Eric Neuhaus on Bitconned, Tanked & the State of the Doc Industry

Eric Neuhaus has garnered over 25 years of experience in the documentary industry, helping over 50 original series and films come to fruition. As senior VP of development at Glass Entertainment Group, Neuhaus served as an executive producer on Animal Planet’s long-running Tanked and the recent Emmy-nominated Netflix documentary Bitconned, along with over 500 episodes of other programs for various networks and platforms.

On the heels of launching his own company, Neuhaus Creative Group, which specializes in developing IP and talent across multimedia platforms, Neuhaus spoke with TV Real Weekly about trends in the true-crime genre, how Bitconned came about, the long-running success of Tanked and advice for aspiring documentary makers.

TV REAL: True crime has been a hot genre for a while, and it doesn’t seem to be ebbing. That means there is a lot of true-crime programming for viewers to choose from. What trends have you seen in the genre, and what do you think a true-crime program needs to stand out?
NEUHAUS: The marketplace is flooded with true crime, and now everything is part of that genre. One of the biggest trends that we’re seeing is true-crime podcasts [adapted as] series. I know that firsthand because I developed Betrayal, which started out as an iHeart podcast, as a limited series for Hulu. Now, it’s on Hulu, and instead of a limited series, they’re doing it as a weekly series where each episode is a different stand-alone story of betrayal. We’re seeing a lot of these podcasts becoming true-crime TV shows. We actually did the reverse for Bitconned, with Creating a Con. It happened simultaneously as we developed the Netflix project.

Then, we’re seeing the trend of not just murder. There’s a new anthology series on Netflix called Trainwreck, and those [episodes] are crime-adjacent, like “Poop Cruise.” There’s a lawsuit and there’s a lawyer, so there’s not a “crime.” Another is on American Apparel. There are lawsuits there. So, you’re seeing a lot of crime-adjacent that’s becoming popular.

You’re also seeing multiple points of view of the same story, like with the Sherri Papini story. On Max, you saw her point of view [in Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie]. Prior to that, you had [Keith Papini, her ex-husband’s] point of view [in Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini on Hulu]. You have these competing documentaries, and there’s such an appetite that the audience will watch the Hulu one, then they’ll go to Max and watch the Max one. They’ll want more, and they’ll get that one little [extra] piece of information from the other documentary. Now, you’re seeing that with the Idaho murders, with one on Prime Video and one on Peacock. It’s axis-driven, so different points of view from different documentaries.

You’re also seeing stories that are more immersive. One is American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden, and then similarly, you have Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers. With those, Netflix and the producers put you in the action. They use a lot of archives to situate the documentary. With American Manhunt, you felt like you were there watching them hunt him down. You’re watching the footage from the drones. They had so many different archive sources that it put you in the action.

And then, of course, you have breaking news, quick-turnaround docs, like with the Diddy case. That’s not going to go away. There are a lot of those. Then, I’m seeing some more of these talent-driven documentaries. For instance, Elizabeth Chambers has a new series on Max, and she has that connection to Armie Hammer.

TV REAL: How did Bitconned come about, and how did it land on Netflix?
NEUHAUS: I talk to a lot of literary agents because I think books are a great way to find amazing stories that are written by someone who is very close to the story. In this case, it turned out to be Ray [Trapani] himself. An agent sent me the proposal, and it was very, very rough. It was kind of a stream of consciousness, but it was fascinating. I immediately called the agent and said, Let’s do a Zoom with him. We got on and immediately knew this was going to be great. There was no filter. He was actually vaping during the interview. I knew he was going to be a good character, he was young and good-looking. It had those things that I knew Netflix liked. We went out with it everywhere, but Netflix was definitely one of the main goals.

TV REAL: You were also an executive producer on and helped launch Tanked. What allowed that series to maintain its success for so long? And what does a reality TV show need to achieve similar long-running success?
NEUHAUS: That is the million-dollar question. As an executive producer, I’m always trying to keep the format fresh because that was a build show, so it can become formulaic. You meet the client, [find out] what they want, follow the process and then you see the reveal. People love that. It works. But in between, you have to vary it up. We were always trying to figure out new ways to inject other elements into the show. We made it comedic. We almost treated it like a sitcom because the guys were so funny and they were always ribbing each other. The other thing is, we were always trying to get bigger and better tanks and bigger and better celebrities. We did three tanks for Tracy Morgan. We did Neil Patrick Harris, Betty White.

Behind the scenes, we supported the business. This was a business, but it was also a TV show. We had to figure out a way to keep the production process and the tank business on the same schedule, which was hard. It took a couple of seasons. I learned exactly how to build a fish tank. If you’re doing any type of build show, you [should] know that process. You can then seamlessly take that process and make it a TV show. After a couple of seasons, we really figured that out. So, we could keep everything on time and on budget.

Lastly, it was about incorporating different elements into the storylines, like the kids. That really made it a family show. It wasn’t just the business, but you really got to know Brett [Raymer] and Wayde [King] and their families in a more personal way. That helped keep the audience engaged.

TV REAL: The industry is in a season of upheaval and evolution at the moment. What are the biggest challenges and opportunities that you are seeing in the documentary space right now?
NEUHAUS: I would say the biggest challenge is finding new ideas and something different. I left Glass Entertainment Group in January, and I’ve started this new company that’s specifically focused on development. A lot of companies are getting rid of their development departments because it’s so expensive. People need fresh ideas, and they need a structure to find and develop those ideas. The biggest challenge is finding what those ideas are and going to places where people aren’t going. I would say to producers: Look for those stories that are not out there as much as some other projects. That’ll give you a step in the right direction.

The other thing I would [say helps] is looking for archives that haven’t been seen or heard. We have a serial killer project coming up on Oxygen called The Silent Serial Killer. It’s a serial killer you’ve never heard of called Douglas Gretzler. It came to us because a cartoon voiceover talent’s aunt was a reporter at the time, and she was the only journalist to interview Douglas Gretzler. They were sending audio tapes back and forth to each other. He had never spoken to anyone, and she kept all of these audio tapes of him. She just had them in a closet somewhere. There are 500 hours of tapes.

TV REAL: You ran a virtual workshop to provide guidance for aspiring documentary producers. Tell us about that.
NEUHAUS: I’m a really big fan of the Philadelphia Film Office because they provide opportunities for up-and-coming filmmakers. They help bring the film and TV business to Philadelphia. I reached out to them when I was nominated [for an Emmy for Bitconned]. I asked, “How can I help you get the word out that documentaries are being produced in Philadelphia?” They said, “Why don’t you talk about the development process?” People don’t know how documentaries come about. Students and young people think the only way to get into the business is to become a PA and work on set and hold a walkie-talkie, which is certainly fun, but that’s not what is going to get you to grow if you want to produce a documentary. You have to come up with ideas. If you want to work on a set, that’s fine. But if you want to be creative, the creativity is in the development process. I like giving back to up-and-coming producers. I think that’s important.

And I always say, there are no bad ideas. It’s just a matter of taking an idea, figuring out why it’s bad and then making it a good idea. Because that’s really the challenge. What’s bad about the idea? Why won’t it sell? OK, if it won’t sell for this reason, then let’s transform it. Let’s turn it a little bit and make it sellable. You never know where that next great idea is going to come from.