Pitching by Peter Hamilton, documentary television expert

Nat Geo Sets High Bar for Diversity and Inclusion. Releases Detailed Production Standards and Benchmarks

2021 June 9 / Commissioning Process, Disney +, Inclusivity, Pitching

Courteney Munro, National Geographic President Content yesterday released Nat Geo’s Content Inclusion Standards. The standards apply to feature docs, specials, series and scripted programs. The Nature category is broken out for detailed coverage. Our mission is to inspire, support, and elevate diversity and inclusion in every aspect of our daily work, storytelling, and content and product offerings, …

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Discovery Documentaries: SVP Howard Swartz reveals “The docs we’re looking for!”

2021 June 2 / Commissioning Process, Conferences & Markets, discovery+, Documentary TV, Funding a Documentary, Interviews, Network Profile, Panels, Pitching, Sunny Side of the Doc, Unscripted TV

Howard Swartz is the Senior Vice President Docs and Specials, Factual Networks & Streaming, for Discovery. For Sunny Side of the Doc‘s Meet the Executive session, he joined Peter Hamilton to share Discovery’s documentary strategy and key buckets. Following are session highlights, including clips of several projects that reveal Howard’s priorities. MISSION & STRATEGY What …

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A PERFECT CRIME: Creating Germany’s First Netflix Original Documentary Series

2021 May 19 / Case Study, Funding a Documentary, Netflix, Pitching, Sunny Side of the Doc

A Perfect Crime is a four-part documentary series for Netflix that analyzes the murder in 1991 of powerful politician Detlev Rohwedder. This German-produced True Crime series reveals the dark side of German reunification. The assassination shook Germany’s recently reunified people. The crime remains unsolved, and resonates even today. Christian Beetz is co-head of Gebrueder Beetz …

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My NETFLIX LIVE Webinar. Desktop Documentaries Course. Thursday May 13, 1pm (EST). SAVE NOW!

2021 May 12 / Commissioning Process, Documentary Budget, Documentary Production, Documentary TV, Funding a Documentary, Netflix, Pitching, Uncategorized, Webinars

For all students enrolled in my NETFLIX 2021 COURSE with Desktop Documentaries, please join me for a LIVE Q&A Thursday, May 13 @ 1:00 p.m. EST. I’ll answer your questions about Netflix, the rapidly-changing streaming landscape, how to pitch Netflix, and any other questions you may have. If you are not enrolled, it’s not too …

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OSCAR win for MY OCTOPUS TEACHER. Listen to executive producer Ellen Windemuth in our “How we sold OCTOPUS to Netflix” podcast (Update)

2021 April 26 / Case Study, Coronavirus, Distribution, Documentary Budget, Funding a Documentary, Netflix, Off The Fence, OTT, Pitching, Podcast, Producers' Tool Kit, Streaming Video, Uncategorized

Congrats to MY OCTOPUS TEACHER‘s extended family for winning the Best Documentary Feature award at last night’s Oscars. I write “family” because it took a deeply committed and close-knit group of friends and colleagues to bring Craig Foster‘s unexpected subject from chilly False Bay to Netflix, and then to Hollywood’s #1 stage: How It …

OSCAR win for MY OCTOPUS TEACHER. Listen to executive producer Ellen Windemuth in our “How we sold OCTOPUS to Netflix” podcast (Update) Read More »

QUOLL FARM: A $600k Wildlife hit for ABC Australia, Smithsonian, ZDF/Arte & NHK

2021 February 28 / Australia, Case Study, Commissioning Process, Conferences & Markets, Coronavirus, Documentary Budget, Funding a Documentary, Pitching, Public Television, ZDF-E

Quoll Farm is a classic natural history film about a very cute and little-known Australian marsupial, the Eastern Quoll. It has a gentle conservation message, and like several recent films, notably My Octopus Teacher, there’s a story of human redemption as part of the wildlife package. I was totally charmed by the antics of the …

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Netflix Europe commissions ROOM 2806: THE ACCUSATION, an original documentary series from France’s CAPA Productions. Case Study

2021 February 21 / Archive, Case Study, Commissioning Process, Conferences & Markets, Coronavirus, Distribution, Documentary Production, Footage.net, Netflix, Pitching, Sunny Side of the Doc

Room 2806: The Accusation is a 4-parter from France’s CAPA Productions that follows the sexual assault case in New York involving French presidential candidate and IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. On May 14 2011, Nafissatou Diallo, a hotel maid reported that DSK had forced her to perform oral sex in his suite in the Sofitel Hotel …

Netflix Europe commissions ROOM 2806: THE ACCUSATION, an original documentary series from France’s CAPA Productions. Case Study Read More »

Off The Fence execs reveal Sales, Acquisitions & Commissioning strategy at our Sunny Side Global Pitch. Webinar

2021 February 19 / Commissioning Process, Conferences & Markets, Distribution, Documentary Production, Internet Economy, Netflix, Off The Fence, Panels, Pitching, Sunny Side of the Doc, Webinars, ZDF-E

Loren Baxter (Head of Acquisitions), Stefanie Fischer (MD of Sales) & Leila Monks (Head of Commissioning) joined me for a revealing Off the Fence webinar at Sunny Side’s Global Pitch. My key questions: What is your key focus in Sales, Acquisitions and Commissions? What is Off the Fence working on? How do you work together …

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