The Guardian‘s Head of Documentaries is Charlie Phillips.
- I caught up with him on the sunny terrace of Melbourne’s Federation Square.
- It was one of lots of productive conversations with buyers and sellers that I enjoyed during Day 1 of AIDC.
Charlie recapped his hot buttons and key terms.
I found the information to be very instructive about the scale and editorial drivers of a global newspaper brand’s documentary project.
- Charlie is open to pitches.
- Here is the link to The Guardian Documentaries.
Profile
- 20 acquisitions / year.
- 20-30 minutes.
- Typical fee: UK15,000.
- Terms: worldwide, online, in perpetuity.
- Story-driven feature journalism.
- Like a Guardian long read magazine article.
- Fast-paced.
- A strong story arc that moves quickly and incorporates brilliant story-telling and characters rather than portraits.
- Globally relevant.
- Genres: Mainly social / political / current affairs / human interest.
- No History. Sport & Culture among unlikely categories, unless they’re story-driven.
- Distribution on Facebook, YouTube and other online platforms.
Recent Successes
- Gun Nation (around 1 million views)
- Desert Fire
- Radical Brownies
- And more here…
