9/11 Programming Commemorates Tenth Anniversary

With the tenth anniversary of the tragic events of 9/11 approaching, TV Real Weekly talks to a number of distributors about the interest in programming related to the U.S. terrorist attacks.

The events that took place on September 11, 2001, are forever etched in the minds of millions around the globe. Television played a key role in keeping viewers informed as the tragedy unfolded, and over the course of the last ten years, it has served as a window into the stories surrounding that fateful day. A number of factual distributors have been continuing to provide documentaries and specials to channels around the world that provide deeper insight into a range of issues related to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"9/11 is the day that has changed our world dramatically," says Ralf Rueckauer, ZDF Enterprises’ regional sales manager. "ZDF Enterprises decided to release several new and innovative programs that shed a new light on what happened in New York City, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon ten years ago."

Rueckauer notes that at the recent DISCOP in Budapest, there was a particularly strong interest in 9/11 programs. Though he also says that demand for this programming has been consistent over the last ten years. "9/11 has had a massive effect on our world: Conspiracy theories still abound and ‘terror’ has become a constant threat in everybody’s life; therefore, there has always been a demand for programs that help people better understand the events and tensions that led to 9/11, what exactly happened on this fateful day and what awaits us in the future. But, of course, the upcoming tenth anniversary has strongly boosted the demand for 9/11-related programming. And, just in time for this anniversary, we feel that we can provide our clients with the right programs to meet their audiences’ interests."

For A+E Networks, a number of its clients still have licenses ongoing from when the programs were first acquired, says Ian Jones, the managing director for international content distribution and commercial development. "A lot of our clients have been planning how they would deal with the anniversary for quite some time," notes Jones. "So, what they’ll be doing is using one of the runs they picked up originally to run the programs again around the time of 9/11."

Jones has noticed a trend, however, that "for the anniversary, the vast majority of broadcasters we deal with worldwide are doing their own local versions, their own local stories, their own survival stories associated with 9/11 and that’s what we’ve seen as the biggest factor in sales."

As an example, Christian Murphy, the senior VP of international programming and marketing at A+E Networks, points to I Survived…9/11. "Buyer channels around the world are using the I Survived…9/11 format and producing their own versions," he says. "They’ve done research and found survivors all around the world. Italy is doing one, so is Spain, the U.K., Latin America and Southeast Asia may be doing one as well. That’s really big news for us with our buyer channels."

DRG has been giving its 9/11 programs an extra push ahead of the upcoming ten-year marker. "We have been actively re-promoting all our 9/11-related programming and are definitely seeing an increase in sales as the anniversary approaches," says Patrick Roberts, the senior VP of international sales. "Recent sales have been to countries as diverse as Japan, Australia, Germany and Portugal," he notes.

Roberts says that DRG has seen interest for these programs from major terrestrial and pay-TV broadcasters, with titles scoring high-profile, prime-time slots. DRG’s The Falling Man has been sold to Discovery in the U.S., RAI in Italy, RTL in Germany and ABC in Australia, among others. The 9/11 Faker has scored pickups from such channels as Investigation Discovery in the U.S., TVNZ in New Zealand and TV2 in Denmark. The dramatized The Hamburg Cell also made its way to the U.S., on HBO, alongside sales in territories such as Canada, Finland, Norway and Poland.

Doc Story has received a unique access to shoot the new F.D.N.Y training center at Randall’s Island for a documentary special that commemorates 9/11. The project, tentatively titled New York Firemen: Ten Years After, spotlights the firemen of New York, listening to their comments, memories and how they’ve drawn strength from their experiences and rebuilt their lives in the ten years since the tragic event. The Licensing Machine (TLM), the licensing and media division of the Panini Group, has acquired the worldwide distribution rights.

"Our intention is to focus on the men and their emotions, following their daily lives and being totally in sync with them," says Jean Louis Molho, producer and Doc Story founder. "We do not use visual effects, artistic camera work, special lighting to embellish reality. This is a hard look at real people! Our aim is both to stir and soothe your emotions."

"We are very proud and honored to participate in this ground-breaking project," says Bruno Zarka, the TV, home video and digital sales and services manager at TLM. "Our aim was to memorialize the events of 9/11, showing the humanity and bravery of some of the key participants, all done within a non-political and non-polemical context. This has been a very unique and moving human experience."

With the U.S. at the center of these events, 9/11 programming is sure to be in high demand across the country in recognition of the ten years passed. APT (American Public Television) has a selection of September 11-related docs specifically for the country’s public television channels. Key titles include September’s Children, For the Love of Their Brother and On a Wing and a Prayer. "We offer these programs to about 167 licensees, which is about 350 stations," says Chris Funkhouser, APT’s VP of exchange programming and multicast services.

For the international market, APT Worldwide is offering the film Stand Up: Muslim-American Comics Come of Age as well as The Power of Forgiveness. Judy Barlow, the VP of business development at APT, reports strong international interest in the titles from documentary channels and general-interest channels, but also says that Stand Up would work for comedy stations.

Solid Entertainment’s US Navy Seals got a boost after the military group became tied into the post-9/11 discussion of targeting and capturing terrorists. The program has sold to such channels as TV2 in Denmark and ZDF in Germany. Richard Proper, Solid’s founder and president, says that the recent Seal mission that resulted in the killing of Osama bin Laden has led to steady sales since the event.

"Our recent sales of a series that is just about ten years old were amazing," says Proper. "It became obvious that the footage in these programs was unmatched in quality, research and access. After the assassination of bin Laden the inquiries were truly incredible."