Have obs docs had their day?

With traditional obs docs falling out of favour with audiences and commissioners, factual luminaries debate how to revive the genre.

There has likely never been a time in modern human history where society has been quite so obsessed with the lives of normal people – we’re endlessly fascinated with their everyday activities, where they work, what they think, what they do and who they’re doing it with.

Sadly, for factual filmmakers, that voracious voyeurism happens almost entirely on social media, where shortform TikTok videos go viral and the outspoken opinions of total unknowns can attract millions of views on YouTube vlogs.

In the face of such instant, unrestricted access, viewed on our phones to distract ourselves from a boring commute on the train to work, the humble observational documentary now seems hopelessly antiquated and rather redundant.

That hasn’t gone unnoticed by the content industry. This week’s Edinburgh TV Festival saw a panel session entitled ‘Are obs docs dead? And does anyone care?’ Featuring prominent factual producers, buyers, creatives and commissioners, it provided lively debate on the issue.

It posited that in a streamer era dominated by glossy IP-led premium factual titles and fluffy celebrity profiles like Studio 99’s hugely successful Netflix series Beckham, there’s no place left for humble fly-on-the-wall obs docs about quirky non-famous Brits going about their often-unremarkable lives.

How many risk-averse buyers these days are going to order, say, a three-parter about fishmongers at Billingsgate Market or the secret life of airport security staff at Heathrow?

Peter Beard, creative director, Story Films, said: “I think with certain exceptions – celebrities, sport and police – I would say that obs docs are definitely in their death throes.”

Certainly, the evidence is damning. While in 2010, 90% of the shows nominated for best series at the BAFTA awards were obs docs from the BBC and Channel 4, that number dropped dramatically to 30% in the 2020s so far, with no obs docs nominated at all in the last two years.

Meanwhile, factual commissions announced during ETVF included Netflix docs about Victoria Beckham, Gordon Ramsay and Take That, while Sky has ordered a Boyzone project and Disney+ will stream a doc about style bible Vogue. None of those, it could reasonably be argued, fall within the obs doc genre.

Speakers at the ETVF panel session argue that if the follow-doc format isn’t already extinct, it needs to be radically revamped to survive.

“What’s the new twist?” said Jo Clinton-Davis, controller of factual at ITV. “It used to be a fixed-rig format or ‘24 Hours in…’ How do we reinvent the genre and bring something new to the table?

“For me, commissioning in a primetime 21.00 slot, I can’t put a funny fishmonger who tells jokes about cod on the EPG, it’s got to be standout.”

Céire Clark, senior acquisitions manager, international, at Fremantle, said: “How do you get buyers to invest in (obs docs) programmes when there’s so much factual content already out there.

“It’s about cutting through. Docs now need something extraordinary about them, amazing access to a royal or a celebrity will help to sell to buyers. Sadly, we need more than just everyday life to make a doc pop.”

Returning to the theme of social media, some filmmakers have found ways of stitching videos from digital platforms into their factual projects to capture the eyeballs of younger viewers more accustomed to consuming online content.

At Empress Films, founder and director Emma Cooper took this painstaking approach while directing Channel 4 and Netflix mini-series Depp v Heard, which focused on the defamation trial between Hollywood actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. The innovative stylistic approach helped make the three-parter the number one show on Netflix in 88 countries.

“I was obsessed with the trial,” said Cooper. “I told Channel 4 and Netflix that I didn’t want to interview anyone. I want to buy the footage of the trial and show how we all look at truth in our society by only showing commentary from YouTube and TikTok videos.

“It was cool that 90 million people watched it, even though 45 million of them hated me. I didn’t want to interview people telling me some sh*t I didn’t want to know, I wanted to know what hundreds of millions of people around the world thought instead.

“Some critics thought I was just throwing TikTok videos at the wall, but I was in the editing suites for days trying to get a narrative to tell the story.”

Nevertheless, with demand for obs docs on the wane, factual filmmakers may have to create revenue elsewhere to help finance their increasingly niche passion projects.

Ben Zand, CEO of Zandland, is an impassioned advocate of obs docs but may need to make celebrity-led projects such as R Kelly: Sex Lies and Videotapes for the BBC in order to fund more esoteric obs docs.

“Making obs docs can be extremely difficult and take years to complete,” said Zand. “It can be difficult to convince buyers to spend money on a project in which the final outcome is not yet known.

“There’s a lack of commerciality to certain projects. You can’t set up a business to produce docs like that and make enough money, but you could have a section of the business for it after you’ve found profitability elsewhere, because these stories should still be told.”