You Won’t Find Any Documentaries Here

What do “The Thin Blue Line,” “Baseball,” “Brother’s Keeper,” “America’s Castles,” “Hoop Dreams,” “Unzipped” and “Crumb” have in common? If you said they are all documentaries, take another look. The home video industry would prefer that you think of them as “nonfiction features” or “historical films.”

From a marketing standpoint, none dare use the dreaded D-word. Or the E-word, for that matter. As in educational.

In marketing these titles, “the main challenge is the word itself,” said Tito Mandato, director of strategic marketing for Turner Home Entertainment, which distributes PBS Home Video. “Five years ago, documentaries were thought of as a weird category for video stores. The typical comment was that customers come to rent ‘Die Hard’ and aren’t into PBS. We replied that PBS reaches 93 million people a week, and guess what, they’re your customers and you’d better start talking to them.”

“Historically, documentary has been a dirty word in retail, as has television,” agreed Tom Heymann, vice president of new media for A&E; Television Networks, whose programs are released on the A&E; Home Video and History Channel labels. “For a long time, there was a knee-jerk reaction that television exposure was a negative. We have built on the fact that it is a preview mechanism and can be a powerful merchandising tool.”

Theatrical exposure for a docu--oops--nonfiction feature has also broken down resistance at the retail level and helped to carve out invaluable space on crowded video store shelves. Again, the challenge is to market a you-know-what without referring to it as a you-know-what.

Among the inaugural releases in BMG Video’s new rental line, BMG Independents, is “Tie-Died: Rock ‘n Roll’s Most Deadicated Fans,” which chronicles the long, strange trip of the Deadheads. “Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam” has a date with video stores July 2.

“We didn’t go out looking for documentaries,” said Mindy Pickard, vice president of marketing for BMG Video. “We went looking for cool, theatrically released movies that are intelligent and critically acclaimed.”

“There is more acceptance in theaters for documentaries,” added Dennis Fabrizi, the video buyer for 20/20 Video in Los Angeles. “‘And the more exposure a documentary gets theatrically, the more video exposure it will get.”

From “Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is My Business,” just released on the Fox Lorber Home Video label, to the Discovery Channel’s three-volume set “The Revolutionary War,” the truth is out there, and it’s more visible than ever--visible being a relative term in the special interest market. Whereas a video store may stock 10, 20 or more copies of a box-office hit such as “Get Shorty” or “Grumpier Old Men” to meet customer demand, it may carry only one or two copies of a nonfiction title.

“Ordering a copy is better than ordering no copies,” said John Pierson, author of “Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes,” a book about his experiences in the independent movie business. “At least one box is on the shelves side by side with ‘Seven.’ ”

Though home video is still a hit-driven business, retailers have found that those one or two copies can be among their most consistent renters. It is a niche market geared toward long shelf life. New Line Home Video, for example, can count on its World War II titles, including “Victory at Sea” and “George Stevens: D-Day to Berlin,” to see action every Memorial Day.

The growth of the sell-through market has given nonfiction programming a boost, while positioning in nontraditional outlets such as bookstores, catalogs and direct response has increased their profile in the marketplace.

There are breakout successes, notable among them Michael Moore’s “Roger & Me” and “Truth or Dare,” featuring Madonna. But “Hoop Dreams” slam-dunked them all, generating cumulative sales of 350,000 copies since it was released to the rental market by New Line last year and re-priced for the sell-through market last November.

“ ‘Hoop Dreams’ blew away general perceptions of what a documentary is,” said New Line Executive Vice President Michael Karaffa, “and it made retailers at least take more pause to judge a film on its qualities and not just on box office.”

A vital element in “Hoop Dreams’ ” video success, Karaffa said, was the box art, which dramatically silhouetted a basketball player soaring above the Chicago skyline. It complemented the film’s “feature qualities, its story arc and character development.”

“Hoop Dreams” was a phenomenon. Other companies have made steady inroads at retail by creating brand and franchise awareness through consistent release schedules and distinctive, uniform packaging. A&E; Home Video’s “Biography” series and “National Geographic Video,” which is distributed by Columbia TriStar Home Video, are two examples of collections that have become established names, much as the Disney brand is in the realm of family programming.

“When renting a movie, the customer doesn’t look to see what studio released it,” Heymann said. “But with documentaries, you have the opportunity to establish a quality brand to establish a point of contact and security, like the Good Housekeeping seal of approval. We have always believed our programming is not only worth watching, but worth owning, and we spend a lot of attention creating collectible packaging so it will look good on the shelf.”

Nonfiction programming spans a vast array of subjects, which gives retailers the opportunity to instantly tap into interest in current and cultural events. Fox Lorber’s “Ballot Measure #9” chronicles the bitter debate triggered by Oregon’s 1992 anti-gay initiative. “This title takes on added significance in light of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling regarding Colorado’s anti-gay-rights law,” said Peter Epstein, national sales director.

An educational process is ongoing to ensure that documentaries further thrive on video. The suppliers send screeners to buyers and retailers to familiarize them with the titles. The retailer looks for hooks with which to grab his customers’ attention.

In the nontheatrical genre, established series have a distinct advantage. “The National Geographic programs come to video pre-identified,” said Paul Culberg, executive vice president North America of Columbia TriStar Home Video. “They have been airing on TV for a long time and have been part of the American experience for many generations. We’ve never had to explain to retailers what National Geographic is.”

For nonfiction features that received more limited theatrical distribution, a more concentrated effort is needed to distinguish the titles from their more commercial brethren. “You have to emphasize the elements that will appeal to the widest number of people,” said Fabrizi. “People wanted to see ‘The Thin Blue Line’ because the box art presented it as a crime thriller. For ‘Crumb,” I played up the dysfunctional family angle--’if you think your family’s crazy’--rather than just present it as a documentary about R. Crumb.”

“We’ve done everybody a disservice if we don’t communicate these are entertaining films,” Pickard said. “People should get over the D-word. No one will fall asleep watching this stuff.”