Noah Media and Workerbee reveal how they funded some of their recent projects
Documentaries now need several different layers of funding to get made, according to Noah Media Group and Banijay label Workerbee.
Noah and Workerbee both feature in the latest Broadcast Sport Podcast, revealing how they funded the likes of I’m Carl Lewis, Football’s Financial Shame: The Story of the V11, Four Kings and England’s Lions: The New Generation while speaking at the Broadcast Sport Content Summit at dock10 Studios last month. You can listen to the full episode below.
For I’m Carl Lewis, a documentary film on the life and career of the American sprinter, Noah executive producer Chris Peilow revealed that funding contributors have been involved, with more to come.
Not currently available to watch in the UK, Peilow revealed, “It’s currently in with the Olympic Channel in two territories, the USA and Japan,” after an attempt to sell it off the back of a film festival was initially unsuccessful. “I think if you ask a sales agent about that now, they’d say, don’t go for that strategy.”
Peilow continued, “There’s no doubt that it’s a brilliant film, and a brilliant character that’s pointing towards LA 2028 [Summer Olympic Games].
Given the lack of funding, Noah backed it themselves, and, “So this is our asset and that means we can control it a bit more now.” This has led to the Olympic Channel deal, as well as backing from former Lewis sponsor Nike. Peilow said of the Olympic agreement, “That was strategic not to put it out to all territories and to hold things back.
“We know that there is already, and there will be, interest in the lead up to LA 28.”
He added, “We’ve got a brand partnership with Nike as well. Carl was a Nike athlete, Nike feature in the film and it’s a really clear, authentic brand partnership.”
Peilow admitted that making the film without clear backing was a, “gamble,” but it has now left the company in a good position given the upcoming Olympics. “Another benefit of sport is…you can position things around the sporting calendar.”
Peilow was speaking alongside Workerbee head of production Jade Thorn, who was similarly forthcoming about the company’s projects, including its Four Kings documentary on the rivalries of British boxers Lennox Lewis, Frank Bruno, Nigel Benn, and Chris Eubank.
She revealed, “It was an Amazon [Prime Video] acquisition, so they were the primary funder on it. Obviously, that does mean that you have to cash flow it yourself, which is where having [Workerbee owner] Banijay on board, that’s an easier conversation than when you’re independent.
However, even with a commission from a major streamer, “It’s actually how can we top that funding up?” to avoid taking on too much financial risk or having to scale back the project.
Thorn said, “We spoke to Amazon and they agreed to a hold back window and we were able to sell the secondary rights for that. Channel 4 took it and they got to play that on network.
“Obviously, there’s a totally different audience that come to a Channel 4 version of this…and they got that for a much cheaper price than what they would pay if they would commission it, but it also meant they were able to top up the funding.”
This was a big help creatively, “There were three different people funding that, which meant that we were able to make it in exactly the way we wanted to.”
You can listen to the full podcast below, and hear from Thorn and Peilow on the funding of Financial Shame: The Story of the V11 and England’s Lions: The New Generation, as well as general questions on how to get a documentary funded and how the landscape is changing for production companies.
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