MIPTV & MIPDoc: The Week in Factual

The glossy six-parter The Story of Europe, which uses epic reenactments and lush visuals to chronicle the region’s history, topped the list of most-screened titles at MIPDoc this year. The ZDF Enterprises production reflects a wider move toward more ambitious, higher-end storytelling in the factual landscape. Look at some of the other shows that rose to the top of the 1,400-plus titles available in the MIPDoc screenings library: Pope: The Most Powerful Man in History, a CNN docuseries sold by FremantleMedia International, takes an inside look at the Vatican over the course of six episodes; 2077: 10 Seconds to the Future paints a picture of what humankind may look like 60 years from now; ZDF Enterprises’ A Day in the Life of Earth tells the story of how the planet changes every day. And the MIPDoc International Pitch winner was Soora: Breaking the Silence, about four fearless feminists in Iran.

Last week also saw Discovery unveil a new production from two heavyweights, Steven Spielberg and Alex Gibney, who are joining forces on the tentatively titled event series Why We Hate. And Red Bull Media House made headlines when it revealed it is the exclusive global media production and distribution partner for Berlin-based space pioneers PTScientists’ first private mission to land on the moon. Red Bull Media House will develop, produce and license the mission’s live broadcasts, behind-the-scenes footage, feature documentaries and more. Terra Mater Factual Studios used MIPTV as an opportunity to start discussing a 3×52-minute documentary series about the endeavor.

The demand for higher production values and ambitious stories was clear at MIPDoc’s View from the Top: What Do Buyers & Commissioners Want session, moderated by World Screen’s Anna Carugati. National Geographic’s Christian Drobnyk, CuriosityStream’s Steve Burns and France Télévisions’ Thierry Mino shared their acquisition and co-production strategies before each receiving a World Screen Factual Trendsetter Award.

Drobnyk is executive VP of programming strategy and acquisitions at National Geographic Channels globally, with a large focus on the U.S. services. These include the flagship National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo WILD. “It’s my responsibility to make sure that our service reflects our brand and that we perform around the world,” he said.

Mino is the deputy head of documentaries, international co-productions and acquisitions at France Télévisions. He has a team of 12 programmers responsible for prebuys and acquisitions on one side and co-productions on the other. The team acquires about 500 titles a year for France 5 and another 100 for other services within the group. The team also prebuys or co-produces 50 programs a year.

Burns serves as chief programming officer at the SVOD platform CuriosityStream, which focuses on science, history, technology, wildlife and cultural programming. The service is available in 196 countries around the world. Now in its third year, the platform has amassed about 1,800 titles. “Each year we do 120 hours of acquisitions, presales, co-pros and commissions,” he said.

On his wish list, Drobnyk referenced science, history, exploration, adventure, travel and natural history. Nat Geo WILD has “built a microcosm of what we call animal caregivers,” with series like The Incredible Dr. Pol, about a vet clinic. “The other place we’re looking is more host-driven series that can take us into some of these areas. One of the challenges we all have on the documentary and nonfiction side is, how do we take this genre to a new generation of viewers? CuriosityStream is all about reaching those viewers where they are today. Creatively we need to find ways to do that. The Story of God with Morgan Freeman is one example. CNN’s Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown is another. This is a way of creatively taking people into these genres, and I’m hoping to bring more faces to our air to do that.”

Mino has two sets of wish lists at France TV. He’s looking for titles that will fill a Tuesday evening prime-time slot in the areas of science, space, ancient civilizations and archeology. These will usually be one-off, 90-minute programs, either French productions or international co-pros or acquisitions. He’s also buying for daytime, notably programs on discovery, wildlife and ethnology.

According to Burns, CuriosityStream is “always looking for a new production technique that allows people to revisit those topics [of science, engineering, wildlife, etc.]. It’s that substance matched with an entertaining storytelling style that we’re always looking for.”

On the overall state of the factual market, Drobnyk commented, “There was a period when there was a big creative crisis in nonfiction television and reality TV took us there. More recently, there’s been a variety of super high-quality content. Our focus is to serve up the best possible series and content in each of these categories and to tell stories in new ways. That’s not necessarily falling off the trees.”

Burns noted that as the networks moved more to reality TV, “the people who normally came to Discovery and National Geographic for science and history could no longer find it. So we’re getting a lot of those people to come to us. And in terms of volume, we’re always hoping that the producers we meet at events like this will have new ideas, and they always do. I don’t think there will ever be a shortage of these inspiring, high-quality, entertaining factual programs.”

The three panelists also discussed the importance of alliances, a trend that could be seen in deals throughout the week. Smithsonian Channel and EBS Korea said they are collaborating on China’s Dragon Emperor, a two-part 4K/UHD special. Barcroft Media and TCB Media Rights entered into a co-production deal that sees the distributor acquire the worldwide rights to sell a new long-form TV series based on the popular digital show Extreme Love. Eden Gaha’s Mother Media Group entered into a first-look agreement with STXtv, the TV division of STX Entertainment. And Entertainment One announced its acquisition of a majority stake in the British factual producer Whizz Kid Entertainment.

A slate of high-quality factual programs notched up slots for distributors throughout the week. BBC Studios sent a raft of factual shows to Africa, including Blue Planet II and Planet Earth II to SABC, and did a deal with OTT operator Okko in Russia for natural-history fare like Life and Frozen Planet. It was also a busy week for FremantleMedia International, which unveiled deals for The Coronation in more than 70 territories across Europe, Latin America, Canada, the Middle East and Asia. Ovation in the U.S., meanwhile, licensed a pair of Jamie Oliver shows from FremantleMedia International, as well as a package of titles from Banijay Rights. Some 350 hours of programming was sold by all3media international into Germany and Benelux, including Lion Television’s landmark three-part series The Great Fire of London: In Real Time to ZDF. TCB Media Rights placed The Private Lives of the Monarchs, World’s Wildest Weather and Abandoned Engineering with broadcasters in the U.S. Kew Media Group presold the paranormal series Haunted Hospitals to Discovery’s Quest Red in the U.K. and Ireland. And Beyond Distribution landed a new round of sales for the MythBusters franchise.

A fair bit of commissioning news also broke at MIPTV. BBC Studios said it is producing Royal Wedding Watch, a five-part nightly special leading up to the live broadcast of the royal wedding, for PBS in the U.S. NBC signed up for a royal doc of its own, from ITN Productions, called Inside the Royal Wedding: Harry and Meghan. Lightbox landed a commission from ID for Gypsy’s Revenge, telling the true story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Bristow Global Media is developing the docudrama Cleared for Chaos: 9/11, about how air-traffic controllers in the small Canadian town of Gander in Newfoundland pulled off the impossible on September 11, 2001, for Bell Media’s Discovery Networks in Canada.

Catch up on these stories and more on TVReal.ws. You can find our formats and drama recaps on WorldScreen.com.