Sports Doc Fatigue: Hollywood’s New Endurance Test (and How to Cure It)
By: Elaine Low | The Ankler
Years after the Formula 1: Drive to Survive phenomenon that spurred a sports doc spree, are streamers and networks finally right-sizing their sports-related programming budgets and buys? Live sports aside, have we hit Peak Sports TV?
To hear insiders tell it: yes and no.
For today’s Series Business, I spoke to Andrew Fried of Boardwalk Pictures (the company behind Welcome to Wrexham, Cheer and America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders), Colin Campbell of Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions (NFL follow-doc Quarterback and NBA follow-doc Starting Five for Netflix), Done + Dusted CEO Melanie Fletcher and more execs, producers and agents buying, selling and developing unscripted sports docs and series.
After weeks of calls and digging, here’s what insiders revealed to me about how the sports TV business is rewriting its playbook. I’ll tell you: