!” There’s also One Six Right, of which Propper comments, “I’m not a pilot, but after watching this film, you understand why people become private pilots.” 176
World Screen
4/11
Catchin’ Air
“We expect that most of the broadcasters we meet will be looking for new programming, and we’ve got it.
”
—Richard Propper
REAL_0411_AFL_Layout 1 3/11/11 6:58 PM Page 1
REAL_411_UPFRONT_EUR_1006_ELLENDER 3/17/11 12:22 PM Page 12
18
TV REAL
Terranoa www.terranoa.com Diaper Dilemma
• Facing the Killer Volcano • Meet My Wild Friend • The New Faces of Nouvelle Couture • Baltic Coastlines • Diaper Dilemma
Terranoa has 36 fresh hours of factual programming for buyers, including the 90-minute Facing the Killer Volcano. “Character-based event programs built around a commemorative date such as Facing the Killer Volcano are ideal for co-production and suited for an international marketplace hungry for big-scale innovative factual-based dramas,” says Isabelle Graziadey, the head of international sales and acquisitions. Also new from Terranoa is The New Faces of Nouvelle Couture, which Graziadey believes has strong potential for presales since “well-crafted fashion series and travel shows are always in demand internationally by cable [networks].” She continues,“So are social issues tackling our role as consumers and citizens, as embodied by Diaper Dilemma, a humorous journalistic investigation into an issue ecofriendly parents are facing worldwide.” Baltic Coastlines and Meet My Wild Friend round out the slate.
“ Identifying new partners and the changing needs in the broadcasting realm [are part of our goals for MIPTV].
”
—Isabelle Graziadey
REAL_411_MULTIVISIONNAIRE_Layout 1 3/15/11 11:05 AM Page 1
REAL_0411_JELLYBEAN_LH_Layout 1 3/11/11 7:03 PM Page 1
REAL_0411_JELLYBEAN_RH_Layout 1 3/11/11 7:03 PM Page 1
REAL_411_CURRENT_REAL_408_NIGHT 3/15/11 5:58 PM Page 2
22
TV REAL
ZDF Enterprises’ India Reborn.
Eyes on the
World
Current-affairs documentaries that help put complex world issues into context are always in demand.
By Bill Dunlap Stuff happens, to recall the words of Forrest Gump.
And it keeps happening, meaning that the one genre that documentary filmmakers will never have to worry about exhausting is current affairs. To take it one step further, some of the worst stuff that happens makes for some of the most successful current-affairs documentaries. Turmoil in the Middle East, earthquakes and volcanoes, floods and tsunamis, global climate change, wars, the miners trapped in Chile, terrorist attacks—these were the subjects of multiple documentaries last year and this year. Many of those documentaries come from public broadcasters with well-funded news operations and mandates with more emphasis on explaining recent events than on turning profits. But when the events are global in impact, the public broadcasters’ commercial arms bring the documentaries to market. Alexander Coridass, the president and CEO of ZDF Enterprises, sees high demand in the international marketplace for programs that help viewers understand events like catastrophic accidents and terror attacks. “We always call them background stories,” he says.“They are more in depth, with more details. If you know the background, you know it better than if you just knew the event. There is always an interest in the market for profound analysis.” UNIQUE INSIGHT
Coridass says today’s viewers aren’t as interested in what he calls “classical documentaries that explain things,” but they will respond to a strong, well-told story. “We know there are terrorist forces in the world and there are ecological prob182
World Screen
lems,” he explains. “The question is how you present it. Are you able to bring something really interesting? Our job is to present it in a way that is new, exciting, that offers new insights and information and that brings new techniques. I wouldn’t say there is something that always works. It depends on your approach and the making of it.” The Al Qaeda attacks on the United States in 2001 spawned dozens of current-affairs documentaries that continue to resonate as the tenth anniversary approaches. “For us, it’s so interesting that a third of the U.S. population believes the government was involved in the attacks,” Coridass says.“We are dealing with that with 9/11: Science and Conspiracy.” The program uses forensic experiments to explore both the official story and related conspiracy theories, and examines why these theories persist in our culture, despite official government reports. ZDF Enterprises’ recent successes include Natascha Kampusch, the story of an Austrian girl who was kidnapped at the age of 10 and held eight years until she escaped. “It turned out she is a very interesting and intelligent young woman,” Coridass says. “We found, at least in Europe, a huge interest.” The four-part India Reborn deals with the rise of India in the last decade. “We did something like that five or ten years ago with China,” Coridass says. “A lot of people [are interested in] these developing countries. We try to put emphasis on what is happening in these territories.” The BBC has earned a global reputation for its currentaffairs coverage, much of which is made for its Panorama programming strand, sold internationally by BBC Worldwide. 4/11
REAL_411_CURRENT_REAL_408_NIGHT 3/15/11 5:58 PM Page 3
TV REAL
“There is a market for those big global stories,” says Tim Mutimer, the senior VP for sales and distribution in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for BBC Worldwide. That doesn’t make current affairs an easy sell, though. “It’s one of the most difficult genres we sell,” Mutimer says, “in that current affairs does differ from country to country. Where we have success is in those global stories, and by making really good programs that stand out and can sit alongside programs that are made in each country. Sometimes the resources we have mean that we can do something that they can’t.” BBC Worldwide has sold Panorama docs in more than 70 territories over the years. The sweet spot for Mutimer is found in the combination of global issues and human-interest stories, as in Panorama’s coverage of the trapped Chilean miners last fall. “It makes audiences feel closer to news and current affairs,” he says. For Trapped:The Chile Miners’ Story, Panorama followed families and engineers at the surface as they worked to free the men, and probed into mine-safety issues, revealing new evidence of massive safety problems in the mine being ignored just weeks before the collapse. BP: In Deep Water, on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill last year, examined the full consequences of the disaster to fishermen and the ecosystem and the war of words between the Obama administration and an embattled BP, asking what went wrong and who was really to blame. Mutimer also has success selling programs from another BBC strand, This World, which looks at global issues through human stories.“This World has broad appeal because in addition to the current-affairs interest, there is a human story there as well,” he says. “Topics that people really aren’t that aware of can be really interesting because of the way the story is told.” Two recent hours from the This World strand are Surviving Haiti and Pakistan’s Flood Doctor, both of which examine disasters through human stories. Surviving Haiti follows some of the people who were rescued from death beneath the rubble: a three-year-old child, a musician, a student and a girl who was rescued after nine days. The flood doctor is Dr. Shershah Syed, a famous surgeon from Karachi caught up in the greatest disaster to hit his country in living memory. A third major-market public broadcaster, NHK in Japan, is a big player in current-events documentaries, and also has a program on the Chilean miners which it completed just days after their rescue.
Similarly, NHK moved quickly last year with WikiLeaks: Who Owns Confidential Documents?, which included NHK’s own interview with WikiLeaks’ founder, Julian Assange. Another program with broad appeal that NHK is bringing to MIPDOC is The Game Revolution, on the video-gaming industry’s growth and the competition among developers. DOMESTIC POLICY
At the same time, NHK isn’t shy about tackling subjects that might only have limited appeal internationally. “NHK also produces many current-affairs programs on topics that are not necessarily receiving the highest interest,” Iida says. “There are always important subjects or social issues surrounding us, such as foreign affairs, an aging society, welfare, unemployment, etc., that the public should be aware of. A good example of this is a series of programs under the umbrella title Overcoming ‘The Japan Syndrome’ that NHK launched in January. The series offers intensive coverage of Japan’s national malaise rooted in years of economic and social stagnation.” Iida also points to the international success of its 13-part series China in a Torrent. “This series takes an in-depth look at the internal affairs of China and its attempts to make historic changes as it becomes the 21st century’s economic giant,” Iida says.“The combination of extremely careful coverage and correct contacts revealed the pressing issues in China that had not been covered extensively as such. It was a courageous series and hence the program was received well internationally in both
RIGHT ON TIME
NHK puts a premium on timeliness, according to Kazumasa Iida, the head of international program development. “Our audiences look to NHK for further explanations about what they hear in the news,” Iida says. “So, our in-house team produces current-affairs programs as timely as possible to answer the audience needs. For instance, ten days after the rescue of the Chilean miners, we made a special program, Out of the Hole: The Untold Story, which included exclusive footage that we got using our own source, of the miners as they were still trapped beneath.” 4/11
23
World Screen
183
On the front lines: Nat Geo’s Afghanistan war doc Restrepo— nominated for an Oscar this year—delivered big numbers in its U.S. debut last November.
REAL_411_CURRENT_REAL_408_NIGHT 3/15/11 5:59 PM Page 8
24
TV REAL
Survival tactics: Solid Entertainment’s What Would Darwin Think? looks at the current ecological threats to the Galápagos Islands.
sales and awards.The series traveled to more than ten countries, including France, Spain and Korea.” Unlike the public broadcasters, who have a mandate to produce for the home market first, commercial entities have to focus first on the broader, international appeal of the current-affairs projects they produce or acquire, and give some consideration to shelf life. Michael Cascio, the senior VP of production for National Geographic Channels, has to take into account that National Geographic has channels serving 168 different territories. “Most of our programs are meant for National Geographic internationally or, if not our channel, they may show up elsewhere”—on a co-production or presale partner’s channel. “We try to make our programs available to all our channels. And, if we do a current-affairs program, we want to be sure it can repeat. We’re not the news and we don’t want to be. It has to be deep enough to repeat and live well.” MATCH POINT
Cascio sees current affairs as a natural match for the National Geographic brand. “If you look at the magazine, there’s always some contemporary piece on what’s happening, say, in Pakistan,” he says. “The brand does allow for current affairs in several categories—actual events happening now, and certain types of events warrant a deeper look. So when a volcano blows in Iceland, as it did a year ago, we happened to have a crew there as it was blowing. They contacted us and we did a program in two weeks” for the channel’s Naked Science series. “The world was affected. Airports were shut down. On at least two continents, and probably more, it changed lives. Even where it didn’t relate directly to a country, there was an interest in it.” Another category is world issues that are ongoing and need a spotlight or amplification, presented often under the Inside rubric. “We got access to Guantánamo and went 184
World Screen
inside,” Cascio says. “We did a coproduction called Inside the Koran, which looked at Islam today and the interpretations of the Koran. We did Iran and the West, an inside look at the changing relationship since the revolution in 1978. Those are issues that fit right into the sweet spot of National Geographic. They give a more indepth look at issues of relevance.” National Geographic provided coproduction money for Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington’s Afghan War documentary Restrepo, which was an Academy Award nominee this year. “It’s a verité look at life in wartime,” Cascio says. “It aired in November and was the highestrated show on our U.S. channel for the year. It’s contemporary in that it sheds light on what’s going on in Afghanistan and it does it in a way that’s very compelling and powerful. It’s stuff you’re not going to see elsewhere.” Currently, Cascio is following the devel opment of Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson’s commercial space-flight venture. “We have the rights to follow that. It’s of interest to the world,” Cascio says. Other upcoming projects include follow-up films on the 9/11 attacks and the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Richard Propper, the founder and president of the documentary distributor Solid Entertainment in Los Angeles, calls current affairs his most interesting category. As a distributor of other people’s films, Propper’s first concern is with international appeal and he rejects some 95 percent of the films he sees either on grounds of quality or because he doesn’t see a market for them. IN-DEPTH ISSUES
“Something that’s always been popular is a story that has to do with law or the breaking of laws,” Propper says.“People wrongly convicted, justice docs.The challenge is finding good ones. Current affairs have to stand above the daily static of information. It has to be in depth; it has to have a point of view; it has to be well researched. What we look for are stories that aren’t part of that normal, daily static of information.” As an example, Propper offers Juanita Castro: Fidel’s Sister in Exile. “Juanita Castro is a woman who’s been on TV a couple of times but has never told her entire story,” Propper says. “It’s a perfect example of something you couldn’t just pick up on the Internet. This is only available in this film.” As a pure distributor of documentaries, Propper is attentive to a program’s shelf life. “Docs related to ‘ripped from the headlines’ events and new movies that are just out have very short shelf lives,” he says. “I don’t want a film that’s old news. We look for films that straddle a big range. Timing also plays a part. I picked up the documentary on Fidel’s sister about nine months ago. It was a Spanish production”—from Discovery Latin America—“and a great film. Fidel is not going to be around for a long time.This will become a ‘ripped from the headlines’ documentary. People will want information on him and we will have it.” 4/11
REAL_0411_CANAMEDIA_Layout 1 3/11/11 7:00 PM Page 1
REAL_411_CURRENT_REAL_408_NIGHT 3/15/11 5:59 PM Page 10
26
TV REAL
On the scene: The BBC’s signature current-affairs strand, Panorama, recently featured a special on child labor in the cocoa trade in West Africa.
Another current project with broad appeal is What Would Darwin Think?, a film on ecological threats to the Galápagos Islands. “There are problems because of trash coming into the ecosystem and nonnative plants and animals. If anything happens in the Galápagos, where there is a larger concern about that area, we have the right film.” CRYSTAL-BALL GAZING
Filmmakers are always trying to anticipate what will be hot in the coming year, Propper says, with mixed results. As of late February, he hadn’t seen anything yet on the turmoil in Egypt or the Middle East.“If you had a doc on Mubarak, that would be saleable right now, but probably for a very small window,” he says. Recent strong sellers have been Terra Antarctica, which looks at the South Pole region in terms of global warming, mineral rights and tourism, and Barack: Evolution of a Leader. “Terra Antarctica is selling because there is a lot of curiosity about the polar ice caps melting,” Propper says. “It’s current affairs, but it has an undertow of being sort of a naturalhistory documentary at the same time. Our Barack Obama documentary contained the oldest known television interview he had ever done and it traveled quite a bit. It took his audio book as the narrative to paint the story.” Current-affairs filmmakers face several challenges, including time constraints, shelf-life issues and tight budgets. On the 186
World Screen
plus side, though, they can be relatively inexpensive. The need to be timely generally precludes use of expensive CGI effects or dramatic re- creations. And while producers aspire to high production values, the acceptance of home video, cell-phone video, You Tube clips and Skype transmissions on the air today make it easier to incorporate such content into currentaffairs programs. “We’re a high-def channel,” says Cascio, “but if there is available video that works, in these categories that’s what it’s all about. We did an interesting project on Hurricane Katrina five years later, where we took home-video footage and patched it together in a way that made you feel you were there and you hadn’t seen it before.” Shelf life is an inherent problem with current affairs, naturally. “When thinking of shelf life, the best way is to find the universal message,” NHK’s Iida says. “Instead of just focusing on the issue, we try to focus on the background—why and how it all occurred, which usually gives us a more universal approach to the subject.” Aside from obvious things like not mentioning specific dates, Cascio says you need to put the emphasis on providing relatively timeless information. “You want to look at, say, the Iceland volcano, but you want to make sure you’re giving information that will be useful and relevant six months from now,” he says. Budgets can vary widely, with broadcasters like BBC, ZDF and NHK willing to spend lavishly on important stories and independent producers counting every penny. Propper has seen current-affairs docs come in with budgets as low as $25,000, but many he handles are ten times that. “There are some fantastic films being done now, and probably more of them because the technology is so inexpensive,” he says. Cascio points out that current-affairs docs often require a lot of planning and shooting, which can drive up costs. “We did a show on the counterterrorism force in New York,” he notes. “We followed them for eight or nine months, including New Year’s Eve.” “The BBC doesn’t care if a program is profitable or not,” Mutimer says. “They care about the subject.” Coridass says ZDF’s budgets are almost as high as for big dramas, ranging from €200,000 to €1 million euros an hour. “Sometimes producing current-affairs programs is like gambling on the stock market,” he says. 4/11
REAL_0411_NHK_Layout 1 3/11/11 7:01 PM Page 1
REAL_411_JOBS_REAL_408_NIGHT 3/15/11 6:01 PM Page 2
28
TV REAL
AETN’s Ice Road Truckers.
ery’s Deadliest Catch, truTV’s Black Gold and HISTORY’s Ice Road Truckers and Ax Men. FremantleMedia took note of Original’s ability to tell these stories and in 2009 bought a majority stake in the company. The two already had an established distribution relationship, with FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) having sold a number of series from the Original portfolio, including LA HardHats, Verminators and America’s Toughest Jobs, worldwide. Original’s storytelling skills within this genre are “second to none,” says Jeff Tahler, the senior VP of acquisitions and development at FME. “There are others out there that now try to replicate that type of storytelling, but it’s pretty widely acknowledged in the industry that Thom and the team over at Original Productions are the pioneers, and still really do the best job out there.” DANGEROUS LIAISONS
Onthe
The popularity of shows focused on blue-collar heroism can be attributed to a number of factors, Tahler says. “The biggest reason is that they’re very visual.You don’t really need to speak the language to understand what these people are going through. Also, it takes you into these worlds that very few people know a lot about....You never really think about the dangerous roles that these people get into. Those of us who work what I would call ‘normal jobs’ look at what these people do and are fairly amazed at all that it takes to get these jobs done. It’s action-packed.” David McKillop, the senior VP of development and programming at HISTORY, also notes the allure that shows on exploring the unknown have. “Each of these shows brings viewers into a world that they’ve never experienced before, one that is immersive, surprising and engaging,” he says. “The people in those worlds are guys who embody the pioneering spirit—men who are living life on their own terms and by their own rules, facing the danger of their jobs fearlessly. It plays to the frontier ‘do-it-yourself ’ spirit of history, which is missing in many people’s daily lives.” McKillop points out that jobs don’t necessarily have to be dangerous to make for good television. “The secret to the success of these shows is that the appeal is actually built very carefully on much more than just danger,” he notes. “If danger were the only essential [element], then any ‘dangerous job’ show would succeed, and that hasn’t been the case. These series are aspirational; there is nothing many males would rather be doing than facing down the challenges of the wild—ice, forests and alligators—with a large truck, saw, boat or gun.” Passion Distribution has found success with shows that feature a range of occupations that aren’t dangerous, from custom- cake makers to industrial clean-up crews. Sally Miles, Passion’s CEO, explains, “Whether it’s Ace of Cakes or The Real Filth Fighters, these shows are dealing with real life and real people going about a real situation—be it fluffy or be it grimy.”
Job Reality series set within the workplace are securing slots on a range of networks, across a variety of time periods.
By Kristin Brzoznowski Whether facing the icy open road in an 18-wheel truck or navigating treacherous waters in a small fishing vessel, everyday heroes in extraordinary situations make for captivating reality television. This subgenre of factual programming presents the stories of the unheralded everyman in high-risk, high-reward professions and tells them through authentic narratives. Many of these shows have translated into ratings gold for broadcasters and are top moneymakers for distributors. Thom Beers and his Original Productions have homed in on this segment’s popularity, becoming a powerhouse in unscripted television focused on dangerous jobs. The company is the driving force behind such hits as Discov188
World Screen
4/11
REAL_411_JOBS_REAL_408_NIGHT 3/15/11 6:02 PM Page 3
TV REAL
29
Miles attributes much of the success of series such as Grimefighters to the “dirtiest jobs” phenomenon, which is also quite popular in the workplace genre. “Combined with the window the viewer gets into how other people live, something like Grimefighters is alluring because it certainly makes us feel better about ourselves,” she says. Beyond Distribution, too, has seen a strong appetite for workplace shows, though ones that aren’t necessarily dangerous or dirty. “None of the jobs [featured in our] properties are dangerous, unless you chop off a finger in the kitchen!” quips Munia Kanna-Konsek, Beyond’s head of sales, referring to the slew of cookery series in the catalogue. Shows such as Chuck’s Day Off, Fink and Chef School cover everything from learning to be a chef or running your own restaurant to increasing young people’s self esteem through the art of cooking, Kanna-Konsek explains. There are also real-estate titles like Big City Broker and Property Shop on Beyond’s slate, along with the entrepreneur-focused Masters’ Apprentice, You’ve Got the Job and Best Job in the World. THE RIGHT RÉSUMÉ
While Kanna-Konsek says the success of these shows is due in part to the popularity of the home renovation, property and food categories, she also admits that strong characters are what’s key. “Most successful programs are character driven. Audiences love to love or hate them, identify with and aspire to be like them. It is the characters that give the program depth and soul.” HISTORY’s McKillop agrees: “The strength and authenticity of the characters, along with telling compelling stories, play a huge role in determining the success of a series.”
He adds, “These series are a perfect blend of the two…. The characters are revealed through their jobs—there isn’t an ice-road trucker without a truck and some ice!” FME’s Tahler says it’s the jobs that bring viewers to the series, but it’s the characters who keep them coming back. “It’s a tried-and-true formula for any television show,” Tahler explains. “You come for the concept—in this case it’s the job. Whether it’s the crab fisherman or the ice-road trucker or the coal miners or the guys on the oil rigs, you look at those jobs and you say, Wow, I’d really like to learn more about that. What keeps you [hooked] are the characters and their dramatic stories.” Whether it’s the jobs that have the allure or the largerthan-life personalities working in them, there’s no doubt these shows have struck a chord with viewers. Many workplace programs have been ratings leaders, drawing in big audience numbers and giving broadcasters even more incentive for pickups. Paul Heaney, the president and managing director of Cineflix International, says, “These types of shows, irrespective of their subject, are gems for the broadcasters, as they are frequently high-volume series that can lock in a slot and command high ratings over a sustained period. They also have a secondary role as ‘blotting paper,’ soaking up the floating viewer.” JOB PLACEMENTS
Heavy lifting: FremantleMedia owns a majority stake in Original Productions, producer of the hit show Black Gold. 4/11
Heaney also points out that these shows can play across a range of networks, from general-entertainment channels to niche lifestyle services.“There is an observational doc series out there for every broadcaster,” he says. “With our own shows, we have Python Hunters for the natural-history/adventure channels, Cash & Cari for the female audience, The Cupcake Girls for the more upscale entertainment slots,” and the list goes on. World Screen
189
Standing tall: Beyond represents a wide range of workplacebased series, like Big City Broker.
REAL_411_JOBS_REAL_408_NIGHT 3/15/11 6:03 PM Page 8
30
TV REAL
“We conceived of the show as a format, and it was always intended to be something that could be made in other territories,” Lambert explains of Undercover Boss. Yet reviews are mixed on whether all series in this genre have format potential. WORKING OVERSEAS
In the shot: Cineflix’s slate includes Dussault Inc.
Another advantage for broadcasters, Heaney says, is that these workplace-focused subjects can easily be stacked to create thematic blocks. “I’ve noticed broadcasters tacking together more than one show to create a strand, whether it’s an animals-and-vets theme (Python Hunters, Animal Squad, Animal Rescue, Zoo Tales), saving lives and security (Surf Patrol, Border Security) or comedic factual (Air Ways, Dussault Inc., The Cupcake Girls).” Heaney further highlights these series’ broad scheduling potential. He says that the shows play mainly in prime time or weekend daytime, “but I’ve also seen shows of this ilk appear in the most unpredictable time slots.” AT THEIR PEAK
Passion’s Miles agrees that depending on the broadcaster, these shows can be placed into slots ranging from just slightly off-peak to peak. One example of a workplace reality series dominating in prime time is Studio Lambert’s Undercover Boss, sold by ALL3MEDIA International. The series was commissioned by Channel 4 in 2008 and was piloted for the U.S. in early 2009. CBS placed a full order for the show, which follows members of management as they slip into frontline jobs incognito, and decided to debut the series immediately following the 2010 Super Bowl. “It was an extraordinary way to launch a show,” says Stephen Lambert, the founder and chief executive of Studio Lambert. “The first episode was seen by almost 40 million viewers and the first series was the most popular new show of the 2009–10 television season, with an average audience of 17 million viewers.” The show has sold into nearly 200 territories, with the majority of the pickups coming from leading commercial networks. 190
World Screen
Passion believes its new series Pretty Hurts, a reality workplace comedy set in a Beverly Hills skin-care clinic, could be replicated as a format. “I think you could go out and find a business very similar to that” outside of Beverly Hills, says Miles. “We would sell that as a format, but with the original producers working closely with the potential new producers to help them with what’s necessary for how you need to cast the show and how you need to film the show, the amount of characters and story lines per episode.” HISTORY’s McKillop agrees that with the right cast, workplace series are transportable. “The Pawn Stars format has been optioned in Canada by History Television and by Seven Network in Australia, while the American Pickers format has also been optioned by History Television in Canada,” he points out. “We are speaking with a number of broadcasters about the format rights to these and other series.” There are others, however, who are not as optimistic about the idea of formatting this style of programming. “These shows are really dependent on the location,” argues FME’s Tahler. “These are jobs that happen in specific places. Can you bring people over? I guess. But would it be authentic? Probably not.” Aside from often being location-based, job-centered reality series also rely heavily on the strength of the personalities they showcase. Trying to replicate the archetype of these bold characters, or to recreate the unique settings these shows are set in can diminish the original appeal, Tahler says. “What really is the key to these shows is the authenticity, and I think you lose that if you try to format most of these ideas.” From jobs that are dangerous or dirty to family-run businesses to start-up companies dealing in fashion, cooking or real estate, the workplace genre runs the gamut. Given the proven success of these series, and their flexible scheduling potential, the trend doesn’t seem to be losing momentum, either. “Every time you think that there isn’t anything more to tell, somebody unearths a job that you didn’t know very much about or a group of people who are so compelling that you have to tell their story,” says Tahler. “A lot of production companies, including Original Productions, are out looking for what the next big thing is.” He adds, “People have shown that they like to sit on their couch in the comfort of their own home and watch these types of programs, so I don’t think they’re going away. There are always interesting worlds out there that people don’t know about—these subcultures and smaller industries—and they are very much still in demand.” 4/11
REAL_411_NFB_Layout 1 3/15/11 6:25 PM Page 1
REAL_411_HENDRICKS spread_DOC_0407_NIGHT 3/17/11 12:15 PM Page 2
32
TV REAL
what we did when digital started. We realized that in the spectrum that used to take six MHz to deliver one channel, that same six MHz through digital compression can deliver eight channels. First, you have to anticipate that that’s going to happen.Then you have to develop the content and try to be first to secure that shelf space, because there’s a huge advantage if you are first in a large category, like sports. ESPN was first in that category and had a huge advantage going forward. We were first in that large nonfictiondocumentary [category] and had a huge advantage. That’s why as we started to break up the category of nonfiction, we knew that if we didn’t create a science channel, somebody else would. Strategically you need to anticipate what shelf-space opportunities will be created by technology advances, then you have to decide what content can ride on that. In the digital world, as we take that digital content on to the Internet and the new tablet devices, we can go down to very, very specific needs and curiosities.There may be someplace in America where someone is asking, “How did they build the Panama Canal?” Well, we have a wonderful one-hour documentary on the building of the Panama Canal, and that’s why we want to have it reside on a file server for people who can go to a menu that carries the Discovery brand and be able to access not only episodes of their favorite shows that they may have missed on the linear stream of a channel of ours, but be able to dive into a 30,000-hour library of Discovery content that we’ve built over the years and really be able to satisfy a burning curiosity of a moment. Whether that’s history or the space shuttle or sharks, we have a wealth of content that we can digitize and put online for the convenience of our viewers and consumers.
Discovery’s
John Hendricks Discovery Channel was born of John Hendricks’s desire back in 1985 to make television better and to satisfy viewers’ curiosity. More than 25 years later, Discovery Communications has become a leading nonfiction media company that reaches more than 1.5 billion subscribers in more than 170 countries through 100-plus networks. In this exclusive interview, Hendricks explains how remaining faithful to that original mission of satisfying curiosity has fueled businesses and programming, including an ambitious upcoming series called, of course, Curiosity .
By Anna Carugati
TV REAL: What is Discovery’s philosophy for extending the
viewing experience onto other devices? HENDRICKS: If you think about our business at Discovery as
fundamentally helping people satisfy their curiosity, we want to do that in all forms of visual media.Television is certainly our first target, but we know that people are able to access video on demand on their personal viewing devices, whether it’s their new iPad or their PC, and we want to be there with our content. There’s certainly going to be competition to the iPad, from Samsung and Motorola, and all the others that are coming out with tablet devices. And these are devices that uniquely mix text, video, audio resources, interactive resources, so we’ll be making a big strategic move into programming for the tablet devices. TV REAL: In our first interview with you, back in 1999, you talked about the importance of securing shelf space in the cable universe. How do you apply that concept in the digital world? HENDRICKS: Shelf space is critical, so any new platform that materializes and makes it more cost-efficient to be able to break apart your large category into sub-niches [offers potential].That’s always a good rule of thumb—to try to anticipate the platform that will allow you to subdivide your program offering. That’s 192
World Screen
TV REAL: As those platforms continue to multiply, is it diffi-
cult to continue to find content to “feed the beast”? HENDRICKS: No. We have the whole world as our stage.
There are so many interesting things that are happening and that have happened in the past, that we can identify the topics and craft wonderful stories. We have another advantage. We created over the years this international self-syndicated network so that we can plow $500,000 per hour to $1 million per hour quite readily behind a topic. That’s very difficult if you’re in one market, with one channel in Germany or South Korea. If you look at the economics of those markets, what do they allow you to produce per hour? What is your per-hour investment limit? In many of these markets, you might do the math and it’s only $62,000. But with all of our networks internationally, we’re able to use the world’s economics to put together a very powerful production engine that’s fueled by the world’s resources. That gives us an advantage in the marketplace.We’re investing more and more in 4/11
REAL_411_HENDRICKS spread_DOC_0407_NIGHT 3/17/11 12:15 PM Page 3
TV REAL
content as each year goes by and we’ve got this engine now, this self-syndicated network, that we’re very pleased about. TV REAL: Discovery was one of the first companies to launch
internationally. Are those businesses still very important today, and do you see considerable growth in international markets? HENDRICKS: Yes, absolutely. International for us is key, and we’re so glad we took that gamble back in the late ’80s and early ’90s to first launch in Europe and then to go worldwide. At the time, there were a lot of people who doubted the wisdom of that, but we were always convinced that multichannel television would just sweep the planet. We knew that in some instances it would be via cable, in other instances it would be via satellite direct to the home. But everywhere, whether in China, Korea, Austria, you name it, people would want their sports channel; they would want a Discovery-type service. So, we were fortunate to get there first and claim that shelf space. We think the international marketplace is where the U.S. marketplace might have been ten years ago or even more.There’s so much penetration growth that’s going to happen over the next 10 to 15 years internationally, and we’re going to ride that wave with all of our services. So international is critical to us. I think it’s one of the defining advantages of Discovery Communications. TV REAL: How did the idea for the series Curiosity come about, and why is this project important to you? HENDRICKS: When you think about our mission as a company, we’ve always tried to keep that mission carefully defined and separate from a particular delivery technology. For instance, we think a lot of people that were running the networks in the ’80s made a huge mistake by defining their business as being in the broadcasting business. They didn’t foresee cable. It might’ve been NBC that created an ESPN or CBS that...created a Discovery-type service. Defining your business for growth is very important, so we’ve defined ourselves as,“We’re in the business of satisfying curiosity.” I think that gives you a genetic advantage; in other words, it’s not a business that’s based on a fad, that’s here today and gone tomorrow. As a species, curiosity fuels our advancement. That’s why we invented the wheel, why we invented spacecraft. It keeps us going forward. If we appeal to that, then we’ve got a long-term business. So I thought, Wouldn’t it be great if we had a weekly series that really spoke to the heart of the Discovery mission? That was the genesis of the Curiosity idea, that we would have a long-term franchise, branded Curiosity, that people could rely on week after week that would be a permanent fixture on a Sunday night, the way that 60 Minutes is a permanent fixture on CBS on Sunday night.Viewers come to expect that 60 Minutes is going to bring them two or three great stories about what’s happening in the world. That’s what we want to do with Curiosity. This will be a series that will appeal to young people as well as people who are lifelong learners. It will debut late next summer. Our initial planning is for 60 episodes, so it’s a big production agenda. It will be our largest programming investment, exceeding that even of Planet Earth as well as Life. Each episode will be based on trying to answer some big question: Are we alone in the universe? Or, why is cancer so desper4/11
33
ately hard to cure? We’ve been huddling with major universities across the country, ranging from Princeton, the University of Maryland, Cornell, getting some of the top experts to first identify the huge questions and then come up with the best answers that we can provide at this time. So that’ll be the promise of the series.You’ll see promos during the week that will say, “Coming up on Sunday night, Curiosity addresses a certain question.” We have a lot of hopes for the series. TV REAL: Is it important to take scientific topics and make them
more accessible to the general public, especially children? HENDRICKS: Absolutely. Especially as kids start their teenage
years, there’s a magic time like in middle school, where if kids have an interest and they’re very curious, you really want to intrigue them at that moment to consider exploring science, technology or medicine.We’ve had a number of projects through the years that address education in the classroom, and Discovery Streaming is now a service that’s in more than half of the nation’s classrooms. It’s a tool that the teachers can use to really excite kids, especially students in the seventh, eighth or ninth grade. With the Science Channel, we want to excite parents as well as their kids about these scientific topics. It’s getting kids at the seventh, eighth and ninth grade to be excited about science. Michio Kaku, one of our scientists working on Discovery specials, talks about making sure that schools don’t destroy curiosity by focusing on memorization of facts, rather than on these huge questions like are we alone in the universe. It may be a question like that that will get a kid excited about astronomy, for example. That’s what we’re going to try to do through Curiosity—have dimensions of curiosity that are for adults who are just lifelong learners, as well as packages for the classroom and for kids in their leisure time, so they can enjoy it on their tablet devices or PCs or their laptops on weekends or at night.
World Screen
193
Unmasking culture: Discovery has teamed up with the BBC on a string of high-end blue-chip docs, most recently investing in Human Planet.
REAL_411_SCHAMA_DOC_0407_NIGHT 3/17/11 12:16 PM Page 2
34
TV REAL
BBC’s Obama’s America with Simon Schama.
narily plug itself into issues and concerns that come from the past. The real challenge is to connect the contemporary to storytelling about the past in a way which isn’t too forced and artificial. TV REAL: Isn’t that difficult to accomplish? SCHAMA: It’s not that hard to do, it requires essentially a conceptual jump. When you do stories from the past they shouldn’t simply be discrete—in other words, just men in wigs. It’s much easier to do, say, Frederick Douglass and his connection to Martin Luther King. But there is almost no topic that really is of more urgent concern to kids and to our contemporary generations than the connection between the economic maelstrom we just passed through and 1929. Both its similarities and dissimilarities are absolutely fundamental to what becomes of us. The question “Was John Maynard Keynes right?” sounds impossibly academic but can be made amazingly available and accessible and exciting and powerful. I can go to foreign policy—wherever I go, if you want to [make the connection between past and present] you can.
Simon Schama Professor Schama (he is on the faculty at Columbia University) has an in-depth knowledge of history, art and culture, surpassed only by his exquisite and elegant command of the English language—not to mention his passion for making important historical and contemporary issues accessible to the general public. After bringing to television numerous series for the BBC and PBS—A History of Britain, Power of Art and The American Future: A History—he is now working on a history of the Jews, Muslims and Christians. He talks about the urgent need to give today’s viewers an understanding of the past and its influence on present issues.
By Anna Carugati
TV REAL: There seems to be an appetite for history on televi-
sion, some say because the subject is taught so poorly in school. Are you seeing an appetite for history on television? SCHAMA:Yes, I think so. Regarding the school question I think the problem is textbooks.There are often brilliantly good storytelling teachers—that is what makes all the difference in the social studies class, really—that are prepared to tell a story as a way of opening up kids to questions. They do that very well, but they don’t do that well enough; it tends to be throttled by the gigantism of the impossible textbooks. So you are right, the displaced energy moves into the appetite for history. There is something else, too, though.We live in a world of digital short attention spans.The tweet world, which weirdly—and this is entirely speculative and subjective—does tend to generate a demand for the opposite: for the epic, for the lengthy, for the slow, for the reflective, for the connected. It’s exactly the opposite. Being human, it’s just the way that our ganglia are organized. So that feeds into the appetite for history on television. The other thing is that there is not much in contemporary history in the news now, whether it is the election of Barack Obama or the rise of the Tea Party, which doesn’t extraordi194
World Screen
TV REAL: What are you working on now? SCHAMA: It’s the most insanely ambitious thing and also it’s
fraught with every conceivable kind of peril! It’s a history of the triangulation between Jews, Muslims and Christians. I’m also making two short films this year, which will be lovely, on Shakespeare’s history plays. Again, it’s the relationship between the politics of Shakespeare’s time, what we know about his own angle on that politics, and his history plays, particularly [the character of ] Falstaff. Falstaff is a figure pregnant with historical significance. TV REAL: Is TV doing a good job with history programming? SCHAMA: [Television executives] always fret about “the tele-
vision of complexity” being an entertainment turn-off. And whatever is left of my life is devoted to making that a nonissue. I’ve been lucky that the BBC has let me do this, and the Jewish series will be no exception. You must aim very high in every respect. More important that you aim high and the audience may come. We did a really complicated film about Obama and the economy and Williams Jennings Bryan and J. P. Morgan, and two and a half million people watched it pretty late at night—that was pretty damn good. So you aim high rather than actually listen to [those who say] no one’s going to get this. It absolutely depends on how you film it; above all it depends on how you edit it. And of course you have to be aware that it must be understood by your Aunt Ethel, too. 4/11
TVREAL_HOUSE_2011alt_Layout 1 3/17/11 2:17 PM Page 1
r e v o s i t The wai
Launching June 1, 2011
TVREAL.WS TV Real’s Stand-Alone Website
REAL_0411_NATGEO_Layout 1 3/11/11 7:04 PM Page 1