How do I get a documentary guaranteed airtime on TV/ cable in the UK and USA?

T

thpriest

Active member
I have a client who wants to make a documentary about a region in the style of National Geographic, Discovery, BBC (high quality production). My client is willing to back the project financially on the condition that it gets airtime in the UK (and possibly the USA). This is not a case of producing the documentary and then trying to sell it but of having sold the idea and got the airtime before starting. Ideally he'd like to get it shown on the BBC, National Geographic, Discovery or if that is impossible on a decent TV/Cable/Satelite channel. Does anyone have any ideas or advice about how to go about this? Who should I contact? Where should I look for info? Are there any dedicated forums/websites for TV documentary work in the UK and USA? Do these sort of companies accept documentaries that have been paid for by someone else? Are they willing to guarantee airtime to projects like this?
As you can see I have many questions and my situation is the opposite of what normally happens in that I can get the financially backing for the project but I need to get it shown! Any advice is most appreciated!
 
Well "guarantee" is the tough part of this conversation. A guarantee could be done if you can sell the concept of the doc to an existing series that creates shows in the same vein - Such as "The American Experience" here in the US. But getting there will take a a lot of work - you're just doing the back end work up front with only the concept and promise of being to deliver to their standards. There are many television programs created and then brought to dedicated television markets like NATPE: http://www.natpemarket.com/natpemarket/

You may need a sales agent to add it to the list of "upcoming" content, and maybe work out a deal. Even series create the pilot to get the buyers interested. If this is a one-off, then you need to look at where you might possibly sell it - is it feature length, or 1 hour to fit into an existing series? If an existing series, I would look to the producers of those series and contact them - but like scripts, they may not accept unsolicited material. Pay for the imdbpro service and get access to the production companies behind these types of series. In the US, you would look to WGBH and see if they have a formal submission process, same for the UK. I would also look to existing deals made with the broadcasters to see what they are paying for broadcast rights, and what rights they own (exclusive or not) over what period of time to get a sense of what your budget might be.

Michael
 
thpriest said:
I have a client who wants to make a documentary about a region in the style of National Geographic, Discovery, BBC (high quality production). My client is willing to back the project financially on the condition that it gets airtime in the UK (and possibly the USA).
Click to expand...

If client is willing to back it financially, on the condition that it gets air time, all he has to do is buy the air time. If he can meet sufficient standards to buy the air time, and does, there's his guarantee.

If a guarantee of air time is a requirement of doing business with the guy, and he's not willing to buy said airtime, then I'm inclined to think that he's just wasting your time.
 
That's a good point - what is the eventual goal of the investor? If it is number of eyeballs seeing it, he may be better off creating his own channel on Vimeo or others with a good self marketing campaign. If it is just to say he had a program aired by a broadcaster, then what Bruce says will "guarantee" that... albeit at a far steeper price than a Vimeo channel. I did a little work with someone who was determined to get the horror feature he produced into theaters. After close to a $2M budget, he four-walled it in about 12 theaters Halloween weekend. I went to the Friday night screening in Boston prior to Halloween (Saturday) and it was only me, and the four people I went with. I asked the theater manager how the sales have been and he said" practically no-one" - and proceeded to give me 1/2 price so I would go in. There were 5 of us in a 200 seat theater. So if there is a will (and lots of money) there is a way. Depends on what the investor really wants to get out of it. Unfortunately all my investors want to see a plan that gets them their money back plus profit over a given period of time. ;)

Michael
 
Thanks for the replies. The aim of the project is to promote an area that is either unknown to most people or those that do know it think of it as an undesirable or uninteresting place to visit. While the client is willing to buy airtime, if that is what it takes, he'd prefer not to. Ideally he'd like to get the documentary shown on one of the top channels like I mentioned (BBC, National Geographic, etc) and I'm not sure if those channels allow someone to buy airtime (BBC definitely won't allow it!). If it proves to be unrealistic to aim for those kinds of channels, our sights could be lowered slightly to national channels in the UK (Sky, Channel4, ITV, etc) and whatever the US versions of those kinds of channels are (I have no idea as I live in Europe and have never visited USA and I don't know if USA tv follows European models).
Anymore info or advice is most welcome!
 
Hi DeathChamberzMusic (nice name!), the bigger the channel the better.
What I'd really like to know is what the process might be when dealing with big (or smaller) channels. Does anyone have any experience with this?
 
thpriest said:
I have a client who wants to make a documentary about a region in the style of National Geographic, Discovery, BBC (high quality production). My client is willing to back the project financially on the condition that it gets airtime in the UK (and possibly the USA). This is not a case of producing the documentary and then trying to sell it but of having sold the idea and got the airtime before starting. Ideally he'd like to get it shown on the BBC, National Geographic, Discovery or if that is impossible on a decent TV/Cable/Satelite channel.
Click to expand...

So you want to pitch the idea and hopefully a network will buy it? For scripted TV typically a pilot would be shot but for a documentary you could do a sizzle/presentation reel. Basically a 10 or 15 minute piece that is a combination trailer and mini-version of the documentary you wish to make. Getting a network to pre-buy a doc is already very hard and it will be especially so for an unknown / novice filmmaker w/o a track record. If a network picks it up they will probably want some say in how the doc is made so you and your client should be prepared to share some of the creative control.


-Andrew
 
The thing here is that as a newcomer, the broadcasters may well treat enquiries like this as suspicious. So many people promising, and not delivering. If your programme is high quality, and meets their technical and artistic standards, then there's no reason they won't pick it up - especially if it's cheap AS LONG AS it will generate viewing figures. If the programme is dull, or just not suitable for the channel demographic, then they won't want it.
 
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