This week Rome’s MIA market hosted a talk with award-winning producer and president of Imagine Documentaries, Sara Bernstein. The conversation, moderated by MIA Director Gaia Tridente, covered a number of topics including the exec’s illustrious career, Imagine’s latest slate of productions and global trends concerning non-fiction consumption.
Bernstein began her career over 25 years ago, working in the field of scripted production and development. “Then I found my way to HBO, and that was around ’98-’99. It was the time HBO started to explore in the original programming landscape, and I remember watching The Sopranos at my bosses’ office,” she says, adding how HBO has been a wonderful place to be for almost 20 years, one where “one could take risks and explore current issues” through the form she loves the most, documentary.
Five years ago, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard offered her “the opportunity to launch something new,” aiming to foster a new generation of documentary talents. At its core, Imagine Documentaries tries to merge the ability to tell incredible human stories, great production value and a high commercial potential, similarly to what great fiction does but obviously “translated” into the documentary genre.
Next, Bernstein showed two clips from Imagine’s slate of productions. The first clip was from Supermodels, a series for AppleTV+ released on 20 September which centres on “women who were really game-changers in the modelling industry,” such as Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista. The second clip was from Alex Gibney’s HBO-commissioned The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, a doc feature zooming in on Elizabeth Holmes and the rise and fall of her former health tech firm Theranos.
“A big part of our mandate is to look at stories holistically but also thinking about how they could cross-pollinate,” she explained. For example, a compelling article published by The Washington Post or any other outlets may have the potential to turn into a documentary, a fiction film, a TV show and a TV series.
Speaking more broadly on the climate for documentaries on streaming platforms, she underscored that it has evolved significantly, especially over the last few years. That said, she claims that Netflix might have paved the way for another way of producing and marketing documentaries: “Netflix was sort of the first to really pair non-fiction with scripted to the viewer in a way that wasn’t discriminatory. If you watch House of Cards, then a political doc may pop up in your feed. [..] For the first time, audiences began consuming docs as entertainment.”
Successful projects are able to grab a large audience especially because they boast themes or subjects that are “easily recognisable,” and in this sense Supermodels is a case in point.
“When that project came organically, it was a no-brainer for us to take on. This has never been done before; it features icons that are still known today, and it fulfils this desire of 1990s nostalgia. [..] The idea of [filming] these famous women now in their fifties gave the opportunity to reflect on this industry in which they’ve been involved in the past three decades,” she adds. The goal was to deliver something “pop” and “fascinating for audiences,” while “hoping to be provocative, eye-opening and informative.”
Meanwhile, a big challenge for Imagine remains that of striking a balance between projects focusing on headlines and big personalities (with unprecedented access and/or shining a new light on them) and others that can still have a social impact and be enlightening. “[The latter] are definitely less sexy to audiences, but I think these projects can still be incredibly engaging.”
Later, she zoomed in on two more projects of the company’s slate. She spoke about Rory Kennedy’s The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari, an “inside look at the tragedy that took place during the titular volcanic eruption and its aftermath” which “performed very well globally.”
“Our entire creative team was able to recreate the events of that day in a way that was mesmerising and propelling for an audience to watch, while still being incredibly sensitive to the lives lost and the challenges survivors face today,” Bernstein said.
Despite having scooped a number of accolades – including a number of Emmy, Peabody, Academy Awards wins and nominations – Bernstein believes the impact of prizes is declining: “In today’s marketplace they are less and less important. What’s more important is whether your film, your series is going to grab an audience.”
During the Q&A session, a voice from the audience asked Bernstein to express her take on the growing trend of big premium docs overseen by their subjects such as Harry & Meghan. Bernstein answered that we live in a world where talents and big personalities who understand their value in the industry are demanding a more participatory approach as well as higher fees. That said, such projects should be looked at “the way they are,” something surely “more entertaining than informative.” Imagine partners with very high-level talent, but it’s still important for the company “to keep some level of editorial control.”
Head of MIA Docs Marco Spagnoli asked Bernstein to comment on the growing trust in podcasts and documentary over news. The Imagine President acknowledged the importance of engaging in timely debate on topics such as “misinformation” and “partisanship of news presentation” and predicted a surge of documentaries coming from the hottest regions of the world, including Ukraine and the Middle East.
She added: “The more you can allow the viewers to walk in someone else’s shoes, the more empathy they’re going to have. Looking for the human side of such a story or situation or political issue is important. Thinking about those projects as narratives is important. If you’re going to make a documentary about a political situation, how can you think about it as a storyteller and not just as a journalist? [..] If you’re witnessing someone’s pain and suffering, that’s indisputable. It’s a record of what’s happened.”
She defines the current moment as a time for “reset,” which may open room for new avenues of distribution. While companies like Neon and Sony Pictures Classics are still buying titles such as Laura Poitras’ Golden Lion-winner All the Beauty and the Bloodshed and Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s animated docudrama They Shot the Piano Player, platforms are shrinking their budgets and the industry is dealing with the aftermath of the SAG-AFTRA strike. Therefore the independent theatrical distribution players should work on “diversifying their slate,” and documentaries may play a crucial role in the process.
