As the president and general manager of Discovery Channel, Paul Lewis knows a thing or two about Barna-Alper’s documentary productions. Discovery has been running Barna-Alper’s doc series since the channel first came on stream in 1994, with such programs as The Body: Inside Stories, Human Wildlife and Frontiers of Construction mainstays on its schedule.

‘We’re just about to celebrate 10 years on the air and Barna-Alper has been there from day one,’ says Lewis. ‘As the channel evolves, the Barna-Alper programs evolve with it.’

Lewis calls Barna-Alper an innovator of Canadian nonfiction. He credits the prodco as one of the first companies to make heavy use of dramatization in documentary programming and, perhaps more importantly, do it well, drawing on its experience in drama production.

‘When you look at things now, you see more and more that documentary programs are using dramatic devices, and some dramas shoot as if they’re documentaries,’ says Lewis. ‘Barna-Alper, because of its expertise in both areas, was a couple years ahead of everyone else. It shows the leadership qualities the company provides in the production community.’

Lewis reflects on the relationship between Barna-Alper and Discovery as the prodco turns silver and the broadcaster celebrates its tenth, saying that it has been consistently affable and mutually beneficial.

‘What I like as a broadcaster is that I can sit down with [Laszlo Barna] and we can toss ideas back and forth and create a show in a way that’s more collaborative,’ says Lewis. ‘Barna-Alper is special in that way.’