With the number of outlets for documentary programs increasing exponentially, Canadian distributors are faced with a radically altered marketplace in which to sell their product.

The expanding documentary market is providing more opportunities for international sales as large satellite broadcasters like Discovery and National Geographic, followed by smaller specialty channels, move into new territories. However, distributors are finding that the new satellite and digital platforms come with a price.

Les Harris, president of Canamedia in Toronto, is blunt about the financial impact of the evolving doc scene: ‘Although the number of stations has increased, the amount of money that these stations are paying has decreased dramatically. Ten years ago, I would get £100,000 ($239,000) from Channel Four for a one-hour documentary. Today I’d be lucky to get £25,000 ($59,700). From the specialty channels, you are lucky to get £2,000 ($4,800) for that documentary.’

Satellite services potential

Distributors are approaching the changing marketplace with modified strategies and, in some cases, lower expectations.

According to Ellis Enterprises’ Bailey Daniels, developing relationships with emerging satellite services may result in lower licence fees initially, but the payoff comes later.

Although Discovery’s new satellite channels offer very low fees, often as little as 2% of what Discovery u.s. will pay, Daniels says forming relationships with the buyers from these services is a good bet: ‘That’s how we started off with Discovery u.s. We were dealing with John Hendricks when he was working out of his garage, and in that way we became a preferred client.’

Discovery represents a major marketplace for most Canadian documentary distributors. Ellis has the longest running doc series in primetime on Discovery u.s. with Profiles of Nature, and they has just closed a deal with Discovery International for 18 hours, including last season and this season.

Sandra Green of Edmonton-based Great North International also cites Discovery as a major client, along with National Geographic International, France’s Planete and Una in Portugal.

Making the best deal for a program is becoming increasingly complicated, says Green. ‘If Nat Geo buys a program, they want worldwide rights, and if you go with them first they have a very serious impact on your terrestrial sales within those territories.’

Growing trend to series

One of the most significant changes wrought by the emergence of digital and satellite channels is reflected in the types of programming distributors are aggressively acquiring. One-off documentaries and limited series are easiest to sell internationally, says David Seeler at Multimedia Group in Toronto. Seeler’s company has been particularly active in selling short series to Le Cinquieme and Odyssee in France.

However, most distributors forecast that their own catalogues will become weighted heavily towards series in coming years. While terrestrial broadcasters are more likely to engage in what Daniels calls ‘cherry picking’ – purchasing what they consider to be the best segment from a series – whole series are where the money is.

‘We tend to have a lot of one-offs, although we are looking for more series,’ says Daniels. ‘It’s just as much work to sell a single as a series, and the payoff is obviously that much greater for a series.’

Green predicts that the 60:40 ratio in favor of one-off documentaries currently featured in Great North’s catalogue will reverse in the next two years.

‘This business was built on one-off, one-hour documentaries, but more and more we are moving into series,’ she says. ‘Series are very attractive because it takes the same amount of work to make the sale and the amount of money you are going to pull in will be substantially more.’

Tailoring acquisitions

to clients

With big satellite networks like Discovery and National Geographic providing attractive markets, distributors are increasingly tailoring their acquisitions to appeal to particular clients. Most are staying away from current affairs programming, for instance, because it tends to be too specific and is difficult to place internationally. History, nature, health, travel, human-interest stories, and science are preferred topics. However, even within these categories, distributors are finding that it is important for programs to have the right tone and format.

Seeler points to a Multimedia limited series called Treasures of the Earth, a program about precious stones and metals which sold well in the u.s., Canada, Japan and Europe. The company repackaged the show as a series of six half-hours, along with several one-hour standalone specials which they are taking to the markets this year.

‘You have to respect that broadcasters are setting up their schedules in a certain way,’ Seeler argues, ‘and sometimes you have to come back with a format that will suit their schedule.’

Hunger for

science, wildlife

Broadcasters are also increasingly fussy about the exact nature of the subject matter they will purchase. Science programming, for instance, is in great demand and is often hard to come by, says Green, particularly as the content has to appeal to a diverse international audience.

‘It’s a difficult subject,’ she says. ‘People want science, but they don’t want anything controversial. They want natural history, but they don’t want conservation, for instance. The treatment of the subject is really important.’

Blue-chip wildlife docs continue to be in great demand, as are historical and scientific properties, says Patricia Scarlett, vp at Toronto distributor Compass Loten Worldwide. Primetime one-offs are particularly sought after. Nature, the supernatural, medical breakthroughs, outer space and scientific discoveries are the types of projects being sought by the company.

Penetrating pubcos

As satellite broadcaster and specialty cable channels offer more factual programming, public broadcasters are becoming more selective about their own documentary purchases. Most Canadian distributors find the public television market difficult to penetrate; networks like cbc, pbs, and bbc and Channel Four in the u.k. do not readily purchase series from non-domestic producers, and usually prefer to be involved in a project on a presale or coproduction basis.

Many of the international pubcasters are producing their own documentaries, says Scarlett, so producers are competing for ever-shrinking slots.

One company which has managed to form lucrative relationships with public broadcasters is Toronto-based Rhombus International. The company’s six-part series on cellist Yo-Yo Ma was coproduced with the bbc and sold by Rhombus around the world. The success of that series established Rhombus’ credentials with the bbc and, says Rhombus’ Sheena Macdonald, will pave the way for future partnerships.

According to Macdonald, the opportunities provided by the new specialty channels are no substitute for a partnership with a public broadcaster. ‘It takes a lot of specialty channels to add up to the kind of financial investment you get from the bbc or Channel Four or zdf,’ she says.

However, Macdonald has noticed the effects of increased competition between public and private broadcasters. Although licence fees for the kind of high-end performing arts documentaries offered by Rhombus remain stable, Macdonald cites a shrinking number of non-fiction slots on public television over the past five years.

Int’l monetary squeeze

But it’s not only the fierce competition in the documentary marketplace that has affected sales to some outlets. Financial crises in Asia and Latin America, and reduced funding for public broadcasting in Australia have closed access to formerly profitable markets, particularly for distributors who are only just beginning to establish a foothold in these territories.

Discovery’s Asian service is still buying, but its licence fees have decreased significantly compared to previous levels. Latin America, which was poised to become a major market for documentary distributors, has stalled due to domestic turmoil. In Australia, public broadcaster abc has had its budget slashed, and most of the country’s networks are not represented at the markets this year, says Green.

In Canada, competition among emerging producers for funding dollars is having an impact on the quality of documentary product. There are more Canadian documentaries around than ever before, but the effect of lower budgets is starting to be felt.

Green expresses concern about the funding situation for producers without an established track record. ‘I feel bad for emerging producers,’ she says. ‘You can see the lack of money in their films quite clearly, and I think it must be a lot more difficult to develop a portfolio now than it was.’

Micheal Sheppard, vp North American sales at Canamedia, agrees that budgets are dropping because of the competition among an increasing number of documentary producers. However, Canamedia is looking for both high- and low-end documentaries, as according to Sheppard both have a position in the marketplace. Bigger-budget projects are easier to sell, he says, but involve more risk. As for lower-end documentaries, the smaller specialty channels are often looking for this kind of project.

On the positive side, the proliferation of specialty channels is providing opportunities for producers and distributors beyond the traditional subject matter of documentaries.

Harris is currently putting together an $8-million children’s series, The Way Things Work, with CineGroupe in Montreal and France Animation in Paris.

Ellis Vision, Ellis Enterprises’ recently renamed production company, has a wildlife comedy series called Buck Staghorn’s Animal Bites, about the exploits of a fictional adventurer, which uses footage from the company’s catalogue and a script from a team of comedy writers.