Imagine Documentaries President Sara Bernstein Says Docs Like ‘Harry & Meghan’ Are “Almost In A Different Category” – MIA Market

deadline.com:

Documentaries like Netflix’s Harry & Meghan are “almost in a different category,” the docs boss of Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment said today.

Responding to a question from Deadline at MIA Market, former HBO producer Sara Bernstein also said the “fees have raised in terms of what this access looks like and what it costs a producer like our company” on shows where the subjects exert a certain amount of editorial control.

Although it isn’t only Harry & Meghan that opted for this approach, the conversation was sparked by last year’s hit doc series,which was co-produced by the ex-royal duo’s Archewell Productions via a multi-million dollar Netflix deal. “We live in a world today where celebrities, big personaltiies and talent of a certain magnitude understand what their value is to the industry and to an audience,” Bernstein said. “I think that has driven the desire to be more participatory in the process and to either demand a seat at the table as a producing partner or second producer.” Speaking to Deadline recently, BBC docs boss Clare Sillery said she would never have commissioned Harry & Meghan due to the royal couple’s editorial control demands.

Bernstein pointed out that Imagine’s Apple TV+ doc The Super Models counts subjects Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington as EPs, but she said “it is important to maintain some level of editorial control.” “But you have to understand that these projects are what they are,” she added. “Do you lookat Harry & Meghan as a hard hitting exploratory documentary into their lives or realize you are getting a glimpse of their life and they’re opening up to you?