Showcase: All3Media International

Investing in top-quality content is an integral part of All3Media International’s strategy, and its robust lineup of established and upcoming premium factual programming is a testament to this.

The partnerships the company forges are imperative for obtaining these high-quality titles. “For any distributor, fostering strong relationships with talented producers is key to ensuring a diverse pipeline of high-quality content, and this is particularly important for premium factual titles,” explains Rachel Job, senior VP of non-scripted. “By working closely with producers from the very outset, during development, we can be sure all our titles—and the stories they explore—have real global resonance that connects with an international audience.”

Some highlights Job notes are the company’s exclusive first-look deal with Oscar-, BAFTA- and Emmy-nominated factual producer Roast Beef Productions and its first collaboration with Canadian producer Paul Kemp Productions. “We’re also thrilled to have titles from Silverback joining our catalogue and to see our slate growing with new titles from genre-leading producers Raw, Two Rivers Media and 72 Films.”

With dedicated sales teams in EMEA, the Americas and the Asia Pacific, All3Media International is able to forge the right partnerships for the exact kind of content that buyers are looking for. “We’re able to draw on the latest insights from clients around the world to inform our work with producers and ensure the shows we bring to market have true global appeal,” says Amber Richardson, non-scripted content executive.

Based on the insight gathered by the various sales teams, “when it comes to the premium factual genre, we know that traditional linear buyers are looking for box sets and feature docs that will create a buzz, offer a glossy cinematic style and have strong global relevance—the kind of content that can compete with the streamers,” Richardson explains. “At the same time, digital-first buyers are also looking for these attributes to ensure shows perform well in an online setting.”

With these key factors in mind, All3Media International has curated an “upcoming premium factual slate full of world-class documentary series and specials exploring a wide array of captivating stories,” notes Richardson.

With a view to this global approach, Jennifer Askin, senior VP of North America, and Yari Torres, VP of Latin America, discuss the latest titles on All3Media International’s premium factual slate.

Recently joining the distributor’s slate is Paul Kemp Productions’ Searching for Satoshi: The Mysterious Disappearance of the Bitcoin Creator, which offers “a timeless detective story set in the digital age,” Askin explains. “We’ve all heard of Bitcoin, a ‘digital gold’ that has transformed the way money and currencies operate, yet its origin story is still largely unknown, as is the fact that its mysterious creator, known by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, vanished less than two years after its launch.”

Another title the company plans to launch in the near future is Keeping It Up, a recent-history film from Two Rivers Media that details the creation and promotion of Viagra, which launched a sexual revolution about 25 years ago. Torres shares how “this film offers a first-time insight into Viagra’s journey from a failed heart drug to a genuinely global phenomenon, delving into the impact Viagra had across the world on religion, population and cultural conversation.”

Askin highlights another history program from the premium factual portfolio: Pompeii: The People’s Story. From Lion Television, it follows the biggest excavation of Pompeii in a generation, “uncovering revelatory finds, as well as exploring what happened to named survivors and tracing their modern-day descendants.”

72 Films’ Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius, meanwhile, explores the real-life happenings that inspired some of William Shakespeare’s most famous works. “Packed with the producer’s trademark forensic research, visual flair and authoritative storytelling, this is not a dry, academic retelling of his life,” Askin says. “Gripping and visceral, it’s his life as never seen before, capturing the reality of the world that shaped him through lavish drama scenes and featuring A-list contributors, including Dame Judi Dench, Dame Helen Mirren, Brian Cox and Adrian Lester.”

And, of course, with true crime continuing to perform strongly worldwide, according to Job, the All3Media International slate features a variety of premium titles within the genre such as Accused: The Hampstead Paedophile Hoax from Story Films and Dead in the Water, from the award-winning team at Raw, who are also behind The Tinder Swindler.

Dead in the Water is “an atmospheric true-crime series that tells a gripping, global story of the hunt for a brutal killer,” Torres explains. “Forty years after the bodies of Chris Farmer and his girlfriend Peta Frampton were found off the coast of Guatemala and long after the trail for their killer has gone cold, Penny Farmer, British journalist and Chris’s sister, discovers a shocking breakthrough that takes her to a horrific truth. It’s a truly captivating story that explores whether decades on from the original crime justice could finally be served?”

Ultimately, “premium factual means high-budget, cinematic production values; exclusive access; extensive research and journalistically robust material; globally relevant stories; and leading talent in front and behind the camera,” Job says. And with this stacked lineup of newly launched and hotly anticipated titles from leading producers, it appears that the company has ticked every one of its premium factual requirements.

Read more in All3Media International’s Showcase here.