TV Real October 2009

Doc Sales Reality TV Jamie Oliver www.tvreal.ws

MIPCOM EDITION THE MAGAZINE OF FACTUAL PROGRAMMING

OCTOBER 2009

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CELEBRATING

20

YEARS OF SATISFYING

CURIOSITY AROUND THE WORLD

Discovery Networks International celebrates more than 20 years of excellence. As the world leader in nonfiction media, Discovery now reaches more than 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in over 170 countries around the world. The international program sales and licensing division, Discovery Enterprises International, represents more than 19,000 hours of programming originally produced for Discovery’s diverse portfolio of networks.

discoveryenterprisesinternational.com

© 2009 Discovery Communications

BOOTH #G3.13

LIFESTYLE

JON & KATE PLUS EIGHT

18 KIDS & COUNTING

LITTLE PEOPLE BIG WORLD

SHOCK-DOC

I DIDN’T KNOW I WAS PREGNANT

SERIAL KILLERS

MEGA HEIST

ACTION

AMERICAN CHOPPER

DEADLIEST CATCH

MAN VS. WILD

POP-SCI

HOWSTUFFWORKS

BRINK

TIME WARP

ANIMALS

THERE’S A RHINO IN MY HOUSE

VANISHING FROG

WHALE WARS

DOCUMENTARIES

COLOSSAL SQUID

WHEN WE LEFT EARTH

DISASTER ON K2

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TV REAL

AETN International www.AETNinternational.com

Highlights • Pawn Stars • Hoarders • WWII: Lost Films • The People Speak • American Gangster

Pawn Stars, a character-driven show set in a series of pawnshops in Las Vegas, has been a strong ratings performer in the U.S. and AETN International expects the show to travel well. The series is among the company’s highlights for MIPCOM, alongside Hoarders and WWII: Lost Films. In addition to presenting its new slate,AETN International has a number of catalogue programs that are still rating—and selling—quite well. “We’ve been really heartened and encouraged by the sustained performance of some of our big franchise series,” says Sean Cohan, the senior VP of international for A&E Television Networks. “Ultimately, what leads to sales performance is real ratings performance for our clients. Shows like Ice Road Truckers, Dog the Bounty Hunter and Criss Angel Mindfreak have continued to drive outsized results.”

“We’ve been really heartened and encouraged by the sustained performance of some of our big franchise series.

”

—Sean Cohan

Pawn Stars

APT Worldwide APTWW.org

Highlights • Broadside • A Ripple of Hope • Swimming in Auschwitz • Sold: Fighting the New Global Slave Trade • Disconnected

IN THIS ISSUE Forging Ahead Sales of factual programming have remained strong

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Standing Tall The reality genre is seeing healthy demand

32

Interview Jamie Oliver

30

Several titles in APT Worldwide’s catalogue take a look at events in history, from the massive sea battles between the Dutch and English in the 17th century with Broadside, to dealing with the Holocaust in Swimming in Auschwitz, to Robert Kennedy’s actions following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in A Ripple of Hope. Currentinterest docs are also on the slate, including Sold: Fighting the New Global Slave Trade and Disconnected, which follows three students who attempt to give up computers for a month.

“We try to find programs that cover unique topics, or a popular topic in a new way,” says Judy Barlow, the VP of international sales. “Historical docudramas and reenactments of American topics seem to be very strong lately, as evidenced by our many recent sales for The War That Made America.”

“ We try to find programs that cover unique topics, or a popular topic in a new way.

”

—Judy Barlow

Disconnected

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TV REAL

The Asian Pitch www.caldecottproductions.com

Highlights • For the Love of Shakespeare • A Weaver’s Tale • A Farmer’s Struggle • Transmission: Listening to the Mountain’s Message

“ There are fascinating untold stories.”

—Fumio Narashima

Ricardo Seguin Guise

Publisher Anna Carugati

Editor Mansha Daswani

Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski

Managing Editor Lauren M. Uda

Production and Design Director Simon Weaver

Online Director

MediaCorp and NHK have extended their collaboration on the Asian Pitch competition for another three years.The competition provides independent filmmakers across Asia with funding to turn their ideas into world-class HD documentaries.“The past two years have proven that there are fascinating untold stories and skillful new talent out there in Asia waiting to be discovered,” says Fumio Narashima, the head of NHK’s international program development. “We are very happy to be able to work with MediaCorp to offer local filmmakers a chance to tell their stories to the world.”

From the 2008 pitching event, four programs are ready for sale: For the Love of Shakespeare, A Farmer’s Struggle, A Weaver’s Tale and The Icemen.Two projects were commissioned from the 2009 event, and will be finished next year: Transmission: Listening to the Mountain’s Message and Red Box.

Transmission: Listening to the Mountain’s Message

Phyllis Q. Busell

Art Director Tatiana Rozza

Sales and Marketing Director Kelly Quiroz

Sales and Marketing Manager Rae Matthew

Business Affairs Manager Cesar Suero

Sales and Marketing Assistant

Ricardo Seguin Guise

President Anna Carugati

Executive VP and Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani

VP of Content Strategy TV Real © 2009 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

Highlights • What I Learned From the Movies • Forensic Files/Medical Detectives • Hooked: Monster Fish • Chain Gang Girls 2 • Women Behind Bars

Crime programming is an area where CABLEready has built an expertise, and titles such as Chain Gang Girls and Women Behind Bars help continue on that path. The company will also be offering Forensic Files/Medical Detectives, a true-crime series, to buyers.

Entertainment is also top of the roster for CABLEready. “We’re very proud to be distributing on behalf of a client, ReelzChannel. Their entertainment programming is a perfect fit for us given CABLEready’s history with series like Inside the Actors Studio and Hollywood One on One,” says Sabrina Toledo, the VP of sales and marketing. Toledo says the healthy appetite for entertainment is one of the trends she’s noticed of late. “It’s perfect timing for the international launch of ReelzChannel’s programming!”

Forensic Files/Medical Detectives

“ We’re very proud to be distributing on behalf of a client, ReelzChannel.

Their entertainment programming is a perfect fit for us.

”

—Sabrina Toledo

Get TV Real Weekly— delivered to your inbox every Wednesday.

For a free subscription, visit: www.worldscreen.com

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TV REAL

Cineflix International www.cineflix.com

Highlights • Manson • Human Prey • Conviction Kitchen • My Monkey Baby • Austin Stevens Adventures

From the docudrama Manson to the specialist factual Austin Stevens Adventures and the factual-entertainment format Conviction Kitchen, Cineflix International’s highlights for MIPCOM run the gamut of the factual/reality genre.“They’re all prime-time commissions for large networks worldwide, therefore made with a mainstream audience in mind,” says Paul Heaney, the managing director of Cineflix International. Heaney also outlines some clear goals for the market.“We want to continue to expand our third-party acquisitions—we’re having a very successful run right now. Similarly, our format division is gaining momentum with deals now starting to come through for the format rights to EatYourself Sexy, Conviction Kitchen and For Rent.” Heaney continues: “Combined with a shot in the arm of new third-party, new commissions and returning series, it’s an impressive mix.”

“ We want to continue to expand our third-party acquisitions—we’re having a very successful run right now.

”

— Paul Heaney

Conviction Kitchen

Discovery Enterprises International www.discoveryenterprisesinternational.com

Highlights • Jon & Kate Plus 8 • Dino Body • I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant • Colossal Squid • Anatomy of a Pandemic

The catalogue from Discovery Enterprises International boasts a number of series centered on everyday people who are doing extraordinary things. Deadliest Catch, Dirty Jobs, Man vs.Wild, American Chopper and Whale Wars are just a few examples of these types of raw reality shows, which have been strong performers both in ratings and sales. Jon & Kate Plus 8 is another hit series that falls in that category.

“Discovery is the number one nonfiction media company in the world, and with our variety of networks we are well positioned to offer an array of reality-style shows which appeal to a wide range of viewers, as these series demonstrate,” explains Marieclaire Odell, the seniorVP of programming and marketing at Discovery Networks International.A number of other highlights on the Discovery slate deal with science and engineering, such as Dino Body, Colossal Squid, Anatomy of a Pandemic and Time Warp.

“ With our variety of networks we are well positioned to offer an array of reality-style shows which appeal to a wide range of viewers.

”

Jon & Kate Plus 8

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—Marieclaire Odell

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TV REAL

ITV Studios Global Entertainment www.globalent.itv.com The Secret Caribbean

Highlights • Storm Rider • Househusbands of Hollywood • Everest 24 • The Truth Behind…

• The Secret Caribbean

The pressure on programming budgets has been kind to the factual genre. Richard Life, the head of factual acquisitions and co-productions for ITV Studios, notes,“Buyers are looking for cost-effective programming right now, and as factual offers better value than scripted, we’re finding demand is on the increase. Broadcasters have cut costs by scheduling factual into traditional drama slots and in many cases have been able to shore up audience share and even improve the average demographic for the slot. However, the shows need to be of the highest quality, deal with compelling and relatable subjects and lend themselves to the same level of sophisticated promotion that is possible with drama.” ITV Studios is looking to capitalize on this with titles such as Househusbands of Hollywood, The Secret Caribbean and Storm Rider, as well as The Truth Behind… and Everest 24.

“As factual offers better value than scripted, we’re finding demand is on the increase.

”

—Richard Life

Janson Media www.janson.com

Highlights • Independent Intervention • Warriors of the Night • Travel with Kids • Richard Bangs’ Adventures with Purpose: Assam, India

New installments of the hit Janson Media franchises Travel with Kids and Richard Bangs’ Adventures with Purpose are ready for buyers.“The third season of Travel with Kids continues to build a successful family-entertainment brand that we have already sold into French Canada, Israel, Turkey, Poland, Finland, Russia, Latin America and Italy,” says Stephen Janson, the president of Janson Media. The new Richard Bangs finds the travel writer exploring India.These highlights lead the slate alongside Independent Intervention, Warriors of the Night and Harvest Eating with Keith Snow.

Janson is optimistic about sales for these titles, despite the challenging times. “The great global recession of 2009 hasn’t hurt television watching as far as we can tell. The world still needs entertainment and information. If anything, we’re getting the sense that to reduce costs the networks are expanding their acquisitions slots, at the expense of more expensive commissions and co-productions.”

RIchard Bangs’ Adventures with Purpose: Assam, India

“ We’re getting the sense that to reduce costs the networks are expanding their acquisitions slots, at the expense of more expensive commissions and co-productions.

”

—Stephen Janson

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TV REAL

Jelly Bean Films & Distribution www.jellybeanfilm.com

Highlights • Dalai Lama Series • Tea-Horse Ancient Road • Ancient Tangbo Road • ORZ Boyz • Blue Brave

The U.S.-based Jelly Bean Films & Distribution has set up offices around Asia to better serve its goal of promoting projects from East to West and from West to East. Many of the titles on its slate are infused with themes of Eastern culture, like Dalai Lama Series, Tea-Horse Ancient Road and Ancient Tangbo Road. Further doc series giving a glimpse into Asian history include Tracing the Han Nationality.“Asia has always been an interesting place with many cultures, religions and stories,” says Sabrina Chen-Louie, the president of Jelly Bean Films & Distribution.“The footage and stories that are presented here are rare and it’s more indepth than in any other documentaries.” Jelly Bean is also offering the feature films ORZ Boyz and Blue Brave.“As for the films, it’s bringing a different culture and style to the screen, giving the theatrical viewers an opportunity to share Asian culture and fun,” says Chen-Louie.

Ancient Tangbo Road

“ The footage and stories that are presented here are rare and it’s more in-depth than in any other documentaries.

”

—Sabrina Chen-Louie

Moving Pictures/Bennett www.movingpicturesfilmtv.com

Highlights • The Moving Pictures Show • Bikini Destinations • The MEN7 Show

The male-skewed The MEN7 Show and Bikini Destinations have become established franchises for Bennett Media. Complementing these titles is the magazine entertainment series The Moving Pictures Show, a half-hour weekly program featuring live interviews with the principal players involved in major studio and independent films. Bennett Media Worldwide’s 250 hours of action/adventure/lifestyle programming have been combined with Moving Pictures Film & Television’s 200-film catalogue, and should make for a strong market for the company. “We anticipate recordlevel sales for Moving Pictures because of the great range and depth of our offerings: new independent films, television programs now being distributed in 140 countries, classic films, animation, documentaries and the full spectrum of other genres,” says Paul Rich, the president of worldwide film and TV sales for Moving Pictures Film & Television.

Bikini Destinations The MEN7 Show

“ We anticipate recordlevel sales for Moving Pictures because of the great range and depth of our offerings.

”

—Paul Rich

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TV REAL

National Film Board of Canada www.nfb.ca

Highlights • Waterlife • Reel Injun • The Coca-Cola Case • The Smallpox Plague • Paris 1919

The National Film Board of Canada has created more than 13,000 productions and won more than 5,000 awards since its inception, in 1939. “This is a special year for the NFB, as we celebrate our 70th anniversary,” says Johanne St-Arnauld, the distribution director for the National Film Board of Canada. “I urge you to check out our exciting slate of new releases.” These include Waterlife, Reel Injun, The Coca-Cola Case, The Smallpox Plague and Paris 1919.

St-Arnauld says it’s the high production values and international appeal, mixed with NFB’s 70-year history in “great filmmaking and great storytelling” that will drive sales on these titles in Cannes.As Canada’s public film producer and distributor, NFB heads to the market looking to find new partners, build on relationships with existing clients and place films with different media outlets around the world.

Paris 1919

“ This is a special year for the NFB, as we celebrate our 70th anniversary. I urge you to check out our exciting slate of new releases.

”

—Johanne St-Arnauld

National Geographic Channels International www.ngcimedia.com

Highlights • Waking the Baby Mammoth • Engineering Connections • Britain’s Greatest Machines with Chris Barrie

National Geographic Channels International (NGCI) has some new titles to offer. Waking the Baby Mammoth is a high-end science special about the well-preserved body of a baby woolly mammoth. Richard Hammond returns with a second season of Engineering Connections, while Britain’s Greatest Machines with Chris Barrie puts the comedian Chris Barrie in search of machines that have shaped Britain.“The programs are representative of content and genres that work for buyers with a 360degree approach to their schedules and business,” says NGCI’s VP of content syndication, Germaine Deagan Sweet. “For example, Waking the Baby Mammoth slots perfectly into Sunday evening and other prime-time slots, and also offers content for additional channel outreach in online venues. Engineering Connections with Richard Hammond combines an internationally recognized factual talent presenting a high-end series in the consistently solid genre of science and technology.”

“ The programs are representative of content and genres that work for buyers with a 360-degree approach to their schedules and business.

”

—Germaine Deagan Sweet 316

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Engineering Connections

14.28 # M O C MIP 2-99-8261 Tel: 04-9

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TV REAL

NHU Africa www.nhuafrica.com

Highlights • Into the Dragon’s Lair • Nature of Life • The Search for the Knysna Elephants • The Cheetah Diaries • A Kalahari Tail

Putting the majesty of African wildlife into the spotlight, NHU Africa (the Natural History Unit of Africa) commissions, co-produces and distributes documentaries. “NHU Africa has an incredible HD portfolio of unique and worldclass wildlife programming which appeals to international audiences,” says Sophie Vartan, the commissioning editor for NHU Africa. The titles the South African outfit is presenting for MIPCOM include Nature of Life, about Africa’s solutions to climate change, and The Cheetah Diaries, following the training of cheetahs to become “ambassador cats,” which are used to educate the public about this endangered species.There’s also A Kalahari Tail and Into the Dragon’s Lair.

“These programs have uplifting and dynamic stories which cover cutting-edge, controversial and topical subjects.They are exciting, innovative, inspirational, recording world firsts, with never-before-seen footage, and many have a unique South African stamp on them,”Vartan says.

“NHU Africa has an incredible HD portfolio of unique and worldclass wildlife programming which appeals to international audiences.

”

Into the Dragon’s Lair

—Sophie Vartan

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TV REAL

Forging

Ahead Even though the television industry has slipped into the worst recession in its history, sales of factual programming have remained strong.

France Télévisions Distribution’s The Earth from Above.

By George Winslow For the documentary and factual programming business, the current global economic crisis has given new relevance to the old cliché about every cloud having a silver lining. Despite shrinking ad revenues, which have led to major cutbacks in programming budgets, many distributors of factual content are boasting of strong, even record sales.

“The first [half ] of 2009 [was] our best ever,” states Nathalie Bobineau, the senior VP of international distribution at France Télévisions Distribution (FTD). She attributes much of that success to the popularity of the company’s bigbudget six-part documentary Apocalypse:World War II, which was timed to the 70th anniversary of the start of the war in 1939. But FTD isn’t alone in reporting strong sales.

“Our fiscal year runs from August to July,” explains Paul Heaney, the managing director of Cineflix International.“We had a bit of a soft middle, but we had a really strong end of the year.We were 20 percent up on last year, and in certain subdivisions, such as finished programming, we were up more than 30 percent.” The 90-minute special Manson has been a big seller, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the 1969 murder of actress Sharon Tate by Charles Manson and his followers.

Cineflix is not the only company to have seen brisk program sales, as cash-strapped broadcasters increasingly prefer to buy programming rather producing it in-house.“A number of clients have pushed off original productions until later this year and they’ve been looking for ready-made content and acquisitions to fill their schedules,” reports Michael Katz, the 324

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VP of programming and production for AETN International.

“So far, 2009 has been a banner year for us.”

Those cost constraints have also made factual programming more attractive. “In this current economic climate, factual programming gives very good value for money,” adds Maurice van Sabben, the president of National Geographic Television International (NGTI), who also reports better than expected sales during the downturn.“Buyers are looking for more value for their money and they can get it with factual programming.There is a massive price gap between the price per hour for high-end dramas and factual programs.”

Amid the gloom, some are also seeing signs of a revival.“I think we are beginning to see some blue sky,” notes FTD’s Bobineau.“At MIPTV, some of the stations were saying they didn’t know what kind of budgets they were going to have this year even though it was already April. Now we are once again very active in terms of negotiations and sales.”

That doesn’t mean that the financial crisis, which has produced the worst recession in the history of television, hasn’t severely buffeted the factual-programming business.

ZenithOptimedia recently reduced its forecast for 2009 and is now predicting that total worldwide advertising will shrink by a whopping 8.5 percent to $456.5 billion in 2009.Television advertising will drop to $173.6 billion, a 7.1-percent slump.

That has led to major cuts in programming budgets and reduced the number of new programs being commissioned by terrestrial broadcasters, making it difficult to finance new docs.

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TV REAL

“It has become much harder to find international coproduction partners, especially among the public broadcasters, because everyone struggles with budgets and needs to invest primarily in local productions,” notes Beatrice Riesenfelder, the head of sales and acquisitions at the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF).

Nonetheless, as Germaine Deagan Sweet, the VP of content syndication at National Geographic Channels International (NGCI), explains, “Co-production is pretty much the lifeblood of the community at the moment because everybody is looking to produce as much quality programming as they can with the reduced budgets.”

While co-productions have become more important, Deagan Sweet admits it is more difficult to find partners.“Even though we do find them and they are solid partners whom we have had for many years, we’re all conscious of the position we are in, having to make our dollars move further. But it comes down to limiting the exposure and the risk, so there are more co-productions in the subject matters that we know have performed well in a variety of schedules in the past, and we’re confident that they will work again.”

Presales have also become challenging.“There certainly isn’t the forward buying that we’ve seen before—buyers picking up programming six months in advance,” says Deagan Sweet.“People are being much more conscious about shorter time-lines, wanting to buy only two or three months out.”

“Everyone is very risk averse and less willing to take chances,” notes Christina Willoughby, the director of sales at Digital Rights Group. “A year ago, if you went to someone with a project from a production company with a great track record, they would be willing to prebuy their latest program.

That is not so much the case anymore.”

When broadcasters do invest, they are increasingly unwilling to put up as much money as they have in the past. “They all love the big high-profile blue-chip documentaries, but the buyers who traditionally prebuy or come as co-producers are finding it harder to balance the books,” Willoughby adds. “They don’t want to come in

with the €400,000 they put up in the past. They might want to come in with €100,000.”

While that has opened up opportunities for program sales, prices for acquired product also seem to have declined.

“Broadcasters are trying to buy programming at lower license fees because their budgets have gone down,” notes Kristina Hollstein, the director of documentary co-production and development at ZDF Enterprises.

“License fees have stayed where they are or they have gone down slightly, from 5 percent to 10 percent,” says Cineflix’s Heaney.“But people still want to do business.We’re not hearing of a complete moratorium on spending from too many people.”

Several distributors are finding opportunities to discuss new deals with their clients.“By working with clients to keep the relationship alive [and in some cases renegotiating existing deals], we’re seeing that those relationships open up,” NGTI’s van Sabben says. “Suddenly, instead of just selling programs to them, we are starting to talk to them about co-productions, different rights and all sorts of things that they wouldn’t have come to us for before.”

WEATHERING THE STORM

Killer appeal: One of Cineflix’s top sellers has been the Manson docudrama, released in time for the 40th anniversary of the murder of Sharon Tate.

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Public stations in some ways have weathered the storm better than commercial broadcasters.“The crisis and the advertising downturn have not hit ZDF that hard yet, because we are not so dependent on commercial revenues,” says Hollstein.“[Advertising] makes up only 10 percent of our overall revenues.”

But some public broadcasters have also been badly hit by the advertising slump, and others are likely to suffer next year if rising unemployment rates continue to cut into their license fees.

“ORF depends 50 percent on fees and 50 percent on advertising revenues, which have excruciatingly decreased, like everywhere else,” says ORF’s Riesenfelder.“We lack money for acquisi-

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Prehistoric pal: NGCI has seen strong interest in sciencebased one-off specials like Waking the Baby Mammoth.

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TV REAL

Back in time: The Biblical Plagues is one of the new CGIladen doc series from ZDF Enterprises.

tion and production, [and] licensors and producers have to be flexible with us as well.”

Thematic channels, with their dual revenue streams— advertising and carriage fees from cable, satellite or IPTV providers in many territories—have also been in a stronger position to support their programming budgets.

“Having a dual revenue stream is definitely a better place to be,” asserts AETN’s Katz.“It helps us go ahead with developing and commissioning high-quality programming in order to be more competitive with viewers.”

The downturn also seems to be favoring distributors that are tied to channels that can supply them with product and larger players that can write checks to help new projects get off the ground. Because of its many channels around the world, AETN brings more than 200 hours of programming to each market.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

A number of projects from public broadcasters are also flowing into their commercial divisions and sales arms.

ZDF Enterprises, for example, will be bringing several big projects to MIPCOM, including a docudrama called The Battle Against Rome, which is timed to the two-thousandth anniversary of an epic battle between German tribes and the Romans.

Besides Apocalypse, FTD will be selling the third season of The Earth from Above and the eco-themed Here to Stay.

With these uncertain economic times causing problems for everyone—broadcasters, advertisers, even the viewers sitting at home—what the TV industry is clamoring for is stability.

“Broadcasters want to give their viewers and advertisers a feeling of security,” explains Cineflix’s Heaney.“And advertisers want to know that they are going to have a fairly uniform rating level across the year.”

What can provide that stability in ratings are high-quality series or strands of programming, as viewers and advertisers know what to expect.“So high volume helps, and we have a lot of returning series,” continues Heaney.

As Heaney explains, it’s not only what programming broadcasters can offer, it’s how those shows are scheduled that really counts.“In some of the more competitive TV markets,scheduling has always been the name of the game.And this environment really sorts out the scheduling men from the boys, because if you 326

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have the hottest scheduling team,you can put together a good season and advertisers like that.That’s why high volume has become a bigger unique selling proposition than it ever was before.”

“The majority of clients that we’ve been working with have been picking up volume deals from us,” adds NGCI’s Deagan Sweet.“Definitely the specials are still moving, but a lot of our clients have been looking for minimum packages.

They are asking for at least 10, 20, 30 hours.They want to be able to build on the factual slots they have and create perhaps one or two more factual slots.”

NGCI has a number of series that can help create that volume for broadcasters. Science and technology are two very popular subjects.“Engineering Connections with Richard Hammond is a perfect example,” says Deagan Sweet.“Science and technology are proven factual subjects in a lot of schedules.And you couple them with a really engaging talent like Richard Hammond you have a winning formula, a proven performer for the factual slots.

“We’ve also had one-off specials, like Waking the Baby Mammoth,” continues Deagan Sweet.“They will always perform, they will always slot nicely into most schedules because it’s revelatory science—it’s discovering something new and digging into those discoveries.”

The final must-have ingredient a show needs nowadays is adaptability. “We’re finding that broadcasters are looking for shows they can slot flexibly around the schedule,” says Heaney. “We’ve got a new series called Conviction Kitchen, which is a format based around a chef who uses a team of ex-cons who have just left prison to start up a brand-new business.We’re finding that is the sort of show that people can slot into prime time, they can put it into access prime, they can put it into weekends.They want a show to do more than one job for them.They want a show to multitask.”

“More broadcasters are looking for that whole 360-degree experience,” adds NGCI’s Deagan Sweet.“A show has got to fit into the schedule; it’s got to be able to perform in VOD markets.There are broadcasters that will pick up DVD rights wherever they can as well as shorter content for mobile opportunities—the full 360-degree experience.”

Multitasking shows that are suitable for several platforms are the key to succeeding in today’s challenging documentary and factual TV business.

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TV REAL

Food for Thought FremantleMedia Enterprises’ Jamie’s American Road Trip.

Jamie Oliver

By Anna Carugati

He started helping out in the kitchen of his father’s restaurant when he was just a schoolboy and by the age of 16, Jamie Oliver knew he wanted to be a chef. He found his way to television completely by chance. While he was working at The River Café one day, a crew came in to shoot a documentary about the famous London restaurant, and Oliver’s natural communicating skills were quickly discovered by TV producers.

In his many TV shows, his cookbooks, his blogs on his website and his magazine, he displays a natural talent for connecting with the audience and sharing his passion for food. But he has done more than teach chopping and sautéing techniques—he helps drive home the importance of healthy eating, in particular for families with children. He has made a crusade out of improving school meals and has even set up the charitable Fifteen Foundation where, alongside operating his Fifteen restaurant franchise, he teaches disadvantaged youngsters. Distributed by FremantleMedia Enterprises, Oliver’s programs, which highlight his outgoing personality, have resonated with audiences around the world.

TV REAL: There are many cooking and food shows.What do you want to offer viewers that is different and that they can’t find elsewhere?

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OLIVER: I always try to make my shows different because I

know the public would get bored of seeing the same thing over and over again. So I did The Naked Chef and then followed that with the documentary about setting up Fifteen ( Jamie’s Kitchen) and then the travel series about Italy ( Jamie’s Great Italian Escape) and then School Dinners and so on. I try to shake it up and keep it fresh. So with this American Road Trip series, for example, I’ve not gone for the obvious places or the typical types of American food. I’ve dug under the surface and found some amazing food and some amazing people and it’s a wonderful, fascinating series.

TV REAL: You have taken on a number of issues—from animal welfare to supporting local farmers to school dinners— why has this been important to you?

OLIVER: Each of those issues was important for different reasons. With the animal welfare programs, it wasn’t so much about campaigning, but it was simply about saying to the viewer: “This is what happens with your meat, now you decide whether you still want to eat this type of food or instead buy this other type of food.” I think that people are pretty smart and if they have a bit of knowledge, they’ll use 10/09

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it wisely.With school dinners, I simply felt that this was a major problem in the U.K. and no one was doing anything about it. So I did something about it.

TV REAL: What other issues would you like to bring to the

audience’s attention?

OLIVER: Well, I think we still have a long way to go on school

dinners, it’s far from finished, but if I made a program about school dinners every year, people would soon get tired of it.

TV REAL: You say that Jamie’s Ministry of Food is the most

important show you ever worked on.Why is that?

OLIVER: When I was doing School Dinners, I went into a lot

of the kids’ homes and I saw them eating such rubbish. I realized that there’s a whole generation who can’t cook and so their kids aren’t eating any home-cooked food. So it’s important because if we’ve got people growing up eating rubbish every day and never learning to cook for themselves, the situation can only get worse over the next generation and the one after. But there’s a real desire for people to learn to cook—you can tell because the Ministry of Food centre in Rotherham is booked up months in advance with people wanting to attend classes. And now Bradford is opening its own Ministry of Food centre, so I think councils all over Britain are starting to realize that there’s a real need for this type of thing.

OLIVER: Incredible. It was a bit of a worry because early April is not the best time of the year to be cooking an important dinner when you’ve decided to use British seasonal ingredients. I was going to ask if they could move it to September when I’d have had more seasonal stuff to choose from, but it all went well. I cooked with some of the graduates from Fifteen London, plus one apprentice who hasn’t even graduated yet, and they were just superb—a real testament to the great training that Fifteen provides. Afterwards, I got to meet many of the leaders and their partners, including President Obama and his wife. It was such a brilliant night, and I’m so grateful to the Prime Minister [Gordon Brown] and Sarah for letting me do it. Then about 24 hours later, I became a father again.

TV REAL: What upcoming projects are you working on?

OLIVER: I’m just starting a Ministry of Food/School Dinners

program for ABC in America, so that’s going to be a challenge, and I’m starting to think about a Christmas program I’m doing for the U.K.

TV REAL: What can you tell us about Jamie’s American Road Trip?

OLIVER: It’s not like any series you’ve ever seen about Amer-

ica because it goes deep into the heart of what America’s about. I visited six different parts of the country and met some incredible people and ate some incredible food. Just to give you a couple of examples, I did a show in New York, not in Manhattan where I normally stay, but in the boroughs, at the end of the subway, places where immigrant communities arrive and make their homes. I met loads of fantastic people, but probably the most amazing guy was a Colombian bus driver called Jorge—every night, without fail, he and his mum cook a load of food and take it down to where the local homeless people hang out and he feeds about 75 to 80 of them. Every night.What a guy! And then a few weeks after that, I was in Louisiana shooting alligators!

TV REAL: Everything on your website—from your diary to

the recipes—has a very personal feel, as if you were speaking directly to your fans. Is having that personal connection important to you?

OLIVER: Absolutely. The website and Twitter are very important in keeping people informed about what I’m up to.

But I also like dipping into the website forums and seeing what other people are up to. It’s like we’re all friends, even though some of us have never met.

TV REAL: Do you think the personal approach you have in your shows is more effective than some of the loud, screaming personalities on other cooking reality shows?

OLIVER: I think everyone has their own style and there’s enough room on TV for all those different approaches.

TV REAL: What was it like cooking for world leaders at the

G20 earlier this year?

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Tickled pink: Jamie Oliver’s prolific list of shows includes Jamie Saves Our Bacon, broadcast on Channel 4 and sold

by FremantleMedia Enterprises.

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By Kristin Brzoznowski Shows portraying real people in unscripted situations have been around since the advent of television. First there was Allen Funt’s Candid Camera, which premiered in 1948 and has been called “the granddaddy of the reality-TV genre.” Talent searches followed in the early ’50s, with The Original Amateur Hour and Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts.And in subsequent decades, reality shows got up close and personal, featuring ordinary individuals who were tossed under the microscope. By the time the new millennium hit, reality had truly taken over the TV landscape, with behemoths like Survivor and Idol spawning copycats and spin-offs to the point of saturation.

What was starting to look like a boom-and-bust trend earlier this decade managed to prove its staying power. Not only has reality TV’s popularity continued to grow, but the definition of the genre itself has expanded to include everything from docuseries and biographies to variety shows and competitions.

“The reality genre has become so broad and encompasses so many different subgenres that it’s hard to pin it down to one moment of birth,” says Rob Sharenow, the senior VP of nonfiction and alternative programming for A&E Network.“The types of reality programming we do, like Intervention and The First 48, which are verité-style documentaries, have very little in common with more formatted or [competition] shows like Survivor or The Bachelor.At A&E, we call our shows ‘real-life series’ because they are about real people in real situations without manipulation or casting.”

THE POWER OF OBSERVATION

Indeed, what remains the lifeblood of all reality series is the real people at their core. In the case of the Gosselins, the brood at the center of TLC’s Jon & Kate Plus 8, the family’s real-life drama turned into big ratings.The season-five premiere shattered TLC ratings records as more than 9.8 million viewers tuned in. “Observational series such as Jon & Kate Plus 8 appeal to a wide audience because viewers relate to ordinary people, yet there is also something extraordinary about their lives,” says Marieclaire Odell, the senior VP of programming for Discovery Networks International.

A number of other series from the Discovery portfolio have this central focus on everyday people with extraordinary appeal, such as Deadliest Catch, American Chopper and Whale Wars. “Viewers are fascinated by people, and one thing these titles have in common is that they focus on people with incredible passion for what they do,” explains Odell. “It’s also about knowledge.These are experts in their chosen fields, and through entertaining and observational formats, they are sharing that knowledge with viewers.That resonates with audiences around the globe, because great storytelling is universal.”

Beyond Distribution has a range of titles looking at real people who are pursuing their passions, such asThe Paper and Big City Broker.

Beyond also provides series spotlighting more dangerous and extreme professions,such as Jetstream and Combat School.“While they are real people doing real jobs, the jobs may be ones that the average person couldn’t or wouldn’t do (jet-fighter pilot, health inspector…) and there’s a basic curiosity about other people’s lives,” says Yvonne Body, the head of coproductions and acquisitions for Beyond Distribution.“They give you in-depth access to worlds you wouldn’t otherwise experience.”

Chasing down tornados, diving into sharkinfested waters or bringing deadly fugitives to justice are not professions for everyone.Viewing these dangerous tasks from the comfort of the couch is a different story.The success that FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) has found with the Original Productions catalogue, which focuses on the perilous efforts of everyday heroes, demonstrates the appeal these subjects have worldwide.

Standing Beyond Distribution’s Big City Broker.

Tall Reality shows have been around for decades, but savvy producers have kept the concepts fresh and demand for the genre strong.

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Keep it in the family: CIMG’s Keeping Up with the Kardashians has been so successful it spawned a spin-off series.

“The Original Productions catalogue of titles has a real ‘blue-collar’ heroics feel that has proven very popular internationally,” says David Ellender,the CEO of FME. “They’re engaging because they are about real people doing real jobs and having real adventures.”

Sales have been “very healthy” across the Original slate, Ellender declares. So healthy that FremantleMedia bought a 75-percent stake in Original Productions earlier this year. “Black Hauntingly good: The AETN International series Paranormal State follows a team of researchers Gold in particular has proven who are looking to unravel inexplicable phenomena. very popular, and we’ve sold it throughout Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. Vermina- Pam: Girl on the Loose, to series like Living Lohan and Denise tors is another big seller, with sales to 108 countries, and Amer- Richards: It’s Complicated. We just keep finding a lot of success ica’s Port has sold to 106 countries.” with these shows.Then we also have shows with celebrities that FME has had such a solid track record with the catalogue that have grown organically for us, like Keeping Up with the Karit’s launching three new Original Productions titles at MIPCOM: dashians and Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane.”The success of Keeping Up with the Kardashians has given CIMG high hopes for Swords: Life on the Line, Tornado Road and Shark U. the spin-off Kourtney & Khloé Take Miami, which it will be STAR POWER launching at MIPCOM. The series Steven Seagal: Lawman is one of many celebrity-based Elzie says a large part of celeb-reality’s global popularity comes reality offerings from AETN International. These star-powered from the ability to connect with the characters on the screen.“I shows still document an authentic aspect of the human experi- think it’s an endless fascination with people who are not like us, ence, but their subjects have the added appeal of a famous face. and realizing that they are actually like us,” she explains.“You see “Celebrity-based nonfiction will never really go out of style, it people who are really fascinating,and you’re pulling back the curjust evolves over time,” says A&E’s Sharenow.“For many years tain and seeing what these peoples’ lives are like.They deal with Biography was one of A&E’s core franchises, so much so that it heartaches, drama, family fights and money issues.We’re always even spawned its own network. I think many of the celebrity- there to see it too.” based reality series you see today, like Gene Simmons Family JewFor ITV Studios Global Entertainment, the crossover of els, are just an extension of that tradition.” celebrity and competition has proved to be a winning combiComcast International Media Group (CIMG) has capitalized nation.The format I’m a Celebrity,Get Me Out of Here!,which has on the public’s fascination with celebrities by supplying a num- been hugely successful in prime time in the U.K., Germany and ber of observational series centered on Hollywood starlets.

India, premiered this summer in the U.S. on NBC. “I’m a “Our celebrity reality is fantastic for us,” says Jene Elzie, the Celebrity,Get Me Out of Here! continues to go global,”says Remy VP of international sales and strategic planning at CIMG. Blumenfeld, the director of global formats for ITV Studios.

“Everything from Girls of the Playboy Mansion, which continues Demand has also been strong for ITV Studios’ competition to deliver year after year, to Pamela Anderson’s reality show, series, even without the addition of celebrities.

“We’re extremely excited by the prospects of our new format Four Weddings, a fly-on-the-wall/competition hybrid we’re confident will have strong international appeal,”says Blumenfeld. The format premiered in the U.K. on LIVING. Many reality series cross over into format territory. For FremantleMedia, some of its best-selling titles are reality-format hybrids. Rob Clark, the president of worldwide entertainment at FremantleMedia, explains,“Reality has different meanings in different countries. For me, Idols, The X Factor and Got Talent are cross-genre reality shows.They start as what the British would call ‘reality,’and then they go into the studio.Even when they’re in the studio, there’s still a lot of reality in them, which is why they succeed.”

The innate fascination with the lives of others is certain to keep reality shows on broadcasters’ schedules around the world for many years to come.As CIMG’s Elzie notes,“I don’t know if we’re ever going to really stop believing that truth is in fact stranger than fiction.As long as you have a fresh angle, and somebody or some couple or group of people that is engaging, then it’s always original.”

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One giant baby step for science

WAKING THE BABY MAMMOTH The most perfectly preserved mammoth ever found reveals new information about life during the ice age.

PROGRAM SALES: Germaine Deagan Sweet, gdeagans@ngs.org, +1 202 912 6674 Shirley Bowers, shbowers@ngs.org +1 202 912 6775 MIPCOM Stand #R29.41 ngcimedia.com