The Hollywood Reporter (Weekly)
ABC News Studios Keeps Busy as In-House Seller
Entertainment companies like Disney find themselves in a challenging situation. They need to invest in new and growing platforms like Disney+ and Hulu while keeping the linear lineups of networks like National Geographic and ABC filled. To help bridge that gap, they have increasingly turned to new in-house documentary studios.
ABC News launched its effort, ABC News Studios, in 2022, with an initial slate of four films and 15 docuseries, including a spinoff of Nightline and projects from Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos. A source close to the division tells THR that it is already profitable, feeding a pipeline of feature films and docuseries to ABC, Disney+, Hulu, Nat Geo and other in-house platforms. Led by Reena Mehta, senior vp streaming at ABC News, and Mike Kelley, vp at ABC News Studios, the division has already had a significant 2023, with Colin Kaepernick’s Killing County debuting Feb. 2 on Hulu, the Brooke Shields doc Pretty Baby representing Disney’s only project at Sundance (and also headed for Hulu), the doc The Lady Bird Diaries set to premiere at SXSW, as well as Power Trip, which follows Stephanopoulos as he mentors ABC News reporters embedded on the campaign trail.
The in-house studio business appears to be bustling, not only at Disney and ABC but at NBC, which has NBC News Studios, and at CBS’ See It Now Studios, led by Susan Zirinsky.
And other news-driven outlets are seeking a piece of the pie. From Time Studios to Condé Nast Entertainment to The New York Times, all are producing feature documentaries and selling them to streaming services and networks. Says ABC News president Kim Godwin, “We’ve created more than 100 hours of compelling content for linear and streaming that is clearly connecting with audiences and critics.”