TBI Weekly: Six takeaways from Sunny Side of the Doc

Grey clouds might have been in the skies above Sunny Side of the Doc but down below, the event was as vibrant as ever as the industry plotted strategies to deal with the ongoing turmoil, writes Marie-Agnès Bruneau.

Storms threatened and the sun was not always shining at this year’s Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, but the event was as busy as ever.

There were long lines to pick up the badges on the first morning and busy rooms for panels and coproduction pitching sessions, while organisers revealed the event had passed the 2,000 attendance mark, with delegates from 63 countries, including 300 “decision-makers”.

Here we take a look at the key takeaways from this year’s event.

Calling all Blue chips

International coproductions lay at the centre of many of the panel talks, with clear demand for ambitious, high-end documentaries.

NHK said that last year it coproduced titles from the UK, France, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands and is looking for more science, technology, space, culture and history copros. The Japanese broadcaster announced it has stepped into France Télévisions’ Eiffel Tower CGI doc, which also focuses on other Eiffel works around the world.

“We know there will be an appetite in Japan with the Paris Olympic Games,” said NHK producer, Yuko Fukuyama. The broadcaster is especially looking for 4K programming, as its satellite channels get a revamp in December, one of which is being marketed as a 4K channel. It also unveiled an ambitious project about Mars and the MMX Martian scientific mission, which is departing in September 2024, with a version of the show also to be produced for Japan’s 8k4k dome theaters.

China’s CMG and documentary pubcaster CCTV9 was also back, sponsoring the opening cocktail party and highlighting the three-years-in-the-making blue chip wildlife series Wild Treasure Of China, a copro with France’s Zed, Arte and National Geographic.

The Chinese broadcaster provided 30% of the budget, in addition to shooting facilities, and highlighted an eagerness for more such coproductions, including shows with a focus on China.

Australian broadcasters, the focus of the first morning’s sessions, said they too are looking to get involved in coproductions, either through the official coproductions scheme (a longer process but enabling access to soft money) or through more simple pre-buys.

Rewards & co-creation

Co-creation is central to the international pubcasters’ Global Doc coproduction initiative, which has seen its first co-ventures taking shape.

“There is a convergence in the missions of our public services,” said Caroline Behar, France Télévisions director of acquisitions & international co-productions, who initiated Global Docs. The process was “a model of collective work and an inspired challenge”, she added, highlighting that “intelligent and spectacular shows” are now required.

Lady Viking was among shows to emerge from Global Doc, having been co-created with Sweden’s SVT and Mikael Österby, its head of factual acquisitions. “We knew we needed a Scandinavian partner for their expertise on vikings,” said Sophie Parrault, producer at Little Big Box, which was responsible for Lady Sapiens. As in that show, Lady Viking is using animation from gaming firm in a bid to appeal to younger audiences.

“Public broadcasters around the world face similar challenges, such as getting to new audiences,” said Sue Dando, production executive on CBC’s The Nature Of Things. CBC is a partner on archeological doc The Lost Wonder Of The World, from Lion TV, an archeological expedition led by a female archeologist, “but it’s not just a doc about restoration, it has many layers.”

Global Doc last year issued a call for science and environmental projects, unveiling the winner last year, and Behar announced that a new call for projects would be announced at the next Science Congress. Last year’s winners were: Zed and One Way Films’s Destination Moon: The New Space Age, which brought together France TV, ZDF, NHK and PBS; and Windfall films’ show Forrest, with France TV, ABC Australia, NHK, ZDF.

Dialling down

Attracting younger audiences remains a concern for many documentary broadcasters, both public and private.

A survey on usage by CNC stressed the gap between younger and older viewers’ consumption, with more youthful audiences watching primarily via social media and on streaming platforms, although some TV consumption remains. CNC illustrated that they also watch Arte’s docs via Youtube but not on the channel itself, often not realising it is the same show.

In an attempt to get to younger audiences, NHK intends to do more virtual reality projects and signed its first VR copro with Gédéon Programmes’ show about Gaudi’s unfinished church, Sagrada Familia. Arte, meanwhile, is launching a talk show on Twitch.

Action stations for broadcasters

Another concern is to address climate change issues with docs showing solutions. Windfall’s Forrest explores how cutting-edge science can provide ways to save the planet and this is also the purpose of Arte mini-series Guardians Of The Forest, for which the channel has announced it is also going to support an impact campaign about deforestation. “It is time to take action,” said NHK’s Yuko Fukuyama.

Some broadcasters are also active in coproducing documentaries about the war in Ukraine with local filmakers. Citizen At War: A Year In Ukraine, coproduced between Blue Ant Media in Canada, Film.UA in Ukraine, Tilt Media in Australia and GTV Docs the UK, includes a lot of user generated content, mostly mobile phone footage, to bring powerful testimonies and offer the series a totally different look to traditional war documentaries, its producers said. Arte, meanwhile, announced 12 more episodes of its Génération Ukraine.

Pubcasters facing domestic pressure

On the domestic front, pubcaster France Télévisions is in some turmoil again.

While its future is currently being examined in Parliament with a project to create a holding organisation that includes all public service outfits, other issues are also under discussion, including a long term replacement for the licence fee funding model.

While its goals and means contract is currently among topics in the talks, France Télévisions also had to face worries from French producers, following the sudden exit of former head of documentaries, Catherine Alvaresse, who was replaced by digital platform boss Antonio Grigolini.

The latter tried to comfort producers, promising that history will remain on France 3 and will be revamped, that France 5’s Monday strand will welcome wildlife docs, and stating that it is working to give more exposure to docs overall, thinking to create thematic evenings.

Nevertheless, the number of docs including the ones commissioned by the public broadcaster, has gone down last year, according to CNC figures, as did average funding for docs over the past decade, declining from nearly 50% of budgets 10 years ago to under 45% last year. In in the interim, budgets have gone up.

Private players entering

There are positives too, however, with private players getting more involved. Canal+ increased its output following the launch of Canal+ Doc last year, commissioning among others more mini-series, suitable for on demand.

M6 also announced at Sunny Side it will commission 12 bigger docs per year, thanks to the genre’s creative developments. The streamers are commissioning some French originals too. For its spart, smaller factual channel RMC Découverte was pleased with the audience performance of some Egypt-related docs it aired and surprised by a show about Mazca, with the broadcaster wanting to be a partner on more such shows.

And there remains the undimming demand for prgrammes that look to grab the audience, led by true crime miniseries, which are multiplying.

According to Ampere Analysis data commissioned by CNC, the genre flourished in every country, making up 27% of US commissions in Q2 2021 to Q1 2022 (a move driven by platforms such as Netflix and Discovery+).

The figure stood at 18% in UK, 16% in Germany and Canada, and slightly less in France but growing. Even pubcaster France 3 announced at Sunny Side it is launching a call for nine local true crime stories.

Both RMC Découverte and Netflix stressed the importance of such titles, and of their first five minutes in particular. An example given at RMC Découverte for a good title was, Did Jesus Really Exist?

Netflix remains the global leader of true crime and the streamer told TBI it remains careful not to go too far in the genre, showing series to victims before launch for instance.