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An industry debate about the blurred lines between reality and fiction was always going to take in the ongoing situation with Baby Reindeer – and so it was at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival.

A group of factual producers spoke in a Festival conference session entitled “New Narratives for Documentaries: The Blur Between Reality & Fiction.” The conversation soon turned to Richard Gadd’s Netflix series, which is the subject of a $170 million lawsuit in the U.S.

“It’s amazing for a guy who’s been trying to get his own breakthrough for years, he got it, it just happened in the wrong way,” said veteran British producer Steve Anderson. “It feels like one of those moments where the envelope has just been pushed too much.”

The legal team of Fiona Harvey, the woman identified as being the inspiration for the Martha character in Baby Reindeer, is claiming that the “biggest lie...

Twenty-six years after Princess Diana‘s death, a royal commentator says six additional hours of revealing interview tapes have been found. These tapes are reportedly part of a collection of interviews the late Princess of Wales gave to biographer Andrew Morton. Her interviews ultimately became part of the book Diana: Her True Story, an unfiltered look at Diana’s life within the royal family.

Princess Diana looks slightly at the camera in an undated photo | Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images Princess Diana spoke openly regarding royal life in a series of unearthed interviews

Royal commentator Kinsley Schofield spoke to Talk TV‘s Cristo Foufas about the discovery of new tapes where Princess Diana discussed more aspects of royal life. She explained their origins.

“Do you remember Dr. James Colthurst? He was the middleman between [Princess] Diana and Andrew Morton,” she explained. “When he was writing Diana: Her True Story.

Leading the news and documentary jury at this year’s Monte-Carlo Television Festival, Peabody and Emmy-winning filmmaker Tom Jennings has seen the non-fiction business trend toward premium offerings with more event series – an evolution shared across much of the larger television landscape and pushed, in no small part, by streamers.

“Ten to 15 years ago, we were a ratings driven business,” he tells Variety. “Now, it’s a question of getting people to sign up and stick around because what they like is on a given platform.”

For companies likes Jennings’ 1895 Films the shifting terrain has resulted in shorter episode order with greater budgets as docs and dramas find themselves showcased alongside one another with little divide.

“The call for always having something unique is probably more intense now,” says Jennings. “We have to operate at a very high level in terms quality, because we’re competing with all the blue...

Best-selling novelist and showrunner Harlan Coben kicked off the 62nd edition of the Monte-Carlo Television Festival Friday with an expression of solidarity with the striking members of the Writers Guild of America, of which he is a member.

Coben, the co-showrunner and executive producer of Prime Video series “Harlan Coben’s Shelter,” which opened the festival with the world premiere of its first episode, said he wouldn’t be taking part in the promotion of the show at the festival to demonstrate his support for the strike.

Standing on stage alongside Monaco’s Prince Albert II, the festival’s honorary president, Coben said: “I am just going to say I am supporting the Writers Guild of America, my union, that is striking right now, so I am not going to participate in any of the question and answers, and none of the media – I’m just here for the prince, and...

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Frontline directors Tom Jennings and Annie Wong were hard at work on a documentary about Viktor Orbán in Hungary when Russia abruptly invaded Ukraine in Feb. 2022. Suddenly, Jennings, Wong and a journalist from the Associated Press that they were collaborating with — investigative reporter Erika Kinetz — were the team at Frontline that was closest to the biggest story in the world. Without any prior experience reporting in Ukraine, the three reporters pivoted and began figuring out how to get into country and start filming.

“We just had to really turn quickly because the stories that were coming out in those first couple weeks just couldn’t be ignored,” Wong recalls. Adds Jennings, “It was very evident from the very beginning that there were war crimes,” which “became our focal point right from the get-go.”

The result of that team’s subsequent reporting, the Frontline...

Red Bull Studios (Rbs), one of the producers behind the electrifying documentary “The Real Mo Farah,” have set their next project, titled “The Moment: How Sports Changed the World,” Variety can exclusively reveal.

Directed by Tom Jennings of 1895 Films, “The Moment” is a feature doc that explores the lasting repercussions of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which was controversially held in South Africa at the tail end of apartheid. At the time, the South African national team (nicknamed the Springboks) had only one Black player – Chester Williams – but ended up winning the tournament in a moment that united the country (pictured above is Mandela congratulating Springbok captain François Pienaar following their win).

“The well-known story is that Nelson Mandela really took a risk with [hosting the Rugby World Cup in 1995] because the Springboks were seen as symbolic of apartheid and they were loathed in South Africa outside of the white nationals,” Red Bull Studios’ global head, Bernadette McDaid,...

Did Martin Luther King, Jr., know he was going to be killed? This is the question the Peabody Award-winning film MLK: The Assassination Tapes posits as it intently illuminates the days surrounding the civil rights leader’s murder in 1968, thanks to footage professors from the University of Memphis prophetically collected days before and after he was slain.

Here are 16 programs, including the aforementioned Smithsonian Channel offering, to keep on your radar this Monday, Jan. 17; all times are Eastern.

More from TVLineThe TVLine-Up for the Week of Jan. 16Black + Bold: TV's Game-Changing CreatorsOne of Us Is Lying Renewed for Season 2 at Peacock,...

The 73rd Writers Guild of America Awards took place on Sunday (March 21) in simultaneous non-televised ceremonies held in Los Angeles and New York. The WGA was the first of the guilds to be heard from in this extra-long Oscar season. But don’t look to these results for any clarity on the screenplay races at the Academy Awards.

The stringent rules of the WGA prohibit non-guild members from competing. This year, three of the 10 scripts nominated by the writers branch of the academy were deemed ineligible here: the adapted screenplays of “The Father” and “Nomadland” (which we predict will win the Oscar) and the original screenplay for “Minari.”

The guild did align with the academy three-for-five in Best Adapted Screenplay, with “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” “One Night in Miami” and “The White Tiger” competing at both. “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “News of the World” round out the guild nominees. Our...

Last week, Disney+ launched its new series, The Right Stuff, based on the best-selling book and award-winning movie of the same name. The Right Stuff series dramatizes the experiences of the test pilots chosen to be the first Americans to go to space. Much of the series’s focus is on the astronomical press coverage the first astronauts received and the difficulties of the fame that accompanied it. That media coverage is the raw material used to create the documentary The Real Right Stuff, a two-hour-long special by National Geographic featuring rare footage and interviews. The documentary will air Friday, Nov. 20, the same day as the series’s final episode.

Disney+ has given Den of Geek an exclusive first look.

The Real Right Stuff gives The Right Stuff the “Jennings Treatment.” Award-winning filmmaker Tom Jennings has a history of digging up rare footage to put together narrator-less documentaries composed of...

Beyonce’s “Homecoming” has landed three nominations to lead all films in the first round of noms for the Cinema Eye Honors, a New York-based awards ceremony established in 2007 to honor all aspects of nonfiction filmmaking.

In an announcement made at a luncheon in downtown Los Angeles, Cinema Eye Honors organizers unveiled nominations in seven categories, including new categories for broadcast editing and cinematography. “Homecoming” received nominations in both those new categories, as well as for the outstanding broadcast film of the year.

It faces off in that last category against “Apollo: Mission to the Moon,” “At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal,” “Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists,” “Leaving Neverland” and “The Sentence.”

Also Read: 'Homecoming' Film Review: Beyoncé's Powerful Documentary Captures Her Once-in-a-Lifetime Coachella Triumph

Other shows with multiple nominations were the broadcast series “Salt Fat Acid Heat” and “Tricky Dick,” which received two each.

1968: The Doctors' Mike returned home.

1991: Wayne Northrop returned to Days of our Lives as Roman.

2004: General Hospital debuted a new opening.

2010: Atwt's Bob revealed Nancy Hughes had passed away."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1968: On The Doctors, Mike Powers (Peter Burnell in his debut) returned home, much to the delight of his father, Dr. Matt Powers (James Pritchett).

1968: On Dark Shadows, Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) and Willie Loomis (John Karlen) went to the crypt where Tom Jennings (Donald Briscoe) kept his coffin,...

1986: Another World's "Marissa" made her way to Bay City.

1991: Santa Barbara's Dash and Katrina grew closer.

1998: All My Children's Junior was locked in a cage.

2009: One Life to Live's Fish didn't remember his night with Stacy."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1967: On Another World, Liz (Audra Lindley) was happy to hear that Bill (Joseph Gallison) suspected Madge of Danny's murder.

1967: Australian Broadcasting Corporation soap Bellbird premiered. It remained on the air until December 1977.

1968: On Dark Shadows, Julia (Grayson Hall) protected...

Alejandro Rojas Jul 7, 2019

National Geographic's Apollo: Missions to the Moon invokes what it was like to be alive when humankind sent humans to the moon.

National Geographic is honoring the 50th anniversary of the moon landing with a new documentary, Apollo: Missions to the Moon. There is no narration. The entire documentary consists of archival footage. Those old enough to have watched the Apollo coverage as it happened may remember some of the footage. However, the film also includes "never-before-heard audio recordings."

Award-winning filmmaker Tom Jennings directs the documentary.

"I would hope that audiences when they watch it - when it finishes - they kind of pause for a moment and say,' Wow! So that's what it was like,'" Jennings told Den of Geek. "That's my hope is that they can experience it as close to what it was like to be around during that time."

The...

For much longer than humans have been able to travel to its visible reaches, composers have been trying to capture the musical feel of journeying through space. The latest example comes courtesy of the upcoming National Geographic documentary “Apollo: Mission to the Moon” and James Everingham. Working in collaboration with Hans Zimmer and Bleeding Fingers Music, Everingham has put together a lofty accompaniment to the documentary, which follows the history of the American Apollo program both before and after the historic July 1969 moon landing.

IndieWire has a first-listen chance to hear music from the film below.

If you listen closely to the film’s full score, you may catch something that caught “Apollo: Mission to the Moon” director Tom Jennings by surprise.

“If you notice throughout the film, there’s a beeping sometimes through these major moments. I said to the composers, ‘Wow, that’s very clever that you would create something like Sputnik,...

Johnnie Planco, a former New York-based William Morris Agency (Wma) agent and co-founder of management/production company Parseghian Planco, has died. He was 68.

Planco passed away on Sunday in New York City after suffering from an infection that his brain and respiratory system.

Planco joined the Wma mailroom after he graduated from Fordham University at Lincoln Center in 1972, and he stayed at the agency until 2000. During his tenure at Wma, he became the youngest department head and senior vice president, running both the motion picture department in New York and creating the William Morris Talent Department. In his career, he represented talent like Tom Hanks, Richard Gere, Michael Douglas, Susan Sarandon, Lauren Bacall and John Malkovich, among many others.

Also Read: Tom Jennings, Former Casting Director and Talent Agent, Dies at 81

In 2000, he partnered with Gene Parseghian to create Parseghian Planco, which has represented talent like Daniel-Day Lewis, Paul Schrader and Judi Dench.

Herman Wouk, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and author of novels including “The Caine Mutiny” and “The Winds of War,” has died. He was 103.

According to the Associated Press, he was just 10 days away from his 104th birthday. His literary agent, Amy Rennert, has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment, but she told the AP that he died in his sleep in Palm Springs, California.

“The Caine Mutiny,” which was released in 1951 won Wouk the Pulitzer Prize and was then adapted into the 1954 film starring Humphrey Bogart. The film, directed by Edward Dmytryk, scored seven Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture. It was also adapted into a stage play which first played on Broadway in 1954.

Also Read: Doris Day Remembered as a 'True Star' by Paul McCartney, Goldie Hawn and More: 'World's Sweetheart'

His later novels include “The Winds of War” (1971) and “War and Remembrance” (1978), which were adapted...

Tom Jennings, a retired Hollywood talent agent and casting director, was killed in a household fire on Bainbridge Island in Washington State on April 18, his family announced Tuesday. He was 81.

Jennings’ notable clients during his long career included Julian Fellowes, Burl Ives, Lee Van Cleef and Gene Simmons.

Along with partner Walter Beakel, he founded the boutique talent agency Beakel and Jennings in 1976.

Also Read: Peggy Lipton of 'Mod Squad' and 'Twin Peaks' Dies at 72

Born in Evanston, Illinois in 1937, Jennings grew up in Santa Barbara, California, and later attended Hanover College in Indiana before serving in the Marine corps. He began his career in Hollywood in the late 1950s as an agency assistant to Bing Crosby at Artists Agency Corporation, later moving on to General Artists where he assisted Bill Sargent with the cult music series “The Teenage Music International.”

Following his departure from General Artists in the early ’60s,...

Retired Hollywood talent agent and casting director Tom Jennings has died. He was 81.

Jennings lost his life in an accidental house fire on Bainbridge Island in Washington state on April 18, his family said in a statement to Deadline.

According to the Kitsap Sun newspaper, the fire broke out in a condominium unit that Jennings shared with his wife Jill. The fire department later determined the blaze was caused by a candle that set a couch on fire. The Jennings attempted to extinguish the flames but were unsuccessful. Jill made it to safety, but Tom died of a heart attack during the fire.

Before moving to Washington, Jennings had a lengthy career in Hollywood. He represented actors, comedians, and musicians including Julian Fellowes, Burl Ives, Lee Van Cleef, David Carradine, Cheryl Ladd, Marion Ross, Gene Simmons (of Kiss fame), and many others.

Jennings was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1937, and his family moved to Santa Barbara,...

1968: The Doctors' Mike returned home.

1991: Wayne Northrop returned to Days of our Lives as Roman.

2004: General Hospital debuted a new opening.

2010: Atwt's Bob revealed Nancy Hughes had passed away."The best prophet of the future is the past."

― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1968: On The Doctors, Mike Powers (Peter Burnell in his debut) returned home, much to the delight of his father, Dr. Matt Powers (James Pritchett).

1968: On Dark Shadows, Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) and Willie Loomis (John Karlen) went to the crypt where Tom Jennings (Donald Briscoe) kept his coffin, but when Barnabas opened the coffin, it was empty. Jennings...

1986: Another World's "Marissa" made her way to Bay City.

1991: Santa Barbara's Dash and Katrina grew closer.

1998: All My Children's Junior was locked in a cage.

2009: One Life to Live's Fish didn't remember his night with Stacy."The best prophet of the future is the past."

― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1967: On Another World, Liz (Audra Lindley) was happy to hear that Bill (Joseph Gallison) suspected Madge of Danny's murder.

1967: Australian Broadcasting Corporation soap Bellbird premiered. It remained on the air until December 1977.

1968: On Dark Shadows, Julia (Grayson Hall) protected Tom Jennings (Don Briscoe) from a gun-toting Barnabas (Jonathan Frid). After Tom vanished,...