After Bingeing on Dramas, Netflix and Rivals Target Reality TV
Netflix has grown into the world’s biggest buyer of unscripted programming. Its competitors are following suit.
When Brent Montgomery, a TV producer behind the popular reality series “Pawn Stars,” first met Ken Goldin, a colorful, trading-card mogul, he sensed an opportunity to create a new show.
Earlier this year, after teaming up with former ESPN executive Connor Schell, Montgomery began pitching an unscripted series that would take viewers into Goldin’s weirdly compelling subculture of hawking baseball cards, signed jerseys and movie props. While making the rounds to potential buyers, his team met with CNBC, ESPN and the History Channel, the network that turned “Pawn Stars” into a long-running hit. But ultimately, despite his past success on cable TV, Montgomery decided to go a different route. He sold the show to Netflix Inc., one of several streaming services bidding for the rights.