Lights, camera, industrial action

MipTV takes place in Cannes this April with a sense of rebellion in the air, in both the TV industry and wider society. This was on show at Series Mania in Lille in March, when protestors, riot police and tear gas on the streets mingled with talk of an upcoming US writers’ strike in the festival hall.

As Arte France’s director of fiction, Olivier Wotling, reveals in our Drama section, he believes that, among viewers, there is “a growing feeling of anger – it’s not revolution but people are [anticipating] a fight.”

Wotling is hoping upcoming Arte programming such as Machine, which centres on an anonymous woman skilled in martial arts who joins the cause of striking workers, will tap into this feeling of dissent.

Elsewhere, Banijay Rights’ period drama Marie Antoinette, which tells the story of a public figure at the height of their power but facing a financial crisis and

THE C21 CONTENT TRENDS REPORT: Spring 2023

C21’s quarterly outline of the biggest trends in the business looks at the possible impact of a US writers’ strike on the global business.

With spin-offs from recognisable IP becoming more common, could some ‘universes’ begin to contract?

AI is bringing efficiencies to film and TV production, but sceptics fear tools like ChatGPT could undermine the industry.

Streamers’ insistance on global rights and US studios’ withdrawl from licensing could be starting to change.

COUNTRYFILE: Türkiye

How the country’s TV industry is returning to work and expanding its scope after the recent devastating earthquakes.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: James Burstall Argonon Group CEO on his new book advising businesses how to handle the next global crisis.

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Streaming’s next phase Studios and streamers left millions of licensing dollars on the table to embrace D2C. Now they are changing course.

CONTENT STRATEGIES: OUTtv

How the LGBTQ network and streamer aims to expand its scripted offering.

NEXT BIG THINGS: 21 on 21

Our selection of the 21 shows you can’t afford to miss at MipTV.

Formats

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Future of unscripted impending public revolt, has sold around the world. This may have more to do with it being described as “Love Island en Versailles” than it containing any d biting social commentary, however. But France is not the only country experiencing civil unrest, with the UK emerging out of a winter of strikes and discontent while the past year has seen outbreaks in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Peru and Sri Lanka. According to analytics firm Gallup, unhappiness is at a record high, with people feeling more anger, sadness, pain, worry and stress than ever before. Just ask the Writers Guild of America, which as this magazine went to press was calling for a strike authorisation vote, which could lead to the first US writers’ strike in 15 years. There’s talk it could turn the ‘golden age of drama’ into the ‘golden age of unscripted.’ But please can it not turn into the ‘golden age of cheap reality TV shows

With unscripted now challenging dramas for primetime slots, execs debate the implications.

Contents

CONTENT STRATEGIES: TV2 Denmark

TV2 is doubling down on weekend entertainment and is on the hunt for ‘reinvented’ primetime formats.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Hayley Babcock & Lisette van Diepen Format specialist Hayley Babcock and Lisette van Diepen, consultant for All3Media, discuss how new indies should pitch paper format ideas.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Sustaining formats Magical Elves’ Casey Kriley and NBCUniversal’s Barrie Kelly on keeping shows like Top Chef fresh.

DEVELOPMENT SLATE: RTBF

DEVELOPMENT SLATE: ITV Studios

NEWS ANALYSIS: US unscripted How Covid, tight margins, mega-mergers and an economic slowdown have impacted US unscripted indies.

NEXT BIG THINGS: Stranger than fiction

With a possible US writers’ strike likely to up demand for ‘stranger than fiction’ docs, what makes a good one?

CONTENT STRATEGIES: S4C

The Welsh pubcaster outlines its priorities and content wishlist as it grows its international unscripted ambitions.

CONTENT STRATEGIES: ITV & ITVX

ITV’s Jo Clinton-Davis on the twintrack opportunities that streamer ITVX has opened up for the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster.

DEVELOPMENT SLATE: Creative Chaos

THREE-YEAR PLAN: Dare Pictures featuring vulnerable people being taken advantage of’ as the last writers’ strike in 2007-08 did?

Another outcome could be the ‘golden age of artificial intelligence-assisted TV,’ as computers don’t go on strike. Naturally, any script created using AI will be incredibly formulaic, relying as it does on the internet for examples and moulding it to a set pattern.

No doubt there are genres of TV where this could be effective, with BBC commissioning editor for daytime and entertainment Muslim Alim recently encouraging UK indies to integrate generative AI into their workflows to save time and money.

It’s unlikely we’ll see any of Alim’s counterparts in drama or children’s doing the same publicly any time soon, as our reports in this issue highlight. But could limited use of AI engender a sense of human rebellion against the stock TV formula to keep the bots at bay, resulting in more experimental and daring TV?

Nico Franks

DRAMA

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Casey Bloys HBO’s content boss on quality control and launching a new streamer.

COUNTRYFILE: Japan

Japan’s increasingly outward-looking scripted industry is aiming to embrace international collaborations.

CONTENT STRATEGIES: Arte France

Arte France is pushing its drama into new areas fuelled by risk-taking.

CONTENT STRATEGIES: Amazon Prime Video Nigeria

How the streamer is building a distinctive slate through ‘hyper-local’ storytelling.

DEVELOPMENT SLATE: Lingo Pictures

THREE-YEAR PLAN: Range Media

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: AI in kids TV

Should we fear artificial intelligence for its possible impact on kids’ content and jobs, or is it just another creative tool?

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Young adults

With demand for YA programming on the rise, how far does the demographic extend and what do they want to watch?

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Melanie Stokes Kindle Entertainment’s MD on feel-good content and surviving a financial crisis.

CONTENT STRATEGIES: ITVX

The UK broadcaster readies the platform to become its new children’s destination.

THREE-YEAR PLAN: DeAPlaneta

DEVELOPMENT SLATE: Studio 100

PRESENT IMPERFECT FUTURE TENSE Olena Shkrobot of Ukraine’s MKMG.