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Britney Spears’ trusteeship, the college admissions fraud scandal, the sexual abuse charge against Woody Allen – all of these stories have returned to the top of the headlines in recent weeks after new documentaries offered new insight .
The films have appeared on the Hulu (DIS), Netflix (NFLX), and HBO Max (T) streaming platforms to fuel a growing appetite for non-fiction.
Yet legendary documentary director Ken Burns has said in a new interview that he will never make a movie for the streaming giants. Rather, he plans to keep his long-standing partnership with PBS which gives him full creative control and a long production schedule, he says.
“I’ve been with public television all my stuff and I’m staying with them,” says Burns, whose new three-part film “Hemingway” is released on April 5. “They have one foot in the market and the other tentatively released.”
Burns, known for his high-profile films on quintessential American subjects like “Jazz” and “Baseball,” cited the marathon production schedule for his 10-part documentary series “Vietnam War”, which aired in 2017.
‘PBS gave me 10 and a half years’
“I could have gone a few years ago – or 10 and a half – to a premium streaming channel or or cable, and said, given my track record, ‘I need $ 30 million to do the Vietnam ‘, and they would have given me, “he adds.” But what they would not have given me is ten and a half years. “
“PBS gave me 10 and a half years,” he says. “They gave me six and a half on Ernest Hemingway.”
With hundreds of millions of people in the United States in isolation at home – and many more around the world – the pandemic has caused an explosion in viewership for the documentary. Last April, 34.3 million viewers watched the “Tiger King” murder mystery in its first 10 available days, making it one of the most popular original shows to ever air on Netflix, according to Nielsen.
A documentary series on basketball legend Michael Jordan titled “The Last Dance,” which aired for five weeks from April to May 2020, averaged 6.1 million viewers per episode, ESPN said – which makes it the most watched documentary in the history of the network.
The documentary has been a key part of high-profile production deals made by streaming giants and creators. Last September, Netflix signed a multi-year production deal with Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, worth over $ 100 million, which requires a multitude of projects, including documentaries. Likewise, former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama signed a hit deal with Netflix in 2018 that includes non-fictional works.
Nonetheless, Burns said he enjoys the arrangement with PBS without any pressure to make a profit, as it relies on a multitude of individuals and institutions supporting his work.
“It’s not a financial model, it’s a grant model,” he says. “We raise money from foundations and wealthy individuals, from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, from PBS itself.”
“We do [the films] zero-sum games “, he adds. We are” not allowed to make contingencies, nor to put profit margins, and it happens “.
“What it gives me is full creative control. If you don’t like these movies, it’s my fault, ”he says. “And that’s how you want it to be: no excuses.”
Burns spoke to Andy Serwer, editor of Yahoo Finance, in an episode of “Influencers with Andy Serwer,” a series of weekly interviews with leaders from business, politics and entertainment.
A two-time Oscar nominee, Burns has directed films for more than four decades on a range of subjects from “The Vietnam War” and “The Civil War” to “Country Music” and “Brooklyn Bridge”. In addition to the upcoming film “Hemingway”, Burns will release “Muhammad Ali” later this year, a four-part documentary about the legendary boxer and social activist.
For years he lived and worked in the small town of Walpole, New Hampshire.
Speaking to Yahoo Finance, Burns praised the explosion in documentary cinema. He described the early days of his career in the 1980s as what he thought at the time to be “the golden age”, but acknowledged how production has improved since then.
“There was just an incredible specter,” he says. “And he got bigger and more efficient.”
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