While non-fiction filmmaking goes back to the very beginnings of cinema, the word “documentary” was not actually coined until 1926, by filmmaker/critic John Grierson. And the genre is very much alive and thriving – this year’s Emmy voters will have a plethora of groundbreaking, provocative, and challenging films and programs from which to select nominees in the three top nonfiction categories: Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking; Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.

The timetable: Nominees will be announced on July 16, the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony will take place on September 12 at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live, and FXX will broadcast a two-hour version of the awards on September 19.

The pool of potential Emmy nominees comes from an increasingly crowded landscape of content creators and providers, a fact that benefits the business and viewers alike, according to Susan Margolin, President, Docudrama and Special Acquisitions, Cinedigm.

“It’s an incredibly strong year, and there are so many worthy documentaries,” she said. “Outlets such as Netflix, HBO, CNN, Independent Lens, Showtime, POV, and Discovery, to name a few, are all huge supporters of the documentary format, and they’re investing very significant dollars in their lineups. That is injecting amazing lifeblood into the space.”

In addition, “disruptive digital players” such as Pivot and Vimeo are also “bringing enormous resources to the space,” Margolin said.

As a corollary to the continued expansion and embracing of the documentary format, a shift in Television Academy rules regarding eligibility is opening up the playing field in a significant way. The new rule expands eligibility for the Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking category to include documentaries that have a theatrical run that exceeds the current cap of 70 days.

“With the rise of television documentaries that are exhibited theatrically prior to broadcast, raising the cap ensures that some of television’s strongest documentaries are able to enter the Emmy competition,” the ruling reads.

Three provisions are necessary: the program must be financed by a television network; the television company must be creatively involved in the film, and there must be an initial intent/commitment to air the program on television following the Academy’s rules for national distribution.

The newly adopted rule marks a “fundamental change in the world of documentary filmmaking,” said John Leverence, Senior Vice President, Awards, the Television Academy, “because it encourages and accommodates the outflow of TV documentaries into theatres, film festivals, and awards competitions like never before, thereby encouraging the production of TV documentaries by enhancing their public visibility and commercial viability.”

As a result, documentaries including PBS’s The Last Days of Vietnam and HBO’s CitizenFour are now eligible for Emmys.

“There are a lot of great documentaries out there, and sometimes just paring them down is difficult enough,” said Eric Deggans, television critic for NPR and a board member/judge for the Peabody Awards. Deggans cites a strong slate from HBO as potential nominees, including Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief; Sonic Highways; and Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown. Going Clear is a “really strong contender,” Deggans told Cynopsis. In a “potent” two-hour timeframe, director Alex Gibney “was really able to sum up all the troubling questions about that religion.”

Jim McKairnes, the Verizon Chair in Global Broadband and Telecommunications at Temple’s School of Media and Communication, points to Going Clear as a great example of a documentary “that went from the TV pages onto the front page, and it still resonates.”

“I think you could say we lucked out on some free publicity there,” said   Sara Bernstein, Senior Vice President of Programming, HBODocumentaries. “It’s been a good year for us.” HBO’s submissions include The Case Against 8 ; Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck; The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst; It’s Me, Hilary: The Man Who Drew Eloise and Sinatra: All or Nothing at All.

Vice News’ Last Chance High, which won a Peabody Award, should also be in contention, Deggans said.

McKairnes’s list includes PBS’s The Roosevelts: An Intimate History and Cancer: The Emperor of Maladies. Both directed by Ken Burns, they are “the documentary equivalents of a book you can’t put down,” he said. And McKairnes cites HBO’s The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” as a strong contender. “If The Jinx isn’t a slam dunk I don’t know what is,” he said.

The Roosevelts provides an example of how networks are increasingly experimenting with new ways to attract audience attention, including the binge model practiced by Netflix and others.

“We aired the episodes seven nights in a row, and on the second day of broadcast we released the whole thing, which meant it was on PBS.org, Apple TV, Roku, and Xbox,” said Beth Hoppe, Chief Programming Executive and General Manager, General Audience Programming, PBS. They did not see any erosion in on-air numbers, and “in fact we think it helped grow [the on-air numbers] because people used the digital opportunity to catch up, to then be ready for that night and the on-air experience,” Hoppe said.

Outlets are also turning more and more to social media as marketing/publicity opportunities, according to Margolin. These activities include “impact campaigns,” which are funded by third party organizations to help social issue films attain more widespread awareness.

CitizenFour, Inequality for all, and Bully all had “robust impact campaigns,” according to Margolin.

Also on the PBS front, critic Dan Schindel told Cynopsis that “if there’s any episode of the American Experience to pick, The Last Days of Vietnam is probably the contender.” Writing on website NonFics, Schindel described the film as “a prime example of how documentaries can illuminate our shared memory’s gaps, and how nonfiction can frequently outdo the best thrills Hollywood has to offer.”

“The footage was completely eye-popping,” agreed Margolin.

Schindel also points to CNN’s Life Itself, a look at the life of Roger Ebert, as a prime contender for a nomination. “The film didn’t get a lot of Oscar love, but he was a huge television personality for decades, so that’s probably a huge boost in its favor,” he told Cynopsis. “It’s a very good look at aging gracefully, and taking stock of one’s contribution to society.”

So, are we in a golden age of documentary filmmaking?

“There have been an a lot of spectacular documentaries of late, with compelling characters, great storytelling, and as a result, people are watching,” said Denise Contis, Executive Vice President of Production and Development, Discovery Channel.

There’s a “renaissance” taking place, said Tim Pastore, President of Original Programming and Production, National Geographic Channel, “Everyone’s back out in the marketplace talking about authenticity.” Nat Geo’s submissions include The Big Picture with Kal Penn; Brain Games and Star Talk with Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

A new generation of storytellers is coming up through the ranks who “cut their chops in their garages with their own editing software and their own home computers,” Pastore said. “They are really pushing the documentary to a whole new level.”

Filmmakers such as Burns, Michael Moore, and Errol Morris “have provided a template for people today,” McKairnes told Cynopsis, influencing a new generation of documentary filmmakers.

While the consensus is that a multiplicity of outlets ultimately strengthens the marketplace, there is also general agreement that the fragmentation of audiences creates a continuing sense of competition.

“Finding something that feels different has been a challenge,” said Dirk Hoogstra, Executive Vice President and General Manager of History and H2. “It’s a creative challenge to us and to many networks and the production community to find things that really feel different and that can cut through all of that clutter.” Among History’s submissions are Brad Meltzers: Lost History and Rebuilding the World Trade Center.

And competition can help, not hinder, the documentary marketplace.

“There’s a lot of good content in the documentary area that never really had platforms and didn’t necessarily reach audiences,” said Amy Entelis, Senior Vice President of Talent and Content Development, CNN, “so I think the multiplication of platforms has been a very positive development. It’s wonderful to see some of the great work actually find audiences.” CNN’s submissions include Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown; Morgan Spurlock Inside Man); The Sixties; This is Life With Lisa Ling and 41 on 41.

“People are consuming more content than they ever have, so for someone like myself and for The Travel Channel, we think that’s a plus,” agreed RossBabbit, senior VP of programming and development, Travel Channel, whose submissions include Booze Traveler; Breaking Borders; Expedition Unknown and Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern).

“People watch TV to hear amazing stories, and to see things that surprise them,” said Hoogstra.

“It’s been competitive before, it’s even more competitive now,” said Gary Levine, Executive Vice President, Original Programming, Showtime, whose submissions include Dreamcatcher; Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued and L Word Mississippi: Hate the Sin.  “I think a high tide lifts all boats, and everyone’s just upping their game.”

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