A look back at a chat with two festival attendees from New York-based prodco Engel Entertainment during their first trip to Banff. Here Jenna Helwig, head of development, and Jessica Winchell Morsa, supervising producer, talk shop – and moose

Are you here for the sessions or networking? Helwig: A mixture, but I’d say we always lean towards networking, because that’s always the most important thing doing development. Having good sessions is a bonus.

Have you met anyone unexpected? Helwig: I don’t think, but there are people from New York where we’re from, so it’s funny, like with MIP, where you meet people who work down the street. So this gave us an opportunity to meet with people that may work next door, but we don’t always get to see. And it’s more relaxed. Like last night we ate exotic meats with a commissioning editor – we had python and alligator.

Winchell Morsa: And how often do you get to do that in New York?

Is Banff what you expected as a city? Winchell Morsa: It’s a beautiful place. We’ve gotten up early and taken walks along the river.

Have you done the spa thing? Helwig: Tomorrow – after a lot of work. Half the people here do.

Any other impressions of the conference? Winchell Morsa: I like having the large networks here because even though it might not directly apply to the non-fiction people’s world, it’s a little bit aspirational to hear from people who work on shows at NBC and ABC. There’s a mix of cable and network TV, so it’s nice to have those voices here as well. We enjoyed going to some of the Master Classes like Doug Ellin [exec producer and head writer] from Entourage.

Helwig: It was neat to hear about [NBC drama series] Friday Night Lights and how they shoot it, and we think ‘Can we use anything like that in our documentary work?’

Have you seen any of the famed wildlife? Helwig: A mother moose, a baby moose and what we thought was a wolf across the river. We’re pretty sure it was a wolf. Other people we’ve talked to have seemed to confirm that it was a wolf.

Winchell Morsa: The mother moose trotted up and chased the wolf away, like “Get out of here.” I thought if I had taped this on my cell phone camera I could have sold the footage and made a whole hour out of it, or maybe a two-hour special.

Helwig: Or maybe a series!

 

Engel Entertainment is currently producing a 3 x 1-hour series for MSNBC with the working title About Face, which is currently shooting and will be delivered near the end of this year. The series will focus on patients of reconstructive plastic surgery. Alicia Androich

Sometimes the sweetest things in life come as a surprise, and television casting is no exception. While Banff panelist and MTV Networks SVP of series development Liz Gateley told the crowd she knows the prototypes she wants to cast for reality shows from the beginning, another panelist proved that perfect characters can also pop up serendipitously.

Colman Hutchinson gave an example of one such incident, describing how an unexpected audience favorite made his way onto an early season of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in the UK. Hutchinson, who has made entertainment formats for two decades and is exec producer at Hilversum-based interactive entertainment company 2waytraffic, recalled that he was already worried that he had little control over casting since contestants made it onto the show via a phone call lottery.

Hutchinson got even more stressed when his “worst nightmare” made it onto the show out of 10 potential candidates. With his thick glasses, strong accent and missing teeth, the middle-aged contestant was “not exactly pretty to look at,” said Hutchinson. In a bewildering twist, that very player became what Hutchinson called “one of the most successful contestants [the show] ever had.” It changed his thoughts about casting and taught him a lesson that stuck; it’s not just about searching out “pretty, bubbly people.” Amen to that – the reality scene could do with less cookie-cutter competitors. Alicia Androich

For those who automatically equate a channel rebrand with massive schedule and content overhauls – the TV equivalent to head-to-toe plastic surgery – think again. During the session with David Abraham, CEO of UKTV (a group of nine channels co-owned by BBC Worldwide and Virgin Media), the exec gave details on last year’s rebrand of UKTV G2. The channel was renamed Dave (a moniker that must have pleased Abraham given his own name) and the brand – not the product – changed, said Abraham.

Rather than do what Abraham calls a “deep rebrand, where you change the content completely,” the schedule was virtually untouched. “The schedule barely changed the day before and [the day] after the rebrand,” said Abraham, who assumed his role at UKTV just over a year ago, after leaving his post in the States as GM of Discovery’s TLC. G2 was an example of something that was undervalued as a product, said Abraham, but was able to increase viewership after the rebrand, which pumped up the amount of comedy and factual entertainment propositions, and also made the channel available on free view TV.

G2 “hadn’t really broken through” in terms of reaching the desirable up market (ABC1) 16-to-34 male demo before, said Abraham. In fact, he revealed that before the rebrand, “G2 had 1% brand awareness, so we had nothing to lose.”

Dave has been promoted as “the home of witty banter” and Abraham said it has “found a niche for 30-something males.” Turns out a channel doesn’t always need a full body makeover – just a facelift. Alicia Androich

It’s a question every indie producer has asked themselves: What can I do to set my project apart from others in the eyes of a distributor? Each distrib on ‘The Fine Art of Negotiation’ panel gave their thoughts, and here’s a sampling of their tips for producers:

Michael Wilson, manager of acquisitions at MarVista Entertainment in LA: Do your homework about different distribs, find one that seems open to your style of work and give them a call to ask a few questions when you’re still in pre-production. He says most will be pleased to get the call and “it’s guaranteed you’ll learn something from them." It’ll also save you from hearing “If you’d just called me before you started, I could have told you not to do that one thing that essentially killed the project” down the line, says Wilson.

Peter Emerson, president of Toronto-based Oasis International: Even if you have broadcaster contacts and knowledge of funds to get the majority of your budget together, still get in touch with a distributor as early in the production process as possible because they can help you get that financing and take some of the burden off you.

Steve Macallister, MD of global TV sales at BBC Worldwide in London: Keep in constant dialog with your distributor once you’ve established the relationship to keep them in the loop about the inevitable changes that happen during production. A good relationship always makes things smoother.

Justine O’Neill, director of acquisitions at Sherman Oaks-based GRB Entertainment: Sometimes it’s not about setting yourself apart as a producer. “A lot of times there’s synergy with what GRB is doing and what a producer offers,” she says. If you’ve got a project that complements a distrib’s existing catalog, your similarities could work in your favor. Alicia Androich

A revealing anecdote from Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision, showed that the Web and linear TV can – and should, in Bennett’s view – propel each other. While she said there were concerns that early Web exposure of Long Way Down, the motorbike travel series with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, could negatively impact the series’ TV ratings last year, it actually got 3.9 million viewers on BBC Two – double the average for its slot, said Bennett. Not bad considering 52% of viewers watched something about the show online before it aired on TV. Alicia Androich

Malcolm Wall started his keynote in Banff with a joke – “Thanks for joining me during this brief drying out period between cocktails” – but what followed was no laughing matter. As CEO of content at Virgin Media, the UK powerhouse that delivers content via TV, broadband, mobile and fixed-line telephony, Wall described the challenges of building sustainable business models in the fast-changing media market. His presentation closed the nextMEDIA event and opened the 29^th annual installment of the Banff World Television Festival.

There’s no consensus on how content providers and broadcasters can best monetize their offerings in today’s multi-platform landscape, and Wall’s wide-ranging keynote showed it can be tough terrain to navigate. Focusing his address on the UK, Wall stated that 57% of British homes have broadband access today, and that over half of broadband activity there is illegal (and mainly comes in the form of audio and video downloads). He also compared “stealing copyright” to shoplifting, and suggested that the UK government should be more interventionist and force content providers to reveal hub downloaders. And while they’re popular, YouTube and other services, including BBC’s iPlayer, aren’t providing money to content providers “in a meaningful manner.” Later acknowledging a monetary concern with another platform, Wall admitted that Virgin is losing money on mobile content, and added that at the moment he doesn’t think anyone is “making real money off mobile in the UK.”

It feels like the industry is ready to take a collective breath and shout the famous line from Jerry Maguire, “Show me the money!” One action Wall suggested: “Consumers must be encouraged to pay more for content.” For example, he believes UK terrestrial broadcasters could develop event-based, preview pay channels. While Wall raised several important issues, there still seem to be more questions about creating new revenue streams than answers. Alicia Androich

It’s not surprising to see that, of all the docs that only get a brief moment on screen at film festivals, Young@Heart made it to a limited run in theaters. The production by London indie Walker George Films originally aired in 2006 on More4 and Channel 4 in the UK, but since being picked up by Fox Searchlight has just been distributed to select theaters in North America.

 

The doc focuses on a group of elderly choir members from Massachusetts as they learn a new batch of songs for their next performance. The thing that makes this particular group worthy of following for a doc is they don’t sing church hymns or ballads from the ’40s. Rather, their chorus director chooses songs by The Ramones, Talking Heads and David Bowie. This may sound like an experiment that is more fun for the audience than it is for the performers, but the singers develop an affinity for some of the songs they’re served, and even when it comes to the songs they don’t like (Sonic Youth’s Schizophrenia was not a favorite with the group) they still work hard to make them work. And it’s the individuals, not the songs, that makes the film inspiring to watch.

 

Songs such as Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ take on multiple meanings as chorus member Fred Knittle — who only has one song in the performance because he needs oxygen to breathe and a wheelchair to get around — must sing the song alone after his duet partner is forced to back out due to health problems and members die before the performance. Despite the sad subtext, individuals such as the jovial Knittle, gleeful Joe Benoit and brutally honest Eileen Hall are uplifting and a lot of fun to watch.

 

What could have easily been a film exploiting this group as a novelty act is actually an honest look at how being near the end of your life doesn’t mean you have to act like it. Admittedly it was the music videos the group made particularly for use in the film that made me hope that I get to have fun like that when I’m 80.

 

For more information on the film visit www.foxsearchlight.com/youngatheart and to find out more about the choir itself visit www.youngatheartchorus.com

Lindsay Gibb

Independent doc producers aiming to work with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation have many options. Aside from newly launched Documentary channel (look for information on this channel in the radarscreen section of our May/June issue), the CBC has multiple strands devoted to doc programming. Here are some of the main opportunities at the CBC and what they’re looking for.

 

‘Doc Zone’ is a strand on CBC Newsworld devoted to big issue stories. Aimed at a well-educated audience, producers looking to work with Doc Zone do not have to bring exclusively Canadian stories to the strand, but must shoot in HD and tell stories based on solid journalism. This year, it is looking for 14 hours of independently produced programs. You must be connected with a Canadian producer to work with Doc Zone.

 

Aside from Doc Zone, CBC Newsworld runs other strands with a doc focus, such as ‘Passionate Eye,’ ‘The Lens’ and ‘Wild Docs.’ The aim of ‘Wild Docs’ is to move away from the darker docs and have fun with factual. The acquisition model is made up of presales. Passionate Eye is looking for POV docs that lean more toward political topics. History, music and sports subject matter do not work for this strand. Finally, ‘The Lens’ looks for one hour, character driven, fly on the wall docs that revolve around social and political issues. As a current affairs network, the station is looking for contemporary, primarily Canadian stories that say something about the social/political landscape, while taking a more positive spin on the doom and gloom stories.

 

‘The Nature of Things’ is in its 49^th season and is still covering the world of natural history, science and the environment. It has been covering climate change for 20 years, and continues to be interested in docs that take a different, more positive spin on the subject. The main goal of ‘The Nature of Things’ is to create and deliver useful television, so the types of programs it’s interested in are HD series or one-offs that are story driven and have a long shelf life.

 

For more information about any of these strands, visit www.cbc.ca/documentaries/

Lindsay Gibb

Realscreen spoke with director Patrick Reed during Hot Docs about his film, Triage: James Orbinski’s Humanitarian Dilemma. The doc follows Orbinski, the former president of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders, as he revisits places he’d been stationed during times of distress: the Republic of Congo’s refugee crisis; the Rwandan genocide; and Somalia’s devastating famine.

 

How did you first meet Dr. Orbinski?

Reed: I first met him in Kigali in Rwanda just by chance. It was at the end of a long day of shooting [Shake Hands with the Devil: the Journey of Romeo Dallaire] and we were having a drink at the bar and there was a guy sitting alone in the corner. I started talking with him and found out he was James Orbinski. I knew him by reputation and found out over the course of a long conversation that we live a few blocks away from one another in Toronto.

 

From that instance did you know you wanted to work with him?

I found him to be a fascinating character right from the initial meeting. I knew about his experiences with Rwanda and that he’d won the Nobel Peace Prize [as president of MSF]. Here’s a guy who’s been deeply affected by Rwanda but continued to go back into these situations.

 

In the film there is archival footage of Dr. Orbinski in Baidoa, Somalia during the famine. Where did this footage come from?

Back in those days when there was more funding, CBC had a news crew on the ground and shot particularly in Baidoa during the famine exactly the same time that James was there. It was very powerfully shot, so it would’ve been foolish not to have used it.

 

There was a very difficult scene in which Emmanuel, a genocide survivor, shows James the memorial site where he keeps preserved corpses. What was it like being there?

That was a very difficult moment. It’s complete sensory overload. The overwhelming thing about the experience wasn’t the visual but it was the smell of death, of active decay in the room. But what keeps you there is, [although] it’s difficult for me and maybe it’s difficult for the viewer, you always have to imagine, how is it for Emmanuel? This is his family, these are his people. 

 

How has Dr. Orbinski received the film?

He’s very pleased. We didn’t want this film to be some kind of heroic or simple portrait of one person. Everything about him and his story are about the people he met and the relationships he had with people and how that changed him. We went out of our way to give the film space for all these other stories and these other people.

 

Triage: Dr. James Orbinski’s Humanitarian Dilemma will air on Global in Canada in the fall. It’s a coproduction between the National Film Board of Canada and Toronto-based White Pine Pictures. Kelly Anderson

Producers curious to learn more about Japanese pubcaster NHK got an overview of the company and its five channels during a packed Hot Docs Micro Meeting during the 15^th annual festival.

 

NHK runs terrestrials GTV and ETV, and satellite channels BS-1, BS-2 and BS Hi-Vision. Over the past few years, its interest in documentary coproductions and acquisitions has grown. Although over 80% of NHK’s docs are in-house productions, session attendees were happy to learn that its international copros increased from 61 programs to 68 from fiscal 2006 to 2007. One such project is Equator, the 2005 natural history series NHK did with New Zealand’s NHNZ.

 

Current NHK doc slots include: ‘Dramatic Planet’ – geared at educating teens about history, culture, science, space, adventure and human interest – on ETV; ‘World Documentary’ – mainly current affairs, science, global economy, eco issues, modern history, medicine, education, space, social issues and human interest, but no natural history or wildlife – on BS-1; and ‘Frontier’ – culture, history, science and docudrama – on BS Hi-Vision.

 

The Micro Meeting largely focused on the doc-friendly BS-1, and two of its representatives presented: channel controller Koji Koizumi and senior producer and acquisitions contact Yukari Hayashi.

 

Mr. Koizumi shared a valuable list of questions for producers considering pitching to BS-1. When selecting docs, he asks himself:

 

1)      Does it convey a strong message?

2)      Does it have a journalistic scoop?

3)      Is it good timing to air the program?

4)      Does it have a unique angle?

5)      Will it move our viewers?

 

Addressing another key topic, Ms. Hayashi provided ballpark dollar figures for docs. BS-1 may pay roughly US$8,000 for a 50-minute acquisition, and copros receive between $15,000 and $40,000. Alicia Androich

Some docs leave you feeling depressed, hopeful, drained and inspired all at once. The English Surgeon is one of those docs. It tells the story of a British neurosurgeon named Dr. Henry Marsh. For 15 years, Marsh has visited the Ukraine to provide free medical advice and surgeries to those suffering in a somewhat shady medical system. In most cases, the patients' life-threatening conditions could have been prevented.

 

Some moments in the film evoke tears (like a scene in which Marsh has to tell a grandmother that her young grandchild has less than a year to live). But still, The English Surgeon is more about hope. That’s especially clear in the case of Marian, a young man that has epileptic fits because of a large brain tumor. Marian puts his unadulterated trust in Marsh, even though the surgery to remove his tumor could result in partial paralysis. Even more remarkable, Marian is only under local anesthetic during the delicate surgery, fully aware of the sound of the drill as it penetrates his skull.

 

The film is rife with moments that show how inventive Marsh is in his medical life – he scours through flea markets to find supplies and rebuilds everyday tools to use in surgery – but there are also glimpses into the more mundane parts of his schedule. They prove that, famous surgeon or not, Marsh can act like your average Joe. The Hot Docs audience had a big laugh when Marsh gets agitated while typing his daily activities into a tricky computer system. After several unsuccessful attempts to enter his schedule, Marsh gripes “I really can’t stand it any longer” and leaves the room. It’s an ordinary experience in the life of an extraordinary man. Alicia Androich

In the opening scene of Junior, a young hockey player gets an intense grilling from his agent. The agent relentlessly chops away at the player’s self esteem, chiding him for throwing away opportunities and partying too much. “Playing hockey’s your life,” he orders. The kid is 17.

 

This pressure is part of everyday life for the players of Drakkar, the junior hockey league team that Junior follows for a season. The off-ice drama that’s captured in the team’s dressing room and as they travel to games is the result of a year’s worth of footage (160 hours) captured by co-directors Isabelle Lavigne and Stéphane Thibault. The teenaged players are forced to fight on the ice and work out more, and spend time with girlfriends and at bars less. Plus there are coaches, agents and scouts scrutinizing their on-ice performance in an effort to get them drafted into the NHL. The stress these guys endure is enough to leave you second-guessing signing up any youngster to compete in the sport.

 

Frustrated after being forced to sit out a game, one of Drakkar’s players meets with his coach and reaches his breaking point. The deflated defenseman tells the coach he wants to leave the team. “It’s making me sick. It’s not fun anymore,” he says as he starts to cry, showing the same vulnerability many of his teammates feel during their turbulent season, but try to mask.

 

Back in the opening scene, the agent also warns his client, “In hockey, only the true adults get ahead.” The thing is, maybe these boys aren’t ready to grow up. Alicia Androich

Although the title doesn’t imply that first season Project Runway winner Jay McCarroll is 11 minutes into his 15 minutes of fame, the immediacy of capitalizing on his reality show win is palpable in this entertaining doc.

 

The film follows the blunt and funny fashion designer as he creates a runway show for New York’s Fashion Week – sponsored by the Humane Society, who supports the anti-fur designer – before the fickle fashion industry forgets him.

 

Directors Michael Selditch and Rob Tate keep the cameras on McCarroll from the beginning sketches and concepts all the way through the madness of coordinating with out-sourced factories in New York and China, a frantic PR company, a jewelry maker, wig maker and a shoemaker that doesn’t produce any shoes until minutes before the runway show. It is incredible to see the year of frenzied work and the painstaking details boiling down to just 11 minutes – the average length of a runway show.  The stress of it all weighs heavily on McCarroll, who handles everything with humor and a few tears.

 

The film is bright eye candy, with McCarroll’s hot air balloon motif and patterns popping up in the intro and credits, and the colors of the runway collection – yellows, pinks and grays – lighting up the stark workrooms and catwalk.

 

It is unsure whether McCarroll’s runway collection brought accolades from the industry, but Eleven Minutes is a winning film. Kelly Anderson

After a less than ideal departure from the television industry, a year has passed and Stephen Lambert has resurfaced with a new production company and a determination not to dwell in the past.

 

Lambert, formerly chief creative officer with RDF Media, became embroiled in a media storm stemming from the editing of a sequence in the promo for A Year With The Queen for BBC One.  He subsequently resigned, along with BBC One controller Peter Fincham.

 

Rarely speaking of the Queen situation, Lambert did allow that the time off was a healthy time for him.  “I took some time out. I got my yachting association sailing qualification which is something I’ve always wanted to do, skipper a sailing yacht,” he says.  “I sailed a lot and [had] more time with my family and [went] traveling. I spent two or three months doing that and then around Christmas time I decided I wanted to get back into television and since then have been working on putting the company together.”

 

Along with fulfilling a lifelong dream, Lambert also spent some time debating where his career should go. “I thought about whether I wanted to stay in television or whether I wanted to go into a new area.  I sort of toyed with the idea of looking at new areas but I think it was a combination of backers, program makers and the commissioners all wanting me to work with them again. That made me think it’d be good to start again and I think, in my own case, it was very exciting to start with a blank piece of paper and build something new,” he says.  “At RDF we had become quite a sizable company and I had, to some extent, got myself in a position where I was a bit disconnected from the kind of coalface and creativity.  The cut and thrust was the thing I did and pitching ideas and making those programs and I’m rather pleased that I’m now in a position where I’m going to have that again. It feels very creatively stimulating.”

 

All of the enthusiasm will be funneled into the newly minted Studio Lambert - named after Lambert’s father’s advertising commercial company - which is on track to produce a mixture of serious documentaries and entertainment programs. Lambert predicts there will be a large amount of formatted documentaries of the kind he’s done in the past, like The Secret Millionaire, Faking It and Wife Swap.

 

Although very much in its infancy, Studio Lambert has already managed to commission a project, at the same time as the Soho office was receiving its desks and computers.

 

The production company’s initial timeline started with making programs by the summer but already Studio Lambert has a leg up with a commission in and others soon to follow. Another goal is to open a production office in the U.S. by the end of the year. However, Lambert knows that establishing the company with successful British programs is critical before they can add an American address, so the deadline isn’t exactly set in stone.

 

Thanks to the backing of All3Media, the production company should be a sizeable force for a start up, since Lambert’s new company has already been able to work as a medium-sized independent.

 

“We have the infrastructure of what would often be more established company, with a head of finance, a head of business and legal, head of development, head of production and then some very talented experienced executive producers and series producers so it feels like a very solid enterprise as opposed to something that is struggling to get started,” he says.

For now, it’s all forward movement for Studio Lambert. Kelly Anderson

Hot Docs and Canwest have announced the launch of both a $3 million completion fund and a $1 million development fund for documentaries in Canada. The monies will be dispursed through Hot Docs over the next seven years.

Detailed guidelines for the Canwest-Hot Docs Funds will be available June 1, 2008, and application deadlines are set for July 15 and October 15.

Jennifer Day, director of New Orleans Office of Film and Video, is thrilled the film industry is coming to the formerly devastated area once again.

She says at least one to two projects a week are in town, ranging from TLC's Miami Ink and E! Network's Girls Next Door to A&E's Criss Angel Mindfreak

"Our crew base is growing every day. We've already wrapped two movies so far in 2008, four filming currently, three gearing up over the next couple weeks and another slate of films that are basically jockeying for their positions after that, so we're on a record setting pace this year," says Day.

Filmmakers and producers have not been shy to return to the damaged city. "As soon as the city was 'reopened;' you started to see documentary filmmakers who were documenting post-disaster scenes. As soon as January hit we were starting to see [filmmakers] documenting the rebirth of New Orleans, the resurgence of the culture," says Day.

Many documentary film crews have come to capture the way the city is being rebuilt in a green method. "Because New Orleans is rebuilding on such a large scale, it's a tremendous opportunity to go green and do things differently so we have many projects that come to town that are seeking to do pieces on rebuilding in an environmentally friendly way," she says. "Having a modern city rebuilt on this scale has never really happened before in the U.S. and it is an amazing opportunity to rebuild everything."

Other aspects unique to New Orleans have drawn in the corresponding niche networks. Music, integral to New Orleans' culture, attracts VH1, BET, and MTV, while their culinary history attracts the Food Network.

"We have a very strong hospitality-based economy here so these type of shows really do something special for us because its advertising that we could never pay for and just furthers that branding of New Orleans," says Day.

Day believes that the city is tailor-made for the non-fiction industry. "Visually it's stunning and it looks great on film and complementing that are the extremely warm and caring people that you'll find here. The city is full of characters who make for great fodder on camera."

At this point in the city's redevelopment, having a continuing successful relationship between the industry and the city is crucial. "Film and television is absolutely playing a leading role in the economic recovery of our city. Film and television as part of our cultural economy is one of our shining stars in recovery," says Day. Kelly Anderson

On Tuesday Toronto’s Hot Docs fest announced a lineup of films and new programs that will have the industry buzzing in April.The preview included the news that two docs will open the fifteen-year-old fest, instead of the usual one.

 

The first opener is Anvil! The Story of Anvil. For the uninitiated, Anvil is a Canadian heavy metal band with a discography spanning from 1981 to 2007. The film follows the 50-year-old thrash metal rockers on what they’re up to now ­­- an upcoming album and performances.

 

Following that will be selections from the short series Green Porno, directed by Jody Shapiro and Isabella Rossellini. Although it sounds like environmentally friendly x-rated films, the shorts focus on insects’ sexual behavior.

 

New programs include Made in Mexico, a showcase for Mexican talent; Next, all about artists; and Make me a Believer, for spiritual films.

A rising star is honored alongside an accomplished cinema verite director in retrospectives for Manufacturing Landscape’s Jennifer Baichwal and Outstanding Achievement Award winner Richard Leacock.

The congratulations should also be extended to the BBC’s Nick Fraser, who will receive the second annual Doc Mogul Award, for his contributions to the doc industry.

 

Starting out with porn and thrash metal isn’t a bad start for Hot Docs, which will run from April 17 to 27. KA

Next month during Hot Docs, buyers will have the chance to browse over 1500 documentaries on Doc Shop’s new online library.

 

Previously Doc Shop was an onsite market tool that allowed commissioning editors, distributors and programmers to view films. Now with the digital initiative, those same people can visit the Doc Shop year-round online from around the globe, making it the largest digital market for docs in North America.

 

The benefits gained by buyers and distributors are also shared by producers, whose exposure can now extend well beyond Hot Docs.

Toronto-based ecentricarts, inc. developed the program, which includes full-screen, high quality video for prime viewing, and search and browsing tools. Buyers and producers also have access to market data reports, including viewer statistics.

 

The digital service is open only to accredited industry buyers.

Hot Docs teamed up with the Ontario Media Development Corporation, Telefilm Canada and Toronto Economic Development to create the digital market. KA

Celeb-reality shows and nostalgic countdowns still rule on VH1, but feature docs and factual series are still an important key to the equation. Mark Anstendig, VH1’s supervising producer, said in his Summit session that although there’s definitely a mix of high brow and low brow programming, he’s glad to say he’s more of a high brow guy.

“It’s an exciting time for VH1 because of commercial successes that allow them to do smaller critical docs,” says Anstendig.

Big stories that have small narratives are a winning formula for VH1 and something the network seeks out.

The music network is big on icons and the ’60s and ’70s, so it’s always looking for something unique that can mine the popular subjects. Nostalgic clip shows have been a forte of VH1’s for a while now, so Anstendig said his boss is encouraging them to come up with a new way to do them. Another opportunity is a different idea for celeb-reality, which is still the safest way for them to do programming. “For some reason our audience is still into nostalgia – well, we make it that way – and washed up celebrities,” says Anstendig. And VH1 plans on sticking to those shows because as music, they relate back to the brand.

For pitch advice, he suggested own your pitch intellectually. Think it through and really understand your pitch and the network you’re trying to pitch it to. KA

National Geographic is dedicated to staying on-brand according to Michael Cascio, SVP of special programming. In the channel’s ‘30 Minutes With’ session, Cascio discussed other channel’s recent tendencies to program extremely off brand, but reiterated Nat Geo’s intention to push the barriers while remaining true to the core brand value. “Really off brand would be pro wrestling,” he noted. The style of their shows may look more like other networks, but the intent of Nat Geo’s programming remains the same.

For acquisitions, National Geographic used to love them, but largely stopped doing them. The channel has come full circle again, however, and has returned to being really interested in them again, as they give the channel premieres and fresh product. Nat Geo will be going to go after them in a more aggressive way.

For those producers interested in pitching to Nat Geo, the web portal to use is ngcideas.com, which has a highly responsive team. Keep in mind that Cascio is very tired of seeing recreations, especially ones that have already been done a million times. KA

Duff Goldman, owner of Charm City Cakes and star of the show Ace of Cakes, unveiled one of his cakes on the last day of the Realscreen Summit. “It’s like a Tibetan sand painting,” said Goldman when asked about his feelings when he sees clients cut into his art. The cake he made for Realscreen is in the shape of an old-style television set with the logos for popular factual channels Animal Planet, TLC and, his home channel, The Food Network, among others.

A docu-soap that’s more like Miami Ink than Hell's Kitchen, Ace of Cakes follows Duff and his team as they make insanely detailed cakes and then deliver them in one piece. The TV he made for Realscreen had an antennae that was packed separately and had to be placed on top at the event. “Working with cakes makes you think about the impermanence of life, not to get too deep about it,” says Goldman. On a less philosophical level Goldman said he realizes his work is meant to be eaten so his heart doesn’t break when he watches someone eat it. “Cake is good.” Yes, cake is good. LG

The theme of the commissioning editors’ roundtable seemed to be “YouTube: opportunity or threat?” It was clear from the conversation that broadcasters are looking to the user generated video site to extend the interest in their shows beyond the television set. Though the panel agreed that no one is yet making a lot of money on online content, there was a consensus that its power shouldn’t be ignored.

Charles Norlander, VP development and production for The History Channel, feels the future business model lies not in the channel but in creating content to be used on different platforms. Timewatch editor John Farren screened a clip—created by his staff for fun—showing how reenactments are made with CGI. The clip doesn’t mention the BBC or Timewatch and yet it getting thousands of views on YouTube. Another technique to draw in online audience is Discovery’s mock E! True Hollywood Story on Buster, the dummy that gets blown-up on nearly every episode of Mythbusters.

Right now online content is a lot like the special features on a DVD; it’s full of a lot of behind the scenes footage and crew interviews. While viewers are interested in seeing what goes on behind the camera, getting the viewer involved and connected with the program seems to be the key. According to Discovery’s Jeff Hasler, Discovery recently purchased howstuffworks.com, a website that gives layers upon layers of answers on how anything from how animal migration to Mexican wrestling to water works. Right now the challenge for Discovery is to figure out how to bring the two together.

The questions still looming on the subject of programming for the web after this roundtable include how to deepen the viewer’s connectivity to a program using the net and who owns the online content, the producer or the broadcaster of a show? LG

 

When Nancy Dubuc moved from A&E to The History Channel she felt she was entering a channel that was already strong but still had some room to grow before it became unstoppable. In Simon Andreae’s (president and CEO of The Incubator) interview with the EVP and GM, Dubuc spoke about the challenge in making sure audiences don’t associate The History Channel with their dry high school courses.

Ice Road Truckers is one big step in that direction. A program mentioned by delegates in multiple sessions at this year’s summit, Truckers became a series after Dubuc examined the highest rated programs at her channel and saw how popular it was as a one-off. Among its many attributes, the series brings history to life, which Dubuc sees as a key formula for the channel: making history relatable to the audience through its relationship with life today.

Speaking about her strengths and weaknesses and her best and worst decisions in her career, Dubuc sited Roller Girls as one of her failures, but her proudest effort. Another one of her proudest, and more successful decisions was Intervention. She is particularly proud of the fact that it’s a program that really has an impact on the lives of its subjects.

Throughout the interview Dubuc kept returning to the subject of The History Channel as a brand. “We should do for the subject of history what Target did for cheap retail,” said Dubuc. “They’re a marketing powerhouse.” LG

 

There was a tug of war between tape and tapeless in a highly interactive master class at the Realscreen Summit this morning. Led by Larry Engel, assistant professor of film and media arts and associate director at the Center for Environmental Filmmaking at American University in Washington, the "Producing in HD" session evolved into a conversation between Engel and the audience of camera-savvy producers.

Engel, an Emmy-winning cinematographer, compared the pros and cons of tapeless systems and film. He noted that with tapeless systems, operator errors such as botched transfers can happen, but that problems can also arise with film (he admitted that he once exposed a roll of film while tired and rushed).

In a time when broadcasters are hungry for the best image at the lowest price, Engel stressed the importance of producers considering their budgets, adding that thankfully the entry-level price points of some cameras are coming down.

He also offered practical pointers -- like never keep your source material in the same place you're editing -- and his opinions on various filming options, noting that with smaller camera systems "little pieces of dust end in schmutz...I spend more time [cleaning] the lens than shooting sometimes." Take it from someone who's been there -- Engel has roughly 30 years of filmmaking experience. AA

Breakthrough Films & Television (Toronto, Canada) and Partners in Motion (Saskatchewan, Canada) finalized a partnership last year creating the Ignite Factual Development Initiative, an initiative that offers development funds ranging from $5,000 to $30,000 per project. On day two of the Realscreen Summit three producers pitched live for judges Ron Goetz, CEO Partners in Motion, Peter Williamson, executive producer and president of Breakthrough Films and Television, Ann Julienne, Head of Acquisitions and International Coproductions at France 5, Vanessa Case VP content Slice and National Geographic Channel, and Aaron Meyerson, SVP development and production for Oxygen Media.

The first project presented was Battlefield Amazonia by Mixer out of Brazil. Rather than focusing on the devastation in the jungle, Mixer’s Tulio Schargel the two hour doc is meant to examine the solutions scientists and natives of the region have come up with and are implementing in order to save the Amazon.

The next pitch was a coproduction between Canada’s Ferns Productions and Singapore’s Moving Visuals entitled The Secret Lives of Courtesans. The premise for this four part series is to profile four historical women who worked in the sex trade and used sex in order to gain power.

The final pitch came from Whatever: The Science of Teenagers by Essential Viewing Australia. Another four part series, with the possibility of more episodes, The Science of Teenagers focuses on the teenaged brain and how it works, teaching adolescents about themselves and, more so, helping parents to understand why their kids seem so crazy.

While the judges deliberated off stage, host Ed Hersh, CCO of StoryCentric, looked to the audience for feedback for the producers. Though the audience showed the most enthusiasm for Science, the judges awarded Battlefield Amazonia the $30,000 in development money from IGNITE. LG

The message from the “We’ve got that in development” panel: there are no original ideas. Whether a project gets commissioned more often comes down to ability to execute and filmmaker access.

Moderator Eric Schotz, president and CEO of LMNO Productions, advised that producers should know their ideas well enough they should be able to pivot during the pitch should broadcasters opt for a quick ‘no’ – they should be able to adapt the project on the fly and tailor their pitch.

Although producers sometimes fear broadcasters will steal their stories, Mary Ellen Iwata, VP Program Development at HGTV said the truth is often far less ominous. Everyone is consuming mass media and keeping up on trends and news, filmmakers and broadcasters alike. “If everyone is reading the same thing and pitching the same thing,” she advises, “then pitch something different… bring something additional to the table.” (It should be noted that HGTV requires a release from producers looking to pitch.) Or, put a different way by Cynthia A. Fenneman, president and CEO of American Public Television, “really do your homework, [find] your unique hook.”

Fenneman made the observation that about 60% of the pitches she sees are actually Internet research projects – facts about a topic collected into a brief. What she wants are details about execution – such as where the commercial breaks are. BC

The tricky business of shooting a production overseas can cause many headaches that can be remedied with research and working with the right people. Jay Schlossberg, Media Central president, was the expert in today’s “Getting Crew and Production Support on the Road” session.

Schlossberg, a production and post-production broker/agent, says it’s best to work with a company like his that finds international crews to work with instead of bringing your own.

The cost and risk involved in sending over staff and gear outweighs finding production support on the road. Many people need a fixer who will speak to authorities, know about local customs, and what dangers to steer clear of. They are a key person but their job is limited.

For the most part fixers will not go beyond fixing to drive, translate or act as a PA, although Schlossberg finds that many people expect their fixer to do just that. His motto: “different country, different rules.” There needs to be sensitivity when you’re shooting in a different culture. It’s essential to know how they operate, the way they word things, what things cost and be very conscious of how they will respond to what you might say.

An important tip is to shoot some frames before hiring foreign crew, to establish what look the DP needs to match. Jpegs are also helpful in establishing this. It is essential to do your homework if hiring without the help of a broker. Get CVS and references just like you would in your native country.

Talk to other crews who have shot in the location you’re heading to so they’ll give you the scoop on where to go and what to expect. For a first time hire, you’ll most likely need to pay the crew upfront, sometimes 100%, but otherwise at least 50%. “Planning [an international shoot], whether you use a company or on your own, make sure all of your ducks are in a row,” says Schlossberg. KA

Phil Fairclough, EVP Production and Development of Creative Differences introduced John Ford as a joker. The interview did start with a lot of laughs as Fairclough listed off Ford’s past hijinx such as rescuing a drunken and bleeding BBC exec at MIP and doing the twist on a table at the science congress, but quickly got into a serious conversation about Ford’s plans for the Discovery Channel.
After insisting that his appointment as GM of Discovery doesn’t mean there’s anything broken that he has come on board to fix, he listed his priorities for the channel. Top of the list is a renewed focus on specials. “We’re in the specials business,” said Ford as he explained that specials and one-off that can be married to the channel’s regular programs are a great way to fill spaces in the schedule and get the audience to connect further with programming.

Ford also emphasized the importance of understanding the Discovery brand. “You have to run programming ideas through filter that relates to your brand,” he said, explaining that the Discovery filter only lets through programs that are informative, energetic and immersive. While Ford has a clear vision of what the channel should be, he credits his team with keeping the programming fresh and being brutally honest when they think an idea isn’t going to work: “You can’t make the mistake of not asking people to tell you that your baby is ugly.” LG

Apparently the answer is no. At the end of the first day, after the Discovery-sponsored cocktails, delegates gathered to watch broadcasters—David Lyle, president of Fox Reality Channel; Judith Orlowski, vp development and acquisitions Fine Living TV Network; and Joe Swift, director of development WE TV—face off against producers—Danny Fenton, managing director Zig Zag Production; Tony Tackaberry, CEO Lion Television US, and Nancy Glass, owner and president of Nancy Glass Productions—in a quiz show hosted by Cableready’s Gary Lico.

Competing for $1,500 for a charity of their choosing, the teams answered questions for three rounds, starting with true or false questions in the "Bang On or Bogus" round, skill testing questions in the "Power of 3" round and ending with a family feud style lightning round testing the knowledge of one team member.

During the second round of questioning, where the teams took turns answering questions rather than buzzing in, Glass expressed her frustration that, in her opinion, the broadcasters were getting easier questions. “Next you’re going to ask them their favourite colour and you’re going to ask me to recite the Magna Carta in French backwards,” she said. The final score was 140—producers, 170—broadcasters. LG

Short form docs are popping up on everything from subway platforms to cell phones, and the Nimble Company’s partner Sue Biely, was on site of the Realscreen Summit this morning to outline how to best work with the format.

Increasingly, short form docs are viewed in a number of different public spaces. Biely recommended nonverbal, three minute or less pieces she calls ‘visual snacks’ that can be consumed anywhere people are waiting - baggage carriers, lottery ticket counters, elevators, and public transit areas are screening shorts because these screens need a certain amount of non-commercial content to run.

For the Internet, Biely stressed that being irreverent and funny will capture eyeballs, and will help create viral momentum on popular sites such as digg.com and YouTube, capturing the water cooler element.

But the mobile format comes with a different mindset; Biely advised thinking about your film’s luminosity since many mobile devices may not have bright enough bulbs to properly display them. Close-ups are a better choice than lots of motion and background distractions. Edgy animation also eases difficulty in tough subjects and reaches children.

She also gave an insider tip: a buyer moves on to the next clip after eight seconds of an internet short, and two minutes into a short film. KA

Much of the morning at the Realscreen Summit was devoted to the art of the pitch. Or, as David Lyle, president of Fox Reality Channel, explained it during his workshop, “goodness is its own reward, but not in pitching.”

His inside tips included booking a meeting before lunch, as it’s less likely to be cancelled, and that the pitch should take three minutes or less because, as Lyle cautions, “seven minutes is deadly.” Injecting a little color, he also advised against premature ejaculation: don’t start pitching as soon as you come through the door, as it leaves little to do in the meeting.

Another pitching workshop featured both Steven Anderson, president and executive producer of APL, Anderson Production; and Ed Hersh, chief creative officer of StoryCentric. Their tips include asking for the network’s creative brief (so you know what it’s looking for), and demonstrating the research you’ve done by bringing more than ideas – by lining up appropriate and willing hosts, for example.

They emphasized that it was not just about having a good idea but about having some value to bring to the channel. KA/LG

Lion Television UK kicked off one of the opening morning workshops at the 2008 Realscreen Summit with some biblical references - with a heavy non-fiction TV biz twist.

Richard Bradley, managing director of London-based Lion Television UK, and Bill Locke, the company's head of history and special projects, led the "Making Coproduction Work" workshop, providing attendees with their cheeky, yet practical, "10 Commandments of Coproduction." The commandments are based on producing shows that have many broadcasters onboard (as opposed to other production companies). Here is a sampling of their tips:

Commandment 2: "Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness (watch what you promise -- they might ask you to deliver)." Bradley and Locke explained that while broadcasters may throw around Gladiator, The Matrix and 300 as examples of the style they want the show to have, producers are best to be honest about what they can actually deliver on 1/100th of those films' budgets.

Commandment 4: "Love they neighbours' audiences as thine own." Broadcasters want viewers to think they made the shows themselves, so producers should have their shows' experts speak using both imperial and metric. The broadcasters don't want the show to feel like a buy-in.

Commandment 10: "Remember always to keep the delivery dates, for these are the holiest of days. (Commissioners are exempt from this commandment.)" Try to have the assistant of your commissioner put key dates in their diary, such as the day they are to read the script, so that things keep on track.

Bradley and Locke cheated by adding an eleventh commandment for the purposes of their workshop: "Thoult shall never book a vacation right at the end of production." As many producers will agree, you may not be finished on that magical delivery date. AA

In prep for the Sunday, February 24 show (writers permitting), the Academy released its doc shortlist today. Included are:

Best documentary feature:
No End in Sight, (Magnolia Pictures), A Representational Pictures Production
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, (The Documentary Group) A Documentary Group Production
Sicko, (Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company), A Dog Eat Dog Films Production
Taxi to the Dark Side, (THINKFilm), An X-Ray Production
War/Dance, (THINKFilm), A Shine Global and Fine Films Production

Best documentary short subject
Freeheld, A Lieutenant Films Production
La Corona (The Crown), A Runaway Films and Vega Films Production
Salim Baba, A Ropa Vieja Films and Paradox Smoke Production
Sari's Mother, (Cinema Guild), A Daylight Factory Production

 

The first day of the Realscreen Summit kicked off with the Footage Forum – an entire day devoted to archives and stock footage co-hosted by FOCAL International.

Beginning the day was the panel “Bringing sexy back to stock.” Hosted by Matthew White, president of Matthew White & Associates, the panel featured conversations with Andre Singer, CEO, West Park Pictures; Gil Pimentel, director of programming and production, National Geographic Digital Studio; as well as Stuart Samuels, filmmaker, writer and producer, of Stuart Samuels Productions.

Singer, who described the evolution of Werner Herzog’s film The Wild Blue Yonder from science doc to a space fantasy based almost 80% on stock footage, noted “in the past, archive never featured as the focus of our existence. We were story driven, genre driven filmmakers, and when fitting the film together, sometimes archives featured and sometimes it didn’t.” Archives, he explains now, have become central to the development process.

For his part, Pimentel offered that online has opened an expansive world to filmmakers. “Demand for video online right now is just about insatiable,” he explained. Pimentel advised that every clip is valuable, that someone online is interested – “someone wants to see that footage – but the key is in how you make that connection.”

The world changed for historian Samuels with the death of Princess Diana, and the flood of footage available to the news coverage. “The history of the 20^th century,” he realized, “had already been shot.” From that point on, he turned to archive, home video, audio, stills, and any other media, to tell stories – including his newest film 27, on the deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. BC

 

AETN is unveiling new technology at the Realscreen Summit that will benefit broadcasters and producers in streamlining rights and information management across the board. Debut is the new technology created by AETN’s IT group allowing producers to submit their rights bibles along with any pertinent program information directly to A&E’s internal database through an online system.

VP of Standards and Practices, Dawn Porter, says the idea came to the network when they were thinking of ways to streamline the delivery process for producers so A&E can receive information in a uniform fashion and cut down on the usual piles of paperwork. “It’s like you start out playing Pong,” says Porter of the basic technology they started the project with. “It started as a very simple system and then, you know how people in television are; you give them a cookie and they want a cake.”

As an online system to submit rights information such as music licenses, personal releases, location releases, even scripts are to be delivered through this method. Producers can submit information wherever they are, whenever they get the information, and not wait for all the documents to come in before they deliver them to the network. It also cuts down on the likelihood of losing important paperwork before the production is finished. “When you’re trying to get paid and you want to have all your deliverables in there’s nothing like having lost one music license. We’ve been describing it to our producers as a digital vault. Everything that’s connected to a particular show can be delivered through the system and stored on the system.”

Twenty-one producers who work with the network have been trained on the system to date, including 44 Blue, Angel Productions, Departure Films and Sharp Entertainment—the first outside users of Debut. A&E will be giving a demonstration of the new technology at the Realscreen Summit. Lindsay Gibb

The Wildscreen Festival has put out the call for entries for its prestigious Panda Awards. Entries can be submitted from January 25 until March 28.

The 2008 instalment of the awards will vary slightly from those of years past, with the One Planet Award being divided into the Environment Award and the People & Animals Award. Also new this year is the Presenter Led Award. For full details, visit www.wildscreenfestival.org.

This years Wildscreen Fest will take place between Sunday, October 19 and Friday, October 24 in Bristol.

Nick Fraser may be best known as editor of BBC's 'Storyville,' but he's also an author, early morning swimmer and fan of America's Next Top Model. With the threat of the 10-year-old strand being diminished to merely an acquisitions vehicle now over, realscreen speaks with Fraser and unearths some little-known facts about one of the most outspoken and formidable forces in the documentary business. Time for some surprises

 

For the first half of this interview, visit Nick Fraser: The storyteller

Do you read critiques of your books?
I read them fairly quickly; I think it's much easier dealing with critiques of your books when you've run something like 'Storyville' because you learn basically not to take them too seriously. You learn that people have their own agendas. George Orwell, when Animal Farm came out, he read all the critics. I think about probably six of them or so and three of them were negative, and he said that they never said how beautiful it was, and he's absolutely right. Most criticism that filmmakers get, 80% is just summarizing. I think many more readers or viewers figure out what's wonderful about a documentary, but a lot of that never surfaces in the review.

Do you have a writing ritual?
Hardly. I've got two pieces to write at the moment. I did get up at 6:30 a.m. every morning for about four years to write books and it's very, very grueling. You go to bed at 11 p.m. and then you start feeling really exhausted. I couldn't do this job and do a big book. I mean having got through the whole Democracy experience, it seems to me I must start writing again; I'm looking for topics now.

I'm actually, at the moment, doing a piece for The Observer newspaper about an American novelist, Richard Yates. Because when I tried to stop going crazy through the Democracy experience, I read all his seven novels. Revolutionary Road is just a stunning book and it's being made into a film directed by Sam Mendes and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The interesting thing about Richard Yates is, to me, he speaks more than Updike does, and as much as Bellow or Roth. I think Richard Ford is a crazed Yates fan, and when you meet these fans they'll fix you in the eye and go on for hours about what a great writer he is, and he is a great writer. He usually writes about failure, which is unusual in America, and his books are deceptive. They appear simple - they're not simple - the characters are very complicated, and I find this about documentaries, the overlap between fiction and documentaries for me is that in really good documentaries you sort of feel you've known the person most of your life. We had one that's just come in - the working title is The Chuck Show, but I think they're going to call it The Art of Failure.

So I'm writing about Richard Yates, and also very interested in the new philanthropy, the way saving the world has been taken over by individuals and foundations. I'm very perplexed by this. I tend to write about things that I don't understand. There are lots of things I don't understand. But I tend to understand fewer things as I get older. I think shedding certainty is an absolute life obligation; I think that you should grow into skepticism. And I think many types of polemical types of writing that you might have admired 20 years ago cease to be interesting because the more you know about the world, the more reasonably complex it appears. And that's not a problem, that's a huge plus because it makes it more interesting.

I wrote about my old school because after all these years I didn't feel I quite understood the importance of it, and then before that I wrote about Europe. I'm not sure that it's a good way to make a living. I think if you're more hardheaded you have to take much more of marketing. You know it's said Saul Bellow said to someone, he doesn't have ideas, he has buttons, and this is in the days when everyone wore those dreadful buttons and I think really a lot of bestseller writing is in one way or another about buttons, it's about slogans, it's about marketing, et cetera, and I think this is what writers have to do. But it's sort of what I have to do with people and their documentaries, so I wouldn't want to do it, especially in relation to my own writing, although I'd love to sell more copies. It's a very difficult business being a writer in my view.

Do you feel more pressure when it comes to book deadlines as opposed to 'Storyville' deadlines?
No, I don't think so. I've never had that tight book deadlines, and I've never had trouble meeting them. I've never had trouble with deadlines. I've had trouble getting other people to meet deadlines - that's much more difficult. And I don't understand why people have a problem with deadlines; it seems to me if you say you're going to deliver a film on X day and then you sort of count back you know exactly when you have to hit all the things. But evidently, not everybody feels like that - they have huge problems with deadlines.

Is it becoming more of a problem?
I don't think so. The film The English Surgeon was actually spot on the deadline. I think on the whole filmmakers will always, if you give them a deadline, will do it a month late. That's the problem: when you write out a first deadline and you say there's a second one, they deliver it a month after the second one. Some friends of mine think that documentary filmmakers are fantastically unprofessional, and wouldn't survive in any other medium. And in my view, they're just the same as journalists or magazine writers: they want to do their best and they have high standards and they just spend time on things and they don't mean to.

What was going through your mind over as talks of the cuts were circulating?
I felt in a state of near split personality, because most of my time by this stage was trying to sort of herd the 10 filmmaker calves to get them to finish the Democracy films on time and try to, with my colleagues, organize the logistics of this unwieldy fascinating project, which is always so overstretched and under funded. When we started doing it, everybody knew that. So that was taking up a huge amount of quite stressful time and at the same time I was thinking 'What the hell is going on? I don't know what's going on at the BBC, I don't know where we are.'

Earlier this year there was this notion that the BBC would cut the strand so badly we would just be basically an acquisition strand rather than be able to commission anything, and they have restored the cash. What the last painful four months tell me is that the BBC, which is in a bad shape financially, does love 'Storyville' enough to keep going on in quite a major way by their standards. I would always wish there would be far more money because I don't think documentary filmmakers get paid well enough. I think it's very rare for them to earn a decent living and there's only one Michael Moore. It's actually a very difficult thing to be doing, making good films, and I don't think we give them enough money - I don't think we recompense them enough, and this is a real problem for me. But, they do make great films and at least I can go on showing them, and I can pay them adequately.

Eugene Jarecki said it would be a bad business decision to lose 'Storyville' and "one of its best and brightest - Nick Fraser." You're synonymous with the strand the world over - how does that make you feel?
I'm sure someone else could do it - I mean, you're always replaceable. I think that's interesting. I'd never thought in my life that I would be so synonymous with something, I always thought where I'll be moving from one thing to another, I'll always be a bit on the outside looking in because that's what journalists do. There's a danger if you're a reporter, you become professionally non-attached to things and the opposite of that is 'Storyville' because in order to make 'Storyville' I had to become fantastically attached a) to 'Storyville' and b) to the BBC, its patron. And I think this is a different sort of life, it's a life that has its problems. Some journalists have no private life at all, but fortunately I do. But you can always say 'Well, I'll concentrate on my private life for remaining attached and I'll hang loose,' but it's quite impossible to do that when you're trying to run 'Storyville.' It demands loyalty.