Docsville

Documentary Business

Peter Hamilton Consultants, Inc

Operations

PBS’s Bill Gardner on programming strategy, working with the NATURE series, and Season of the Osprey

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 …

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NHK Japan’s $6.5 Million “Cosmic Shore”: A space science coproduction that compares favorably with billionaire-funded space tourism

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 …

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Footage.net’s David Seevers Interview: “Making the world’s best stock, news and archival footage searchable from a single site”

Footage.net is dedicated to making the world’s best stock, news and archival footage searchable from a single site, and to giving footage users the tools they need to discover and license the most relevant footage for their particular needs. David Seevers, Chief Marketing Officer and footage industry veteran shared his company’s vision and operations in …

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Netflix 2023 What You Need To Know Now


PACT Webinar: U.S. Networks & Factual Producers: Get Ready for the Content Desert! with Dan Salerno and Michael Hoff

In a webinar moderated by PACT‘s Dawn McCarthy-Simpson, the veterans Dan Salerno and Michael Hoff joined me to explore the COVID-disrupted condition of the production and programming pipeline for U.S. Factual networks. The big question: Are we heading into a “Content Desert?” Watch the May 19 webinar or read our detailed notes here! My guests …

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Netflix’s Fyre vs hulu’s Fyre. Parrot Analytics’ Courtney Williams on measuring audience engagement in the online video era. Podcast

The criminally disastrous Fyre Music Festival was covered in two documentary features that were released in January 2019: Fyre Fraud from hulu, Netflix’s Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. Who won? hulu reports 30 million subscribers against Netflix‘s 158 million. hulu was the surprise clear winner. That’s per the ‘audience engagement’ measurement developed by Parrot …

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NETFLIX 2020: What You Need To Know Now! Save 20%

NETFLIX 2020: What You Need To Know Now! is my updated study of how Netflix buys documentaries. Netflix has been a black box for the documentary production community. My new research reveals much more about Netflix’s strategy, programming decisions, budgets, deal terms, preferred producers, and the business model that drives it all. The new study …

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Netflix 2023 What You Need To Know Now


Happy Holidays!

Dear Friends & Colleagues, It’s been a fascinating year to report on the online video tsunami that is restructuring our industry. As the New Year approaches, we often feel that Netflix and Amazon Prime in particular are changing everything, and at an accelerating rate… I hope that my analysis of the emerging ecosystem for documentary and unscripted programs helps you …

Happy Holidays! Read More »

Netflix: How Its Continuous Innovation Strategy Drives Programming Decisions

A senior Netflix executive recently presented his company’s strategy of continuous innovation. It reveals how BIG DATA drives the personalization of programming decisions. It’s a very useful read for anyone who is pitching to a SVOD service. (Don’t miss my in depth coverage of Netflix and the SVOD market.) Enjoy my selection of slides from …

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