Janet Hess is the series editor of NATURE, PBS’s prime time wildlife series, and the writer of Jacob Steinberg‘s SEASON OF THE OSPREY. In conversation with Peter Hamilton, Janet recalls how she found her unique and enviable writing career. She describes her creative process, beginning with her deep immersion in the footage with her long …
Industry legend Ellen Windemuth is CEO of WaterBear Network, the new free streaming platform dedicated to the future of our planet. Ellen was founder and CEO of Off The Fence, and has produced more than 500 hours of programs including this year’s Academy Award documentary winner MY OCTOPUS TEACHER. In conversation with SEASON OF THE …
Dr. Alan Poole is a leading osprey scientist and the author of the beautifully illustrated OSPREYS: THE REVIVAL OF A GLOBAL RAPTOR. In conversation with Melanie Wallace, longtime editor of PBS’s NOVA series, Alan describes the magnificent osprey, its evolution to become a superb fish-hunter, the role of the nest, its tender raising of …
PBS programming exec Bill Gardner helped make Season of the Osprey happen. He describes why the Osprey pitch was a winner, and how it became a successful NATURE / Love Nature co-production. This podcast launches our Season of the Osprey platform, the cenrepiece of our outreach campaign. Listen to Bill Gardner on PBS, Natural History …
Matt White recently passed away due to cancer. Here, his friend and colleague, David Royle, pays tribute to the passionate archivist, producer and longtime active member of documentary community. Few people have made a more important contribution to the world of non-fiction program-making than Matt White, but his name seldom appeared in the credits and …
In memory of Matt White, passionate archivist and producer: David Royle’s tribute Read More »
PBS’s Nature strand is celebrating its 40th year of global leadership in Wildlife programming. A highlight episode for the anniversary year is SEASON OF THE OSPREY (October 27). I’m honored to have co-xecutive produced OSPREY for director Jacob Steinberg and the co-production partners Love Nature and The WNET Group. The project is loaded with personal meaning: 40 …
The hyped rocket jaunts by Jeffrey Bezos and Richard Branson remind me of the combination of publicly-funded Space Science and broadcasting revealed in my COSMIC SHORE Case Study from Japan. Public broadcaster NHK developed a $100K space camera for a US$6.5 million coproduction with PBS‘s NOVA strand. Their mission: capture the edge of our world, where …
The rise of the streamers has an overall negative impact on global spending on television production. Why? Channels greenlight 200-600 hours / year to populate their linear, 7-day schedules with original programs. Streamers buy enough new programs to attract and retain subscribers. The following Australian example is revealing… if you accept my back-of-envelope calculations and …
Netflix Shrinks Australia’s Local Production Spend: My back-of-envelope lesson Read More »