Wishing my friends and colleagues a happy holiday season from Stockholm!
Our family is gathering in Uppsala for Christmas; its the first time that we’re all together since 2019!
For 2022, I’m excited about providing you with more analysis and context, particularly covering how the revolutionary shift from channels to streamers is impacting documentary and unscripted professionals everywhere.
2021 Highlights
This has been such a productive year despite Covid.
- More than 50 posts published on Documentary Business, each one reaching 20,000+ industry participants.
- Year 3 of my innovative strategic content partnership with France’s prestigious Sunny Side of the Doc marketplace.
- With Faith Fuller’s amazing Desktop Documentaries, we published our highly-praised course on how to pitch and sell your documentary to Netflix and the streamers.
- Publishing partnerships with PACT UK, Byron Media and Tom Jennings’ 1895 Films.
- Podcasts featuring leading industry experts Dan Salerno, Ed Hersh, John Morse, and top veteran producer Michael Hoff.
- Virtual participation in panels and master classes hosted by Cynopsis, the Tehran and Guangzho documentary festivals, Sunny Side, Desktop Docs, PACT, and others.
Client Services
My consulting practice enjoyed work that ranged from litigation strategy for a law firm that successfully defended a case with stakes of $500+ million; streaming strategy for a leading public broadcaster; financial analysis of an investment in production for a major private investor, and more.
Raptor Outreach
A personal career high in 2021 was PBS Nature‘s October broadcast of Jacob Steinberg’s beautiful SEASON OF THE OSPREY. I served as Jacob’s EP.
Our U.S. audience to date of well over one million viewers testifies to the lasting reach of public broadcasting platforms for curated single documentaries. These are the films that are lost in the commissioning plans and algorithms of Netflix and the streamers that emphasize celebrity-led content.
OSPREY is already regarded as a quiet classic in the blue chip, natural history genre, and is now reaching audiences worldwide via Blue Ant International.
Our Season of the Osprey outreach platform features an extensive series of podcasts and posts that documents the nine-year ‘making of‘ process from Jacob’s concept through development, funding, field cinematography, writing and editing, and delivery.
My firm takeway from 40+ years in the documentary business is that every filmmaker should budget the time and resources to create an ambitious promotion like ours that deepens relationships between creators and viewers. Otherwise their films are likely to disappear into the catalog.
My final takeaway from the Osprey film and of all my work over the years is this:
- NEVER, EVER UNDER-ESTIMATE the marathon-like resilience, complex teamwork, multiple sets of expertise, creative excellence, and money that are required to deliver a successful documentary program.
Congrats to my colleagues who did clear this hurdle in 2021, and wishing lots of success to those of you who can see the finish line in 2022!
Best wishes!
Peter
Stockholm