A Special Th Our Sp
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BY MANSHA DASWANI
Time to Get Real
Factual producers and distributors haven’t felt the sting of the SVOD pullback as acutely as the drama and kids’ spheres, but they are facing the same pressures as everyone else: constricted budgets, YouTube and discovery. As I set out to curate the second edition of the TV Real Festival—if you haven’t registered, there’s still time to do so here —I wanted to take a look at how different members of the content ecosystem are managing. Only those registered will receive access to our Exclusive White Paper featuring key intel from the event in a compact, easy-to-digest format. Exploring programming strategies, we’ve enlisted the expertise of National Geographic’s Tom McDonald. Coming to grips with deficit financing, AVOD and codeveloping, we have a keynote with BossaNova Media’s Paul Heaney and a panel discussion with Albatross World Sales’ Anne Olzmann and TVF International’s Poppy McAlister. Curiosity’s Clint Stinchcomb will be on hand to weigh in on how that brand has built its presence across SVOD, pay TV and FAST, while Tom Neff will discuss relaunching Documentary Channel as a streaming service. Hearing directly from producers, we have Muck Media’s Cristina Costantini and Mariana van Zeller and Lion Television’s Richard Bradley. Gernot Lercher at ORF and Marion Camus-Oberdorfer at ORF-Enterprise will share how they collaborate to bring natural history to Austrian and international audiences. Enjoy the show!
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18
9 a.m. EDT National Geographic’s Tom McDonald
The second edition of the TV Real Festival will kick off with an opening keynote conversation with Tom McDonald , the executive VP of global factual and unscripted at National Geographic.
10 a.m. EDT Lion Television’s Richard Bradley
Richard Bradley , co-founder and chief creative officer at All3Media-owned Lion Television, will tell TV Real Festival viewers about how the company is curating its eclectic factual slate and building upon its successful coproduction models.
11 a.m. EDT BossaNova Media’s Paul Heaney
To get an understanding of where the business of factual distribution is today and where it’s headed, we’ll chat with Paul Heaney, CEO and founder of BossaNova Media, about meeting buyers’ needs and maximizing returns to producers.
THURSDAY, JUNE 19
9 a.m. EDT Factual Independence
Exploring the unique positioning of boutique independents, we’re enlisting the expertise of TVF International’s Poppy McAlister and Albatross World Sales’ Anne Olzmann.
10 a.m. EDT Curiosity’s Clint Stinchcomb
Clint Stinchcomb, president and CEO of Curiosity, will discuss the recent milestones at the company, which was founded by documentary television pioneer John Hendricks.
11 a.m. EDT Muck Media’s Mariana van Zeller & Cristina Costantini
Mariana van Zeller, the host of National Geographic’s Trafficked, and director and producer Cristina Costantini will share how their company Muck Media has assembled a portfolio of some of the buzziest factual shows on linear and streaming.
Anne Olzmann
Cristina Costantini
Poppy McAlister
Mariana van Zeller
FRIDAY, JUNE 20
9 a.m. EDT Bringing UNIVERSUM to the World
Highlighting the unique role played by pubcasters, this session will feature Gernot Lercher, head of ORF’s landmark UNIVERSUM strand, and Marion Camus-Oberdorfer, director of acquisitions and distribution investment at ORF-Enterprise, on how they collaborate to bring high-end wildlife to Austrian and global audiences.
10 a.m. EDT Documentary Channel’s Tom Neff
We’ll hear from Tom Neff , president and chief creative officer at Documentary Channel, about curating a streaming home for indie docs.
11 a.m. EDT 11:11 Media’s Bruce Robertson
The TV Real Festival will wrap with a keynote conversation with Bruce Robertson, the chief storyteller at 11:11 Media, the media company launched by reality television icon Paris Hilton and Bruce Gersh.
Marion CamusOberdorfer
Gernot Lercher
Richard Bradley Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer Lion Television
Under Richard Bradley’s leadership, Lion Television has built a worldwide reputation for quality, inventive and ambitious television. He oversees the creation of documentary, history, arts, scripted, comedy and children’s programming.
With expertise in high-end production for the world’s leading broadcasters and SVODs, Bradley has pioneered international production relationships, particularly in China, where Lion has built over a decade of award-winning success.
Bradley continues to enjoy executive producing, working with key talent and nurturing the next generation in production. His work has won numerous U.K. and international awards.
SESSION
Wednesday, June 18, 10 a.m. EDT: Keynote
Marion Camus-Oberdorfer has served as the director of acquisitions and distribution investment at ORF-Enterprise since April 2023. Prior to that, she spent several years as sales director for GST, music and performing arts and distribution investment at the commercial arm of the Austrian pubcaster. Before that role, she spent eight years as head of content sales international.
SESSION
Thursday, June 19, 9 a.m. EDT: Bringing UNIVERSUM to the World
Marion CamusOberdorfer
Director, Acquisitions & Distribution Investment
ORF-Enterprise
Co-Founder
Media
Cristina Costantini is an Emmy Awardwin ning director and founding member of Muck Media. Her acclaimed documentary Mucho Mucho Amor, which chronicles the life of beloved Puerto Rican astrologer Walter Mercado, premiered at Sundance in 2020. Prior to that, she directed Science Fair , which explored the competitive world of high school science fairs. The film garnered an Emmy, a Critics Choice Award, as well as audience awards at Sundance and SXSW in 2018 and was turned into an Emmy Award-winning series for National Geographic. Costantini also executive produced Menudo: For ever Young , an HBO Max original series, and The Stanford Prison Experiment: Unlocking the Truth for NatGeo. Most recently, her latest feature, Sally , premiered at Sundance 2025, chronicling Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, for National Geographic Documentary Films. Her lat est project, Karol G: Tomorrow Was Beautiful, which tells the story of the record-breaking world tour of Colombian singer Karol G, premiered in early May on Netflix.
SESSION Thursday, June 19, 11 a.m. EDT: Keynote
Cristina Costantini
Muck
BossaNova brings together the producers and buyers of unscripted TV in an integrated hub, creating a community that enables all of the stakeholders in the content chain to meet, create and do business. Paul Heaney has a strong track record in helping producers to establish successful factual franchises. Over the last 20 years, as CEO of two previous distribution operations, he has built up a huge network of producer and commissioner and buyer relationships. In August 2021, Night Train Media got on board as a partner, providing BossaNova with a content fund to invest in projects from an early stage, highlighted by the Development Days occurring every October. Previously, Heaney founded factual distribution company TCB Media Rights, which started trading in 2012. Having grown into one of the U.K.’s most successful independent distributors, TCB was acquired by the Kew Media Group in October 2017. Prior to launching TCB, Heaney served as president and managing director of Cineflix Rights, which he started in 2002 and also built from a boutique operation into a major distribution force.
SESSION
Wednesday, June 18, 11 a.m. EDT: Keynote
Paul Heaney Founder & CEO
BossaNova Media
Gernot Lercher Head, UNIVERSUM ORF
As a writer and director of his own documentaries, Gernot Lercher has investigated issues ranging from wildlife and history to human rights in gripping, impactful films. Having spent decades working internationally, he now develops and implements new documentary ideas and approaches with some of the world’s best nature filmmakers.
For almost 40 years, UNIVERSUM has been one of the ORF’s most popular and successful formats, attracting large, loyal audiences every Tuesday in prime time.
SESSION
Thursday, June 19, 9 a.m. EDT: Bringing UNIVERSUM to the World
At the U.K. independent factual distributor, Poppy McAlister leads a team of 15 across international sales, acquisitions, production, marketing, finance and operations.
On top of running the strategic operation of TVF International, McAlister works with broadcasters and producers across the U.K., Ireland, North America and New Zealand. McAlister also focuses on securing distribution rights through first-look, development and output deals, and has served as an executive producer on various TVF productions.
SESSION
Thursday, June 19, 9 a.m. EDT: Factual Independence
Poppy McAlister Head
TVF International
Tom McDonald
Executive VP, Global Factual & Unscripted Content
National Geographic
Tom McDonald oversees the development and production of all global unscripted series and specials across all formats and categories for National Geographic content produced for Disney+ and its global linear channels. Based in New York, McDonald oversees teams in Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles and London.
Before joining Nat Geo in 2022, McDonald spent a decade at the BBC, latterly as managing director of factual at BBC Studios and overseeing the documentary, science, natural history and factual pod cast divisions. Previously, he was the head of specialist factual commissioning at the BBC.
SESSION
Wednesday, June 18, 9 a.m. EDT: Keynote
Tom Neff has over 35 years of experience in the film industry with many national and international awards. Neff was a cofounder of the initial iteration of Documentary Channel, the nation’s first 24/7 channel dedicated exclusively to showing independent documentaries. As co-founder and president, and later as chief creative officer overseeing programming and creative services when the Documentary Channel partnered with DISH Network, Neff, along with co-founder John Forbess, conceived the channel and originated the brand. The original Documentary Channel launched on DISH Network in January 2006 and on DIRECTV in March 2010, and aired in over 25 million households nationally until 2012, when the channel was sold to Participant Media for a profit. Neff is now leading the relaunch of Documentary Channel as a streaming destination for indie docs.
SESSION Thursday, June 19, 10 a.m. EDT: Keynote
Thomas L. Neff Co-Founder, President & COO Documentary Channel
Anne Olzmann
Managing Director
Albatross World
Sales
Anne Olzmann has always loved documentary films and has a soft spot for wildlife and science programs. She first worked for the German nature and science film production company Marco Polo Film in Heidelberg and at the Paris-based distributor Upside TV. In 2010, Olzmann was a founding member of the factual distribution outlet Albatross World Sales and assumed sole ownership in 2022. Albatross works with over 50 production companies and represents a catalog of about 400 hours of documentaries.
SESSION
Thursday, June 19, 9 a.m. EDT: Factual Independence
11:11 Media is the next-gen media company founded by Paris Hilton and Bruce Gersh. With over 30 years of experience in creative storytelling, development, production, culture and strategy, Bruce Robertson has proven track record of successfully growing and reshaping creative businesses. Prior to his work with 11:11 Media, Robertson oversaw development and expanded creative direction for Four M Studios, Lucky 8 TV and ITV Studios America. During his tenure with each company, Robertson drove the expansion of non-scripted development slates into a wider range of genres. While serving on the international senior executive team at ITV Studios, Robertson assisted in developing the company’s overall strategy, including new content opportunities across multiple platforms and technologies.
SESSION
Thursday, June 19, 11 a.m. EDT: Keynote
Clint Stinchcomb President & CEO
Curiosity
Curiosity is the global factual entertainment media company home to award-winning original and curated films and series covering science, nature, history, technology, society and lifestyle. Clint Stinchcomb sets the strategy and oversees all operations for Curiosity’s global suite of brands, including Curiosity Stream, Curiosity University, Catholic Stream, Curiosity Channels and a growing number of FAST channels. Stinchcomb spearheaded the company’s first outside fundraising initiatives and ultimately the reverse merger transaction that brought Curiosity to the public market via the Nasdaq exchange in October 2020. Under Stinchcomb’s leadership, Curiosity has built a diverse and durable revenue stack and generated millions of paying subscribers in over 175 countries.
SESSION
Thursday, June 19, 10 a.m. EDT: Keynote
Mariana van Zeller is an award-winning correspondent and investigative journalist, and a founding member of Muck Media. She’s the host and executive producer of National Geographic’s Emmy Award-winning series Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller . The show, now in its fifth season, is an unprecedented and nuanced look at global black markets and trafficking networks. Van Zeller’s reporting has earned her a Peabody Award, a duPont-Columbia Award, a Television Academy Honor, the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and multiple Emmy Awards.
SESSION
Thursday, June 19, 11 a.m. EDT: Keynote
Mariana van Zeller Co-Founder
Muck Media
