After making a name producing factual content for US cable channels, Canada’s Shark Teeth Films is another outfit having to pivot to meet the challenges of the business in 2024.

Secrets in the Ice for Discovery’s Science Channel spawned a number of spin offs

It’s a familiar tale in the unscripted industry at the moment – a company that built itself up on US cable commissions now hunting around for survival strategies in 2024.

Toronto-based Shark Teeth Films was founded 14 years ago by Adrian Carter and Tom Mudd, both exec producers and co-founders at the company. Its early hits included US cable staples like Vegas Cakes for Food Network, Rugged Justice for Animal Planet and Secrets in the Ice for Discovery’s Science Channel.

So far, so typical, and the success of Secrets in the Ice not only provided the golden goose of a returnable series, but also a franchise that has since been spun out to Secrets in the Jungle and Secrets of Big Data.

Then 2024 hit. “Yeh, exactly,” says Carter. “When we first started we really tried for those US cable network shows.

Tom Mudd

“One of the key things that really drew us to that was the development process of sharing an article, sharing a conversation, having development people we could talk to at those networks, getting that feedback and evolving concepts from a kernel of an idea to a show. And we learned so much from doing that, that constant back and forth with a million different projects. It was a great factual lab to figure out what worked on US air. We exploited that for as long as we could and then, unfortunately, well, here we are…”

That forlorn tale is familiar to anybody who’s had conversations with producers who tread that North American, Realscreen Summit beat of late.

“Realscreen is a great example, look at how the attendance of that summit has changed pre- and post-Covid,” Carter continues. “All those cable networks used to have a phalanx of people there – just from the Discovery family alone you’d have commissioners from Discovery, Science, Travel, HGTV, Food Network, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, before you even get to the others like Oxygen. They would all have people there now all those people are gone, they’re down to a fractional amount and they’re not ordering those shows any more. It’s a result of streaming, not having ads on cable any more, not being able to sell ads in this climate. It’s really taken out that middle market.”

And, so, producers are looking for pivots and diversification in their strategy. Secrets in the Ice again proved to be the key for Shark Teeth to fight through. Left waiting in an interminable, indefinite holding pattern for a third season order from Science the company has flipped to a distributor first model, in that case with fellow Canadian firm Boat Rocker.

“Seasons one and two did really well, they did amazingly on TikTok and social media. But then it was just delay, delay, delay on season three, and we had already made that,” says Carter. “Boat Rocker had sold the first two seasons really well and now we were all hanging around waiting for US license.”

“It got to the point where all the purchasers internationally wanted it, and that was enough to, make the budget and finance the show,” says Mudd. “Everyone wanted more episodes, so it gave Boat Rocker the confidence to invest more money into the show so we can get episodes out to buyers sooner.

“That’s Canadian producers. Our local budgets are much smaller than US ones anyway and you get a little more savvy in terms of bringing in money, tapping into finance structures and co-productions. We’ve been doing this a while and over the years, in the location we’re in, you get used to it as opposed to America where they’ve been raised on 100% commissions and are now having to change completely. We’ve always had to rely on some sort of finance structure for shows that require a little more finesse.”

Adrian Carter

There is also, of course, the added benefit of the Canadian tax credits which Shark Teeth can tap into as a local coproduction partner, making them very attractive to rivals in the UK and elsewhere grappling with their own financial horror shows.

It’s helped the company get other distributor-first models away with companies such as Banijay Rights, Off The Fence and most recently Cineflix for a 10-part engineering series called Building Bad which Bell Media has already pre-bought in Canada.

“[With] a Canadian license plus tax credits, we can bring almost 50% to the table, which also makes us attractive,” Mudd adds. “That’s why we’re dealing a lot with the bigger distribution companies like Boat Rocker, Banijay and Off The Fence because not only are they creative and they can see that it can travel well and they can sell it, but they also like the money that we can bring to the table through this soft financing. It’s allowed us to really build up our catalogue of IP and lots of great episodes of great shows that we’re making. We’ve been able to pivot quickly by doing this.”

Not that it’s all plain sailing north of the border. The lobby group representing major international streaming services operating in Canada recently launched a court challenge to prevent a recent regulatory decision from being introduced. Under a landmark decision announced last month, foreign-based streaming services making more than C$25m (£14m) in annual revenue in Canada will be forced to contribute 5% to the local broadcasting system. The regulations, unveiled by Canada’s broadcasting regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), are set to come into effect on September 1.

Mudd has described a deadlock created by this uncertainty, with Netflix and Amazon in Canada, who had been buying, now “holding off while they wait for the politics to shake out”.

So what’s the three-year plan for Shark Teeth? Or, at least, the next move?

“We definitely want to continue down the path of the sort of television we’re making and we think these distributor-led, international type of shows are the way to go so we’re keen to speak to whoever wants to work and partner with us,” Mudd says.

“We hope to continue the existing partnerships with Boat Rocker and Cineflix over the next few years, and we want to increase the size of our company and scale it up. Last year we produced 30 hours, this year it’ll be 50 and next year 50 to 60. We’d like, the following year, to get it up towards 70 using this model – five to seven shows a year continuously.

“We hope the new shows will connect and resonate with an audience like our current and past shows have done.”

After making a name producing factual content for US cable channels, Canada’s Shark Teeth Films is another outfit having to pivot to meet the challenges of the business in 2024.

Secrets in the Ice for Discovery’s Science Channel spawned a number of spin offs

It’s a familiar tale in the unscripted industry at the moment – a company that built itself up on US cable commissions now hunting around for survival strategies in 2024.

Toronto-based Shark Teeth Films was founded 14 years ago by Adrian Carter and Tom Mudd, both exec producers and co-founders at the company. Its early hits included US cable staples like Vegas Cakes for Food Network, Rugged Justice for Animal Planet and Secrets in the Ice for Discovery’s Science Channel.

So far, so typical, and the success of Secrets in the Ice not only provided the golden goose of a returnable series, but also a franchise that has since been spun out to Secrets in the Jungle and Secrets of Big Data.

Then 2024 hit. “Yeh, exactly,” says Carter. “When we first started we really tried for those US cable network shows.

Tom Mudd

“One of the key things that really drew us to that was the development process of sharing an article, sharing a conversation, having development people we could talk to at those networks, getting that feedback and evolving concepts from a kernel of an idea to a show. And we learned so much from doing that, that constant back and forth with a million different projects. It was a great factual lab to figure out what worked on US air. We exploited that for as long as we could and then, unfortunately, well, here we are…”

That forlorn tale is familiar to anybody who’s had conversations with producers who tread that North American, Realscreen Summit beat of late.

“Realscreen is a great example, look at how the attendance of that summit has changed pre- and post-Covid,” Carter continues. “All those cable networks used to have a phalanx of people there – just from the Discovery family alone you’d have commissioners from Discovery, Science, Travel, HGTV, Food Network, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, before you even get to the others like Oxygen. They would all have people there now all those people are gone, they’re down to a fractional amount and they’re not ordering those shows any more. It’s a result of streaming, not having ads on cable any more, not being able to sell ads in this climate. It’s really taken out that middle market.”

And, so, producers are looking for pivots and diversification in their strategy. Secrets in the Ice again proved to be the key for Shark Teeth to fight through. Left waiting in an interminable, indefinite holding pattern for a third season order from Science the company has flipped to a distributor first model, in that case with fellow Canadian firm Boat Rocker.

“Seasons one and two did really well, they did amazingly on TikTok and social media. But then it was just delay, delay, delay on season three, and we had already made that,” says Carter. “Boat Rocker had sold the first two seasons really well and now we were all hanging around waiting for US license.”

“It got to the point where all the purchasers internationally wanted it, and that was enough to, make the budget and finance the show,” says Mudd. “Everyone wanted more episodes, so it gave Boat Rocker the confidence to invest more money into the show so we can get episodes out to buyers sooner.

“That’s Canadian producers. Our local budgets are much smaller than US ones anyway and you get a little more savvy in terms of bringing in money, tapping into finance structures and co-productions. We’ve been doing this a while and over the years, in the location we’re in, you get used to it as opposed to America where they’ve been raised on 100% commissions and are now having to change completely. We’ve always had to rely on some sort of finance structure for shows that require a little more finesse.”

Adrian Carter

There is also, of course, the added benefit of the Canadian tax credits which Shark Teeth can tap into as a local coproduction partner, making them very attractive to rivals in the UK and elsewhere grappling with their own financial horror shows.

It’s helped the company get other distributor-first models away with companies such as Banijay Rights, Off The Fence and most recently Cineflix for a 10-part engineering series called Building Bad which Bell Media has already pre-bought in Canada.

“[With] a Canadian license plus tax credits, we can bring almost 50% to the table, which also makes us attractive,” Mudd adds. “That’s why we’re dealing a lot with the bigger distribution companies like Boat Rocker, Banijay and Off The Fence because not only are they creative and they can see that it can travel well and they can sell it, but they also like the money that we can bring to the table through this soft financing. It’s allowed us to really build up our catalogue of IP and lots of great episodes of great shows that we’re making. We’ve been able to pivot quickly by doing this.”

Not that it’s all plain sailing north of the border. The lobby group representing major international streaming services operating in Canada recently launched a court challenge to prevent a recent regulatory decision from being introduced. Under a landmark decision announced last month, foreign-based streaming services making more than C$25m (£14m) in annual revenue in Canada will be forced to contribute 5% to the local broadcasting system. The regulations, unveiled by Canada’s broadcasting regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), are set to come into effect on September 1.

Mudd has described a deadlock created by this uncertainty, with Netflix and Amazon in Canada, who had been buying, now “holding off while they wait for the politics to shake out”.

So what’s the three-year plan for Shark Teeth? Or, at least, the next move?

“We definitely want to continue down the path of the sort of television we’re making and we think these distributor-led, international type of shows are the way to go so we’re keen to speak to whoever wants to work and partner with us,” Mudd says.

“We hope to continue the existing partnerships with Boat Rocker and Cineflix over the next few years, and we want to increase the size of our company and scale it up. Last year we produced 30 hours, this year it’ll be 50 and next year 50 to 60. We’d like, the following year, to get it up towards 70 using this model – five to seven shows a year continuously.

“We hope the new shows will connect and resonate with an audience like our current and past shows have done.”