Documentaries are one of the most popular film genres on streaming platforms, but reports indicate that many Hollywood studios in charge of these streamers have 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 eponymous singer are two of their platform’s most popular offerings right now.
This does not appear to be accidental, as Netflix and other streamers have reportedly been shying away from political documentaries due to the polarized state of the world, choosing instead to push movies on less controversial topics.
What does the documentary landscape look like?
Hollywood has a “preference for celebrity or true crime nonfiction offerings over anything grappling with thorny, complicated issues or figures,” said Variety. In the last few years, streamers including Apple TV+, Disney, Netflix and Amazon have “shied away from political, non-partisan fare in favor of more commercial, common-denominator docs tackling sports in addition to celebrities and true crime.”
Modern documentaries have also become much more commercialized, experts say. Most people who “got into documentary 20 years ago got into it because they loved this particular type of storytelling, and they didn’t think about it as a commercial endeavor,” Dan Cogan, CEO of production company Story Syndicate, said to The Hollywood Reporter in 2022. But “now I think it is 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 films to feed their expanding subscriber bases,” said Business Insider. Netflix in particular has “played a big role in driving the docs market and has promoted itself as a champion of the genre that helped spread its popularity.”
Netflix is also reportedly one of the streaming companies driving the push away from political documentaries. Netflix is instead prioritizing true crime, celebrities, 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 take on contemporary issues without getting too political.”
While documentary filmmakers are “grateful that the boom had produced more opportunities,” they also “wondered who would support smaller, more political films,” said Vulture, though those films “had never been easy to make,” the outlet noted. And companies also do not want to “risk alienating governments in markets abroad that are key to their subscriber growth,” said Business Insider.
Companies do 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 feature “20 Days in Mariupol,” chronicling the Ukrainian war, has been cited as one of the best documentaries of all time. Notably, neither of these films were released by major studios: “Separated” will be distributed by MSNBC itself, while “20 Days in Mariupol” came from PBS.