The archive holds the story. I find it, clear it, and shape it.
Archival research, story producing, and end-to-end clearances for documentaries and branded commercials, from the first search through legal sign-off and final budget.
Everything between the idea and a cleared, delivered cut.
Archival Research
High-end research for investigative and historical documentaries, with access to footage, stills, audio, and documents from archives around the world.
- Global archive and collection searches
- Management of international research teams
- Investigative and historical sourcing
Story Producing
Building narrative from the material itself: finding the moments that carry a story and shaping how archive and interviews work together.
- Story development and structure
- Archive-driven narrative for long and short form
- Branded and commercial storytelling
Clearances & Licensing
The entire licensing process for third-party material, working directly with legal teams on clearances and fair use claims.
- Third-party rights clearance
- License negotiation and tracking
- Fair use support alongside counsel
Budgeting & Vendor Negotiation
Archive budgets that hold up. I build realistic cost plans and negotiate rates with vendors so the film gets what it needs at a cost that works.
- Archival and licensing budgets
- Vendor rate negotiation
- Cost-effective sourcing strategy
Documentaries for Netflix, HBO, PBS Frontline, Amazon and more.
Maui’s Deadly Firestorm
Head Researcher / Archival Producer
Emmy, Best Climate Documentary
Super League: The War for Football
Head Researcher / Archival Producer
Emmy, Best Sports Documentary
Under Pressure: The U.S. Women’s World Cup Team
Head Researcher / Archival Producer
Seen & Heard
Head Researcher / Archival Producer
Gifted & Black
Head Researcher / Archival Producer
Time Is Now
Story & Archival Producer, branded documentary
I Was There
Series creator, archival digital series
ISIS 101
Associate Producer
Save My Life & Boston EMS
Associate / Field Producer
IOC · Ford · Ally Bank · Unilever · Vogue · Google · Nike · Amazon · Jameson · A&E · Warner Bros.
One producer from first search to final sign-off.
Find
Deep research across archives worldwide, led directly or through a coordinated team of researchers.
Shape
Material becomes story. Research feeds the edit, and the edit guides what to look for next.
Clear
Every third-party asset is licensed or supported for fair use with your legal team, on a budget you can plan around.
Tanna Tarpley is a two-time Emmy Award-winning archival and story producer, and the founder of Plumeria Productions.
I lead archival teams on feature documentaries and series for Netflix, HBO, PBS Frontline and Amazon, including a team of ten national and international researchers on Super League: The War for Football. I work with directors and story producers on story and script development and build the archival workflow from research through ingest, tracking and final deliverables.
I handle the full licensing process for third-party material, from user-generated footage to rights holders like FIFA, UEFA and U.S. Soccer. I work directly with legal teams on clearances and fair use, review vendor contracts and talent agreements, and build budgets that hold.
I spent four years at VICE as a brand and digital producer and head archival producer. There I created the archival series I Was There, worked on VICELAND shows, and set up company-wide clearance guidelines for archival in branded content. I began in network news at ABC News and CBS News and studied broadcast journalism at NYU.