Crime Wave

November 22, 2010 World Screen

 

This article originally appeared in the MIPCOM 2010 issue of TV Real.
 
Truth is stranger than fiction. This especially applies to twisted tales of bizarre crimes, investigations into criminal minds and stories of everyday people pushed to the brink of insanity. These subjects have formed the framework of factual narratives that have intrigued viewers for decades, making true-crime, investigative programming a popular genre.
 
AETN International has been in the business of crime-and-justice programming for some 20 years now, even dedicating an entire channel to this genre, Crime & Investigation Network (CI). According to Michael Katz, AETN’s VP of international programming and production, these shows have the universal appeal of being “classic stories of good versus evil, and justice done or not done, as the case may be.” He adds, “There are real consequences involved. Not only do they tell an interesting story that will get people’s attention, but there’s a resolution at the end.”
 
AETN has developed a number of series within the genre that take the audience along to witness firsthand present-day criminal chases. The First 48, for example, follows detectives from around the country during the critical first 48 hours after a crime has been committed as they race against time to find the suspect. “The First 48 is the flagship of all factual crime-and-justice programs,” says Katz. “It’s the longest running and highest rated of any in this market and is also the most widely distributed.”
 
Following in this vein from AETN are Steven Seagal Lawman, which lets fans ride shotgun with Seagal as he responds to crimes in progress, and Dog the Bounty Hunter, which follows a real-life fugitive recovery agent in his quest to track down criminals. Both of these shows are led by strong personalities, which Katz says is key when putting together a ride-along-style series set in the present.
 
IN THE REARVIEW
The bulk of AETN’s crime-and-justice programs have very few, if any, re-creations. They depend almost completely on actuality, with the filming taking place as the action unfolds. “The idea is to allow the viewers into the actual process of the crime solving,” says Katz.
 
However, there’s a whole segment of the genre dedicated to programming presented in the past tense, as are many of the crime shows in CABLEready’s catalogue. “The stories are usually told by the people involved as well as by forensic scientists, and are illustrated by dramatizations,” says Gary Lico, CABLEready’s president and CEO. Two of the strongest in its portfolio are Forensic Files/Medical Detectives, which profiles crimes where science catches the bad guy, and Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege and Justice, which features the late crime writer Dominick Dunne as he retells the stories of the high-profile crimes of the rich and famous.
 
The crime programming on offer from Beyond Distribution strikes a balance between actual footage and dramatizations to tell past-tense stories, says Munia Kanna-Konsek, the company’s head of sales. “For most of our titles it is 50/50. The re-creations or re-enactments bring it to life. It makes it easier to visualize and easier to understand.”
 
Such is the case with Deadly Women. The HD series, now in its fourth season, fuses bone-chilling storytelling, dramatic re­construction and forensic facts to create profiles of famous cases of female murderers.
 
At New Dominion Pictures, the offerings are mainly “true-crime docudrama past-tense programs, so there is not a lot of actual footage,” says Kristen Eppley, the senior VP of international distribution. The series include The FBI Files, featuring dramatic reenactments and interviews with agents and scientists; The New Detectives, looking at how scientists are re-creating the circumstances surrounding a person’s death; and Daring Capers, which uses dramatizations, news footage and interviews with witnesses and law-enforcement officials.
 
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
“There are many ways to tell a crime story depending on what is available, such as actual footage,” says Sally Miles, the CEO of Passion Distribution, which represents such offerings as Killer Couples, Killer in the Family and the brand-new Real Crime. “Most crime programs include and rely on dramatic reconstruction to take the viewer back to the scene of the crime. The true-crime and investigation viewer is very discriminating and expects that 360-degree experience, seeing the story from all perspectives to draw from it a conclusion.”
 
Miles says that other techniques used to bring viewers into the heart of past crimes or investigations include interviews with key characters, access to videos, interview tapes and forensic materials.
 
“CGI graphics and animation are also great tools that help to illuminate and re-create the crime accurately, while avoiding too much violence as part of the dramatization,” notes CABLEready’s Lico.
 
Technology certainly has played a role in the genre’s evolution, with the use of CGI and other innovative re-creation techniques, yet a solid, compelling story is still what drives these series forward. “Whether they [include more elements of a] drama or documentary, the story line has to be gripping, and the end has to give the viewer what they want—the unfolding of events, the perpetrator brought to justice and, possibly, a reason for it all,” says Beyond’s Kanna-Konsek.
 
New Dominion’s Eppley agrees, noting that good storytelling helps viewers feel like they’re part of putting together the pieces of the crime-solving puzzle. “It’s all about keeping the audience on the edge of their seats, giving clues and keeping them in the moment, not revealing ‘whodunit’ until the very end,” she says. “It is so important to maintain the mystery throughout the program. Once the audience knows who did it, they move on. We take viewers behind-the-scenes of major crime investigations. They witness world-renowned forensics experts and criminal investigators and the techniques they use to solve murders and other crimes. Along the way, the audience gets to exercise their own detective instincts.”
 
Eppley goes on to note that the market is open for both present- and past-tense styles of presenting criminal cases. “The trend is changing all the time, from docudrama past tense to reality, actual footage, and back and forth,” she says. “All driven by the appetite of the channels and their audience.”
 
And it’s a mixed bag of broadcasters that have an appetite for crime series. “Our programs have been and continue to be licensed across all types of channels, from general-entertainment to documentary to niche channels,” says Eppley.
 
CRIME SHOPPING SPREE
“We have many channels in the international marketplace that look to acquire crime,” says Passion’s Miles, “from the broader mainstream channels to female channels (women love crime stories) and the more focused, targeted crime channels.”
 
Paul Heaney, the president and managing director of Cineflix International Distribution, has had a similar experience, selling titles such as Cold Blood, Murder She Solved: True Crime, True CSI and Psychic Investigators to a range of broadcasters. “There are niche channels, like Crime & Investigation Network, but also solid slots on free-to-air networks in U.S., U.K., Australia, Germany, Scandinavia and Benelux.”
 
Heaney has found that these shows cast a wide net when it comes to gender as well. “Women tend to enjoy the storytelling aspect, while the crime and sensation appeals more to a male audience,” he notes.
 
An aspect that can draw in both male and female audiences for a crime show is the allure of celebrity. The incorporation of star power has paid off for Comcast International Media Group (CIMG), which offers up the signature E! Investigates strand, with titles such as Bizarre and Mysterious Celebrity Deaths, Rich Kids Who Kill and Doomed by Lust.
 
“Quite simply, nothing sells like celebrity,” says Jene Elzie, the VP of international sales and strategic planning at CIMG. “The very idea that people who seemingly have everything they could ever want—money, power, fame—have problems just like any of us is what keeps people tuned in. Perhaps it is a bit of ironic joy in the fact that the ‘perfect’ people aren’t so perfect after all. Perhaps it is the relatability—the leveling of the playing field—in realizing that name-the-A-lister is just like you and me. Regardless, the celebrity angle brings a whole new level of intrigue.”
 
Elzie adds, “Look at the O. J. Simpson trial, which is now two decades on. It changed the face of television. It blurred the lines of celebrity, gossip and news reporting. The lines were crossed on the day of that fateful Bronco chase, and media has never looked back.”
 
The celebrity spin on crime shows is but one example of this genre’s continued evolution.
 
UP FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION
“You would think that it’s all been covered, from plain old-fashioned murder investigation to investigation by psychics,” says Beyond’s Kanna-Konsek, but there are constantly new turns to be taken with these tales. “Our current Deadly Women season four focuses on children who kill. However disturbing this is, you are on tenterhooks while you watch.”
 
Passion’s Miles adds, “There are so many more innovative new technologies and techniques we can use and this will continue to push boundaries and keep a very contemporary feel, telling old stories in new ways, as with Jack the Ripper: The Definitive Story,” which will be available at the end of the year. “It is a popular genre and we just need to keep moving forward to excite the viewer with our storytelling.”
 
CABLEready also has some innovative offerings within the genre coming down the pipeline. “One twist on the crime-and-investigation genre is the new program Lore,” Lico says. “Each two-hour episode uses both real and dramatized footage from real and folkloric tales, fused together in a feature-length docu-thriller.”
 
He continues, “This is evidence that the genre is still evolving and expanding, despite its lengthy and successful track record. The need for new creative approaches like Lore is on the rise, as crime channels have now launched all over the world, which is steadily increasing the demand for innovative crime programming.”