Re: [dinosaur] Doing Dinodocs in the 2020s & beyond (was Re: Prehistoric Road Trip,Tiny Teeth, Fearsome Beasts)

To: Thomas Richard Holtz <tholtz@umd.edu>

Subject: Re: [dinosaur] Doing Dinodocs in the 2020s & beyond (was Re: Prehistoric Road Trip,Tiny Teeth, Fearsome Beasts)

From: "Yazbeck, Thomas" <yazbeckt@msu.edu>

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2020 19:37:00 +0000

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Thread-topic: [dinosaur] Doing Dinodocs in the 2020s & beyond (was Re: Prehistoric Road Trip,Tiny Teeth, Fearsome Beasts)

>This isn't the go-go 1990s or the pre-2008 Oughts. Studios are not (generally) pouring the money into paleontology documentaries--indeed, almost any documentary--that they used to.

And now it's not the virus-free 2010s anymore. Tight budgets and social distancing dictate a new approach; obtaining footage, interviews, special fx is becoming harder. But I think there are perks to the impending changes.

For one thing, without all the expensive bells and whistles (and do you really need original animation or music?), the quality of 2020s docs will boil down to the talent of the hosts/directors, their ability to effectively tell a story and inform the viewer. There will likely be much better collaboration between experts and media people. And a lot of the constraints imposed by working in the competitive TV environment evaporate when you are creating content online, time being one of them.

Thomas Yazbeck

From: Thomas Richard Holtz <tholtz@umd.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2020 3:15 PM
To: Yazbeck, Thomas <yazbeckt@msu.edu>
Cc: Gregory Paul <gsp1954@aol.com>; dinosaur-l@mymaillists.usc.edu <dinosaur-l@mymaillists.usc.edu>; dinosaur-l@usc.edu <dinosaur-l@usc.edu>
Subject: Re: [dinosaur] Doing Dinodocs in the 2020s & beyond (was Re: Prehistoric Road Trip,Tiny Teeth, Fearsome Beasts)

I definitely agree with Thomas Yazbeck. As I mentioned in my response to best documentaries, the best new documentaries out there aren't on broadcast TV or cable; they are on YouTube channels. Or the slightly larger scale efforts of Curiosity Studios.

This isn't the go-go 1990s or the pre-2008 Oughts. Studios are not (generally) pouring the money into paleontology documentaries--indeed, almost any documentary--that they used to. (I know of ONE big budget dinosaur documentary in early stages of pre-production, but this isn't like the world before Planet Dinosaur and Dinosaur Revolution).

And that's fine. If the goal of documentaries is scientific outreach, then broadcast & cable TV are not the services that are going to reach as big an audience (and DEFINITELY not as young an audience) as various streaming opportunities.