Emma Read, MD of Emporium Productions on the secret of international access
Emporium Productions’ latest Netflix series ‘Toughest Forces on Earth’ launched recently, reaching number 5 in the USA and the Netflix ‘Top 10’ in 61 countries. In April, our feature documentary ‘Operation Hope: The Children Lost In The Amazon’ hit Prime Video worldwide and rose to number 3 in South America. It is wonderful to reach so many different people with our shows, but what makes me really proud of both of these recent productions was the unique international access to hard-to-reach people and places that we achieved.In the case of ‘Toughest Forces On Earth’ it was elite armed forces who have never agreed to be on television before and in ‘Operation Hope’ we gained deep access to the family of the four children, the indigenous men who found them and the head of the special forces who ran the operation. This meant that we could tell the stories from the unique perspectives of people who have not been heard before.Access, both UK and international, to human stories and institutions is our speciality; across our programmes, we have now secured access from 40 governments. But it is never easy – I met the King of Jordan in our quest to film the Jordanian Special Forces on ‘Toughest Forces on Earth’! So what is the secret?Whether the access is at home or abroad, I always think asking nicely and working out what’s in it for them is a good start. But it is an intense and time consuming game, which requires both diplomacy, honesty and creative flexibility. After all, we may know how to make great programmes but they are the experts on what they do and we cannot make the programmes we want to without creative collaboration. It helps to have plenty of endorsements from satisfied contributors too because people and institutions have to trust us to do what we say we will; one bad experience can spoil everything and that definitely keeps us on our toes.After filming in over 70 countries across the world, we have also built up a tremendous global network of talented producers who join our productions as important creatives alongside our fantastic UK team. Their knowledge of local attitudes and cultures gives us an understanding of any issues and feeds through to our shows, giving them an authentic flavour and global appeal. This is reflected in the popularity of our shows, including the seven series of ‘Inside The World’s Toughest Prisons’, which have now been watched by a whopping 25% of the Netflix global subscriber base.Our successful UK shows such as ‘Rich House Poor House’ also feed into our international programmes in a symbiotic relationship. Thanks to this UK experience, we have developed rigorous, gold star protocols for working with contributors, which have been taken up by broadcasters. These standards give the people we work with, in front of and behind the camera, faith in us.It sounds unreal when I look at our filmography that a female, disabled led, small regional production company can achieve the successes we have had, but it never stops being an exciting and privileged journey to be invited to tell the story of so many people’s lives around the world.
Jon Creamer
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