TV Real Festival 2024

Taking place from June 18 to 20, 2024, the inaugural edition of the TV Real Festival will feature keynotes and panels with leading executives and creatives discussing the world of unscripted, from lifestyle, factual entertainment and docs to non-scripted entertainment and game-show formats. It will be streamed live and available on-demand.

Need to convert the times below for where you are? Click on the times above the name of each session to make sure you don’t miss a thing!

Tuesday, June 18

• 9 a.m. EDT
  The Big Picture
  The inaugural TV Real Festival kicks off with our factual superpanel featuring BossaNova’s Paul Heaney, Off the Fence’s Bo Stehmeier, Albatross World Sales’ Anne Olzmann and ZDF Studios’ Nikolas Hülbusch.
• 10:30 a.m. EDT
  Warner Bros. Discovery’s Kathleen Finch
  As chairman and CEO of U.S. networks at Warner Bros. Discovery, Kathleen Finch oversees a bouquet of leading channel brands, among them Discovery, HGTV, Food Network and Investigation Discovery.
• 12 p.m. EDT
  Dawn Porter
  The founder of Trilogy Films, Dawn Porter, whose credits include Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court, will showcase her approach to impactful documentary filmmaking.
• 1:30 p.m. EDT
  The View from NBCUniversal Entertainment
  This powerhouse session will showcase NBCUniversal Entertainment’s strategy across game shows, talent, reality, lifestyle and true crime with Corie Henson and Rachel Smith.

Wednesday, June 19

• 9 a.m. EDT
  That’s Entertainment!
  Fremantle’s Vasha Wallace, Banijay’s James Townley, BBC Studios’ André Renaud and All3Media International’s Nick Smith will discuss trends in non-scripted formats.
• 10:30 a.m. EDT
  Time to Go FAST?
  Autentic’s Patrick Hörl, Blue Ant Media’s Jamie Schouela and Cineflix Rights’ Mike Gould will share the keys to rolling out successful factual FAST channels.
• 12 p.m. EDT
  Getting Wild
  ORF-Enterprise’s Armin Luttenberger, PBS Distribution’s Joe Barrett and Terra Mater Studios’ Berend Dreier will offer up their insights on trends in the distribution of natural history and wildlife docs.
• 1:30 p.m. EDT
  Michael von Würden
  As managing director of Snowman Productions, Michael von Würden has created an array of successful reality formats, among them the megahit Married at First Sight.

Thursday, June 20

• 9 a.m. EDT
  Just the Facts with Ampere
  Ampere Analysis’s Fred Black will provide TV Real Festival viewers with detailed insights on the factual commissioning landscape.
• 10:30 a.m. EDT
  Mary Beard
  A classicist who specializes in ancient Rome, Mary Beard’s latest project, Meet the Roman Emperor with Mary Beard from Lion Television, aired on BBC Two earlier this year.
• 12 p.m. EDT
  Crime Pays
  GRB Media Ranch’s Sophie Ferron, TVF International’s Poppy McAlister and Woodcut Media’s Kate Beal (who also chairs the Association of True Crime Producers) on achieving success and driving innovation within the true-crime genre.
• 1:30 p.m. EDT
  A. Smith & Co. Productions’ Arthur Smith
  The TV Real Festival wraps with a keynote from Arthur Smith, whose extensive stable of shows at A. Smith & Co. Productions includes Hell’s Kitchen and American Ninja Warrior.

Friday, June 21: Screenings Day

• ZDF Studios’ Time: A Journey Through Thousands of Years
  Time is everywhere. But what is it? This film explores different ideas, showing each as a timeline from then to now. We go beyond clocks and calendars and talk to global experts who connect the dots between past and present and jump through time with amazing effects to amaze and educate the audience.
• ZDF Studios’ Wild Talk
  Delves into animal communication, uncovering their complex languages through cutting-edge research, technology and scientists’ efforts to understand various creatures, from king penguins to butterflies.
• ZDF Studios’ The Lost Women Spies
  Vera Atkins was a key figure in the SOE, the British organization that sent undercover agents to Nazi-occupied Europe. She recruited and trained many female spies to blend in with the French population and carry out dangerous missions. Some of them were captured, tortured and killed by the enemy. After the war, Vera embarked on a personal quest to find out what happened to her missing agents.
• Albatross World Sales’ The Secret Knowledge of Animals
  Scientists are bringing to light the invisible network that shapes animals’ lives, migration and behaviors and how it can help us predict natural disasters.
• Albatross World Sales’ Buffalo Bill—The Inventor of the Wild West
  Explore the origins of the mythos of the Wild West, shaped by showman William “Buffalo Bill” Cody. Discover how his show revolutionized entertainment, making him the first superstar and founder of modern show business.
• ORF-Enterprise’s The Real Jungle Book
  The daily and seasonal struggles of the living characters Rudyard Kipling described in his book; all obey the unwritten law of the jungle and strive to raise a new generation.
• Zone3 International’s Build It to Win It
  With access to home ownership becoming increasingly difficult today, 12 couples compete in a renovation competition to win a new, fully appointed home worth $700,000.