Partisan Pictures

What Partisan Pictures does

Partisan Pictures is an independent documentary film and television production company founded in 1997 by Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producer and cinematographer Peter Schnall. The company produces feature-length documentaries and television specials for major broadcast networks and cable channels, with named commissioning partners including PBS, Discovery/MSNBC, and National Geographic Channel. Its portfolio of approximately 80 productions spans historical, political, musical, nature, and biographical subjects, with titles such as Silence of the Bees (Peabody Award winner), Defiant Requiem, All The President's Men Revisited, The White House: Inside Story, Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes, and On Board Air Force One. In 2023, the company expanded into narrative short films with The Perfect Week and Clear Day.

The company is headquartered at 308 East 30th Street in New York City and operates as a privately held entity with no disclosed parent company or institutional investors. Revenue is generated through production fees, broadcast licensing, and rights deals from network commissions, supplemented by direct-to-consumer distribution via Vimeo On Demand. Marketing relies primarily on the company website, press coverage in publications such as The New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, and Variety, and the reputation of founder Peter Schnall, who holds 18 Emmy nominations with 7 wins. The company was recognized on Realscreen magazine's Top 100 Global Independent Production Companies list in conjunction with its 25th anniversary in 2022.

Name

Partisan Pictures

Legal name

Partisan Pictures

Website

https://partisanpictures.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1997

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Partisan Pictures is an independent documentary film and television production company founded in 1997 by Peter Schnall, producing award-winning documentaries for PBS, Discovery/MSNBC, and National Geographic across historical, political, musical, and nature subjects.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Documentary Production Services

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Business, Politics & Current Affairs Documentaries (MPADADAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Investigative & Journalism Documentaries (MPADADAD)

Keywords

• Documentary production
• Television production
• Broadcast content creation
• Independent film production
• Cinematic documentary services

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Documentary Production Services: Partisan Pictures generates revenue by producing documentaries and television specials for major broadcast networks and streaming platforms. The company creates content commissioned by networks like PBS, Discovery, MSNBC, and National Geographic, with revenue derived from production fees, licensing, and broadcast rights.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Partisan Pictures is an independent documentary film and television production company that produces feature-length documentaries and television specials commissioned by major broadcast networks and streaming platforms. The company produces content across historical, political, musical, nature, and biographical subject matter, applying cinematic production techniques to small-screen documentary storytelling. It also produces select narrative short films.

Product overview

Partisan Pictures is a documentary film and television production company founded in 1997 by Peter Schnall. The company produces documentaries across various genres including historical, political, musical, and nature documentaries, as well as narrative short films. Their portfolio includes feature documentaries such as 'Defiant Requiem', 'All The President's Men Revisited', 'The White House: Inside Story', 'Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes', 'Lincoln @ Gettysburg', 'On Board Air Force One', 'Oprah South Africa', 'Silence of the Bees', and 'Betrayal: The Plot That Won The White House'. The company also produces narrative short films like 'The Perfect Week' and 'Clear Day'. Films are distributed through broadcast partners including PBS, Discovery/MSNBC, National Geographic Channel, and streaming platforms like Vimeo.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Defiant Requiem A PBS documentary about Jewish inmates at Terezin concentration camp who fought back with art and music against Nazi oppression, told through archival film, prisoners' artwork, survivor recollections, cinematic dramatizations, and animation.
• All The President's Men Revisited Award-winning documentary diving deep into the Watergate scandal, featuring Robert Redford, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Ben Bradlee, Dustin Hoffman, Jon Stewart, and Rachel Maddow.
• The White House: Inside Story A 2-hour PBS special exploring the 200-year story of the White House with exclusive interviews with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
• Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes A documentary filmed over six years profiling jazz legend Ron Carter, the rhythmic force in Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, featuring interviews with Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, and Jon Batiste.
• Lincoln @ Gettysburg A documentary commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, exploring how Abraham Lincoln used the telegraph as America's first 'Situation Room' during the Civil War.
• On Board Air Force One A National Geographic Channel special providing exclusive access aboard Air Force One during a presidential mission across the Middle East, including never-before-told stories from September 11, 2001.
• Oprah South Africa A documentary following Oprah Winfrey's 21-day humanitarian journey through South Africa visiting orphanages and rural schools, delivering gifts to 50,000 children, with appearances by Nelson Mandela.
• Silence of the Bees A PBS Nature documentary investigating the mass disappearance of honeybees in 2007, combining macro cinematography with scientific investigation across multiple continents, winner of the Peabody Award.
• Betrayal: The Plot That Won The White House An MSNBC/Rachel Maddow Show special documentary revealing how Richard Nixon secretly schemed to sabotage Vietnam peace talks to win the 1968 election.
• The Perfect Week A romantic comedy short about a woman named Izzie who goes on a different date every day for a week after a breakup to find closure.
• Clear Day A dramatic short film about a woman on her 30th birthday whose life changes forever due to a confronting event.

Quantifiable outcome

• Highest network ratings among documentary productions
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Kartemquin Films: Long-running Chicago-based documentary production company with a similarly founder-anchored model producing for PBS and other public media outlets. Comparable in size, longevity, and broadcast-network focus.
• Radical Media: Independent production company producing premium documentaries, branded content, and unscripted series for major networks and streamers. Comparable founder-led model and client roster.
• Jigsaw Productions: Alex Gibney's investigative documentary shop producing for HBO, Netflix, and Showtime. Directly comparable as a founder-led, award-winning documentary production company targeting major networks and streamers.
• Ark Media: Independent documentary and non-fiction production company producing for HBO, Netflix, PBS, and National Geographic. Closely comparable in scale, network relationships, and slate composition.
• Florentine Films: Ken Burns's production company, producing landmark PBS documentaries. Direct peer in long-form, network-commissioned documentary production with a similarly founder-led prestige model.

Others

• ITVS (Independent Television Service): Public broadcaster-funded distributor and co-producer of independent documentaries for PBS. Functions as a financing and distribution partner/competitor in the same independent documentary ecosystem Partisan operates in.

Broad incumbents

• Participant Media: Larger socially conscious film and documentary production company producing for theatrical, streaming, and network distribution. Overlaps with Partisan in political/historical documentary subject matter but operates at significantly greater scale.
• National Geographic Studios: In-house production arm of National Geographic, one of Partisan's principal commissioning partners. Competes for the same documentary commissions but with parent-company resources.
• Discovery Studios: In-house production arm of Discovery, a key commissioning network for Partisan. Represents both a customer and a competitor for premium documentary commissions.

Emerging players

• XTR: Documentary studio and streaming service focused on feature-length and episodic documentaries. Comparable in documentary specialization but with a more streaming-native business model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/partisan-pictures

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Partisan Pictures