- June 1, 2025
The Hollywood Reporter writers Steven Zeitchik and Ethan Millman report on shifts in the documentary field toward authorized celebrity music biographies catering to a large built-in audience, and generally, away from rigorous, artistic exploration into a figure or issue.
- March 26, 2025
At CPH:DOX, U.S. and European doc leaders met to strategize new funding distribution models for political documentaries as major American streamers shift toward less politically risky content.
- February 15, 2025
Frustrations are mounting within the documentary community as Oscar voters continue to overlook celebrity-driven docs, highlighting deeper tensions around streamer influence and the future of social issue filmmaking in a polarized political climate.
- January 15, 2025
Documentary films sympathetic to Palestine and critical of Israel, including the acclaimed “No Other Land” with over 45 awards, struggle to secure U.S. distribution despite strong audience demand, highlighting broader challenges for geopolitical documentaries in the current marketplace.
- January 12, 2025
Celebrity documentaries are producing outsized financial returns for their subjects and unprecedented creative control, with Netflix’s “Beckham” series netting $36 million.
- December 18, 2024
Several critically acclaimed documentary films addressing social issues are struggling to secure U.S. distribution deals despite international recognition and Oscar shortlist nominations.
- October 16, 2024
Streaming platforms have elevated documentaries to mainstream popularity. However, this paradigm shift spawned an immediate decline in documentary quality as streaming prioritizes formulaic-driven storytelling with mass appeal, ultimately diminishing the genre’s artistic and cultural value.
- October 7, 2024
Netflix’s growth was driven by strategic debt rather than venture capital. Earning the nickname “Debtflix” in the business press, the company operated by tech-sector rules, spending vast amounts of cash to acquire customers and expand its offerings, ultimately curating the expansive content library we enjoy today.
- September 19, 2024
Amazon is set to become the seventh member of the Motion Picture Association, marking a significant milestone in the convergence of entertainment and Big Tech.
- July 1, 2024
Netflix and Amazon accounted for over half (53%) of all global SVOD commissions in the first quarter of 2024. Both platforms are increasing international productions to expand their global subscriber base, countering domestic subscriber stagnation and the growing cost of production in North America.
- June 18, 2024
Keri Putnam and Barbara Twist discuss groundbreaking audience research on U.S. independent film engagement, highlighting how the industry might grow to meet the current and potential audiences.
- May 22, 2024
Data scientist and journalist Daniel Parris describes the economics of streaming, proposing that as streaming libraries grow, the content value diminishes, and therefore streamers are left with the options of producing less or cheaper content or going under.
- May 23, 2024
Strategic brand consultant and independent film producer Brian Newman conveys his current rules for distribution, including details about the decreasing role of streamers in acquiring documentaries and in output deals with distributors, declining transactional revenue and theatrical engagement with documentaries (aside from event screenings), and more ideas for reaching a targeted audience.
- April 15, 2024
Jacobin contributing editor Daniel Bessner reports on the current risk-averse state of the screenwriting business in Hollywood—discussing compensation trends and tracing the history of its value in the film and television industries through company consolidations, labor movements, streamers' strategies, executives' predisposition toward intellectual property-driven content, and more.
- April 9, 2024
Writers Jesse Whittock and Sara Merican delve into the competitive landscape of the streaming industry in Southeast Asia, where Prime Video and Disney+ are retracting much of their presence in original productions, leaving Netflix as the main American streamer commissioning projects there.
- March 1, 2024
Hollywood faces challenges in 2024 with disruptions from strikes and pandemic-related issues, prompting a shift to producing quick, self-contained films and a call for the industry to reconnect with an entrepreneurial spirit amid uncertainties about streaming services and declining movie genres.
- February 9, 2024
Independent filmmakers and distributors report content restrictions and algorithmic filtering of online marketing material interfering in film campaigns and streaming releases.
- February 4, 2024
Writer Anthony Kaufman reflects on Netflix's unprecedented acquisitions of documentaries at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, raising questions about the impact on theatrical distribution, the role of celebrity endorsements, and the evolving dynamics of the documentary market.
- February 3, 2024
The 2024 Oscar documentary nominations, dominated by international filmmakers and with little major streamer-backed films, have sparked discourse on potential resentment in the documentary branch, a preference for social-issue documentaries, and considerations for altering the voting system.
- January 31, 2024
Hosted by producer, filmmaker, and Distribution Advocates co-founder Avril Speaks, this episode of the Distribution Advocates Presents podcast features conversations with industry leaders Pat Murphy, Orly Ravid, Alece Oxendine, Set Hernandez, Abby Sun, Efuru Flowers, and Kaila Sarah Hier, on the role of sales agents in rights deals.
