People are willing to pay for the content they want to see, perhaps more than ever before, making it a good time to be a content creator, according to Chris Dorsey, president and CEO of Dorsey Pictures. Based near Denver, Colorado, the company aims to cater to viewers living in the heartland of the U.S. with content across the factual spectrum that delves into the stories and the people of the expanse of the country between the coasts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe often circulate in rural areas and smaller communities, so many of the concepts and characters that we find are organically within our content DNA,\u201d says Dorsey, explaining that the company likes to ask itself why a broadcaster would look to it to produce a given series. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean we won\u2019t take other swings, but we tend to focus our energies on our core competencies and leave the coastal content to the companies based in New York and Los Angeles. The good news is that there are a lot of territories, characters and stories between the coasts\u2014and plenty of networks catering to those viewers as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among Dorsey\u2019s best-known titles are male-skewing \u201cbuild\u201d shows such as Building Alaska<\/em>, Building Off the Grid<\/em> and Maine Cabin Masters<\/em>. \u201cThe stories tend to be more about a different view of the American dream than they are simply about building homes\u2014and that\u2019s why they have been popular with audiences across the globe,\u201d says Dorsey. \u201cThese shows tap into a freedom many of us wish we had\u2014to live an independent lifestyle on the land and by the land.\u201d<\/p>\n At Dorsey, a Red Arrow Studios company, \u201cWe love creating content that taps into underserved communities and reveals a worldview that might be foreign to an urbanite,\u201d says the CEO.<\/p>\n The company has also produced a number of series about tiny homes\u2014a trend that Dorsey believes is only going to tick upward in the coming years. \u201cMany millennials and others simply don\u2019t want a 30-year mortgage and to be tied to an expensive home,\u201d he says. \u201cI think you\u2019re going to see a massive surge in interest in the tiny home space again as economics, supply chain issues and home availability are all driving renewed interest in this way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n Another societal trend that Dorsey predicts will have an impact on the kind of content viewers will have an interest in is the flight of city-dwellers to homes in the suburbs and countryside due to the pandemic and its rippling effects. \u201cWe are actively looking to exploit the greatest American home migration in history and develop concepts for the new post-Covid reality,\u201d he says. \u201cThe mass exodus from cities, with people being able to work from home\u2014wherever they want to live\u2014has created a new freedom and a new way of life. I know many television executives that have left Los Angeles and New York and are living in Colorado and other places with a different quality of life. That firsthand experience will undoubtedly drive new programming because the execs know they\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n Since Dorsey Pictures began its push into true crime a few years ago, it has created such titles as Accident, Suicide or Murder<\/em>, which \u201ctapped into the unease many people have about the way a loved one or friend died.\u201d The company\u2019s focus within the subgenre, as it is with its entire content slate, is on stories in more remote areas. \u201cRural jurisdictions and small towns often lack the resources to do thorough investigations, and it would shock you to know how many murderers are walking the streets of this country,\u201d says Dorsey. \u201cIn our county alone, located outside of Denver, there are more than 200 unsolved homicides.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking ahead, Dorsey Pictures wants to both reinforce its brand and what it\u2019s known for and push outside its comfort zone and build stronger relationships with an expanded network of executives. \u201cThe linear-streaming transition hasn\u2019t been easy for anyone, and we know that we need to be good partners that not only bring great story ideas but bring business solutions as well,\u201d notes Dorsey. \u201cFundamentally, we need to be asking execs what we can do to lighten their load.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chris Dorsey, president and CEO of Dorsey Pictures, talks to World Screen Newsflash about the company’s aim to provide content across the factual spectrum that delves into the stories in America’s heartland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1033,"featured_media":17994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,69],"tags":[3401,632],"class_list":["post-17993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-profiles","category-top-stories","tag-chris-dorsey","tag-dorsey-pictures","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n