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Documentary Business

Peter Hamilton Consultants, Inc

U.S. Channels: Where are the Producers? 1/2

PIN-POINTING THE GREEN LIGHTS

Where can you find the suppliers to U.S. Factual networks?

  • New York?
  • LA?
  • London?
  • Are there other centers of development and production?

Are there different sourcing practices amongst:

  • Established channels and digi-nets?
  • Documentary and Reality channels?

These questions matter:

  • For networks:
    • Where should you locate LBA, Development and other resources?
  • For producers:
    • Where are you most likely to get on the networks’ radars?
    • Should you establish offices or representation in multiple locations?
  • For young professionals:
    • Where is production scaled so that it promises entry level work?

Methodology

  • We surveyed the Upfront and other programming announcements for 2010/2111
  • We tracked down the locations of the cited producers
  • We put them in 5 buckets:
    • LA
    • New York
    • Other U.S. (mainly Washington DC)
    • London (usually with an office in LA or NY)
    • Other International (mainly Canada and Australia, and usually a ‘player’ like Canada’s Cineflix with a U.S operation)
  • Caution: this is a valuable sensitivity analysis: It is based on extensive data. But it is not a comprehensive survey of network schedules

Snapshot

Here are the findings for a sample of 8 of the 25+ channels that we surveyed:

 HQLANYOther USUKOther Intl
HistoryNY52%20%7%17%4%
A&ENY67%6%13%14%0%
DiscoveryDC60%4%0%16%20%
Animal PlanetDC33%17%24%25%1%
IDDC20%17%46%0%17%
SyFyNY83%6%0%6%0%
WEtvNY74%4%0%5%0%
Nat Geo/WildDC47%11%0%11%12%

 

Fascinating, right?!

  • Contact us for our mini-study of sourcing by location for 20+ U.S. channels

For more of the context, don’t miss two of our most popular and informative posts:

A SPECIAL THANKSGIVING!

We launched DocumentaryTelevision.com in January to respond to a gap in the market for a source of expert-led information about the business of the global Factual television market.

The result?

  • We are far exceeding expectations in terms of readership and recognition
  • And we’re generating valuable new business

Many friends and colleagues continued to extend their encouragement and support:

  • A very special thanks to you this week!!!!!

What next?

  • More expert contributions:
    • On Law & BA from Pamela Jones, Attorney
    • Audience analysis from John Morse and Byron Media
    • Updates on trends in 3D and  DVD/online
    • Coverage of Canada, UK and Europe
    • And much, much more

Happy Thanksgiving!