Watching the MGM+ limited anthology series “American Hostage” with exec producer and star Jon Hamm at its Sept. 12 Toronto fest premiere, you might be reminded of last year’s Sept. 7 Toronto premiere, Gus Van Sant’s thriller “Dead Man’s Wire,” about the same 1977 Indianapolis hostage crisis. Or the 2022 podcast “American Hostage” with Jon Hamm. Or the 2018 doc “Dead Man’s Line,” whose directors were consultants on “Wire.”
Welcome to a new level of déjà view. There have long been competing projects (on killer asteroids, volcanoes, etc.), but with an increasing reliance on reboots and new-to-you IP, an overabundance of outlets, and more mediums like audiobooks, podcasts and YouTube videos at viewers’ fingertips, audiences are experiencing more projects about the same subject than ever before.
So how can Toronto film buyers navigate these waters? How can producers get the most out of film sales in this changing marketplace? And do similar projects increase or cannibalize audiences?
The exception to every rule right now is true crime: “61% of true crime podcast listeners are also watching true crime TV shows or movies, and [half of them] are also watching it on YouTube,” says Edison Research at SSRS VP Megan Lazovick.
“A funny thing I keep noticing,” jokes one Hollywood agent, “is that they’re running out of true crimes.”
As for other genres? “It’s complicated, because it depends upon how and when something is released in its life cycle,” says Ampere Analysis’s USA general manager Zak Shaik. “The examples you have around different access points to a universe or IP — a documentary on it, then a dramatic series or podcast about it — do tend to be additive.” Ampere recently bought PlumResearch, two of the top entertainment research firms alongside Nielsen, Comscore and its recently sold box office arm Rentrak. “We have contracts [for third-party data] with everybody, [including] Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Warner Bros. for HBO Max.”
It’s probably safe to say Netflix felt its four-part March docuseries “Dynasty: The Murdochs” would only increase viewership for its just-announced pickup of Danny Boyle’s TIFF Murdoch family biopic “Ink,” adapted from James Graham’s 2017 play. And look at “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” Just before its July 31 debut, there were 26 million-32 million hours of “Spider-Man” franchise content watched in a week across the major platforms’ back catalogs, according to Showlabs from Ampere/PlumResearch. Then,in the week after the film’s debut, the same viewership tripled to 98 million.
WME partner Eric Reid, who specializes in managing rights in the agency’s lit division, says he hasn’t seen projects on the same subject in different mediums take away viewers from each other — or necessarily add them. “There are people who exclusively listen to podcasts, or watch TV shows, or YouTube,” he says. “[Each format has] different audiences.”
Shaik agrees, but adds that “what studios and streamers usually do that’s quite smart is an expansion. The podcast might have been the first point of entry for that story, and then there’s the documentary, then the dramatic series. Those formats tend to get larger and larger.”
But not TIFF’s two big Mt. Everest projects: Apple Original Films’ shot-on-location drama “Tenzing” (in theaters Oct. 9) and National Geographic Documentary Films’ “Everest: The Other Side” (out Oct. 30).
What projects are you less likely to see? “I think the sports doc has hit its peak, because a couple of years ago there were many, many more being made,” Shaik says. Unless, say, they have unique characters with narrative potential.
For producers, Ramo entertainment lawyer Elsa Ramo says docs can present big opportunities. (She reps Boardwalk Pictures, at TIFF on Sept. 13 with the cowgirl bronco riders doc “Cheyenne”). “Those tend to get set up and go to market sooner.” And securing as many of the right rights is important. “Consumers now want a life story as a feature, a doc series, a scripted TV show and short-form content. Nobody is thinking that things are just a one-off.”
Even the anthology series “American Hostage.” Despite three competing projects out already, writer Eileen Myers (an exec producer alongside writer/exec producer Shawn Ryan and podcast/series exec producers Shawn Christensen and Gabriel Mason) has more in mind. “There will be a spoken word album and a Broadway musical coming soon!”
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