‘The Jinx’ Producer Marc Smerling Talks Strike & Streamer Over-Spend; Says He Is Developing Apple Pod On World Trade Center Bombing For Screen — Seriencamp

Jesse Whittock
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

“Pitching in Hollywood is like banging your head against a brick wall right now.”

That was the warning to German delegates here at Cologne’s Seriencamp event from the The Jinx, Capturing the Friedmans and Catfish producer Marc Smerling this morning.

More from Deadline

During a masterclass on the golden rules of storytelling, Smerling addressed how streamer over-spend and the writers strike had led to greenlights grinding to a halt, even in unscripted — at least for now. “The lights have gone off in Hollywood for a few minutes,” he said, referring WGA and SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations with the AMPTP.

Later in the interview, Smerling offered an analysis of the current market. “I don’t think the difficulty non-fiction is feeling right now is due to the writers strike, but is due to a tremendous spend over a long period of time that didn’t produce the return Hollywood thought it would,” he said. “Everyone was building a streaming empire and suddenly they woke up and realized all they done was transfer their cable business to their streaming business, and that was not going to match the expense of all that programming. They woke up one day with a huge hangover.”

However, he struck a hopeful tone that the market would correct after the talks in Hollywood are completed and solutions are found for streaming economics.

“Right now, we’re going through a huge repositioning of what’s happening next,” he said. “The studios are trying to figure out how they streamline their operations so they can make the productions they want to do. The streamlining will take a minute. Eventually it will settle down and people will start making stuff again.

“Before the streamers there were only a handful of people to pitch to. Then they came in and we were all eating off of the same trough, which was unrealistic in essence,” he said. “[But]It’s never going to go back to what it was before streaming. Hopefully what will happen is people will focus on better stories told in a better way that attract an audience. There will still be more content than when there was just [the likes of] ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and HBO.”

New projects

True-crime specialist Smerling is currently working up several projects through deals with Sony Music and others such as Operation Tradebom, a podcast series for Apple about the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that we first told you about in January.

He revealed Operation Tradebom was now being developed as an animated doc series. “It’s a two-feet on-the-ground ridealong with the NYPD and FBI guys who investigated as well as the son of one of the terrorists who hatched the idea,” said Smerling.

“We’ve made an animated sizzle reel out of it and we’re continuing to do interviews,” he added. “My dream was to get some voices from the other side of the story and find a new way in. There were 23 docs about Bob Durst before we did The Jinx. Most things I’ve done have been picked over before one way or the other — this too. This telling is even more unique.”

Smerling has also attached an unnamed showrunner to a TV adaptation of Crooked City: The Emerald Triangle, which is second season of the Truth Media and Sony Music podcast that explores U.S. crimes.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.