Fremantle’s global head of documentaries Mandy Chang insisted on Thursday that “the golden age of documentary is a cliché” and urged filmmakers to avoid “a two-tier system of haves and have nots,” where independent documentaries are crowded out by splashier commercial projects bankrolled by streaming platforms.
“Mainstream docs are popular, but not all documentaries are popular or given prominence,” Chang said to an audience in Copenhagen. “And success for me is a golden age not just for the mainstream, but for a plethora of smaller, less expensive, but still important and powerful films made by…a much more diverse group of filmmakers.”
The Fremantle executive was speaking during the four-day conference program at the Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival (CPH:DOX), which runs March 23-April 3.
During her address, Chang warned against the influence of global streaming giants such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV Plus, whose deep pockets and bidding wars have fueled the perception that the documentary field is booming.
“Many platforms are looking for the same thing. True crime, sports stories, celebrity-driven narratives,” she said. “These kinds of films and series get the lion’s share of the money. And it tends to be the same companies and filmmakers, often on first-look deals.” When it comes to new talent, she added, “the SVODs don’t genuinely take risks.”
Chang praised festivals like CPH:DOX for offering a platform for daring and challenging works of documentary filmmaking, such as Snow Hnin El Hlaing’s 2022 Sundance contender “Midwives,” Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s Sundance 2021 Audience Award winner “Writing With Fire,” and Talal Derki’s Oscar nominated “Of Fathers and Sons.”
She noted, however, how difficult it is for such documentaries to find a home on mainstream streaming services, depriving them of a chance to find a larger audience. “Let’s not kid ourselves that the commercial platforms are awash with these kinds of films,” she said.
Chang referenced a colleague who calls this not a “golden age” but a “corporate age” of documentary filmmaking, noting: “Any field that adheres closely to a purely market-driven system would eventually support only the films that reach the broadest possible audience, marginalizing those on the fringes.”
She pointed to the “staggering $25 million-plus” that Apple reportedly paid for “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry” (pictured) as “the exception rather than the rule,” stressing that for most documentary filmmakers, “There isn’t a pot gold at the end of the rainbow.”
The inequity is underscored by a system in which streaming platforms are increasingly taking all international rights and IP into perpetuity, turning filmmakers into what Chang described as “guns for hire.” She noted that U.K. filmmakers have fought for years to secure the rights to their own content, which they then license to broadcasters for a limited period – typically five years.
“Regulators hold broadcasters to account and establish best practices,” she said. “Why are the streamers exempt from them? It’s not an even playing field.”
In the face of such challenges, documentary filmmakers are feeling the squeeze. Chang cited a study by the International Documentary Association (IDA), which found that 75% of filmmakers need to do additional work outside the field to make a living. Marginalized and disadvantaged groups, such as women and people of color, disproportionately shoulder that burden.
For that to change, she argued that sweeping reforms are needed in order to make the industry accessible for all. “We’re not done yet in our goal to build a stronger, more equitable documentary ecosystem,” she said. “There’s still a lot to be done.”