At the end of January we found ourselves back in the Oak Alley room of the Sheraton Hotel in New Orleans, where we host the UK Indies lounge at the Realscreen Summit – the largest global conference for the business of unscripted and non-fiction.
The Pact-led UK Indies delegation of over 75 companies (supported by the Department for Business & Trade) descended on NOLA for four days of 1-2-1 meetings, high-level keynotes, networking opportunities, programming briefs from top buyers, pitch competitions and awards. And we got things underway in style on the eve of the Summit with our UK Reception at the beautiful The Court of Two Sisters in the French Quarter. With over 120 guests this year, the buzzy event has established itself amongst Realscreen attendees as the place to be for the unofficial kick-off of the summit.
The early consensus seems to be that this year’s summit was a success and a worthwhile investment for UK companies, with more US buyers in attendance, and an improvement over Austin 2023 that was perhaps adversely affected by the financial uncertainty across the US sector.
During the summit, the UK lounge was once again one of the busiest locations in the hotel, with some companies basing themselves there for the majority of their meetings, and others coming and going as appropriate – all smoothly managed by the Pact team in attendance.
A special mention and congratulations go to two UK companies from the delegation - Curve Media and Crackit Productions, recipients of two of the three A&E $25,000 development deals launched at Realscreen through their Development Commitment initiative. Very well done to them!
It’s all change in 2025 as Realscreen will move to Nashville (Tennessee), and we are already talking to our funding partners at the Department for Business & Trade to secure support for another UK Indies delegation.
Farewell to the Big Easy, roll on Music City…
Indie reflections
Jane Kelly
Creative Director, Big Mountain Productions
Producer
Philip McGovern and I are a husband and wife team running Big Mountain Productions out of Northern Ireland. We make shows for C4, ITV and BBC in the UK and PBS and A&E in the USA.
We have attended Realscreen a number of times and this year while the mood was definitely lower-key, there are genuine opportunities for UK companies with a track record and relationships to pursue. Everyone is talking about FAST TV and Realscreen was no exception and it sometimes seemed the busiest meetings were from FAST aggregators pitching for product.
Some of the most interesting sessions included discussions about what’s the next turn of the wheel in documentary, the rise and rise of True Crime, International Format Studio, Talpa and their brilliant ‘whiskey distillery’ moving graphic explaining their business – genius! At a time when audiences are spoilt for choice in what they watch and where, it’s hugely important to have such unfettered access to buyers in the biggest unscripted content market in the world.
Poppy McAlister
Head of TVF International
Distributor
The Pact team were excellent and welcoming as always. They ensured the UK Indies lounge ran smoothly, professionally and that it felt like a buzzing hub of activity.
With the commissioning downturn, the role of indies (and in particular distributors) in spearheading co-production deals, taking on the challenge of deficit financing or raising international pre-sales is more important than ever. With that in mind, having a dedicated space at Realscreen to connect with networks, producers and other indies was really valuable. Despite all the uncertainty, we are feeling positive for the year ahead and excited to find creative solutions to developing and financing new factual programming with like-minded partners.
The Sunday evening (UK Indies) welcome drinks were a highlight! It’s a great way to kick off the conference in an informal setting and make new connections at the very start of the week.
