Major streamers often vie for documentary subjects

Documentaries are one of the most popular film genres on streaming platforms, but reports suggest that many Hollywood studios responsible for these streamers are having trouble deciding what kind of documentaries to offer. True crime has always been one of the most produced documentary genres; The Netflix documentary “This is the Zodiac Speaking” about San Francisco’s Zodiac Killer and the Max documentary “Chris Brown: A History of Violence” about the self-titled singer are two of their platform’s most popular offerings right now.

This doesn’t appear to be a coincidence, as Netflix and other streamers have reportedly stayed away political documentaries because of the polarized state of the world, they choose to run movies instead less controversial topics.

What does the documentary landscape look like?

Hollywood has a “preference for celebrity or true crime facts over anything that grapples with difficult, complicated issues or characters,” Hollywood said Amount. In recent years, streamers including Apple TV+, Disney, Netflix and Amazon have “moved away from political, nonpartisan fare in favor of more commercial, common-denominator docs that tackle sports in addition to celebrity and true crime.”

Modern documentaries have also become much more commercialized, say experts. Most people who “went into documentary filmmaking 20 years ago got into it because they loved this particular kind of storytelling and they didn’t think of it as a commercial endeavor,” Dan Cogan, CEO of production company Story Syndicate, told The Hollywood Reporter in 2022. But “now I think it’s an accepted part of mainstream entertainment, and so it’s a path just like any other commercial path for people who want to make a living in entertainment.”

How have streamers changed documentaries?

“The streaming wars gave docs a big shot in the arm as platforms like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu snapped up movies to feed their growing subscriber bases,” said Business Insider. Netflix in particular has “played a major role in driving the documentary market and has marketed itself as a champion of the genre that helped spread its popularity.”

Netflix is ​​also reportedly one of the streaming companies pushing away from political documentaries. Netflix is ​​instead prioritize true crimecelebrity, sports and history documentaries but “nothing too political,” according to an internal document from talent agency WME obtained by Business Insider. Experts say Netflix and others are “avoiding films about hot topics at home and abroad because the U.S. is so divided politically,” Business Insider said. Netflix is ​​looking for “light crime and stories that address contemporary issues without getting too political.”

While documentary filmmakers are “grateful that the boom had created more opportunities,” they also “wondered who would support smaller, more political films,” they said Vulturealthough these films had “never been easy to make,” the outlet noted. And companies also don’t want to “risk alienating governments in overseas markets that are key to their subscriber growth,” says Business Insider.

Companies make some political documentaries. “Separated,” a documentary about Trump’s family separation policy, debuted at the Venice Film Festival and will premiere on MSNBC in December. And the 2023 film “20 days in Mariupol,” chronicle the Ukrainian war, has have been cited as one of the best documentaries of all time. Notably, none of these films were released by major studios: “Separated” will be distributed by MSNBC itself, while “20 Days in Mariupol” came from PBS.