Beyond the Typical Fact-Ent Shows

Multi-genre distributor Beyond Distribution has found that factual and factual-entertainment content has great appeal to buyers.

For the first time in 25 years, the Australian Army has allowed unique access to the highly secretive training operations of the SAS. The exclusive coverage of the 21-day military selection trial for Australia’s
Special Air Service Regiment has been turned into the 2×1-hour program SAS: The Search for Warriors, distributed by Beyond Distribution. After a competition between broadcasters, the show, produced in HD by Julia Redwood and Ed Punchard’s Prospero Productions, landed a slot on SBS Australia.

Munia Kanna-Konsek, the head of sales at Beyond, says that SAS‘s military aspect has much appeal. "You are in awe of these guys. The physical and mental battles they need to endure and conquer are incredible, so their personal journeys will be heartfelt by the audience," she says. "The day some press was released and it went to air in Australia we had an abundance of screener requests, so military-focused programs are still of great interest." SAS: The Search for Warriors joins Beyond’s other military-based series Jetstream and Combat School.

Indeed, Beyond has a number of programs that fall in the factual genre, many of which cross the lines of several different sub-categories. "Our Deadly Women brand for example (now going into a fifth series) traverses crime, history plus people and society," notes Kanna-Konsek.

While the distributor’s diverse catalogue includes everything from children’s to drama to formats, Beyond has found that its factual offerings are among its strongest. "Appetite for factual never diminishes," Kanna-Konsek explains. "The genre is one of our specialties and we cover the areas of health, medicine and history, with science and technology being our forte," she adds, pointing to the success of Mythbusters, Engineered and Science Impossible.

"The biggest expansion within factual has been factual entertainment programs," Kanna-Konsek continues, "and we’ve had enormous success with the likes of Big City Broker, Chef School, The Inspectors, I Could Do That!, Moviestar, Property Shop, Six Degrees of TV, The T.O. Show and The Will: Family Secrets Revealed, to name a few."

A testament to the strength of the factual genre, Beyond is planning to increase its production and acquisition efforts in this arena. Kanna-Konsek says the focus is also to "sell the titles we have and find the best homes for our upcoming new titles that come under the factual genre, in one form or another, with some of these being Monster Bug Wars, Behind Mansion Walls, How Beer Saved the World, Fire Scene Investigation and Design DNA."