TV Real October 2009

MIPCOMEDITION

Doc SalesReality TVJamie Oliver

www.tvreal.ws THE MAGAZINE OF FACTUAL PROGRAMMING OCTOBER 2009

Discovery Networks International celebrates more than 20 years of excellence. As the world leader in nonfi ction 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.

BOOTH #G3.13discoveryenterprisesinternational.com

20YEARS OF SATISFYING CURIOSITYAROUND THE WORLD

CELEBRATING

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LIFE

STYL

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ANIM

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K-DO

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ENTA

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JON & KATE PLUS EIGHT

I DIDN’T KNOW I WAS PREGNANT

AMERICAN CHOPPER

HOWSTUFFWORKS

THERE’S A RHINO IN MY HOUSE

COLOSSAL SQUID

18 KIDS & COUNTING

SERIAL KILLERS

DEADLIEST CATCH

BRINK

VANISHING FROG

WHEN WE LEFT EARTH

LITTLE PEOPLE BIG WORLD

MEGA HEIST

MAN VS. WILD

TIME WARP

WHALE WARS

DISASTER ON K2

Several titles in APT Worldwide’s catalogue take a look atevents in history, from the massive sea battles between theDutch and English in the 17th century with Broadside, todealing with the Holocaust in Swimming in Auschwitz, toRobert Kennedy’s actions following the assassination ofMartin Luther King, Jr., in A Ripple of Hope. Current-interest docs are also on the slate, including Sold: Fighting theNew Global Slave Trade and Disconnected, which follows threestudents who attempt to give up computers for a month.“We try to find programs that cover unique topics,or a pop-ular topic in a new way,” says Judy Barlow, the VP of inter-national sales. “Historical docudramas and reenactments ofAmerican topics seem to be very strong lately, as evidencedby our many recent sales for The War That Made America.”

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

Disconnected

APT WorldwideAPTWW.org

“We try to findprograms thatcover uniquetopics, or apopular topic in a new way.”

—Judy Barlow

Pawn Stars, a character-driven show set in a series ofpawnshops in Las Vegas, has been a strong ratings per-former in the U.S. and AETN International expects theshow to travel well.The series is among the company’shighlights for MIPCOM, alongside Hoarders and WWII:Lost Films. In addition to presenting its new slate,AETNInternational has a number of catalogue programs thatare still rating—and selling—quite well. “We’ve beenreally heartened and encouraged by the sustained per-formance of some of our big franchise series,” says SeanCohan, the senior VP of international for A&ETelevision Networks. “Ultimately, what leads to salesperformance is real ratings performance for ourclients. Shows like Ice Road Truckers, Dog the BountyHunter and Criss Angel Mindfreak have continued todrive outsized results.”

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

AETN International www.AETNinternational.com

Pawn Stars

“We’ve been reallyheartened and encouraged by the sustained performanceof some of our big franchiseseries.”

—Sean Cohan

IN THIS ISSUE

Forging AheadSales of factual programming haveremained strong 26

Standing TallThe reality genreis seeing healthydemand 32

InterviewJamie Oliver 30

TV REAL8

MediaCorp and NHK have extended their collaborationon the Asian Pitch competition for another three years.Thecompetition provides independent filmmakers across Asiawith funding to turn their ideas into world-class HD doc-umentaries.“The past two years have proven that there arefascinating untold stories and skillful new talent out there inAsia waiting to be discovered,” says Fumio Narashima, thehead of NHK’s international program development. “Weare very happy to be able to work with MediaCorp to offerlocal filmmakers a chance to tell their stories to the world.”From the 2008 pitching event, four programs are ready forsale:For the Love of Shakespeare,A Farmer’s Struggle,A Weaver’sTale and The Icemen.Two projects were commissioned fromthe 2009 event, and will be finished next year: Transmission:Listening to the Mountain’s Message and Red Box.

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

Transmission: Listening to the

Mountain’s Message

The Asian Pitchwww.caldecottproductions.com

“There are fascinatinguntold stories.”

—Fumio Narashima

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

CABLEready

Crime programming is an area where CABLEreadyhas built an expertise, and titles such as Chain GangGirls and Women Behind Bars help continue on thatpath. The company will also be offering ForensicFiles/Medical Detectives, a true-crime series, to buyers.Entertainment is also top of the roster forCABLEready.“We’re very proud to be distributing onbehalf of a client, ReelzChannel.Their entertainmentprogramming is a perfect fit for us given CABLE-ready’s history with series like Inside the Actors Studioand Hollywood One on One,” says Sabrina Toledo, theVP of sales and marketing. Toledo says the healthyappetite for entertainment is one of the trends she’snoticed of late. “It’s perfect timing for the internationallaunch of ReelzChannel’s programming!”

www.cableready.net

Forensic Files/Medical Detectives

“We’re very proud tobe distributing onbehalf of a client,ReelzChannel. Their entertainment programming is aperfect fit for us.”

—Sabrina Toledo

TV REAL10

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Simon WeaverOnline Director

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The catalogue from Discovery Enterprises Internationalboasts a number of series centered on everyday people whoare doing extraordinary things. Deadliest Catch, Dirty Jobs,Man vs.Wild,American Chopper and Whale Wars are just a fewexamples of these types of raw reality shows, which havebeen strong performers both in ratings and sales. Jon & KatePlus 8 is another hit series that falls in that category.“Discovery is the number one nonfiction media company inthe world, and with our variety of networks we are wellpositioned to offer an array of reality-style shows whichappeal to a wide range of viewers, as these series demon-strate,”explains Marieclaire Odell, the senior VP of program-ming and marketing at Discovery Networks International.Anumber of other highlights on the Discovery slate deal withscience and engineering, such as Dino Body, Colossal Squid,Anatomy of a Pandemic and Time Warp.

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

Discovery Enterprises Internationalwww.discoveryenterprisesinternational.com

From the docudrama Manson to the specialist factualAustin Stevens Adventures and the factual-entertainmentformat Conviction Kitchen, Cineflix International’s high-lights for MIPCOM run the gamut of the factual/realitygenre.“They’re all prime-time commissions for large net-works worldwide, therefore made with a mainstream audi-ence in mind,” says Paul Heaney, the managing director ofCineflix International. Heaney also outlines some cleargoals for the market.“We want to continue to expand ourthird-party acquisitions—we’re having a very successfulrun right now. Similarly, our format division is gainingmomentum with deals now starting to come through forthe format rights to Eat Yourself Sexy,Conviction Kitchen andFor Rent.” Heaney continues: “Combined with a shot inthe arm of new third-party, new commissions and return-ing series, it’s an impressive mix.”

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

Cineflix International

Conviction Kitchen

“We want to continueto expand our third-partyacquisitions—we’rehaving a very successfulrun right now.”

— Paul Heaney

www.cineflix.com

Jon & Kate Plus 8

“With our variety ofnetworks we are well positioned to offer anarray of reality-styleshows which appeal to awide range of viewers.”

—Marieclaire Odell

310 World Screen 10/09

TV REAL12


The pressure on programming budgets has been kind tothe factual genre. Richard Life, the head of factual acqui-sitions and co-productions for ITV Studios, notes,“Buyersare looking for cost-effective programming right now, andas factual offers better value than scripted, we’re findingdemand is on the increase. Broadcasters have cut costs byscheduling factual into traditional drama slots and in manycases have been able to shore up audience share and evenimprove the average demographic for the slot. However,the shows need to be of the highest quality, deal withcompelling and relatable subjects and lend themselves tothe same level of sophisticated promotion that is possiblewith drama.” ITV Studios is looking to capitalize on thiswith titles such as Househusbands of Hollywood, The SecretCaribbean and Storm Rider, as well as The Truth Behind…and Everest 24.

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

ITV Studios Global EntertainmentThe Secret Caribbean

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

—Richard Life

www.globalent.itv.com

New installments of the hit Janson Media franchises Travelwith Kids and Richard Bangs’ Adventures with Purpose areready for buyers.“The third season of Travel with Kids con-tinues to build a successful family-entertainment brand thatwe have already sold into French Canada, Israel, Turkey,Poland, Finland, Russia, Latin America and Italy,” saysStephen Janson, the president of Janson Media. The newRichard Bangs finds the travel writer exploring India.Thesehighlights 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 thechallenging times. “The great global recession of 2009hasn’t hurt television watching as far as we can tell. Theworld still needs entertainment and information. If any-thing, we’re getting the sense that to reduce costs the net-works are expanding their acquisitions slots, at the expenseof more expensive commissions and co-productions.”

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

Janson Media

RIchard Bangs’ Adventures with Purpose: Assam, India

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

—Stephen Janson

TV REAL14

www.janson.com


The male-skewed The MEN7 Show and BikiniDestinations have become established franchises forBennett Media. Complementing these titles is themagazine entertainment series The Moving PicturesShow, a half-hour weekly program featuring live inter-views with the principal players involved in major stu-dio and independent films. Bennett Media Worldwide’s250 hours of action/adventure/lifestyle programminghave been combined with Moving Pictures Film &Television’s 200-film catalogue, and should make for astrong market for the company.“We anticipate record-level sales for Moving Pictures because of the greatrange and depth of our offerings: new independentfilms, television programs now being distributed in 140countries, classic films, animation, documentaries andthe full spectrum of other genres,” says Paul Rich, thepresident of worldwide film and TV sales for MovingPictures Film & Television.

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

Moving Pictures/Bennett

The MEN7 Show

Bikini Destinations

“We anticipate record-level sales for Moving Pictures because of thegreat range and depth ofour offerings.”

—Paul Rich

www.movingpicturesfilmtv.com

The U.S.-based Jelly Bean Films & Distribution has set upoffices around Asia to better serve its goal of promotingprojects from East to West and from West to East. Many ofthe titles on its slate are infused with themes of Eastern cul-ture, like Dalai Lama Series, Tea-Horse Ancient Road andAncient Tangbo Road. Further doc series giving a glimpseinto Asian history include Tracing the Han Nationality.“Asiahas always been an interesting place with many cultures,religions and stories,” says Sabrina Chen-Louie, the presi-dent of Jelly Bean Films & Distribution.“The footage andstories that are presented here are rare and it’s more in-depth than in any other documentaries.” Jelly Bean is alsooffering the feature films ORZ Boyz and Blue Brave.“As forthe films, it’s bringing a different culture and style to thescreen,giving the theatrical viewers an opportunity to shareAsian culture and fun,” says Chen-Louie.

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

Jelly Bean Films & Distribution

Ancient Tangbo Road

TV REAL16

www.jellybeanfilm.com

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

—Sabrina Chen-Louie


The National Film Board of Canada has created morethan 13,000 productions and won more than 5,000 awardssince its inception, in 1939.“This is a special year for theNFB, as we celebrate our 70th anniversary,” says JohanneSt-Arnauld, the distribution director for the National FilmBoard of Canada. “I urge you to check out our excitingslate 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 inter-national appeal, mixed with NFB’s 70-year history in“great filmmaking and great storytelling” that will drivesales on these titles in Cannes.As Canada’s public film pro-ducer and distributor,NFB heads to the market looking tofind new partners, build on relationships with existingclients and place films with different media outlets aroundthe world.

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

National Film Board of Canadawww.nfb.ca

National Geographic Channels International (NGCI)has some new titles to offer. Waking the Baby Mammothis a high-end science special about the well-preservedbody of a baby woolly mammoth. Richard Hammondreturns with a second season of Engineering Connections,while Britain’s Greatest Machines with Chris Barrie putsthe comedian Chris Barrie in search of machines thathave shaped Britain.“The programs are representative ofcontent and genres that work for buyers with a 360-degree approach to their schedules and business,” saysNGCI’s VP of content syndication, Germaine DeaganSweet. “For example, Waking the Baby Mammoth slotsperfectly into Sunday evening and other prime-timeslots, and also offers content for additional channel out-reach in online venues. Engineering Connections withRichard Hammond combines an internationally recog-nized factual talent presenting a high-end series in theconsistently solid genre of science and technology.”

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

National Geographic Channels International

Engineering Connections

“The programs are representative of content and genres that work for buyers with a 360-degreeapproach to their schedulesand business.”

—Germaine Deagan Sweet

www.ngcimedia.com

Paris 1919

“This is a special year for the NFB, as wecelebrate our 70th anniversary. I urge you tocheck out our exciting slate of new releases.”

—Johanne St-Arnauld

TV REAL18

MIPCOM #14.28

Tel: 04-92-99-8261

Putting the majesty of African wildlife into the spotlight,NHU Africa (the Natural History Unit of Africa) commis-sions, co-produces and distributes documentaries. “NHUAfrica has an incredible HD portfolio of unique and world-class wildlife programming which appeals to internationalaudiences,” says Sophie Vartan, the commissioning editor forNHU Africa. The titles the South African outfit is pre-senting for MIPCOM include Nature of Life, about Africa’ssolutions to climate change,and The Cheetah Diaries, follow-ing the training of cheetahs to become “ambassador cats,”which are used to educate the public about this endangeredspecies.There’s also A Kalahari Tail and Into the Dragon’s Lair.“These programs have uplifting and dynamic stories whichcover cutting-edge, controversial and topical subjects.Theyare exciting, innovative, inspirational, recording world firsts,with never-before-seen footage, and many have a uniqueSouth African stamp on them,”Vartan says.

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

NHU Africa

“NHU Africa has anincredible HD portfolioof unique and world-class wildlife program-ming which appeals to international audiences.”

—Sophie Vartan

www.nhuafrica.com

Into the Dragon’s Lair

TV REAL20

For the documentary and factual programming business, thecurrent global economic crisis has given new relevance to theold cliché about every cloud having a silver lining. Despiteshrinking ad revenues, which have led to major cutbacks inprogramming budgets, many distributors of factual contentare boasting of strong, even record sales.

“The first [half ] of 2009 [was] our best ever,” statesNathalie Bobineau, the senior VP of international distributionat France Télévisions Distribution (FTD). She attributesmuch of that success to the popularity of the company’s big-budget six-part documentary Apocalypse:World War II, whichwas timed to the 70th anniversary of the start of the war in1939. But FTD isn’t alone in reporting strong sales.

“Our fiscal year runs from August to July,” explains PaulHeaney, the managing director of Cineflix International.“Wehad a bit of a soft middle, but we had a really strong end ofthe year.We were 20 percent up on last year, and in certain sub-divisions, such as finished programming,we were up more than30 percent.”The 90-minute special Manson has been a big seller,on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the 1969 murderof actress Sharon Tate by Charles Manson and his followers.

Cineflix is not the only company to have seen brisk pro-gram sales, as cash-strapped broadcasters increasingly prefer tobuy programming rather producing it in-house.“A numberof clients have pushed off original productions until later thisyear and they’ve been looking for ready-made content andacquisitions to fill their schedules,” reports Michael Katz, the

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 program-ming more attractive. “In this current economic climate,factual programming gives very good value for money,” addsMaurice van Sabben, the president of National GeographicTelevision International (NGTI),who also reports better thanexpected sales during the downturn.“Buyers are looking formore value for their money and they can get it with factualprogramming.There is a massive price gap between the priceper hour for high-end dramas and factual programs.”

Amid the gloom, some are also seeing signs of a revival.“Ithink we are beginning to see some blue sky,” notes FTD’sBobineau.“At MIPTV, some of the stations were saying theydidn’t know what kind of budgets they were going to havethis year even though it was already April. Now we are onceagain very active in terms of negotiations and sales.”

That doesn’t mean that the financial crisis, which has pro-duced the worst recession in the history of television, hasn’tseverely buffeted the factual-programming business.ZenithOptimedia recently reduced its forecast for 2009 and isnow predicting that total worldwide advertising will shrinkby a whopping 8.5 percent to $456.5 billion in 2009.Televi-sion advertising will drop to $173.6 billion,a 7.1-percent slump.

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

Forging

France Télévisions Distribution’sThe Earth from Above.

TV REAL26


By George Winslow

Even though the television industry has slippedinto the worst recession in its history, sales of

factual programming have remained strong.

Even though the television industry has slippedinto the worst recession in its history, sales of

factual programming have remained strong.

Ahead

“It has become much harder to find international co-production partners, especially among the public broadcast-ers, because everyone struggles with budgets and needs toinvest primarily in local productions,” notes Beatrice Riesen-felder, the head of sales and acquisitions at the Austrian Broad-casting Corporation (ORF).

Nonetheless, as Germaine Deagan Sweet, the VP of contentsyndication at National Geographic Channels International(NGCI), explains, “Co-production is pretty much thelifeblood of the community at the moment because every-body is looking to produce as much quality programming asthey can with the reduced budgets.”

While co-productions have become more important, DeaganSweet admits it is more difficult to find partners.“Even thoughwe do find them and they are solid partners whom we havehad for many years, we’re all conscious of the position we arein, having to make our dollars move further. But it comesdown to limiting the exposure and the risk, so there are moreco-productions in the subject matters that we know have per-formed well in a variety of schedules in the past, and we’re con-fident that they will work again.”

Presales have also become challenging.“There certainly isn’tthe forward buying that we’ve seen before—buyers picking upprogramming six months in advance,” says Deagan Sweet.“Peo-ple 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 takechances,” notes Christina Willoughby, the director of sales atDigital Rights Group.“A year ago, if you went to someonewith a project from a production company with a great trackrecord, they would be willing to prebuy their latest program.That is not so much the case anymore.”

When broadcasters do invest, they are increasinglyunwilling to put up as much money as they have in thepast. “They all love the big high-profile blue-chip docu-mentaries, but the buyers who traditionally prebuy orcome as co-producers are finding it harder to balance thebooks,”Willoughby adds. “They don’t want to come in

with the €400,000 they put up in the past.They mightwant 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 licensefees because their budgets have gone down,” notes KristinaHollstein, the director of documentary co-production anddevelopment at ZDF Enterprises.

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

Several distributors are finding opportunities to discuss newdeals with their clients.“By working with clients to keep the

relationship alive [and in some cases renegotiatingexisting deals], we’re seeing that those relation-ships open up,” NGTI’s van Sabben says.“Sud-denly, instead of just selling programs to them,weare starting to talk to them about co-productions,different rights and all sorts of things that theywouldn’t have come to us for before.”

WEATHERING THE STORMPublic stations in some ways have weathered thestorm better than commercial broadcasters.“The cri-sis and the advertising downturn have not hit ZDFthat hard yet, because we are not so dependent oncommercial revenues,” says Hollstein.“[Advertising]makes up only 10 percent of our overall revenues.”

But some public broadcasters have also beenbadly hit by the advertising slump, and others arelikely to suffer next year if rising unemploymentrates continue to cut into their license fees.

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

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Prehistoric pal: NGCIhas seen strong

interest in science-based one-off

specials like Waking the

Baby Mammoth.

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.

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

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

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

The downturn also seems to be favoring distributors that aretied to channels that can supply them with product and largerplayers that can write checks to help new projects get off theground.Because of its many channels around the world, AETNbrings more than 200 hours of programming to each market.

PUBLIC DOMAINA number of projects from public broadcasters are also flow-ing into their commercial divisions and sales arms.

ZDF Enterprises, for example, will be bringing several bigprojects to MIPCOM,including a docudrama called The BattleAgainst Rome,which is timed to the two-thousandth anniversaryof an epic battle between German tribes and the Romans.

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

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

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

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

As Heaney explains, it’s not only what programming broad-casters can offer, it’s how those shows are scheduled that reallycounts.“In some of the more competitive TV markets,schedulinghas always been the name of the game.And this environmentreally sorts out the scheduling men from the boys,because if you

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

“The majority of clients that we’ve been working withhave been picking up volume deals from us,” adds NGCI’sDeagan Sweet.“Definitely the specials are still moving, but alot of our clients have been looking for minimum packages.They are asking for at least 10, 20, 30 hours.They want to beable to build on the factual slots they have and create per-haps one or two more factual slots.”

NGCI has a number of series that can help create that vol-ume for broadcasters.Science and technology are two very pop-ular subjects.“Engineering Connections with Richard Hammond isa perfect example,” says Deagan Sweet.“Science and technologyare proven factual subjects in a lot of schedules.And you couplethem with a really engaging talent like Richard Hammond youhave a winning formula,a proven performer for the factual slots.

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

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

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

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

TV REAL28


Back in time: The Biblical Plagues isone of the new CGI-laden doc series fromZDF Enterprises.

He started helping out in the kitchen of his father’s restaurantwhen he was just a schoolboy and by the age of 16, Jamie Oliverknew he wanted to be a chef. He found his way to television com-pletely by chance. While he was working at The River Café oneday, a crew came in to shoot a documentary about the famousLondon restaurant, and Oliver’s natural communicating skillswere quickly discovered by TV producers.

In his many TV shows, his cookbooks, his blogs on his websiteand his magazine, he displays a natural talent for connecting withthe audience and sharing his passion for food. But he has donemore than teach chopping and sautéing techniques—he helps drivehome the importance of healthy eating, in particular for familieswith children. He has made a crusade out of improving schoolmeals and has even set up the charitable Fifteen Foundation where,alongside operating his Fifteen restaurant franchise, he teachesdisadvantaged youngsters. Distributed by FremantleMedia Enter-prises, 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 doyou want to offer viewers that is different and that they can’tfind elsewhere?

OLIVER: I always try to make my shows different because Iknow the public would get bored of seeing the same thing overand over again.So I did The Naked Chef and then followed thatwith the documentary about setting up Fifteen ( Jamie’sKitchen) and then the travel series about Italy ( Jamie’s Great Ital-ian Escape) and then School Dinners and so on. I try to shake itup and keep it fresh. So with this American Road Trip series, forexample, I’ve not gone for the obvious places or the typicaltypes of American food. I’ve dug under the surface and foundsome amazing food and some amazing people and it’s a won-derful, fascinating series.

TV REAL:You have taken on a number of issues—from ani-mal welfare to supporting local farmers to school dinners—why has this been important to you? OLIVER: Each of those issues was important for differentreasons. With the animal welfare programs, it wasn’t so muchabout campaigning, but it was simply about saying to theviewer: “This is what happens with your meat, now youdecide whether you still want to eat this type of food orinstead buy this other type of food.” I think that people arepretty smart and if they have a bit of knowledge, they’ll use


TV REAL30

By Anna Carugati

FremantleMediaEnterprises’

Jamie’s AmericanRoad Trip.Jamie Oliver

Food for Thought

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

TV REAL: What other issues would you like to bring to theaudience’s attention?OLIVER: Well, I think we still have a long way to go on schooldinners, it’s far from finished, but if I made a program aboutschool dinners every year, people would soon get tired of it.

TV REAL: You say that Jamie’s Ministry of Food is the mostimportant show you ever worked on.Why is that?OLIVER: When I was doing School Dinners, I went into a lotof the kids’ homes and I saw them eating such rubbish. I real-ized that there’s a whole generation who can’t cook and sotheir kids aren’t eating any home-cooked food. So it’s impor-tant because if we’ve got people growing up eating rubbishevery day and never learning to cook for themselves, the sit-uation can only get worse over the next generation and theone after. But there’s a real desire for people to learn tocook—you can tell because the Ministry of Food centre inRotherham is booked up months in advance with peoplewanting to attend classes.And now Bradford is opening itsown Ministry of Food centre, so I think councils all overBritain are starting to realize that there’s a real need for thistype of thing.

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’sabout. I visited six different parts of the country and metsome incredible people and ate some incredible food. Just togive 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 communi-ties arrive and make their homes. I met loads of fantastic peo-ple, but probably the most amazing guy was a Colombianbus driver called Jorge—every night, without fail, he and hismum cook a load of food and take it down to where the localhomeless people hang out and he feeds about 75 to 80 ofthem. Every night.What a guy! And then a few weeks afterthat, I was in Louisiana shooting alligators!

TV REAL: Everything on your website—from your diary tothe recipes—has a very personal feel, as if you were speakingdirectly to your fans. Is having that personal connectionimportant to you?OLIVER: Absolutely. The website and Twitter are veryimportant in keeping people informed about what I’m up to.But I also like dipping into the website forums and seeingwhat other people are up to. It’s like we’re all friends, eventhough some of us have never met.

TV REAL: Do you think the personal approach you have inyour shows is more effective than some of the loud, scream-ing personalities on other cooking reality shows?OLIVER: I think everyone has their own style and there’senough room on TV for all those different approaches.

TV REAL: What was it like cooking for world leaders at theG20 earlier this year?

OLIVER: Incredible. It was a bit of a worry because earlyApril is not the best time of the year to be cooking animportant dinner when you’ve decided to use British sea-sonal ingredients. I was going to ask if they could move itto September when I’d have had more seasonal stuff tochoose from, but it all went well. I cooked with some of thegraduates from Fifteen London, plus one apprentice whohasn’t even graduated yet, and they were just superb—a realtestament to the great training that Fifteen provides.After-wards, I got to meet many of the leaders and their partners,including President Obama and his wife. It was such a bril-liant night, and I’m so grateful to the Prime Minister [Gor-don Brown] and Sarah for letting me do it. Then about 24hours 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 Dinnersprogram for ABC in America, so that’s going to be a chal-lenge, and I’m starting to think about a Christmas programI’m doing for the U.K.

Tickled pink: JamieOliver’s prolific list of

shows includes Jamie Saves Our

Bacon, broadcast onChannel 4 and sold by FremantleMedia

Enterprises.

Shows portraying real people in unscripted situations have beenaround since the advent of television.First there was Allen Funt’sCandid Camera, which premiered in 1948 and has been called“the granddaddy of the reality-TV genre.”Talent searches fol-lowed in the early ’50s, with The Original Amateur Hour andArthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts.And in subsequent decades, realityshows got up close and personal, featuring ordinary individualswho were tossed under the microscope. By the time the newmillennium hit, reality had truly taken over the TV landscape,with behemoths like Survivor and Idol spawning copycats andspin-offs to the point of saturation.

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

“The reality genre has become so broad and encompasses somany different subgenres that it’s hard to pin it down to onemoment of birth,” says Rob Sharenow, the senior VP of non-fiction and alternative programming for A&E Network.“Thetypes of reality programming we do, like Intervention and TheFirst 48,which are verité-style documentaries,have very little incommon with more formatted or [competition] shows like Sur-vivor or The Bachelor.At A&E, we call our shows ‘real-life series’because they are about real people in real situations withoutmanipulation or casting.”

THE POWER OF OBSERVATION Indeed, what remains the lifeblood of all reality series is thereal people at their core. In the case of the Gosselins, thebrood at the center of TLC’s Jon & Kate Plus 8, the family’sreal-life drama turned into big ratings.The season-five pre-

miere shattered TLC ratings records as more than 9.8million viewers tuned in.“Observational series such asJon & Kate Plus 8 appeal to a wide audience becauseviewers relate to ordinary people, yet there is also some-thing extraordinary about their lives,” says Marieclaire

Odell, the senior VP of programming forDiscovery Networks International.

A number of other series from the Discov-ery portfolio have this central focus on every-day people with extraordinary appeal, such asDeadliest Catch, American Chopper and WhaleWars. “Viewers are fascinated by people, andone thing these titles have in common is thatthey focus on people with incredible passionfor what they do,” explains Odell. “It’s alsoabout knowledge.These are experts in theirchosen fields, and through entertaining andobservational formats, they are sharing thatknowledge with viewers.That resonates withaudiences around the globe, because greatstorytelling is universal.”

Beyond Distribution has a range of titleslooking at real people who are pursuing theirpassions, such asThe Paper and Big City Broker.Beyond also provides series spotlighting moredangerous and extreme professions,such as Jet-stream and Combat School.“While they are realpeople doing real jobs, the jobs may be onesthat the average person couldn’t or wouldn’tdo (jet-fighter pilot, health inspector…) andthere’s a basic curiosity about other people’slives,” says Yvonne Body, the head of co-productions and acquisitions for Beyond Dis-tribution.“They give you in-depth access toworlds you wouldn’t otherwise experience.”

Chasing down tornados,diving into shark-infested waters or bringing deadly fugitives tojustice are not professions for everyone.View-ing these dangerous tasks from the comfort ofthe couch is a different story.The success thatFremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) hasfound with the Original Productions cata-logue, which focuses on the perilous effortsof everyday heroes, demonstrates the appealthese subjects have worldwide.

Reality shows havebeen around for decades, butsavvy producershave kept the concepts freshand demandfor the genrestrong.

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By Kristin Brzoznowski

Standing


Beyond Distribution’sBig City Broker. Tall

“The Original Productions cat-alogue of titles has a real ‘blue-col-lar’ heroics feel that has provenvery popular internationally,” saysDavid Ellender,the CEO of FME.“They’re engaging because theyare about real people doing realjobs and having real adventures.”

Sales have been “veryhealthy” across the Originalslate, Ellender declares. So healthythat FremantleMedia bought a75-percent stake in Original Pro-ductions earlier this year. “BlackGold in particular has provenvery popular, and we’ve sold itthroughout Europe, Latin America,Africa and Asia. Vermina-tors is another big seller,with sales to 108 countries, and Amer-ica’s Port has sold to 106 countries.”

FME has had such a solid track record with the catalogue thatit’s launching three new Original Productions titles at MIPCOM:Swords: Life on the Line, Tornado Road and Shark U.

STAR POWERThe series Steven Seagal: Lawman is one of many celebrity-basedreality offerings from AETN International. These star-poweredshows still document an authentic aspect of the human experi-ence, but their subjects have the added appeal of a famous face.“Celebrity-based nonfiction will never really go out of style, itjust evolves over time,” says A&E’s Sharenow.“For many yearsBiography was one of A&E’s core franchises, so much so that iteven spawned its own network. I think many of the celebrity-based reality series you see today, like Gene Simmons Family Jew-els, are just an extension of that tradition.”

Comcast International Media Group (CIMG) has capitalizedon the public’s fascination with celebrities by supplying a num-ber of observational series centered on Hollywood starlets.

“Our celebrity reality is fantastic for us,” says Jene Elzie, theVP of international sales and strategic planning at CIMG.“Everything from Girls of the Playboy Mansion,which continuesto deliver year after year, to Pamela Anderson’s reality show,

Pam: Girl on the Loose, to series like Living Lohan and DeniseRichards: It’s Complicated. We just keep finding a lot of successwith these shows.Then we also have shows with celebrities thathave grown organically for us, like Keeping Up with the Kar-dashians and Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane.”The success of Keep-ing Up with the Kardashians has given CIMG high hopes forthe spin-off Kourtney & Khloé Take Miami, which it will belaunching at MIPCOM.

Elzie says a large part of celeb-reality’s global popularity comesfrom the ability to connect with the characters on the screen.“Ithink it’s an endless fascination with people who are not like us,and realizing that they are actually like us,” she explains.“You seepeople who are really fascinating,and you’re pulling back the cur-tain and seeing what these peoples’ lives are like.They deal withheartaches, drama, family fights and money issues.We’re alwaysthere to see it too.”

For ITV Studios Global Entertainment, the crossover ofcelebrity and competition has proved to be a winning combi-nation.The format I’m a Celebrity,Get Me Out of Here!,which hasbeen hugely successful in prime time in the U.K.,Germany andIndia, premiered this summer in the U.S. on NBC. “I’m aCelebrity,Get Me Out of Here! continues to go global,”says RemyBlumenfeld, the director of global formats for ITV Studios.Demand has also been strong for ITV Studios’ competitionseries, even without the addition of celebrities.

“We’re extremely excited by the prospects of our new formatFour Weddings, a fly-on-the-wall/competition hybrid we’re con-fident will have strong international appeal,”says Blumenfeld.Theformat premiered in the U.K.on LIVING.

Many reality series cross over into format territory. For Fre-mantleMedia, some of its best-selling titles are reality-formathybrids. Rob Clark, the president of worldwide entertainmentat FremantleMedia, explains,“Reality has different meanings indifferent countries. For me, Idols, The X Factor and Got Talent arecross-genre reality shows.They start as what the British wouldcall ‘reality,’and then they go into the studio.Even when they’rein the studio, there’s still a lot of reality in them, which is whythey succeed.”

The innate fascination with the lives of others is certain tokeep reality shows on broadcasters’ schedules around theworld for many years to come.As CIMG’s Elzie notes,“I don’tknow if we’re ever going to really stop believing that truth isin fact stranger than fiction.As long as you have a fresh angle,and somebody or some couple or group of people that isengaging, then it’s always original.”


TV REAL34

Keep it in the family: CIMG’s Keeping Upwith the Kardashianshas been so successfulit spawned a spin-offseries.

Hauntingly good: The AETN International series Paranormal State follows a team of researcherswho are looking to unravel inexplicable phenomena.

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

ngcimedia.com

PROGRAM SALES:Germaine Deagan Sweet, [email protected], +1 202 912 6674 Shirley Bowers, [email protected] +1 202 912 6775MIPCOM Stand #R29.41

One giant baby step for science

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TV Real October 2009