{"id":15901,"date":"2021-03-25T09:26:09","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T13:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreenings-off-fence-global-stage\/"},"modified":"2021-03-25T12:26:15","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T16:26:15","slug":"worldscreenings-off-the-fence-on-the-global-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreenings-off-the-fence-on-the-global-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"WorldScreenings: Off the Fence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Loren Baxter, head of acquisitions at Off the Fence, and\u00a0Stefanie Fischer, managing director of sales, discuss how the 360-degree nonfiction content company develops, finances, produces, co-produces and distributes top-tier factual programming for the global marketplace.<\/em><\/p>\n

With titles that cut across natural history, science, travel and adventure, lifestyle, history, people and culture, crime and feature docs, Off the Fence knows what makes for content that can prove compelling in a multitude of regions, with international relevance, alongside access, style and story proving to be the winning ingredients for successful shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stories really are key, and if you can craft a great story, then that really sells itself,\u201d says Loren Baxter, head of acquisitions at Off the Fence. The feature documentary My Octopus Teacher<\/em>, from Off the Fence, Netflix Originals and Seachange Productions, is \u201can unconventional tale about a man and an octopus, and yet the story itself was remarkable!\u201d says Baxter. The company is interested in such documentaries that have a strong narrative interwoven among internationally trendy topics such as ancient history, international crime stories,\u00a0aerial travel shows or those that explore unique places around the globe. Also of high priority are natural-history shows that explore environmental solutions and science series that cover engineering or quirky health topics.<\/p>\n

With headquarters in Amsterdam, London and Bristol, Off the Fence has long had to think and operate on an international scale, says Stefanie Fischer, managing director of sales, pointing to the relatively limited commissioning appetite in the Netherlands. \u201cWe have had to rely heavily on pan-regional channels such as National Geographic, Discovery and European broadcasters, including ZDF, ARTE, the BBC and similar,\u201d says Baxter. Like thinking internationally, co-productions and early development financing have also long been a part of the Off the Fence DNA with its Bristol- and Amsterdam-based production arms. \u201cWe consider ourselves an international company, whose remit has grown to include Netflix, YouTube, Amazon, CuriosityStream and many more,\u201d says Fischer. \u201cWith more options and choices for content, it can be difficult to navigate which is the best deal financially or editorially. With our team of ten salespeople, we can penetrate territories deeper than most and provide continuous sales after the first financing window.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also separating Off the Fence is its London acquisitions and marketing team, according to Baxter, who runs the London office. Baxter explains that they are in a prime position to welcome global producers and are the first point of contact for those looking to connect with the company on new shows. \u201cWe’re uniquely positioned to offer a range of services, including production and sales,\u201d says Fischer. \u201cThe level of creative models is endless, and with our Head of Commissioning Leila Monks on hand to editorially pitch shows in early development, including from third-party producers, to a range of premium broadcasters in the U.K. and the U.S., but also working closely with the sales team in other key markets, we can seamlessly transition between different production and distribution needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOutside of the U.S. and the U.K., we sit comfortably within Europe, where our ZDF Enterprises ownership puts us in a strong position for co-production opportunities with German and French channels,\u201d Fischer adds. \u201cWhether content comes to us looking for editorial shaping or co-production or just financing, we can contribute toward a multitude of scenarios. This is our unique sweet spot!\u201d<\/p>\n

Off the Fence\u2019s recent acquisitions include Titanic: Into the Heart of the Wreck<\/em>, produced by Bleu Kobalt, which came to the company at an early stage with only France T\u00e9l\u00e9visions on board, in need of a quick turnaround and with a good portion of the budget still to be financed. \u201cThis is a perfect example of a third-party project, which we helped finance through co-productions and presales,\u201d says Baxter. \u201cEventually we brought on board the HISTORY channel in the U.S. and Leila oversaw this version editorially for the channel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where our production office can be extremely valuable,\u201d adds Fischer, who also mentions the brokering of a co-production deal with Terra X in Germany and presales to Channel 4 and SBS Australia.<\/p>\n

Off the Fence is also working with SWR Media on Plane Crash Recreated<\/em>, a ten-part series that the company helped finance and will be launching at MIPTV. \u201cThis was a project we’d been trying to get off the ground for some time and we weren’t giving up,\u201d explains Baxter. \u201cOur close connections to the German market allowed us to bring in n-tv in Germany, and with financing from Off the Fence and SWR\/Dash, we were able to greenlight the production.\u201d Off the Fence is also looking for presales for The Global Vaccine Race<\/em>, produced by Infield Fly in Canada. Taking an international look at how the race for a Covid-19 vaccine kicked off, it visits countries on the frontlines of the research to witness the endless work of scientists looking for an answer to combat the pandemic.<\/p>\n

At MIPTV, Off the Fence will also highlight programs from its exclusive relationship with Terra Mater Factual Studios, including What a Colourful World<\/em> and a one-off with music legend and icon Cher, Cher and the Loneliest Elephant<\/em>, which follows her years of campaigning for the release of an isolated elephant named Kavaan.<\/p>\n

Roughly a year since the severity of Covid-19 hit home around the world, setting off a spate of turbulent months within the industry, some positive developments have manifested amid the mayhem. \u201cThe focus being the rise of the streaming platforms and the accelerated success of the existing platforms,\u201d says Fischer. \u201cAside from SVOD, AVOD has been around for quite a while but is now gaining a lot of traction, which is very exciting for distributors like us. The streamers have created a much wider appetite for global content, so we’re seeing much more diversity, more localized productions and a keen interest for bigger, bolder stories that challenge the narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fischer admits that the endless sprouting of new streaming services from traditional players with linear offerings, along with other new platforms consistently cropping up, can make things complex\u2014though the complexity is not without its opportunity. \u201cContent can be exploited in many ways outside of the traditional route, enabling further financing opportunities, with smaller partners starting to come on board early and investing in co-productions and presales,\u201d Fischer explains, adding that Off the Fence has also seen a surge in demand for natural history from many different channels, some of which had previously not expressed as much interest. \u201cWith natural history being one of our specialist areas, it’s very encouraging, and we can bring a wealth of expertise and experience when it comes to production and distribution, including additional impact campaigns and support from our friends at WaterBear Network.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid the ongoing restrictions due to Covid-19, Off the Fence, like many companies, has relied on technology to keep the deals coming and production moving, finding an environmental silver lining in the disruption of business-as-usual. \u201cStories have become, by default, more internationalized, and we’ve reduced our carbon footprint in the process by traveling less!\u201d says Fischer. \u201cHopefully there’ll be some takeaways here to stay with regard to our global footprint when producing these shows now and in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

See Off the Fence\u2019s Spring 2021 Showcase here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loren Baxter, head of acquisitions at Off the Fence, and\u00a0Stefanie Fischer, managing director of sales, discuss how the 360-degree nonfiction content company develops, finances, produces, co-produces and distributes top-tier factual programming for the global marketplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1033,"featured_media":15902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[5427,760,3838],"class_list":["post-15901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-loren-baxter","tag-off-the-fence","tag-stefanie-fischer","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nWorldScreenings: Off the Fence - TVREAL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreenings-off-the-fence-on-the-global-stage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WorldScreenings: Off the Fence - TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Loren Baxter, head of acquisitions at Off the Fence, and\u00a0Stefanie Fischer, managing director of sales, discuss how the 360-degree nonfiction content company develops, finances, produces, co-produces and distributes top-tier factual programming for the global marketplace.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreenings-off-the-fence-on-the-global-stage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-25T13:26:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-25T16:26:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/07\/My-Octopus-Teacher-off-the-fence-0321.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"523\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"337\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chelsea Regan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chelsea Regan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreenings-off-the-fence-on-the-global-stage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreenings-off-the-fence-on-the-global-stage\/\",\"name\":\"WorldScreenings: Off the Fence - TVREAL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-25T13:26:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-25T16:26:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/2a2c6d8fb3c7c8b4220b8877ecffb79a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreenings-off-the-fence-on-the-global-stage\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreenings-off-the-fence-on-the-global-stage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreenings-off-the-fence-on-the-global-stage\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"WorldScreenings: Off the Fence\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\",\"name\":\"TVREAL\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/2a2c6d8fb3c7c8b4220b8877ecffb79a\",\"name\":\"Chelsea Regan\",\"description\":\"Chelsea Regan is the managing editor of World Screen. 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