Documentary Channel (DOC)

World Screen Weekly, May 15, 2008

COUNTRY: U.S.

LAUNCH DATE: January 2006

DISTRIBUTION: Reaches more than 21 million homes on DISH Network, including a number of broadcast stations across the U.S.

DESCRIPTION: A 24-hour pay-TV network devoted to independent documentaries from the U.S. and around the world.

FOUNDER & CEO: Tom Neff

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD: James J. Ackerman

SENIOR VP, PROGRAMMING: Kate Pearson

SENIOR VP, MARKETING & SALES: Jay Kelley

SENIOR VP, CREATIVE SERVICES: Barry Rubinow

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: For Tom Neff, the founder and CEO of Documentary Channel (DOC), the mandate of the two-and-a-half-year-old network is self-explanatory: “We want to offer the best in independent documentaries,” hailing from a variety of sources, including indie filmmakers, students and third-party distributors. “We create relationships with organizations like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, ITVS and the National Film Board of Canada, and they help point us to great films and great filmmakers.”

The schedule is organized thematically; Doc All Stars, for example, features sports films, Earth View focuses on environmental issues; Quantum houses science docs and Sound Check is home to music-based features. “It’s a very eclectic mix of films,” Neff notes. “We show classic to cutting edge, all lengths, all genres.”

The channel’s biggest acquisition thus far was a package of 21 IMAX features from Northstar Media that have previously never aired in the U.S. The agreement includes the Tom Hanks-narrated Magnificent Desolation, the Tom Cruise-narrated Space Station and T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous. The films to appear on DOC have a combined estimated total of more than $600 million in gross box-office receipts, including three of the top ten largest grossing films in IMAX history.

The deal, Neff says, “shows our commitment to the independent documentary genre. It was an opportunity to expose these terrific films to a new audience. We will make a point of presenting them uncut, and they’re absolutely meticulously transferred to high def, with great sound. The quality will come through and I think it will show the variety of filmmaking that is in the large screen format.”

The channel also features original productions, including Treasures of the Academy, which takes an in-depth look at docs that have been nominated for, or won, Oscars. Another key original for the network is DocTalk@USC, where Mark Jonathan Harris, from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, interviews some of today’s leading filmmakers. Doc Fest, meanwhile, showcases filmmakers and their projects being presented at film festivals across the country.

Supporting the independent filmmaker community is a key mandate for DOC. Neff is himself a documentary producer whose credits include the Emmy-winning Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Rome� Dallaire. “I have a unique perspective where I can work with both the creative independent filmmaker and the business side,” Neff says. “What I’ve really enjoyed now is finding productions and matching them with independent documentary filmmakers. For example, we’re doing a film on the Tennessee Valley Authority and we’re working with Sean and Andrea Fine, who did the Oscar-nominated War/Dance. They bring a unique perspective to filmmaking and to this particular subject.”

WHAT’S NEW: One of DOC’s biggest priorities is expanding distribution beyond its current DISH Network base, and it is using its website to get viewers to lobby for the service to be added to other platforms.

The website also features, in addition to information about the schedule, an online store for doc DVD releases and links to resources for independent filmmakers. “I’d like to see us actively involved in building a community of documentary filmmakers and viewers. So that whenever anyone wants to know anything about documentaries, they come to our website.”

The website is part of DOC’s broader new-media plans. “We’re going to move very actively and aggressively into video on demand,” Neff says. “Over the next three or four months we’re going to be significantly revamping our website. We want to offer more films online. We get so many submissions and simply cannot air them all. But we might show some of them on our website or on VOD.”

WEBSITE: www.documentarychannel.com

—By Mansha Daswani