{"id":23154,"date":"2025-06-17T10:41:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T14:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/showcase-off-the-fence\/"},"modified":"2025-06-17T10:51:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T14:51:26","slug":"showcase-off-the-fence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/showcase-off-the-fence\/","title":{"rendered":"Showcase: Off the Fence"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the last 30 years, OTF Studios has produced more than 700 hours of original content for broadcasters and platforms worldwide. Ingrained in this rich history is a measurable talent for collaboration, which has seen OTF fuse ideas, talent and contributors with creative expertise to outstanding effect. This has resulted in a slate that boasts Emmy nominations and a win in the environmental and wildlife category at Banff’s Rockie Awards for\u00a0Silverback\u00a0<\/em>(BBC, France T\u00e9l\u00e9visions); an Academy Award for\u00a0My Octopus Teacher<\/em>; and an environmental justice film,\u00a0The Letter<\/em>, made with Pope Francis in 2022, which has been viewed almost 9 million times on YouTube.<\/p>\n

See Off the Fence’s Exclusive Showcase here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrew Zikking, OTF Studios\u2019 managing director of production, weighs in on the unit\u2019s long and impressive track record, which recently landed the company in\u00a0<\/strong>Realscreen<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s Global 100 as one of the top ten co-production partners in the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Awards are the icing on the cake, but being seen as a preferred and respected co-pro partner is an important badge of honor right now. As every production company knows, almost every potential project requires the ability to draw in financing from every corner of the industry to piece together a deal, so I\u2019m extremely proud of the relationships we\u2019ve built and maintained over the last 30 years.<\/p>\n

Producing in the current climate isn\u2019t an easy feat, especially for a production company that\u2019s so well known in the wildlife space. But over the last few years, more than 50 percent of our output has been in other genres, including history (Underworld<\/em>,\u00a0Ancient Engineering<\/em>) and science (Great Inventions, Future from Above<\/em>). We\u2019ve also curated a diverse distribution slate ranging from true crime (The Sex Trafficker\u2019s Wife<\/em>,\u00a0The Amazon Review Killer<\/em>) to cross-genre hybrids of all of the above (Unearthed: Ancient Murder Detectives<\/em>). We\u2019re lucky enough to benefit from our in-house distribution team, which works collaboratively with us on our ideas to find presale and co-pro partners.<\/p>\n

OTF\u2019s nine-strong sales and acquisitions team has always been one of our key assets. We recently collaborated with Iceland\u2019s Saga Film on\u00a0Iceland from Above<\/em>, an idea that came through our in-house acquisitions team. The sales team knew there was a demand in this space and pitched it to their network, and OTF Studios came on board as a co-producer. We replicated this model with\u00a0Beavers from Above<\/em>\u00a0with Markham Street Films and CBC in Canada, which took us to the wilds of Alaska to chart an extraordinary invasion of Canada\u2019s most famous animals on the frontline of climate change.<\/p>\n

Loren Baxter, head of acquisitions and co-productions at OTF, adds the perspective from her remit.<\/strong>
\nWe are constantly reacting to what our buyers are telling us and thinking about how we can deliver that. On the acquisitions side, wherever that content comes from\u2014third party or in-house\u2014if it fits the brief, we\u2019ll put all of our teams behind it, which often propels these projects forward.<\/p>\n

This established co-production model has persuaded channels such as National Geographic, ARTE, ZDF, Curiosity Stream and the BBC to become trusted strategic partners. These partnerships have produced recent productions such as\u00a0Wild Talk\u00a0<\/em>with ZDF Studios and ARTE about animal communication, and\u00a0Zombie Animals<\/em>\u00a0with National Geographic International about the various parasites, viruses and fungi that take over animal hosts. Another example is AI-focused\u00a0What If Evolution<\/em>\u00a0with production company Return to Earth Studio, which is also headquartered in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

\n

Stefanie Fischer is the managing director of Amsterdam-based OTF Distribution and a key part of the company\u2019s co-pro efforts.<\/strong>
\nWe maintain strong partnerships in Germany, a key region for co-production, particularly with the channels within the ZDF group. In addition to the projects already mentioned, we\u2019ve collaborated with ZDF and ARTE on several productions. These include\u00a0Pharaohs: Rise and Fall<\/em>, a co-production with ARTE; the licensing of our upcoming film on CERN,\u00a0The Peace Particle<\/em>; and an exciting new OTF original with ZDFinfo that is about to be greenlit.<\/p>\n

The acclaimed conservation documentary\u00a0Silverback<\/em>\u00a0exemplifies the quality of OTF\u2019s partnerships. A co-production between the BBC, France T\u00e9l\u00e9visions, Xumo and Featuristic Film, the film has scooped a string of awards and nominations since it premiered on the BBC in 2023, including at the Emmys, BAFTAs, the Banff World Media Festival Rockie Awards and the RTS Programme Awards. Prizes this year include Best Natural History or Environmental Documentary at The Grierson Awards and a trio of Jackson Wild Media Awards: the Grand Teton Award; the People & Nature, Long Form Award; and the On-Screen Personality Award for protagonist Vianet Djenguet.<\/p>\n

As co-production and content financing models shift inexorably toward a more collaborative culture, OTF\u2019s Bristol-based arm is celebrating this legacy as we look to the future. With an increasing need to embrace storytelling more strategically to stand out and reach audiences in today\u2019s content-driven economy, OTF Studios also enables brands, businesses and funds to access professional-grade storytelling\u2014stories with reach, resonance and relevance.<\/p>\n

As well as continuing to target commissions and build co-productions, we are adding focus on digital commissioning and harnessing our IP to take advantage of the expanding B2C frontier that has been opened up by influencers. In some way, they have shaken up the entire industry, so perhaps we need to be humble enough to learn some lessons from them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Zikking, Loren Baxter and Stefanie Fischer showcase what’s driving commissions and sales at Off the Fence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[9711,5427,760,11100,10097,3838],"class_list":["post-23154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-andrew-zikking","tag-loren-baxter","tag-off-the-fence","tag-otf-distribution","tag-otf-studios","tag-stefanie-fischer","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nShowcase: 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\/showcase-off-the-fence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Showcase: Off the Fence - 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