Mobeen Azhar has questioned whether the documentary genre will “end up in a situation where buyers with the biggest cheque books get bigger access,” but senior Sky and Amazon execs have shot back.
The BAFTA-winning documentarian raised fears that public service broadcasters with shallower pockets will end up in a “special space without money” that he compared to a “desert island,” while the best contributors opt for docs greenlit by the money-laden U.S.
streaming services. “That’s why I think [paying contributors] is an issue and I know it already happens,” said Azhar, who has made a wealth of docs mainly for the BBC.
Azhar debated with BBC, Sky and Amazon doc bosses this afternoon at the Edinburgh TV Festival over the practice of how much to pay contributors, or whether they should be paid at all.
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