New Producers Flooding Indie TV
With Faith and Family Friendly Fare
by Cynthia Littleton
Editor-in-chief: TV@Variety_Cynthia
Just when it seems that the world’s largest media congloms are tightening their grip on the airwaves, an independent TV production boom has erupted in the nation’s heartland.
In Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Louisiana, Michigan and other states, a new breed of low-budget telepic and series producers is responding to the spike in demand for family- and faith-friendly content from a clutch of growing cable and digital multicast channels.
Indie outfits such as Up, Magic Johnson’s Aspire, INSP, TV One, Bounce TV and BYUtv as well as OWN, BET, Hallmark Channel, Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network are all in need of a steady supply of fresh programming, particularly made-fors. That has helped create an ecosystem for producers working well outside traditional showbiz entities to deliver productions with unabashedly feel-good themes and inspirational stories.
