Ed Hersh is a veteran channel executive who spent years at A&E, Court TV, and Investigation Discovery as one of the architects of their True Crime programming.
He is my fellow New York-based, senior consultant, and has his own company now, StoryCentric, which advises networks and producers on their development, pitching and storytelling strategies, with a special focus on True Crime.
In our ‘pod-versation’, Ed defines what we mean by True Crime programming.
We then expand on the analysis covered in his recent popular Documentary Business post titled True Crime All the Time: Bulk Gives Way to Bespoke.
He describes three categories of the genre:
- WHODUNIT
- HOWDUNIT
- WHYDUNIT
We investigate a selection of recent releases starting with The Tinder Swindler followed by We Need to Talk About Cosby, Scream: The True Story, Bad Vegan and others.
We conclude by comparing True Crime with the hot MUSIC genre, also covered recently in Documentary Business: Streamers Spend on Music Documentaries. Big Stars. Unique Access. Sky High Budgets. $25 Milllion for Billy Eilish July 6, 2022
Podcast: Listen to Ed Hersh on True Crime
ED Hersh
- Read about Story Centric.
- And you can contact Ed at ed.hersh@storycentric.com
More Reading
- Ed Hersh writes “True Crime All the Time: Bulk Gives Way to Bespoke”
- How documentary story-telling is changing in the Netflix Era, and what it means for producers. A podcast with StoryCentric’s Ed Hersh.
- Read Camran Shealy’s selection of recently announced True Crime productions
My Upcoming Webinars + MIPCOM Workshop
How to Find and Develop Your Documentary Concept into a Compelling Pitch, with Tom Jennings
- Tom Jennings is the inspiring Peabody & PGA award-winning producer for leading channels & platforms worldwide.
- In our webinar, Tom will answer your questions about how to find a great idea for an unscripted show, and then develop the concept into winning pitch.
- The webinar is for subscribers to my Desktop Documentaries course. Watch for more details!
- Thursday, September 8, 10am/PT, 1pm/ET.
Netflix & the Streamers: the latest on what they buy and what they pay, with Keith Ochwat
- I join Show&Tell’s Keith Ochwat to discuss the streamers’ evolving content needs.
- Webinar is for Show&Tell subscribers. Watch out for details.
- Thursday, September 15, 345pm/ET.
MIPCOM Case Study Workshop
- I’m very excited about attending MIPCOM, starting Sunday, October 16 in Cannes.
- On Wednesday October 19, I’ll moderate the afternoon session dedicated to three revealing Unscripted Case Studies.
- Details to follow.
