A promotional still from the CNN film “The Salisbury Poisonings: A Spy Next Door.”
Courtesy of CNN
When most people think of CNN, it’s probably in the context of breaking news and cable news talking heads clashing during a panel discussion. What many of those viewers might not realize, however, is that CNN has also spent the last decade or so building an ambitious documentary operation, one that’s produced more than 150 seasons of original series and 80 films and shorts that have collected more than 125 awards and 450 nominations.
While streamers like Netflix tend to dominate much of the conversation around nonfiction projects, CNN Films has built a release slate that now spans everything from politics to music, sports, culture and international affairs. One of its first major successes was 2013’s Blackfish, the documentary about SeaWorld and orca captivity that became a cultural phenomenon and sparked congressional hearings.
To be sure, the network’s documentary output is easy to overlook right now, given how important news is to the CNN brand—but also thanks to the noise surrounding Paramount Skydance’s pending $110 billion acquisition of CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. Among other things, questions remain about how much editorial independence CNN will retain once the deal closes.
Inside CNN’s documentary strategy
CNN’s documentary unit, meanwhile, has kept at it, releasing titles like The Salisbury Poisonings: A Spy Next Door. Premiering tonight at 8 p.m. ET, the film from director Dan Vernon revisits a failed Kremlin assassination plot involving a nerve agent that unfolded on the streets of the quiet English city of Salisbury in 2018.
“We’re interested in stories that illuminate the connection between world events and the lives they shape,” Amy Entelis, CNN’s executive vice president of talent, CNN Originals and creative development, told me.
These kinds of documentary projects, she continued, also help the network go beyond breaking news. “It’s where we give audiences another way to spend time with us through smart, entertaining and thought-provoking storytelling.”
Unlike streaming services that rely mostly on volume, CNN has largely focused on more event-style films rooted in journalism. The result is a slate that blends investigative reporting with cinematic storytelling—a model on full display in The Salisbury Poisonings, which has the feel of a real-life spy thriller.
The movie retraces the Novichok attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Skripal had been living quietly in Salisbury, a city best known for its medieval center and soaring Gothic cathedral, after being resettled in the U.K. as part of a spy swap several years earlier.
British authorities eventually concluded that the Kremlin tried to kill him to essentially send a warning to other current and former Russian spooks about the consequences of betraying the motherland.
“At its heart, this is a story about how a small community found itself at the center of an international crisis, capturing both the human impact on the streets of Salisbury and the global consequences that followed,” Entelis said.
The film, she continued, also spotlights the work of investigative journalist Christo Grozev, whose reporting helped expose those responsible for the attack. Grozev previously featured prominently in Navalny, CNN Films’ Oscar-winning documentary on the poisoning and imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
‘It always starts with a great story’
The Salisbury project, meanwhile, is another example of the CNN documentary unit’s interest in stories that explore the people, events and cultural forces that have shaped the modern world. That broad editorial focus will be on display again next month, when CNN Originals premieres Decades in Sports, a six-part series co-executive produced by Tom Hanks that examines how sports have helped shape American culture over the last several decades.
Entelis told me that CNN is approaching these projects differently today than it did a few years ago, leaning on co-productions, licensing deals and brand partnerships to keep budgets in check without compromising journalistic standards.
“For us, it always starts with a great story,” she said. “We’re looking for projects with a clear reason to exist now, distinctive access and filmmakers with a strong point of view.
“Whether it’s an investigative documentary or a character-driven film, the best projects combine compelling storytelling with genuine insight and leave audiences feeling like they’ve learned something they didn’t know before.”