C21Winter 2021/22 by C21Media

Too few crew: the production boom downside

international Everything about content

Winter 2021/22

Bela Bajaria on the stories that work for Netflix

Spain cashes in on a successful Money Heist

PLUS: C21’s Content Business Trends Report | Discovery+ StarzPlay | Universal Int’l Studios | ViacomCBS | Pantaya

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Poetry is undeniably personal. For spoken word artists like Sarah Callaghan it’s a collection of intimate feelings. Of love, of loss. Of thoughts found around the city and tapped into a phone’s notes. Performing, too, is personal. Poets need somewhere they feel comfortable expressing themselves. Spaces where they can be totally vulnerable. Sky Arts provides this positive place. The now free-to-air channel gives undiscovered talent a stage on which they can shine. Original shows, such as Life and Rhymes, focus the spotlight on the diverse voices of Britain, inspiring artists and audiences to share in the emotions we all experience. No matter who we are. No matter where we come from. All with the belief that everyone deserves a platform to be seen and heard.

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22 | Issue #312

UPFRONT

CONTENTS

The Gogglebox effect

hat was once niche is now mainstream. An eight-hour documentary was the unlikely hit of the festive period, in the form of Disney+ and Peter Jackson’s Get Back. Youth culture is now defined by video games rather than music. And a Korean drama is the world’s most popular TV series. A watershed moment happened in 2021 during Gogglebox, the hit Channel 4 show in which armchair critics from across the country cast their eyes over the week’s biggest TV programmes. Netflix originals such as The Crown and its many reality shows have been familiar fodder for Goggleboxx over the past few years. But 2021 saw the first time the Goggleboxx regulars, intended to be a representative cross-section of Brits (though not, it would appear, if they’re from Scotland), watched dubbed clips from Lupin and Squid Game, marking the first appearances of non-Englishlanguage series on the long-running show. More recently, during a festive edition of the show, they were treated to the SVoD service’s Danish horror series Elves, produced by Miso Film. The international TV boom means we’re all getting to know each other a little better, which is great news. Telly has remarkable potential to offer a window into different cultures and streaming has made doing so easier than ever before. “Since when do elves kill people and throw their heads around?” cried one Goggleboxer during

Elves, to which her mother replied: “Danish ones do, apparently.” So far, the rise in popularity of non-Englishlanguage content, subtitled or dubbed, has largely been focused on drama – think Nordic noir, Turkish telenovelas and dark Korean social satires. But there are signs the audience’s appetite is broadening, with comedy the next genre surely to benefit. You can read how the old adage that comedy doesn’t travel is being challenged on page 10 as part of our latest Content Business Trends report. You can also hear from Globi, a new North American AVoD start-up vying to plug a gap in the market for high-end foreign content for “subscription-weary” viewers, on page 29. It’s only a matter of time before free ad-supported streaming TV channels get in on the action, dedicating themselves to bringing compelling series from all over the world to insatiable audiences for free. Elsewhere, we look at how the industry is tackling the ongoing ‘crew crunch’ caused by the international production boom (page 8) and how Spanish-language programming is evolving (page 20 and page 34). This is sure to have been a hot topic at Natpe Miami 2022 in January, had the Omicron surge not prevented it from being held. The pandemic sadly continues to wreak havoc on the industry calendar, but let’s hope other events are able to return in-person this year. Nico Franks

THE C21 CONTENT BUSINESS TRENDS REPORT: Winter 2021/22 Leading execs from across the worldwide entertainment industry offer their takes on the impact of the metaverse on TV.

Does competition for production crews and talent mean busy screen industries like the UK’s will hit a crisis in 2022?

How international hits from streamers are disproving the idea that comedy doesn’t travel.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Bela Bajaria Netflix’s head of global TV on why producers should avoid pitching her ‘international’ projects.

SCHEDULE WATCH: Discovery+ A year on from its launch, streamer Discovery+’s commissioning teams have a clear idea of the content its subscribers want.

COUNTRYFILE: Spain Local players forge partnerships around the world as the country capitalises on the success of La Casa de Papel.

SCHEDULE WATCH: StarzPlay Superna Kalle discusses the SVoD service’s push into local-language originals.

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: 2022 and beyond Covid-19 has brought unprecedented upheaval to the industry. So what challenges can we expect from 2022?

NEXT BIG THINGS: Universal Int’l Studios Interim president Beatrice Springborn on the newly rebranded firm’s future.

SCHEDULE WATCH: Globi How the North American AVoD is vying to plug a gap in the market for highend non-English-language content for viewers weary of paying subscriptions.

BACKEND Streamer Pantaya’s Development Slate and ViacomCBS’s Three-Year Plan.

PRESENT IMPERFECT FUTURE TENSE: Camila Jiménez Villa The Immigrant’s CEO on widening the scope of stories from Latinx/e creators and their potential to travel.

THE C21 CONTENT BUSINESS TRENDS REPORT: Winter 2021/22

hat to make of the metaverse? Defined most simply as a virtual world where people can socialise, work and play in a digital universe using virtual and augmented reality, it is being heralded by some as the heir to the internet, by others as a dystopian vision of an anti-social future. In many ways, the worst possible thing for anyone banking on the metaverse happening was Mark Zuckerberg’s landgrab for the virtual world of the future following Facebook’s rebrand as Meta. It’s fair to say Zuckerberg carries with him some considerable baggage when it comes to tech’s sometimes toxic influence on our lives and having the 37-year-old as the face of the metaverse could prove terminal to any mainstream aspirations. Nevertheless, investment is flowing into the space, with plenty of companies keen to see how they can monetise their brands in the metaverse, which, to an extent, is already here and has been for a while via the open social gaming worlds of Minecraft, Fortnite and Roblox. These platforms provide users with enormous amounts of freedom to act, offering virtual spaces that are acting as jumping off points for a whole host of different forms of entertainment and commercial opportunities. Like many things, this has only been accelerated by the pandemic. For example, Fortnite hosts immersive virtual shows from artists at the top of the music charts as well as screening movies from Warner Bros, while kids’ birthday parties have been held on Minecraft at a time when we’ve all had to get used to socialising in front of our screens. Among the broadcasters active in the space is ITV, which has skin in the game via its Studio 55 Ventures initiative, which invested in UK start-up Metavision last year to bring it into the ITV Group. An agency and studio that specialises in bringing entertainment IP and brands to the metaverse, Metavision has allowed ITV to collaborate with Fortnite creative team 3D Lab to launch an in-game version of gameshow The Void in Fortnite Creative and bring ITV Studios’ The Voice into its platform Avakin Life.

Nick Richardson, founder and CEO, The Insights Family Derived from ‘meta,’ meaning beyond, and ‘universe,’ metaverse is billed as the next phase of how we use and interact with the internet. Metaverse is a shared virtual space that is always open, with its own activities, such as shopping and entertainment, built in. It has been created by combining the virtual world with augmented reality and the internet. Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO, Meta Platforms (fka Facebook) The defining quality of the metaverse will be a feeling of presence – like you are right there with another person or in another place. Feeling truly present with another person is the ultimate dream

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

Enter the The C21 Content Business Trends Report, a quarterly outline of some of the biggest trends in the business, continues in this issue with a look at what’s set to be front of mind in the year ahead. Following Facebook’s rebrand towards the end of 2021, the metaverse has been the buzzword on everybody’s lips. But what does it mean for TV? By Nico Franks More recently, ITV launched I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! into the metaverse with a bespoke I’m a Celebrity experience in Fortnite. The entertainment format’s castle set was recreated, allowing players to take on their very own castle coin challenges and camp trials while the series aired towards the end of 2021. Meanwhile, in the scripted space, interactive storytelling firm Charisma Entertainment received investment from growth-stage venture capital fund Wise Partners, which focuses on the metaverse and launched in October. Charisma, which has been behind interactive dramas for the BBC and Sky, specialises in powering virtual character behaviours for entertainment experiences such as interactive movies, games, virtual reality (VR) and digital storytelling. It uses machine learning to allow consumers to talk directly to virtual characters in stories, influencing their mood, memories and the narrative itself. In India – said by Zuckerberg to be a key market in the future of the metaverse – IN10 Media Network has shifted the programming strategy of its infotainment channel Epic to “ready itself for a metaverse future,” with content in Hindi that highlights how technology continues to change the world around us. Elsewhere in 2021, Dubit, a games studio, research company and developer of virtual worlds

of social technology. In the metaverse, you’ll be able to do almost anything you can imagine – get together with friends and family, work, learn, play, shop, create – as well as completely new experiences that don’t really fit how we think about computers or phones today. Bob Chapek, CEO, The Walt Disney Company Disney has a long track record as an early adopter in the use of technology to enhance the entertainment experience. Our efforts to date are merely a prologue to a time when we’ll be able to connect the physical and digital worlds even more closely, allowing for storytelling without boundaries in our own Disney metaverse.

that works with companies such as Disney, Meta and Lego, raised US$8m in a funding round led by Metaventures and French investor Jean-Charles Capelli. This will see it launch the Metaverse Gaming League, the world’s first live eSports league in the metaverse, starting in Roblox before expanding to other leading metaverse gaming platforms such as Minecraft and Core. Interest in the metaverse is also driving renewed interest in some of the first online community platforms to emerge, such as Habbo, which launched in 2000 and peaked in popularity in 2011. In something of a nostalgia-fest in December, Habbo welcomed the Teletubbies to the metaverse ahead of the brand’s 25th anniversary in 2022, allowing players to purchase Teletubbies-branded avatar onesies using virtual currency. It’s too early to tell whether buying virtual versions of the Tubby Toaster, Custard Machine and NooNoo the vacuum cleaner will be the high point of the metaverse. Cumbersome headsets and a lack of affordability have long stopped VR from becoming truly mainstream. Such pitfalls could stop the metaverse from catching on too. Then again, the world wide web looked pretty scrappy back in the days of dialup internet. And look what happened there.

Alon Shtruzman, CEO, Keshet International The metaverse will change the way we consume content and communicate. VR might become more dominant and a whole new genre of immersive television might emerge. I also predict a much bigger integration between gaming and television, with more and more interactive TV shows. Facebook and Oculus are already starting to create this interactive content and Netflix’s move aggressively into games is something that will absolutely affect the market. Bhavit Chandrani, director of creative and digital partnerships, ITV Bringing our IP into the metaverse creates huge opportunities for

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

THE C21 CONTENT BUSINESS TRENDS REPORT: Winter 2021/22

metaverse Metaverse Gaming League

I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in Fortnite

Mark Zuckerberg in the metaverse

us across our programming and also allows us to take those shows and our clients into another world where younger audiences live. Guy Gadney, co-founder and CEO, Charisma Entertainment The metaverse needs huge quantities of interactive content, and this content needs to be dynamic and immersive, especially when it comes to characters that audiences can play with and talk to. Charisma’s unique approach to interactive storytelling, powered by AI, was designed with the ambition of the metaverse as a natural evolution for multi-platform audiences. Aditya Pittie, managing director, IN10 Media Network

Epic is the first Indian platform to exclusively showcase Indiacentric content in Hindi. The media universe is poised on the edge of transforming into a metaverse. ‘Glocal’ is no longer just a textbook phrase for the future but the very essence of the modern audience that has explored all that is available from around the world, and is hungry for more. Pam Kaufman, president, ViacomCBS Consumer Products Fuelled by beloved characters and iconic properties with multi-generational appeal, we are thrilled to accelerate our consumer products presence even further into

the growing metaverse. In teaming up with Recur to create an NFT [non-fungible token] platform dedicated to ViacomCBS IP, voracious collectors and first-time NFT buyers alike will find unique opportunities to own a piece of their favourite franchises. Izabella Kaminska, outgoing editor, Financial Times’ Alphaville blog It sends the message that perhaps our true world is so corrupted, so divided and so unfair that it isn’t worth saving after all. Alternatively, we can PhotoShop reality to the point we can all pretend everything is as pretty as we experience it in our own heads. Also known as cultivating delusions – don’t worry about your lousy life, come join us in your own dream world.

THE C21 CONTENT BUSINESS TRENDS REPORT: Winter 2021/22

ot only has the pandemic coincided with the streaming boom and created a perfect storm to blow away the industry’s old ways, but it really feels like we’re collectively at a point where the business is completely reinventing itself. New platforms and business models are driving demand for content from all quarters as they target subscription growth, while others just try to keep up. It’s great news in so many ways, but it is not coming without its challenges. For example, the UK’s television producers faced a shortage of cameras and other key equipment as the industry worked to meet incredible demand for new shows after audiences binge-watched like never before during the lockdowns of 2020 and early 2021. A good problem to have, no doubt, but a problem nevertheless. In the UK, the first quarter of 2021 saw a record spend of £878m (US$1.1bn) on film and high-end TV, with non-profit organisation ScreenSkills predicting the country could hit £6bn per annum in production spend in the next few years. This would mean up to 30,000 additional jobs in production and, crunching the numbers, the UK probably needs 10,000 additional training interventions a year to keep up with growth, according to ScreenSkills. And with parts of the UK set to be turned into Middle Earth in 2022 when Amazon’s gigantic Lord of the Rings production moves from New Zealand to the UK, there are growing concerns the industry there could be reaching breaking point. Be it line producers, accountants, makeup designers, gaffers, directors of production in scripted or editors, researchers and series producers in unscripted, a whole host of roles need filling, with freelancer producers getting tied down to attractive extended contracts by the likes of Netflix on shows such as The Crown. At C21’s Content London conference in December, the rising cost of talent was a big theme that emerged, with streamers’ biggerbudget, higher-profile dramas said to be generating ‘talent inflation’ that is also impacting productions further down the food chain. Free-to-air broadcasters with shallower pockets than the international streamers are being hit the most, alongside producers of smaller dramas that are struggling to fill jobs. The cost of everything, from crew to studio space, is also rising as demand outstrips supply. Hence the growing number of new studios being built in the UK, as far apart as Cornwall and Liverpool. The latter’s city council is plotting a major redevelopment with the Littlewoods Studios scheme that could see a vacant building turned into one of the UK’s biggest TV and film complexes. Adding to the strain on production is the impact of both the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, as they combine to ensure plenty of behind-the-camera talent leaves the UK to work back home on the continent. Panellists spoke of a ‘brain drain’ to the European Union, as lockdown sent key technicians and

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

Hit by the crew crunch Demand for new content is through the roof, but so too is competition for production crew and talent, leading some to predict 2022 could see busy screen industries like the UK’s reach crisis point.

Netflix’s UK-shot The Crown. Left: Young Wallander being filmed in Lithuania

production talent such as animators back to the EU and Brexit dissuaded them from returning. Even if they continue working remotely from sunnier parts of Europe, this has implications for the tax credits that their employers can claim. The need for more training couldn’t be emphasised more loudly. The issue is certainly being tackled but not fast enough, while it is also quite rightly being viewed as an opportunity to supercharge diversity within the industry and ensure crews’ mental health is kept front of mind. In October, the UK’s Film & TV Charity launched Let’s Reset, a 12-month behaviour change campaign to champion better mental health that calls on

those in positions of power to act, effect change and commit to better ways of working. Meanwhile, the likes of Amazon and Netflix have pledged to create around 1,000 UK screen apprenticeships each, with the latter doing so through the £1.2m Grow Creative UK training programme. It will focus on upskilling below-the-line new and emerging British talent, especially those from diverse backgrounds, providing training opportunities on its UK-based scripted and nonscripted productions, including Sex Education, The Witcher and Top Boy, as well as with production and industry partners. The programme forms part of Netflix’s longterm ambition to provide the greatest number of training opportunities across high-end TV and film in the UK. As with the recent Europe-wide shortage of HGV drivers, instead of waiting for the TV sector training issues to be resolved by governments that don’t appear to know what to do, the industry itself should, and is starting to, solve what is fast becoming known as the ‘crew crunch.’ With additional reporting by Ed Waller.

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

THE C C2 C21 21 C CO CONTENT ON NT TENT BUSINESS TRENDS REPORT: Winter 2021/22

Cameras roll on the BBC’s The War of the Worlds adaptation (above) and Anthony, which was filmed in Liverpool

Sinead Rocks, managing director, nations and regions, Channel 4 4Skills will have a long-term and lasting impact on learning and skills provision for young people across the country and, ultimately, it is the audience that will beneﬁt. The people that we train, develop and work with will contribute their own diversity of opinion and life experience to programme making, resulting in content that better reﬂects the whole of the UK.

Frank Spotnitz, writer and director It’s a mad scramble. There’s a break in production and you ﬁnd you’ve lost your camera department to another production that’s willing to pay them more. It’s a combination of Brexit, the pandemic and increased competition primarily due to the streamers coming in. Peter Langenberg, chief operating officer, Banijay There is a shortage of staff in the UK, but also in countries such as the Netherlands, where we’re really trying to mitigate it by training our own people. In Australia, we’ve set up our own scheme to train editors because we needed 120 of them. Hopefully we’ll be able to retain them for our business, but they can go wherever they want to go. Christian Vesper, president, global drama, Fremantle It’s great for writers, as in many territories they’ve probably been underpaid, so I won’t begrudge them that. It is more competitive and is leading us to look at bigger talent deals with directors and writers. One of our companies, Dancing Ledge, has done an amazing job developing new writers. Upon success we may lose them to an SVoD, but then we’ll train more. Louise Pedersen, CEO, All3Media International The cost of crew is not just a UK issue, it seems to be a global issue. Costs have gone up massively and if you add that to the fact a lot of distributors and production companies covered their fair share of Covid costs,

everything is suddenly looking an awful lot more expensive. And we’re not seeing broadcasters in the UK really putting their tariffs up much. That’s a big issue. Alison Small, training manager, Netflix UK The UK is a hugely important market for us and we invest more in production here than anywhere else outside the US and Canada. Grow Creative UK will help bridge the skills gap, upskill experienced crew and improve diversity head-on. It will also build on our long-term ambition to be the studio that provides the most training opportunities in the UK. Seetha Kumar, CEO, ScreenSkills The UK is a highly attractive place to make film, television, and animation, not least because of the skilled and highly professional crew and talent. But we cannot be complacent. It is a competitive global market and there are many countries angling for a bigger slice of it so continued UK growth is not a given. You can’t make great film, television and animation without investing in the people and we need to be investing more.

Alex Pumfrey, CEO, The Film & TV Charity People in the ﬁlm and TV industry are passionate about their craft, but their mental health is too often being strained to breaking point. Unhealthy working hours, bad practices, bullying, racism, harassment, and ableism are too common in an industry we all love, and all of us have a role to play in speaking up to create change. It’s time to come together and reset by putting our mental health centre-stage and committing to changing a culture that impacts us all. Kevin Trehy, managing director, Warner Bros. Productions The mental and physical wellbeing of WarnerMedia staff and production cast and crew across all our divisions is of paramount importance to us. With our industry beneﬁtting from a production boom, it is more important than ever that our people are cared for and that this support is embedded in all aspects of our business from the top down. We are fully committed to The Film & TV Charity’s Let’s Reset campaign and continuing to effect positive change across our industry.

THE C21 CONTENT BUSINESS TRENDS REPORT: Winter 2021/22

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

Laughing all over the world The old o adage that comedy doesn’t travel is being put to bed by a host o of international hits on streaming, which are being lapped up by audie audiences craving something different.

Stath Lets Flats is set to be remade in the US

Netflix’s global comedy special Comedians of the World

t use used to be that Mr Bean was considered one of global comedy hits, capable of making the few f anyone laugh, from Australia to Azerbaijan, anyo Laos to Latvia, Zambia to Zimbabwe. But Rowan Atkinson’s non-verbal phenomenon is rapidly Atkinso being joined by a host of international scripted j comedy comed hits as streaming continues to broaden out the entertainment on offer to audiences around en the world. wo Open Ope the culture section of a newspaper and chances chance are there’ll be a recommendation for the latest non-English-language show. These tend to be dramas, but comedies are increasingly getting dra the nod too. Early last year in an LA Times feature headlined ‘How French comedy of manners Call My Agent Fr became an American sensation,’ TV critic Robert Lloyd pointed out that the fact most of the show’s po non-celebrity cast aren’t well known stateside non-cele “redoubles the impression that we are watching real “redoub people leading real lives.” l Other articles have pointed to a larger trend where audiences audienc born since the late 1980s and raised on the internet are not seeing geographic borders the inter way peo people once did. After all, the language of the world wide web, from memes to emojis to internet slang, is universal. Netflix got in on this trend back in 2019 when it launched Comedians of the World, a mammoth stand-up comedy special that features 47 comedians from 13 regions across the globe. Technology has made our world smaller, while quality is often said to be the only barrier to a show’s international potential these days. This is opening the door for programmes to travel like never before, and they don’t necessarily need to have massive budgets. They can even be made at home. For example, Nebula-75, a 1960s-Thunderbirds-style series partly made in a living room in the UK during the first

lockdown, has been sold to the Tohokushinsha Film Corporation to broadcast on Japan’s Star Channel in early 2022. While the drama coproduction is an established bastion of the international TV industry, coproduced comedies are less common between countries that don’t share a language. There are signs that could be changing, however, with CBS Studios in the US teaming up with German producer Syrreal Entertainment to create dark comedy Ze Network, in which David Hasselhoff stars as himself in a fictional international conspiracy story. And at a time when people in different countries are more connected than ever culturally thanks to the internet, UK producer Avalon saw an opportunity to reboot satirical comedy Spitting Image in a way that was global rather than parochial, taking aim at pop culture figures known the world over. This has led to a partnership with Sky Deutschland, which features a roughly 50/50 mix of content from the English-language version re-dubbed by German voice artists alongside new topical local sketches written by German comedy writers, put together with Redseven Entertainment. More hybrid versions of Spitting Image are being planned in Spain, the Nordics and other European territories, but is the growing willingness of international audiences to watch comedies in their original language a threat to the scripted comedy format business? It depends who you ask. For some, streamers have led to a boom in scripted format sales as a result of their strategy to commission local originals based on proven hits. Call My Agent, for example, is being remade in the UK by Amazon. But with recent figures from UK trade body Pact highlighting that while UK comedy exports are up, overall format sales are down, could the days of the often-controversial US remake of a UK comedy hit be numbered? Of course, this well-trodden path has led to one of the biggest shows ever made, particularly on streaming, in NBC’s version of the BBC smash hit The Office. In addition, CBS has remade recent BBC comedy hit Ghosts, while the original is available for US viewers to watch via streamer HBO Max, home to an array of imported comedy hits. These include Channel 4’s Stath Lets Flats, also destined for a US remake with Fox. But unlike before, viewers now have the chance to watch both the remake and original and decide which they prefer.

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

Rahul Patel, senior analyst, Ampere Analysis It has become increasingly easy for consumers in markets such as the US and UK, historically among the least internationalised in terms of content, to access titles produced overseas. This easy access has allowed more non-US content to achieve worldwide success. From January to October 2021, 37% of the 100 most popular TV shows were produced outside the US, compared with just 9% of the top 100 movies. Canada, Japan, South Korea, Spain and the UK are emerging as production hubs of globally popular TV shows. Jon Thoday, founder and co-executive chairman, Avalon It’s not true that comedy doesn’t travel. The world has become a much smaller place, and one of the benefits of Netflix is its stand-up specials, which have been a huge success for them. There is a very significant international audience for good comedy. Georgia Brown, head of Europe, Amazon Studios The way people interact with comedy has dramaticallyy changed. As an industry, we e seemed to decide comedy doesn’t travel. But what was incredible for or us was the launch of LOL: Last One Laughing, a comedy format that started life in Japan that we’ve e’ve

THE C21 CONTENT BUSINESS TRENDS REPORT: Winter 2021/22

localised. When it launched in Europe, suddenly we had Australians tuning in to the German version, Italians watching the French version and Americans viewing the Spanish version. Ash Atalla, MD, Roughcut TV You potentially get a longer tail on shows now and people can find a show in years to come. Somewhere in my heart, I hope this business is meritocratic on some level and if something is good, it’s now sitting in the shop window long enough for people to find it. Shows are so much more accessible now than they have been in the past. And Americans have become a lot more tolerant of British accents. Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director, Series Mania France is really benefiting from a global trend in TV series towards strong, original, local stories, anchored in their territory and free of American and British norms. Camille Cottin, star of France Télévisions and Netflix hit Call My Agent Cinema is having a hard time and we are all worried about that. But, on the other hand, the international platforms are making things really interesting for shows and creators to cross frontiers. Call My Agentt shows a tender side to a business that is usually known as merciless.

Stephen La Riviere, co-founder, Century 21 Films and co-creator and co-writer, Nebula-75 When we put Nebula-75 out, we certainly didn’t expect it to get so much attention. But what some of our viewers dubbed ‘newstalgia’ seemed to resonate with viewers worldwide. That it’s now been acquired for television and cinema – and even dubbed into Japanese – is just beyond our wildest imaginations. Olivia Cathcart, comedian and writer, Paste Magazine 2021 proved that American audiences do not need to see English-speaking American stars to enjoy a show, they just need easy access to quality international programmes. So when access is not an issue, what reason is there to adapt what can simply be distributed abroad? It feels especially pointless to try to make a project for a declining medium like network TV when your competitors can run the original on their hot new service in an ever-growing streaming market. Franklin Leonard, film and TV producer an and founder, The Black List Just a few years ago, Squid Game ye would have be been something shared within the industry primarily as particularly strong American remake fodder. It’s a glorious thing that we live in a world where the show became as popular sh as it is just as it was made by its Korean creators. I’ve never believed that there’s any harm, per se, in ther the existence of cross-cultural cross-cultur remakes. I just think the originals should have a global platform and that whatever remakes do e exist should be similarly ambitious and extraordinarily well executed.

French comedy Call My Agent has proved popular among US viewers German football manager Jürgen Klopp as depicted by Spitting Image

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Bela Bajaria

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

Keeping it local Netflix’s head of global TV, Bela Bajaria, discusses the streaming giant’s worldwide content strategy and why producers should avoid pitching ‘international’ ‘inte proj projects to her. B By Nico Franks

t’s often the case that show reels – the clips speakers show at the beginning of panel sessions or keynotes at TV industry events – don’t offer much more than an indication of how big a chunk of a company’s programming budget was spent on pyrotechnics. Not so with Netflix. At C21’s Content London 2021, held in-person during the first week of December in the UK capital, Bela Bajaria, the streaming giant’s head of global TV, showed a reel that demonstrated just how much the streamer has changed our industry in recent years. Among the 35 Netflix originals featured in the reel, only six were listed as being from the US, with productions from Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, France, Germany, the UK, Turkey, Jordan, Denmark, Japan, South Korea and India all making appearances. Viewing of non-English-language titles by Netflix subscribers has more than tripled between 2018 and 2021, with Squid Game from South Korea the latest and most successful example yet of a non-English-language original. Netflix has commissioned scripted and unscripted originals from 40 countries and is filming in more than 130 as it hunts “local stories that capture the imagination of the world in any language,” whilst opening offices in over 20 cities, including Rome, Berlin, Toronto, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Bangkok, Mexico City and Sao Paulo, where execs are given straight-to-series commissioning power. “It’s veryy hard to make local shows if you’re not part of y p the creative community. All those teams are empowered. They greenlight and they do it in their time zone. They Netflix movie Carnaval from Brazil

Bela Bajaria

don’t wait for me or anybody in LA,” Bajaria told C21 editorin-chief and managing director David Jenkinson. Among the recent shows on Netflix’s Latin American slate are Who Killed Sara? (Quién Mató a Sara) and the biopics Selena: The Series and Luis Miguel: The Series from Mexico; feature film Carnaval and period drama Girls From Ipanema from Brazil; plus the docuseries Street Food: Latin America. Meanwhile, European Spanish-language heist crime drama La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) has been a hit for Netflix around the world, with a prequel now in the pipeline, along with a South Korean remake featuring Squid Game star Park Hae-soo. But those thinking it would be a good idea to approach their local Netflix exec with a g grand plan for similarly remake-spawning shows would globetrotting, prequel- and remake-spaw be mistaken. international stories. When “We’re not trying to tell internatio global shows – a show people talk about trying to create glob for no one. I get halffor everyone – you make a show fo a-dozen emails or calls a week where people say, ‘I have an international show for you.’ Please don’t pitch that,” Bajaria advised. Instead, focus on telling a story that will resonate in your local market, with a local audience. And if it of the country happens to also strike a chord outside ou where where it was commissioned, that’s that a happy bonus. “The goal of the show is not for fo it to travel. If you look at La Casa de Papel, or m more recently Squid Game, those two shows are authentically made in their authen country, with a vision of having a very ve local impact. It’s about making authentic series with an authentic voice and distribution and giving and then providing it with global dis consumers easy access to be able to click play and watch something from anywhere around the world,” said Bajaria. Netflix’s team in South Korea had predicted Ko Squid Game would be po popular in its home country, and perhaps around South-East Asia. But what unfolded – with the unf series becoming the most-watched series ever on Netflix – surprised “That, nobody could everyone. “T have imagined, because im that’s actually never happened before,” X happe

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Bela Bajaria

For example, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar has said Bajaria of the drama’s viewership, which Netflix itself confirmed HBO Max originals like And Just Like That called “mind-boggling.” While the success caught everyone off guard, it was are designed to appeal primarily to young and female confirmation that language is no longer a barrier to audiences as HBO series tend to skew male and older. garnering vast worldwide audiences. And Bajaria believes Meanwhile, Netflix has always maintained its desire to host the pandemic has sped up international content’s shift into the favourite show of each member of an entire household. As a result, nothing is off the table when it comes to what the mainstream, which Netflix has been banking on since co-commissioning Lilyhammer with Norwegian pubcaster the streamer is looking for, and Bajaria emphasised the variety of deals it can do with creatives, NRK in 2011. be it taking all rights and making it While Netflix’s North American We’re not trying to in-house, doing a coproduction or membership has started to reach tell international saturation point over the past two years, licensing it once it’s been made. its international subscriber numbers stories. When people talk Many a Netflix original began life on a have continued to grow, propelling about trying to create traditional television network, with the the company to more than 214 million global shows – a show for streamer either swooping in after thee members overall and putting more show has been cancelled, as in the the pressure on traditional linear networks. everyone – you make a cases of Luciferr and Manifest, Asked about the advice she would show for no one. or coming on board as a cogive to linear networks looking to commissioner. compete with streaming, Bajaria said Bela Bajaria “Some say making more one of the keys was to streamline the Netflix money upfront is more e processes for greenlighting shows and important, some say having g working with talent. rights is. We have a variety “Creators and talent now have a different kind of of flexible deal structures and it’s always evolving,” experience in streaming – more freedom in format, more said Bajaria, adding ding the key is for talent to always feel freedom in the length of things and, hopefully, less layers supported. Maintaining this and process,” said Bajaria, who had stints at CBS and is has dropped Netflix into hot water, however, not least Universal Television prior to joining the streamer. ast when Dave Chappelle and his Traditional linear networks would benefit from changing controversial comedy omedy special The Closerr was their executive structures, she added, so that the personnel attacked by critics cs for containing transphobic and charged with developing drama projects are also the homophobic material. terial. Netflix stood by the US comedian, stating that it ones who have the authority to decide what gets greenlit, works hard to support mirroring Netflix’s lean commissioning structure. upport the creative freedom of the Bajaria added that linear networks traditionally have had storytellers on its ts platform, “even though a tendency to involve too many executives between the this means there re will always be creator and their vision, and ultimately that can sometimes content on Netflix some people believe is harmful.” lead to a product that is “watered down in certain places.” ul.” Bajaria expanded Consumers have more choice than ever and Netflix’s nded on how plan is to secure the best shows by being seen by creatives Netflix works with th its creators, as the best and most fulfilling place to bring their new ideas. noting that the he “idea of “[For linear networks] to compete with streaming, you have representation and protecting expression” can to think of the entire experience – very talent-friendly and creative ession” sometimes be “in probably a little bit more liberating,” she said. in tension with However, the exec admits Netflix faces more competition each other.” She added: “I speak than ever, both for new shows and audience attention, from to creators all the time about a host of rivals, be they local players or the likes of Apple protecting their vision, the creative expression and protecting the story TV+, HBO Max, Disney+, Peacock or TikTok. Many of these are looking to become “four-quadrant” that they want to o tell around the world. services, meaning they appeal to the four major That is fundamental ntal to what we do.” demographic quadrants of the movie-going audience: both Additional reporting male and female and over- and under-25s. ing by Jordan Pinto.

“

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

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Mexican biopic Selena: The Series

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SCHEDULE WATCH: Discovery+

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

Voyage of Discovery A year after the launch of Discovery+, the streamer’s commissioning teams have got to know the sort of content its subscribers want and are using that knowledge kn to draw up their content w wishlists for 2022. By Clive Whittingham

t’s a year since the launch of Discovery+ and the start of a global roll-out for the US factual giant’s venture into the streaming landscape. By the end of 2021, more than 20 million paying customers had signed up for Discovery’s various SVoD offerings, of which Discovery+ is by far and away the dominant force. Who are these 20 million people? Simon Downing, who combines the role of senior VP of marketing with head of factual and docs in the UK and Ireland, says that, not surprisingly, it’s a younger demographic than Discovery pulls in with its linear channels. “We see with not just Discovery+ but streaming in general that it does tend to target a younger demo,” he says. “For us it’s been really interesting because we operate within an ecosystem of linear channels and Discovery+. Where historically we thought a lot of our content just skewed older, it’s actually a consequence of the platform you play that content on. Within Discovery+, we’re seeing a much younger cohort come to our content and enjoying content that historically has played on linear really well to an older audience.” The company’s linear networks, such as ﬂagship Discovery Channel, true crime-focused ID: Investigation Discovery, lifestyle network TLC, Science and others have been famously hyper-focused on their brands. They go deep and narrow with hefty, multiple-part series orders for very similar kinds of shows. Discovery+ has enabled commissioners to broaden their horizons. They’ve had success in format adaptations, such as Channel 4’s racy Naked Attraction, opened up the service with ﬁve-part Swedish doc series Estonia: The Find That Changes Everything, about the 1994 sinking of the ferry MS Estonia, and have been in the market for doc specials such as What Killed Maradona. Shows coming up include Full Metal Junkies from Plum Pictures in the UK, which follows the self-taught craftsmen and pranksters of Surrey-based vehicle convertors Shred & Butta. “It’s commissioned for linear but it’s got a very broad appeal and that’s what we want to start leaning into and how we take our factual content forward,” says Downing. Clare Laycock, senior VP of planning and insights

Full Metal Junkies

and head of entertainment for Discovery in the UK and Ireland, says: “We’ve had to focus on what will make people put their hand in their pocket and pay. We need subscribers, so it’s premium content that people will pay for. We’ve looked across all the 30 genres within the unscripted world we occupy and a handful of those have risen to the top on Discovery+, so that’s where we’re focusing our efforts: crime, paranormal, reality, fact ent and celebrity-led factual series.” For Myriam Lopez-Otazu, group VP of content and acquisitions for EMEA and APAC, there’s a much more international angle to her work. “We work super-closely with the markets, so from a producer’s point of view the ﬁrst port of call is those local commissioning groups. My team will partner on stories that we believe have global potential but might g need archive clearance,, or a different way of storytelling ng in every version, or different legal compliances, particularly ticularly with true crime,” she says. “Local is very important for us. We have the biggest commercial mmercial broadcaster in n Poland with TVN,, we’re the third largest broadcaster in Italy aly and number one and two in the Nordics. ordics. Local is king and formats play a great role. We love that combination n of something that’s been compelling in English as a proof of concept that we can then localise. Singles and docs are sometimes hard to make work in n linear, but we’vee seen some success.” s.” There had been n concerns that as the business ness gave the often embattled mbattled unscripted community mmunity a new deep-pocketed ocketed buyer with with h one hand, it would take away with the he other. Discovery’s ’s linear channelss around thee Myriam Lopez-Otazu world have been nX

SCHEDULE WATCH: Discovery+

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

valuable buyers of factual and unscripted content, often in bulk, for producers and distributors. Would the streamerfirst approach diminish that market? “Over the last 12 months there’s no question that we’ve absolutely leaned into launching Discovery+ and that’s really been our entire editorial focus,” says Downing. “Having said that, linear is massively important. It’s not a zero sum game; we’re not just about SVoD.” “It is important to say and reassure people that the Discovery+ budget is an addition,” adds Laycock. “The linear budget is still there, it hasn’t decreased. In fact, it’s growing and the Discovery+ budget is additional.” Discovery was known in the past as one of the more fastidious global broadcasters when it came to rights. It would 100% commission, doing so in volume, and for that it would want the rights to the content in 196 territories. That, too, has been changed by Discovery+. “We have come across a lot of situations where we don’t have rights in the UK because it’s going to a terrestrial, but Laycock says. “We don’t go into these things lightly. It’s we’ve still seen a lot of success with formats and tapes that not about sensationalism, it’s about giving people facts originated on Channel 4, Channel 5 or Sky,” says Lopez over and above the one-line tabloid headline. “What we found with Discovery+ is the audience has a Otazu. “We love them. We can acquire the tape, we can show the UK version and do a local version ourselves later. real appetite for them. They can go quite dark – the most That chance to work with Discovery internationally is popular UK thing we’ve done on Discovery+ so far is a Jimmy Saville special in our ongoing Faking It franchise. there now.” She also points out that acquiring finished content that It’s a horrific story, we spoke with the victims, it’s moving has perhaps aired elsewhere is also vital to help Discovery+ and troubling, but it’s something people are fascinated comply with local content quotas set out for streamers in by and need to know. We found that show started off as the European Union – particularly with UK content still, an older demo who had grown up with Jimmy Saville but then became popular with a younger audience who didn’t for now at least, counting in those quotas. know the story and were True crime has horrified.” been extraordinarily Within Discovery+, we’re Of course, the successful for Netflix seeing a much younger elephant in the room and other streamers and cohort come to our content is the pending merger ID is known as one of the and enjoying content that of Discovery and few US channels to buck with the trend of declining historically has played on linear WarnerMedia, viewing in cable with really well to an older audience. AT&T washing its hands of its expensive its predictable diet of and unsuccessful Time self-contained oneSimon Downing Warner takeover after hour returnable series, Discovery just four years and almost exclusively about murder. Not surprisingly, Discovery+ is keen to milk Discovery’s famously well remunerated CEO David Zaslav that particular cow as well, with Baby Killer Conspiracy taking charge of the newly enlarged company. This would see Discovery+ come together with another from UK prodco Caravan dropping at the end of 2021 and Johnny vs Amber, about the libel trial involving Johnny fast-growing streaming giant in HBO Max. “There’s nothing we can say because we don’t know ourselves, but Depp and Amber Heard in the UK, also commissioned. Questions are starting to be asked, particularly in the the most important message is it’s business as usual,” wake of Netflix’s horrifyingly crass Crime Scene: The Downing says. “We’re super-excited to bring the companies together. Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, about whether television’s thirst for this kind of content is becoming exploitative, The regulatory timeframe is going as we expect. For now, especially with so many of the crimes featuring violence it’s business as usual on our side,” adds Lopez-Otazu. If the big story in unscripted during 2021 was the rollagainst women. “It’s about making sure we’ve got integrity at the heart out and success of Discovery+, what it looks like when put of it, that we’re working with the right programme makers. together with HBO Max is surely going to have the same Optomen did an incredible job with Johnny vs Amber,” impact in 2022.

“

From top: Naked Attraction, Estonia: The Find That Changes Everything and The Baby Killer Conspiracy

COUNTRYFILE: Spain

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

Rapa

Todo Lo Otro

Spanish Movistar+, HBO Max and Atresmedia are forging international partnerships to reach audiences around the world as Spain looks to capitalise on the momentum gained mom by heist drama La Ca de Papel. Casa By Oli Hammett

No Activity

021 marked roughly five years since two bold dramas from Spain exploded on to the international scene, in the form of La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) and Elite, both of which were found by global audiences via Netflix. But with Money Heist, one of the biggest shows Netflix has ever been part of, hanging up its red boiler suit recently, Spanish buyers are looking to consolidate their position as global players with new hits of their own. Partnering with international producers and buyers could be key to this and Maria Valenzuela, head of international strategy and business development at Spanish pay TV platform Movistar+, is targeting more relationships abroad. “We’re always looking for global impact with a show and it’s really important for us to have international exposure. However, we’re keen to keep shows very domestic in tone. We produce for a Spanish audience, but with stories that travel well. We’re lucky that we have a lot of tourists and international exposure as a country, which has helped us attract foreign partners in places like the US,” says Valenzuela. Accordingly, Telefónica-owned Movistar+, which has invested hundreds of millions of euros in original fiction since 2016 to help differentiate it from its competitors, recently launched an international division specifically to strike up new partnerships. Movistar+ International will give potential partners a heads up about Movistar+ shows coming down the pipeline to help drive interest in coproductions.

“International coproduction is a great strategy for many reasons,” says Valenzuela. “Firstly, it allows your shows to have a global impact, and we only really have a presence in Spain. Our partnership with AMC Networks Southern Europe is a great example of this, as we’ve been able to expand our shows’ potential, but the content has also been treated really well. “Movistar+ International is a great opportunity for Movistar+ to be more active internationally. We don’t see it as a way of being global with a global feed; it’s not our intention to create something like that. We intend to use partnerships that allow our content to travel in the best possible way. We already have very good partners and agreements with HBO, Disney, Sky, RTL, France Télévisions and Rai.” With Movistar+ focusing on growing its audience share in Spain rather than expanding its service into more countries, it gives other buyers the chance to screen its originals, such as ‘Latin noir’ crime drama Rapa and Raphaelismo, a documentary about Andalusian singer Raphael. “So many players we’re seeing around the world now have a global service. We’ll be partnering with third parties from all over the international market on fiction, so we’re looking for ideas that can travel both ways,” says Valenzuela. With foreign partnerships increasingly important in getting ambitious programming off the ground, Spanish

COUNTRYFILE: Spain

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

Dos Años y Un Día

exposition buyers have an advantage in that there is an (almost) entire continent across the Atlantic that speaks their language. Miguel Salvat, VP and commissioning editor at WarnerMedia International in Spain, says Latin America represents a huge opportunity. “We’re always informing Latin American companies of what we do. In Spain, we have a double identity, being across Europe and Latin America. We’re discussing a few projects with our colleagues in Latin America. It’s not all just one market either – Brazil on its own is huge – and there are many massive individual territories,” says Salvat. WarnerMedia launched its SvoD platform HBO Max in Spain towards the end of 2021 and has original local content in the form of No Activity, an adaptation of the Australian comedy format, and romantic drama Todo Lo Otro (Everything Else). HBO Max is not alone – Spanish broadcaster Atresmedia, which played a key role in initially commissioning Money Heist before Netflix took exclusive rights to the show, is also ramping up originals for its platform Atresplayer Premium, with around 30 on their way. “We’re getting in the habit of releasing new shows on our platform every month, using the pipeline of content from our main channel,” says Atresmedia manager of fiction content Diego del Pozo Rosas. Its slate includes Dos Años y Un Día (Two Years & A Day), in which a famous actor is sent to prison. Del Pozo Rosas is confident the show has the potential to be just as game-changing as Money Heist was for the Spanish market. Both Salvat and del Pozo Rosas agree with Valenzuela, however, that most important of all is making sure Spanish shows have a strong appeal in their own market. Del Pozo Rosas says Atresmedia is looking to specifically work with new Spanish talent, both on- and off-screen, having launched its own production company, Buendia Studios, in 2020 to boost Spanish and Latin American talent throughout the world. Keeping the essence of what makes Spanish content Spanish is paramount and Salvat is quick to point out how the country’s audiences often value their own content above US imports. “The importance of local production in Spain is higher

relative to other countries,” Salvat says. “In Sweden, for example, English shows are in the original language, but we dub everything in Spain. So US shows are less important for us and Spanish shows are more important for our market. Having a collection of local shows with shared attributes is really important, as it adds up to a brand within the local market.” But Spanish buyers are not unlike those in the rest of the world in wanting to break down borders and see their shows air globally. As a result, the quality of the content must reach a certain level and del Pozo Rosas believes the bar has been raised in recent years. “International coproductions can sometimes be a necessity. The overall quality of content keeps rising, along with costs. Episodes used to cost us about €500,000 [US$563,000] but now our series Luna is on €2m an episode. With an ambitious project, you now have to think how you can raise the money and very often that’s through rough an international partner.” Valenzuela makes the point that when looking for a global partner, the story of the show should be used as a guide rather than anything else. According to her, coproductions ctions can be a little like “trying on two different pairs of glasses” asses” and is careful to emphasise that the DNA of a show should be protected at all costs. Streaming is also giving Spanish players more access ess to data than ever before, so how is this impacting the buyers’ uyers’ commissioning strategies? “You have to look at every product independentlyy and analyse where it would fit, but you also have to be able ble to look at the show and fall in love with it. You can’t depend epend entirely on the data,” says Salvat. Valenzuela agrees: “We always take risks with h our shows – we would never exclusively greenlight a show based on data. We’ve got a show coming up about the Spanish Civil War, and if you took a poll of Spanish ish people, nobody would want a series that revisits that. hat. However, we know it’s a credible show and when it comes out it’s going to be amazing. We’re very, very ry strongly triggered by the story itself and how we feell that is something that has not been done before. Originality and stories that have not been told are more convincing than data for us.”

Diego del Pozo Rosas

Maria Valenzuela

SCHEDULE WATCH: StarzPlay

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

Superna Kalle, president of international networks at Starz, discusses Lionsgate-owned SVoD ser service StarzPlay’s push into local-language originals lo and a its copro strategy. B By Ruth Lawes

tarzPlay, the international streaming service from Lionsgate-owned US cablenet Starz, has been busy expanding its global footprint and ambitions by doubling down on local-language originals. Now available in more than 60 countries, including the UK, Brazil, Spain and India, the streamer has transformed itself into a fully fledged commissioner of original series under Superna Kalle, president of international networks at Starz. In particular, it has been focusing on Spanishlanguage shows. “We’re at a point now where we’ve got a Spanish-language original consistently all the way through for the year,” says Kalle. The LA-based exec is being supported in StarzPlay’s originals push by European execs in Madrid, Peter Tortorici and Mireia Acosta, as well as a team in London. With Spanish-language shows like period drama Señorita 89 and crime thriller Express ticking away nicely, Starz has turned its attentions to South Asia, where it is also looking to build an originals slate. The first steps towards this have already been made, with Lionsgate Play in India, the SVoD service from Lionsgate India and Starz, ordering its first original Hindi-language comedy drama Hiccups & Hookups. As StarzPlay continues to grow, so does the number of rivals it faces. But Kalle downplays the competition, labelling StarzPlay as a “complement” to “broader” streaming services, such as Netflix and Disney+. “We’re in that premium space that sits on top of these other services,” Kalle says, adding that StarzPlay has no kids’ content and is aimed squarely at adults. As such, programming on StarzPlay is “edgy” and “provocative,” accordi according to Kalle. “If you’re looking for reality television show, then please go or a cooking show to one of the other streamers,” o she says. “We do lean pretty heavily into sex, crime and vice.” Under that bracket fall th shows such suc as P-Valley, set strip club, in a Mississippi Missi and Nacho Vidal: An XXXL Industry, a drama about a Spa Spanish porn star, produced by Bambu prod Producciones and Pro La Claqueta PC. The streamer is currently on the hunt for th

Starz aligns with originals Strip club drama P-Valley

more true crime scripted series. More specifically, buyers at StarzPlay are on the look-out for a mystery whodunnit series in a style similar to Rian Johnson’s 2019 film Knives Out, Kalle notes. StarzPlay is also seeking more coproductions and welcomes partners on projects for which it does not necessarily need the first window. “What’s important for us is that we can work in all different scenarios, so we can take the second window. We base decisions on the projects, the producer and the IP and that approach offers a lot of value to our coproduction partners,” Kalle says. In addition to commissions, StarzPlay’s acquired third-party content needs continue, with Kalle highlighting successful titles based on existing IP, such as Dr Death. The series, originally made for Peacock, is based on the hit true-crime podcast from Wondery.

If you’re looking for reality television or a cooking show, then please go to one of the other streamers. We do lean pretty heavily into sex, crime and vice.

“

Other popular acquisitions include BBC/Hulu’s romantic drama Normal People, adapted from Sally Rooney’s book, and Russell T Davies’ drama It’s a Sin, ordered by UK pubcaster Channel 4. Reflecting on 2021, Kalle says the pandemic has been a “double-edged sword” for StarzPlay, as well as other streaming platforms. On the one hand, lockdowns have meant that people confined to their homes have had little else to do other than reach for the remote, while on the other, it has caused chaos for productions. With StarzPlay planning further international roll-outs to keep growing its paid subscriber base, the only uncertainty is whether Lionsgate will remain its parent company. The Hunger Games and Mad Men studio filed documents in late 2021 confirming that its board of directors has authorised its management team to “explore potential capital market alternatives” for Starz, including spinning off or selling the cablenet and StarzPlay. “It’s unfortunately really early to talk about it in any great detail, other than to say that management feels that there’s value to be unlocked and so they’re pursuing options to do so. We’ve created value at Starz and StarzPlay and that’s really it,” says Kalle of the firm’s potential sale.

Superna Kalle Starz

Additional reporting by Nico Franks and Gün Akyuz.

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: 2022 and beyond

State of the content nation After 2021 saw increased pressure to build a more sustainable, representative society against the backdrop of a global pandemic, 2022 will undoubtedly be a yea year of continued evolution ev and change. ch By Karolina Kaminska

ow will 2022 differ from 2021 and what challenges and opportunities will it present? Despite the world returning to some sort of normality since Covid-19 first hit, life is still not how it was pre-2020 and the TV industry, like all industries, will still have to adapt to changes in measures and restrictions over the coming months. While the pandemic has been difficult for everyone, it has helped businesses to become more flexible, while opening up some opportunities that might not have been recognised before. “There has never been a more exciting time than right now. Covid made us stop, made us realise that we have to take a look at what our priorities are and who we want to work with,” says Rola Bauer, president of international television productions at US studio MGM. Roma Khanna, executive chair of Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s Clinton s HiddenLight Productions, enLight shares es a similar view to Bauer er with respect to the pandemic emic encouraging new and more efficient collaborations. “The borations. pandemic emic has shown us what it means to collaborate borate in person versus us collaborating

Channel21 Internationall | Winter Wint in nter nt er 2021/22 20 20 02 21/ 21 1/22

Netflix’s Korean sensation Squid Game

digitally,” she says. “We’ve all learned when and how we crave being in the same room together and when we can be efficient not being in the same room together. This has opened up business collaborations and creative collaborations in a very different way. “Suddenly, we can work with artists all around the world and not worry about them having to come into our physical space or not being valued on the same level. I hope we keep some of that efficiency. I hope we allow us

It used to be that we could pull together resources from around the world, come up with a wonderful story idea and then sell it in pieces and, ultimately, create value through library. That’s almost entirely disappeared.

“

Roma Khanna HiddenLight Productions

all to work from home when h that’s appropriate and not waste time commuting, but comm that we also th think about the times whe when we want

to be together,” says Khanna. Many people will argue that the pandemic has brought us all together as we share the same struggles. This, according to some TV execs, has also enabled international content that might have previously been ignored, to travel. “It just feels like the world got so small,” says Danna Stern, the outgoing MD of Israel-based Yes Studios. “The number-one show in the world right now is Korean, and that’s wonderful for all of us international storytellers. We’ve come out the other side of this with the realisation that this really is a global world, and it took a global pandemic to figure that out.” Also nodding to Netflix’s global phenomenon Squid Game, Khanna adds: “We were already becoming more and more global, but there’s something about it that feels different. It was already moving into the arena where you could watch [Netflix French thriller] Lupin, but now you can watch something from Korea and feel very connected to it.” Increased appetite for international content has been boosted by a rise in viewing during lockdowns and the arrival of new streaming platforms, and these two things have also forced producers to review their business models, according to Khanna. “That

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: 2022 and beyond

Channel21 Cha Ch C ha h anne n l21 International | Winter 2021/22

Amazon’s megabudget Lord of the Rings series

retain rights and then do acquisitions with the streamers.” Another issue testing the industry, according to Wayne Garvie, president of international productions at Sony Pictures Television, is the “talent inflation” caused by big-budget series, something he says will negatively affect traditional free-toair broadcasters and the ability to get smaller dramas across the line. According to Garvie, when Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming The Lord of the Rings series, estimated to cost around US$1bn, arrives in the UK, “there’s going to be talent inflation because they will pay people the rate they want because they’re going to have to pull this together very, very quickly. That’s going to have ramifications everywhere down the line, from the people who organise the cars to the cast and everything in between.” “We can all swap stories of people who have doubled their salaries by going to work for a streamer,” Garvie adds, noting that more people are turning down shows as they wait for bigger productions with bigger pay to come along. “That becomes a problem for the smaller dramas in particular. Getting the right people to work on them is as much of a problem as the budget,” he says. Khanna adds: “The money can’t just stay above the line. It has to move below the line. It’s not right if it doesn’t – if these costs go up and up. Crews will have choices because there’s so much production. There’s no shortage of good ideas; there’s a shortage of the ability to execute, find a writer, find a showrunner, do the work and get it to the point where an outlet wants to produce it and then actually going to camera.” In order to overcome that hurdle, Bauer points out that TV companies have a role to play in helping to train

step change of millions of people around the globe being at home and consuming so much content – overnight, the growth happened on multiple platforms. It’s not just Netflix anymore, it’s also Disney+ and HBO Max and more,” she says. “That’s driven a shift in business models. It used to be that we could pull together resources from around the world, come up with a wonderful story idea and then sell it in pieces and, ultimately, create value through library. In so many ways, that’s almost entirely disappeared. A lot of companies have been forced to be service producers, and I didn’t come into this business to be a service producer and not create some value that’s bigger than just the number of hours I put in in a day. “We’re doing dramas for the streamers, but we’re also talking to outlets in the UK and across Europe that can’t compete with those dollars. It’s a very frustrating place to be when you know the streamers can come in and write these cheques against global rights. As a creator, if you just want to create, then those are great cheques, but as a company The squeeze that wants to create value, on production sometimes it’s better to crews looks set to partner with a broadcaster, continue in 2022

new talent. “That’s our responsibility as companies, to support the younger generation, give them a chance and provide them with workshops and programmes where they can actually grow, because they also have good stories to tell. We should be listening to those new voices as well. We have to balance that,” she says. According to Stern, the biggest challenge looming in 2022 is standing out among the “glut” and “clutter” of content already out there. “We see so many shows launch and disappear, and that’s heartache for so many people. It’s something that really is worrisome,” she says. Garvie adds: “There are going to be some great shows coming through the next year but, overall, it’s going to be tricky. Margins are going to be pushed down and producers are going to find it more difficult, particularly small independent producers fighting for rights. There’s oversupply in the marketplace and that’s going to be difficult, and there’s going to be further consolidation. “All of that is kind of exciting because we don’t know where we’re going to be. I always think fortune favours the brave, so people should be innovative and brave and outwardly thinking. There will be some positive things around diversity in particular and voices that we haven’t heard before; that will come through pretty strongly in the next 18 months.” For Mark Oliver, co-founder and chairman of UK entertainment advisory firm Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates, an important factor for the industry in 2022 will be how the global market grows in comparison to the US and what that means for linear TV. “We’re seeing the US market maturing, but we’ve yet to see what the global market does. The next 18 months will be about how far growth comes from the global market and what the impact of that is on the traditional TV players,” he says. “While so much in the world was on hold during the pandemic, the TV industry went through a massive transformation. We have almost come out the other side of the tunnel and, when we do, it’s going to be a very different world. It was predicted for many years and now we’re in it.”

We can all swap stories of people who have doubled their salaries by going to work for a streamer. That becomes a problem for the smaller dramas in particular. Getting the right people to work on them is as much of a problem as the budget.

“

Wayne Garvie Sony Pictures Television

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NEXT T BIG BIG IG THINGS: TH HIIN H NG GS S:: U Universal niversal International Studios

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

We Are Lady Parts

Striking a balance W

ith the streaming wars set to intensify in 2022 and SVoD-focused studio groups increasingly keen to hold on to IP and talent, Universal International Studios (UIS, fka NBCUniversal International Studios) says it is taking a different approach. “A lot of entertainment companies are putting up the walls and not allowing their talent to sell outside. I understand the business reasons, but I also think you can run a business by collaborating with others,” says UIS interim president Beatrice Springborn, who is also president of Universal Content Productions. The former head of originals at Hulu insists there’s no requirement for shows developed under UIS to be sold to streamer Peacock, which also sits under the NBCUniversal umbrella. Springborn says that’s especially important for talent, who want the opportunity to take their shows to a wide range of outlets rather than being conﬁned to producing for a single streamer or network. “We are really invested in a business that is both supplying to Peacock and selling everywhere. That is an exciting place to be, as it creates more creative diversity and is a perspective that a lot of the other companies don’t offer,” says Springborn, who joined UIS in December 2020 after six years with Hulu. Talent relationships can often be overlooked, says Springborn, and it’s not simply about who can write the biggest cheques. “The way to work with talent is not just through money. The biggest thing that has been forgotten is talent relations. Just because we ﬁnance their deal or their shows, that doesn’t make us valuable. What makes us valuable is the relationships we have with talent.” Recent examples of shows emanating from under

overall deals in place, as well as ownership stakes in production companies including Canada’s Lark Productions, Australia’s Matchbox Pictures and UK-based Working Title Films, Carnival Productions, Heyday Films and Monkey. Further M&A activity is “not out of the question,” notes Springborn, as UIS and its parent Universal Studio Group look to move into new territories and By Jordan J Pinto work with a more diverse pool of talent. While Springborn does not speak for Peacock in the UIS umbrella include Netflix’s Clickbait, made any official capacity, she says that helping to supply by Tony Ayres Productions, Matchbox Pictures, shows to the streaming service as it embarks on its Heyday Films and UIS; the BBC-commissioned international expansion was one of the main things family drama Dodger, a prequel to Charles Dickens’ that attracted her to the role. It’s something she knows a thing or two about. Oliver Twist; and half-hour comedy drama We Are Lady Parts, produced by UIS-owned Working Title Springborn was the commissioning exec on the dystopian thriller The Handmaid’s Tale, which Films for Channel 4 and Peacock. Also on the docket is a TV adaptation of the helped turn Hulu into a significant player in the 2012 Universal Pictures feature Safe House, which original content space in the US and internationally. Being a late arrival to the streaming We are really invested in game is not necessarily a bad thing, she notes, as it gives Peacock the a business that is both opportunity to learn from others. supplying to Peacock and “Sometimes when you’re the last in, selling everywhere. That is you’re also able to see what others did an exciting place to be, as it well, what others did poorly, and take creates more creative diversity advantage of that,” she says. And as with a show like The and is a perspective a lot of Handmaid’s Tale, Springborn knows other companies don’t offer. that sometimes all it takes is a single hit to change the trajectory of a given Beatrice Springborn streaming service or network. Universal Content Productions With Peacock still in its infancy, starred Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington. Springborn says there is a significant opportunity While details about the project are scant, talent for creators and producers to make a distinct mark attachments are expected to be revealed in the first on the streamer as it establishes its programming brand identity. quarter of 2022. “There’s a massive opportunity for talent to help UIS tries to be extremely judicious when dipping into Universal’s enormous IP vault, says brand the service. For a creator to be involved in Springborn, with reboots and revivals representing bringing something new with a big show, or a few big shows, is an amazing opportunity that I don’t around 10% of its overall output. Internationally, UK-based UIS has several think exists elsewhere in the marketplace.”

Universal International Studios interim president Beatrice Springborn discusses how the recently rebranded firm will continue to feed its streamer stre Peacock whilst selling sho shows outside the group.

“

SCHEDULE WATCH: Globi

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

North American AVoD start-up p Globi is vying to plug a gap in n the market for high-end non-Englishlishlang ed language content aimed at viewers weary of pa paying subscriptions. Over Water

By Jordan J Pinto

Found in translation L

A-based Intrigue Entertainment is looking to tap into sky-high demand for foreign-language content with its newly launched AVoD service Globi, which it has been building for two-and-a-half years. The platform launched in North America in December 2021 with over 500 hours of content, 60% of which is exclusive. Globi is widely accessible on platforms in the region, including Apple TV, Roku, Samsung, Amazon Fire, Peacock, DistroTV, Comcast, Xumo, TiVo, Android and iOS mobile, as well as directly via Globi.tv. It has plans to expand into “most countries around the world” before the end of 2022. Over the past 15 years, Intrigue Entertainment, led by CEO Tariq Jalil, has built its business model around taking non-English-language shows and adapting them for the North American market. Examples of such shows include Turkish crime drama Game of Silence and Colombian television drama Lynch. With Globi, however, the primary strategy is to skip the adaptation phase and simply serve North American audiences with high-end, free and exclusive scripted content from around the globe. At launch, the service has amassed titles from around 20 countries, with plans to continue adding more series and films as it expands.

Series running during the launch phase include Belgian drama Over Water, French-Canadian drama Les Simone and Turkish cop drama Behzat Ç. Titles can be viewed either on-demand or via a live TV option that packages the content into themed channels, such as Nordic noir, quirky comedies and character-driven dramas, among others. While foreign-language content has enjoyed a significant increase in

“As opposed to saying, ‘Here’s 3,000 things to choose from,’ we’re saying, ‘Here’s 30 or 50 things that we think are just great,’” he says. Globi is aiming to fill what Jalil says is a gap in the market for a free, online platform specialising in high-end international drama. He believes the business case for this type of content has become undeniable over the course of the pandemic. “We knew that foreign content was

We knew that foreign content was compelling, and in some cases more compelling than what was being made in North America.

“

Tariq Jalil Intrigue Entertainment

visibility in recent years, Jalil believes consumers are “subscription weary” and looking for compelling viewing options that don’t require signing up to additional SVoD services. “We think the lack of a subscription fee can provide very quick and widespread growth and, as long as we keep our content varied and compelling, there’s no reason we can’t compete with the Netflixes, Hulus and Amazons of the world,” he says. In order to continue attracting highprofile titles to the service, Jalil says careful content curation will be a fundamental aspect of Globi’s strategy.

compelling, and in some cases more compelling than what was being made in North America. The pandemic made us realise that there’s a real need for this content, and the fact that the top three shows of all time on Netflix are all foreign shows really helped elucidate and underline the popularity of this content,” he says. As for audiences, Globi seeks to tap into a core base of consumers who are already fans of foreign films and TV shows. However, as the awareness, appreciation and appetite for nonEnglish-language content grows, Jalil says he believes Globi will attract

a broader segment of viewers who simply want to see great storytelling, regardless of where the content originates from. There is a secondary part of the strategy, too, whereby Globi will act almost like a shop window for international projects that could be remade, spun off or adapted for English-language audiences. “We won’t simply help foreign content providers to gain revenue from the AVoD service, but there are other avenues we can help them exploit, whether that’s remakes or other avenues of distribution,” he says. Jalil says Globi has a head start over other SVoD and AVoD outlets, due to the relationships Intrigue Entertainment has cultivated over the past 15 years. “We’ve nurtured those relationships, and in a lot of cases we can get content and acquire content that even some of the larger streamers can’t access, because the [rights holders] want that personal relationship and want to be able to trust the people who are distributing their film or TV show,” he says. “We’ve always known that this content – if provided easily to a general audience – could blow up and we’ve made a concentrated effort to find and curate this type of content. You’re going to be able to find the next Squid Game, Money Heist or Lupin on our network.”

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Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

Señorita 89

Spanish-language streamer Pantaya is aggressively expanding its originals slate in 2022 as it continues to forge international partnerships and build its roster of talent deals. By Jordan Pinto

fter gradually expanding its commissioning output since debuting its first two original series in 2019, Spanish-language streamer Pantaya is hoping for a banner year in 2022. The Hemisphere Media Group-owned SVoD service dipped its toe into the originals space in 2019 with the scripted dramedy El Juego de las Llaves (The Game of Keys), about four couples with intimacy issues, and reality series De Viaje con los Derbez, which follows Mexican megastar Eugenio Derbez and his family. Those shows and others have performed well, helping to grow Pantaya’s subscriber base to around 900,000 by April 2021. Now, with its membership growing and its commissioning team finding its groove, Pantaya is looking to aggressively expand its originals slate in 2022 and establish itself as the go-to commissioner for premium Spanish-language drama in the US. Period drama Señorita 89, co-commissioned with Lionsgate-owned StarzPlay and produced by European production group Fremantle and Chilean prodco Fabula, was among the most high-profile green lights from Pantaya in 2021. Set to launch later this year, the series is set in the 1980s in the world of Mexican beauty pageants. It is one of around 12 originals that will debut on Pantaya throughout 2022. There’s also the six-part miniseries El Refugio, a sci-fi thriller helmed by Argentinian director Pablo Fendrik, and a Spanish-language adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina produced by Banijayowned Endemol Shine Boomdog and LA-based Cholawood Productions. The expansion of Pantaya’s original content ambitions comes following a change to its ownership structure. In April 2021, former majority owner Lionsgate revealed it was selling its 75% stake in the company to Hemisphere Media Group for US$124m. Prior to the deal, Hemisphere Media owned 25% of the platform. Pantaya’s head of content Mario Almeida says the streamer went into a period of heavy development in

Development slate

Pantaya 2020 as the pandemic shuttered sets across the US, area of growth for Pantaya in 2021 and will continue to be in 2022. Recently signed agreements include before focusing heavily on production in 2021. The result of those efforts will be a defining year overall deals with Mexican actresses Fernanda in 2022, he says, as Pantaya looks to build a slate Castillo and Maite Perroni, who will both star and of originals that will attract new subscribers to the coproduce projects under their respective deals. “There is such a competitive landscape and what service. “We’re looking to develop series that you haven’t we’re trying to offer talent is a direct path to also collaborating on content,” he says. seen before in Spanish language – While there are many things content shows that are special, a little bit edgy commissioners can control, there are and treading new ground,” he says. also many they cannot, including the While unscripted is a genre of fast-moving target of what audiences interest for Pantaya, Almeida says want to watch. only around 10% of the shows on Given the recent successes of its development slate fall into that local-language series such as Squid category. The majority are in the Game and Who Killed Sara?, Almeida drama space, where the SVoD plans says: “There’s a fundamental and to focus most of its attention in 2022. fascinating unpredictability in the However, Pantaya isn’t forgetting international marketplace. What it about Spanish-language comedy, really points to is that sometimes the which Almeida says is an underserved Mario Almeida right series, in the right moment, in the genre of programming for US Hispanic right place can be lightning.” audiences. However, Almeida cautions that lightning rarely In terms of its drama programming, Almeida says he is open to a wide range of sub-genres, including strikes twice, and pursuing it doesn’t necessarily thrillers, period, sci-fi and suspense. The service lend itself to a coherent programming strategy. “Lightning in a bottle is very difficult to replicate, is also “constantly experimenting” as it looks to establish a distinct brand of originals, he says. “For and you can’t really build a business off of only example, in 2019 sci-fi was not something we were capturing lightning,” he says. “You still need a really actively looking for, and now we’re currently in post- clear vision and brand for what you’re making. When you get lightning in a bottle, fabulous, but you still production on our first sci-fi series.” Building its roster of talent deals was an important have to have a fundamental point of view.”

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Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

Three-year plan

ViacomCBS According to Gilbert, one of the biggest shifts he has observed in recent years is the growing interest among global buyers in adapting scripted formats. “It’s exploding. A huge portion of our business now is scripted formats, whereas before it was mostly non-scripted formats,” he says, adding many territories that previously hadn’t done any scripted formats are now entering the fray. According to ViacomCBS, around 20% of its format deals are now in the scripted space, with the remaining 80% in unscripted. It should be noted, however, that there is potential for higher revenue generation from scripted deals if the completed episodes are then sold into other territories. As the scripted content business becomes increasingly international, Gilbert says he believes ViacomCBS’s scripted formats business is well positioned to expand alongside it over the coming years. In years gone by, Gilbert has often spoken of his frustration that unscripted buyers are relatively risk-averse when it comes to taking gambles on unproven formats. Asked whether he has seen an increased willingness among buyers to take educated gambles, he is unequivocal. “I have a one-word answer for you: no,” he says with a chuckle. “I don’t think that’s ever going to change because everyone wants to buy off of success. I understand it. I don’t necessarily agree with it though, because if a show fails here in the US, that doesn’t mean the UK can’t do it properly with the right talent, time slot and channel.” What he is more optimistic about is the long-term future of ViacomCBS’s formats business as it bulks up to become one of the most formidable catalogues in the entire industry. While it’s still early days, Gilbert says business has been good so far, with the legacy CBS team selling Viacom titles and vice-versa. “The response [from buyers] has been terrific. So far, so good.”

Ray Donovan has been adapted in India Paul Gilbert

As CBS and Viacom’s format libraries are reunited, Paul Gilbert talks selling the expanded catalogue globally, exploding interest in scripted formats and the permanent problem of buyer hesitancy. By Jordan Pinto

t’s all change for ViacomCBS’s format business in 2022 and beyond. While Viacom and CBS were officially combined as part of a mega merger in December 2019, their respective format libraries were only brought together at the end of 2021, creating an IP juggernaut in the realm of nonscripted and scripted formats. The expanded catalogue creates a significantly enhanced proposition for the teams under Paul Gilbert, senior VP of international formats, ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group. Gilbert, a pioneering figure who was instrumental in building Sony Pictures Television’s international formats business before joining CBS in 2007, has for nearly 15 years overseen a catalogue of formats emanating from CBS, CBS Studios, Showtime and The CW. Among those are Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Next Top Model, Ray Donovan, I Love Lucy, The Good Wife, The Affair, Couples Therapy, Secret Celebrity Renovation, Come Dance With Me, Why Women Kill and Legends of the Hidden Temple. With the addition of Viacom titles such as Lip Sync Battle, Finding Prince Charming, Roast Battle, Dear Daddies, Love After Loving and 100 Days to Fall in Love, Gilbert now has a much broader roster of formats to shop internationally. It solves at least one problem faced by all format sellers. “All the companies that distribute formats hear the same complaint, which is that we never have enough,” says Gilbert. “Well, now we have a huge library of titles.” After trimming a couple of shows that have not done regular business in recent years, ViacomCBS now has around 200 in its combined

formats catalogue, across both scripted and unscripted. Selling these globally alongside Gilbert are veteran execs Roxanne Pompa and Laura Burrell, who both serve as VP of international formats for ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group.

All the companies that distribute formats hear the same complaint, which is that we never have enough. Well, now we have a huge library of titles.

“

Paul Gilbert While the formats business has historically weighed heavily in favour of unscripted fare, ViacomCBS is currently forging ahead with two of its biggest ever streaming deals for scripted formats. In India, Netflix is producing a local adaptation of Showtime crime drama Ray Donovan. Meanwhile Amazon ordered a Spanish-language remake of I Love Lucy, produced by Endemol Shine Boomdog alongside LA- and Mexico City-based entertainment company Elefantec Global.

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PRESENT IMPERFECT FUTURE TENSE: Camila Jiménez Villa

Channel21 International | Winter 2021/22

Beyond narco dramas

istorically, crime dramas about drug Camila Jiménez Villa, trafficking across borders have been co-founder and a popular way to tell authentic stories CEO at LA-based involving both Latin America and Europe. And The Immigrant, looks as one of the producers of the Netflix series El Chapo, I know how successful a narco drama at widening the spectrum of can be around the world. stories told by Latinx/e creators It’s somewhat naive to think that you could and the huge potential for tell a story about power and politics in South them to travel. America without touching that world, as sadly they are often so intertwined in many of our countries. But at The Immigrant, we want to go essence. We want to open the spectrum; beyond telling the stories of criminals. There focusing solely on a white perspective would are so many more Latinx/e stories to tell that negate what it means to be Latinx/e. We have a huge show, Imperio, with show the full spectrum of our humanity. There’s no doubt the value of Spanish- Guatemalan film director and screenwriter language content is being recognised Jayro Bustamante. Like Roots in 1977, around the world. I grew up between Italy Imperio stands to transport audiences to a and Colombia, so I’m always looking at new world, employing character-driven action coproduction opportunities between Europe drama to introduce a history that’s been long and Latin America. But it can often be hard overlooked. It is set all over the American to find stories that are organic, with genuine continent and has a 100% First Nations cast. It has the potential to change the way Latinx/e relevance to both places. Even natural copros between Latin America people perceive themselves, regardless of the and Spain are not as straightforward as language they speak. However, it remains difficult to set up some might expect, despite the shared these stories, as we’re language. The challenge There has been a pitching mostly to white is finding an authentic systematic erasure commissioners, who often story that is undeniable don’t see them as their to commissioners on both and appropriation priority. It’s a long road. continents. of Afro-Latinx and But there’s an opportunity Having Fremantle Indigenous cultures in when something has been as a strategic partner Latin America and we overlooked for so long allows us to easily have and, in our mind, it’s a conversations about want to fight against question of perseverance coproduction opportunities the belittling of those and continuing to fuel with companies from around communities. the ambition driving our Europe. But it remains a challenge to convince a commissioner to storytelling. To get to greatness, you must be comfortable come on board with significant financing when a story isn’t clearly rooted in their country. Our with risk. There is a lot of consolidation in our job is to convince them that a story in Mexico, industry at the moment. My point of view is a story in Argentina or a story in Guatemala that you’re more willing to take risks if you’re independent. Sometimes when you are at can travel. Afro-Latinx and Indigenous creators are vital a very large company that’s paying you a lot when telling stories in Latinx/e communities. of money, you operate from a place of fear, It’s critical for us to elevate voices from looking backwards at what has worked, trying communities that have been the pillars of to repeat it. An independent producer’s role is to look our culture, that have created the music we listen to, the stories we tell. There has been a forward. It’s scary sometimes but, at the end systematic erasure and appropriation of Afro- of the day, I find it more rewarding. Greatness Latinx and Indigenous cultures in Latin America often goes hand in hand with independence. and we want to fight against the belittling of That’s what I tell myself when I want to sleep those communities who make up our very at night, anyway.

“

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You can read C21 every day on www.C21media.net – the world’s leading International Entertainment Business website. Also on C21Media.net you can find a number of channel brands and services including C21Kids, C21FormatsLab, C21Factual and Schedule Watch and an extensive industry MediaBase which is constantly updated and features more than 25,000 contacts worldwide. Subscribers to C21Media.net have access to the most respected information source in entertainment. Channel 21 International is published 6 times a year. Channel 21 International is registered as a newspaper. No part of this publication may be copied, stored or copied on to any electronic system or broadcast via any other medium without prior consent of the publisher. All rights reserved. All trademarks acknowledged. © Channel 21 International 2022 ISSN number: 1460-0668

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