Participant’s Miura Kite on how TV can drive positive social change
Sky Studios’ ambitious push into local originals with Jane Millichip
Superna Kalle’s StarzPlay gets close to the edgy in Europe and Lat Am
News • Features • Event pictures • Speaker profiles • Comment and more...
DAY TWO – December 1 2021
Contents DAY 2
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Welcome to Day 2 of Content London 2021
In this edition
Page 18 Gráinne McGuinness
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he rising cost of talent was a big theme that emerged during yesterday’s Content London sessions. The need for bigger, higher-profile dramas for streamers was 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, agreed the State of the Content Nation panel, 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. Adding to this is the impact of both the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, as they combine to ensure plenty of behind-the-camera talent exits the UK to work back home on the Continent. Panellists in the Brexit session spoke of a ‘brain drain’ to the EU. The need for more training couldn’t be emphasised loudly enough. The issue is certainly being tackled but not fast enough, it seems, and several speakers told Content London Daily that even beginners are being overpaid. The C21/O&O Business Sentiment Report 2021, revealed yesterday, said 70% of respondents think demand for drama will rise over the next five years. It would be ironic if content quality dips just as demand soars. Ed Waller
Page 7 Sky/HBO’s Landscapers Page age 13 Beta Film’s m’s Sisi
4-5 News round-up for day two 7 Jane Millichip discusses Sky Studios’ ambitious local originals push 9 Locomotive Global’s Sunder Aaron on the changing business in India 10 Participant Media’s Miura Kite on demand for content driving social change 13 Moritz von Kruedener of Beta Film reviews the past year and looks ahead
Page 9 Sunder Aaron Pa
14 Incendo’s Gavin Reardon looks at opportunities in the scripted market 17 StarzPlay’s Superna Kalle is after edgy content in Europe and Latin America 18 Gráinne McGuinness of Paper Owl on tackling kids’ mental health issues 20-21 Content London 2021 in pictures 22 The Last Word on viewers’ craving for a mixed diet of content, from Nico Franks
Agenda highlights 9.30am – Finance: Where’s the Money? Hall 1, Kings Place What are the major players looking to back and what are their future investment strategies for international programming? Speakers: Christian Vesper, Peter Langenberg, Louise Pedersen. 10.30am – Coproduction Finance & Packaging Models Hall 1, Kings Place International players discuss global financing trends and drill down into the coproduction deals they’re backing, how they are packaged and the content they’re looking to invest in next. Speakers: Christina Jennings, Andrew Zein, Yi Qiao, Arvand Khosravi, Philippe Levasseur. 11.30am – Case Study: Ze Network Hall 2, Kings Place David Hasselhoff (pictured) takes us inside his new drama series Ze Network, from CBS
Studios and Berlin-based Syrreal Entertainment. In this exclusive Case Study, we hear from Hasselhoff and producers Sigi Kamml and Christian Alvart about the show’s journey from concept to screen. 12.30pm – In Conversation: Michael Lombardo Hall 2, Kings Place In this session, Michael Lombardo, president of global TV at Entertainment One, reveals what we can expect to see on the company’s upcoming slate, his future content strategy and potential for international collaboration. 3pm – Commissioning: Disney+ EMEA Hall 1, Kings Place Disney+ EMEA execs talk about their content strategies for both scripted and unscripted and opportunities for international collaboration. Speakers: Liam Keelan, Johanna Devereaux, Lee Mason, Sean Doyle.
4pm – Keynote: Bela Bajaria Hall 1, Kings Place (streamed live to Halls 2 & 4) Netflix’s head of global TV, Bela Bajaria (pictured), oversees all scripted and unscripted series worldwide. In this keynote interview, Bajaria will discuss her international content strategy. 4pm – Commissioning: BBC Children’s Hall 3, Kings Place Anna Taganov, head of content and programming strategy, and Kate Morton, head of commissioning and acquisitions for 0-6s, discuss content strategy, new slates and opportunities for collaboration. 6pm – The Finger Awards 2021 Hall 3, Kings Place Content London hosts the third edition of the Comedy for Change Finger Awards, honouring comedic projects with a social impact, hosted by comedian and former TV exec Cally Beaton.
News 4
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Quote // Unquote Content London Daily pulls out some of the key quotes from yesterday’s sessions. “People can sometimes assume we’re less commercial than we are. For every House of Cards, there’s also a Virgin River. You don’t want to watch the same thing on a Monday as you do on a Friday night.” Tom Lyons, manager of UK series at Netflix, on the streamer’s need for variety “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.” Writer and director Frank Spotnitz on the crew crunch in the UK “More than 80% think Peacock won’t be here in five years’ time. Fifty percent think that of the major national and niche SVoD services, only BritBox and Viaplay will still be here in five years’ time.” Mark Oliver, chairman of Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates, on the results of the Business Sentiment Report cocommissioned with C21 “Disney+ may be new but there’s a thread between what has worked on Disney channels in the past and what will work on Disney+ now. There’s a great opportunity for serialised storytelling. It’s not something we’ve been doing but it’s something we want to figure out.” Orion Ross, VP of animation at The Walt Disney Company EMEA
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Holland: impartiality ‘enriches’ BBC Patrick Holland, the BBC’s director of factual, arts and classical music, has rubbished claims that the UK pubcaster’s impartiality policy risked making its content “vanilla.” Tim Davie has made impartiality in programming a major priority at the BBC since he was appointed director general in 2020. Holland defended the Strictly Come Dancing broadcaster’s nonbias stance and said it “enriches” commissioning. “I'm not sure if people completely understand what impartiality is, and it can often be seen as a way of making content more vanilla or taking away the opinion,” he said. “But what my team would say, and producers who come to us would say, is impartiality is a way of bringing the audience a variety of challenge,
Patrick Holland
conflict and counterpoints.” Holland also said some factual programming on larger SVoD services risked being a “polemic’ because of a lack of balanced arguments. “There is some content on SVoDs where I don’t think the journalism is good enough, and that’s because nobody has said, ‘Where is the counterargument?’, ‘Am I really understanding this?’, ‘Is this just a polemic that is going to go unchallenged?’” he added.
The BBC has come under increasing political pressure from the UK government on issues such as the licence fee, governance and executive appointments, and some critics have accused it of inadequately scrutinising the ruling Conservative Party. Asked if he felt pressure from above and would shy away from commissioning factual content on political hot-potato issues such as Brexit, Holland said: “I wouldn’t shy away from anything. You take on subjects that are going to resonate with the audience, whether that be Brexit or the Charles Moore documentary series that we commissioned about Thatcher’s relationship with Reagan, or a series on climate change. We will go into areas with great complexity and it’s our job to illuminate them.”
No regrets for YouTube over ditching scripted While big-budget scripted is driving streaming subscriptions around the globe, YouTube has no regrets about moving out of the scripted space four years ago and focusing squarely on unscripted. “Honestly, we never even looked back,” Luke Hyams, head of originals EMEA at YouTube, told a Content London panel on Tuesday. The Google-owned platform has been refining and fine-tuning its unscripted commissioning strategy over the past year, and Hyams
believes the company is poised for continued growth. “What we’ve found over the last year that’s worked for us is when there’s a big moment in Luke Hyams the real world that we can make a YouTube original that feels like it is connected to it,” he said, citing a five-hour Pride special launched last year, and a planned Fifa World Cup special for next year. Creating original content for YouTube is a unique proposition,
as the programming is competing with its own user-generated content. And while the videosharing platform has worked with celebrities to attract eyeballs, Hyams said the talent found on the platform has never been more important to its original content ambitions. “I’ll be real with you – YouTube talent has never been more key for us, particularly UK YouTube talent, which we feel has a bright future,” he said.
Penélope Cruz explores child marriage for VIS Social Impact, Paramount+
Penélope Cruz (photo by Georges Biard)
The second project to originate from the cause-driven production division of ViacomCBS International Studios (VIS) will be a docuseries about child marriage, narrated and exec produced by movie star Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) for Paramount+. Not a Bride (4x30') comes from Pedro Almodóvar's prodco El Deseo and Madrid-based Mogambo and will expose the shockingly high rate of child marriages around the world. It will be discussed at Content London later today as part of a session on VIS Social Impact, the fledgling studio division dedicated to the development of social impact-driven content. Written and directed by Dario Troiani (Violet, Kalebegiak, A.W.), the series has been picked up by ViacomCBS streaming service Paramount+ internationally.
News DAY 2
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Netflix unveils UK scripted slate An adaptation of David Nicholls novel One Day and new projects with Jane Featherstone and The End of the F**king World creator Charlie Covell are among a raft of Netflix UK commissions unveiled at Content London yesterday. The series adaptation of One Day, which was published in 2009 and turned into a feature film starring Anne Hathaway in 2011, will be produced by Mediawan/Leonineowned Drama Republic Production with Universal International Studios and Focus Features. It will be written by a team led by Nicole Taylor (Three Girls), who will work with Anna Jordan, Vinay Patel and Bijan Sheibani. Anne Mensah, Netflix’s VP of original UK series, Sophie Klein, Lindsay Salt and Tom Lyons, all managers of UK series at the streamer, also discussed Supacell, created by British rapper and
Netflix’s Anne Mensah
filmmaker Andrew Onwubolu, aka Rapman. Set in South London, it follows a group of ordinary people who unexpectedly develop superpowers with no clear connection between them other than them all being black. The six-part sci-fi series is written by Onwubolu, who will also direct, and produced by Netflix. Netflix also announced three other commissions that will be filmed across the UK in 2022. These include Eric, described as a
FTA nets hit by ‘talent inflation’ salaries by going to work ‘Talent inflation’ caused for a streamer,” the exec by big-budget series said, noting that more will negatively affect people are turning down traditional free-to-air shows as they wait for broadcasters and the bigger productions with ability to get smaller Wayne Garvie bigger pay to come along. dramas across the line, “That becomes a problem for the according to executives speaking here at Content London yesterday. smaller dramas in particular. Getting During the State of the Content people to write and work on them is Nation panel session that opened as much a problem as the budget,” the event, Wayne Garvie, president Garvie said. Speaking alongside Garvie, of international productions at Sony Pictures Television, voiced his Roma Khanna, executive chair at concern over increasing budgets HiddenLight Productions, added: and the issues this creates in “The money can’t just stay above the line. It has to move below the recruiting talent. Garvie said that when Amazon line. It’s not right if it doesn’t – if Prime Video’s upcoming The Lord these costs go up and up. “Crews will have choices because of the Rings series, estimated to cost around US$1bn, arrives in the there’s so much production. There’s UK, it will lead to talent inflation that no shortage of good ideas; there’s will have “ramifications everywhere a shortage of the ability to execute, find a writer, find a showrunner, down the line.” “We can all swap stories of do the work and get it to the point people who have doubled their where an outlet wants to produce it.”
tense and surprising thriller created and written by Abi Morgan and produced for Netflix by Sister in association with Little Chick. Set against the backdrop of the 1980s AIDS epidemic, the show is exec produced by Jane Featherstone and Lucy Dyke for Sister and Morgan for Little Chick. Kaos, meanwhile, comes from Covell and is described as a darkly funny, contemporary spin on the Greek myths. The eight-parter will also be produced by Sister. The Fuck It Bucket (8x45’) centres on a 17-year-old Londoner after she is released from hospital following a battle with anorexia nervosa and thrust back into the chaotic world of sixth form. A Left Bank Pictures production written by Ripley Parker, its exec producers are Andy Harries, Sian McWilliams, Parker and Rob Bullock. The producer is Huberta Von Liel.
Nat Geo, History execs eye celebrity flavour Execs from Disney-owned National Geographic and A+E Networkowned History have emphasised the importance of on-screen talent in bringing fresh approaches to their tried and tested genres. Speaking on the International Unscripted panel yesterday, Simon Raikes, unscripted commissioning editor for Nat Geo International, said: “We are constantly on the lookout for what we call new wine in old bottles new ways into our stalwart territories of programming. It’s either a new talent or it’s a piece of access.” Amy Savistsky, senior VP of development at History, added: “Our talent use is here and there traditionally, but we’ve been using a lot of partnerships with celebrities in the US to fund our shows. “We’ve been doing shows with Morgan Freeman and Laurence Fishburne, and we always start with the idea.”
IN BRIEF
Pulse Films acquires rights to Underbelly book
Vice-backed UK production company Pulse Films has secured the rights to Underbelly, the debut novel by married authors Anna Whitehouse and Matt Farquharson. The duo will also adapt the book for the screen, after a deal was brokered between Luke Speed, on behalf of Cathryn Summerhayes of agency the Curtis Brown Group, and Pulse commercial director Tim O’Shea.
Walter Presents to brave Germany’s Dark Woods Non-English-language drama streaming service Walter Presents has picked up the UK rights to German crime series Dark Woods in a deal with Telepool-owned German distributor Global Screen. Produced by ConradFilm and Bavaria Fiction, the six-part series is based on the real-life disappearance of a woman in 1989. It was originally commissioned by Das Erste. A pan-Scandinavian sales deal has also been agreed, taking the drama to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland on Walter Presents via C More.
Nevis makes music with Sweden’s Gyllene Tider Nordic drama company Nevis Productions has inked a deal with Swedish pop group Gyllene Tider to produce a TV series and theatrical feature based on the band’s rise to success. Formed in 1978 by Per Gessle, Mats Persson, Micke Andersson, Anders Herrlin and Göran Fritzon, Gyllene Tider are collaborating with Nevis on a biopic about how the band captured the hearts of the Swedish nation.
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Speaker Profile: Jane Millichip Spe DAY 2
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Olivia Colman and David Thewlis in Sky/HBO miniseries Landscapers
Looking up at Sky L
ike many delegates this week, Jane Millichip is here at Content London to reconnect with collaborators and partners, and to meet new ones. “This sector is changing apace and continued to evolve throughout the pandemic. I’m looking forward to hearing how the various mergers, acquisitions and pivots to D2C are shaping our approach to content,” says Millichip. With Millichip’s role at the Comcastowned studio expanded earlier this year to include major markets like Germany and Italy, how does Sky Studios’ approach vary between its European territories? “We have 23 million customers across the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It’s important we celebrate our cultural and commercial commonality while supporting exceptional storytelling that speaks to our customers in each market,” says the exec. “Our markets have vast legacies in audiovisual storytelling and we have top-class producers, creatives and crews. Our approach is similar across all our markets – we develop culturally relevant stories in each market with the aim to transmit them in all our territories.” It’s certainly a pivotal time for Sky Studios. The company is gearing up to launch the first fully in-house Sky original dramas in 2022: The Rising, from the UK, and Blocco 181, from Italy, highlighting how it has been building its in-house production capabilities while continuing to commission local indies. Sky Studios has a portfolio of eight factual production companies in the UK and US: Love Productions (creator of The Great British Bake Off), Jupiter Entertainment, Blast! Films, Transistor Films, Talos Films, True to Nature, Catalina Content and True North Productions. It has also invested in other scripted prodcos, such as The Lighthouse, Longboat Pictures, Sugar Films and Chrysalis Vision. Formal development/talent deals and production company investments provide
Sky Studios chief content officer Jane Millichip is leading the European pay TV giant’s local originals push as its relationships with US players like Peacock and HBO continue to evolve. Nico Franks reports. “scaffolding” for some projects, Millichip says, but Sky is not solely reliant on these. “More important is the quality of the relationship and the focus on the projects. The fact that we manage our own risk on production deficits also enables us to move quickly and decisively on projects that require it, whether scripted or documentary. Our ability to offer healthy budgets and stimulating creative partnerships, plus agile and entrepreneurial deal-making, is appealing to our creative partners.” In November, programming from NBCUniversal’s US streamer Peacock, which is also owned by Comcast, became available to Sky subscribers in some of its European markets. How does this change what Sky Studios is looking for? “Peacock coming to the Sky platform is brilliant news, both for our customers and for the international growth of Peacock. It’s an excellent example of the rt of the global Comcast benefits of being part ys. group,” Millichip says.
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Sky’ overall stra Sky’s ategy is to bring together the bestt entertainment for our customerrs across Europe, and the addition of Peacock helps us meet tha at goal. Jane Millichip
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“Sky’s overall strategy is to bring together the best entertainment for our customers across Europe, and the addition of Peacock helps us meet that goal. It doesn’t change our approach to Sky originals, which are firmly rooted in our markets, for our customers. “Global appeal beyond our markets is important to drive coproductions and sales revenue and to enable us to build global brands, all of which feed back into the core strategy. A number of our Sky originals already play on Peacock – such as Intelligence, Save Me and Code 404 – and we will continue to work with the Peacock team on future collaborations.” With WarnerMedia-owned streaming rival HBO Max due to launch in the UK by 2026, how are Millichip and Sky planning for a future without the kind of hit, premium shows that are synonymous with the HBO brand? Again, Millichip says collaboration is key, with the latest Sky/HBO miniseries, Landscapers, starring Olivia Colman and David Thewlis, set to launch on December 7. “Sky is a superb aggregator of content, and our service is about to get even better with the launch of Sky Glass, our new streaming TV. Today, Sky customers can easily access all the Sky originals, plus content from Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, the BBC and others PSBs, PSBs Showtime, Discovery, Apple TV+ and many more – all in one place. HBO has h been a fabulous partner partn and we will continue to partner for a while yet.” Join Jane Mill Millichip and executives from S Sky Studios’ commission commissioning teams in the UK, UK Germany and Italy Ita for the In C Conversation session today at 11.30a 11.30am in Hall 1.
Speaker S peaker Q&A: Q&A: Sunder Sunder A Aaron aron 9
DAY 2
Rana Naidu
How will the continued growth of local production change the distribution business? As of now, most local productions in India are commissioned and fully financed by a buyer before they are produced. This means there is a limited secondary market for original content, since the platform or buyer retains all the rights and, of course, keeps the original show for their own direct-to-consumer (D2C) service. I believe that model is starting to change in India, with more producers finding means to finance their projects and, therefore, retain rights. For many of our projects at Locomotive Global, we are actively seeking – or already working with – international coproduction partners who help give the project a chance to find external financing and thus retain rights for multiple territories. In India, where the cost of production is much less than in the West, there is an opportunity to deficit-finance productions and then monetise the series in the distribution market. Do you think the streaming sector is about to undergo some major consolidation? If so, what will that mean? Major consolidation is inevitable given the enormous costs of sustaining D2C services. Many markets will see original production tapering off. While streamers may be tightening budgets for content, I only see an increase in content requirements in India for a while. It’s hard to see any consolidation among the major Indian streamers currently. There are some secondary players that may either drop out of the fray or sell off their assets or content libraries. Can you talk about your international strategy in light of the changing acquisitions market? At Locomotive Global, we are getting involved in more cross-border coproductions so that we can leveragee international partners to get duction financing, key belowthird-party production the-line talent for productions and access bution capabilities. Our to global distribution intent is to be able to retain more of the iginal shows so we can rights to our original m in markets outside distribute them rse, that means our of India. Of course, shows must be produced in a manner that is relevant for global viewers. ws like Squid Game, Thanks to shows buyers may be more n ever interested than in content that isn't local to them. We are eager to testt the waters for ries high-quality series dia. produced in India.
Sunder Aaron, principal at Mumbai-based Locomotive Global, is currently working on Rana Naidu, an Indian adaptation of US hit Ray Donovan, for Netflix. Here, he gives his take on how the business is changing in India.
Full steam ahead
What is the future of linear broadcasters in the age of streaming? In India, linear broadcast television is not going away any time soon, and has in fact continued to grow over the past few years. We presently have more than 200 million pay TV households. For India, pay TV will continue to be the largest revenue generator in the media and entertainment sector for at least the next five years. I expect we will start to see free adsupported TV services launch in India on a wider scale. Connected TV numbers are rapidly growing in India and most Indians still use their mobile phones to consume entertainment due to cheap bun data rates. We will see more bundled services br coming from SVoD and linear broadcasters.
Tha Thanks to showss like Squid Game, buyers m may be more interested than ever e in content that isn’t local to them. We are eag ger to test the waterss for highquality series prroduced in In ndia.
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Sunder Aaron S
How will coproduction opportunities change in 2022? For projects in India, those opportunities will just increase as companies and producers look East for new markets and venues for projects. This has been helped by the Squid Game and overall Netflix/Prime Video effect, no doubt. But also, potential partners must be steering clear of China and thinking of the next big markets in which to develop, produce and distribute shows. India stands out as one of the best media markets in the world now. What content are you developing that will define the next phase of your programme strategy? We are starting to self-finance and also coproduce series that have a much more global aspect in their creative sensibilities. Also, we’re looking to develop and produce more half-hour shows, which are easier to finance and/or produce pilots for, and exploring the potential of episodic drama series in India. As of now, it’s all serialised shows that are produced for the leading OTT services in India. However, episodic series comprise most of the viewership, and are more ‘bingeable,’ for SVoD platforms in the US. I believe this would also be true for India, but no one has produced quality episodic series here yet. Sunder Aaron will be talking about his new scripted project Rana Naidu in the Hot Properties: Drama session today at 10.30am in Hall 2.
Speaker Profile: Miura Kite 10
DAY 2
Agents for change Participant’s Miura Kite tells Jordan Pinto that demand for content able to drive social change is increasing and offers a glimpse into the company’s development plans for 2022.
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os Angeles-based production company Participant has operated under the same mandate since its inception in 2004: to create content that compels positive social change. But while its mantra has remained the same, the landscape around it has morphed drastically as the industry continues to shift toward streaming and the talent once associated strictly with film migrates across to television. After spending more than a decade focused almost solely on film, Participant began making moves in the TV space in 2018 with the launch of its first television project, America to Me, a 10-part Starz docuseries examining inequities in the US school system. Later the same year its first scripted TV project, Ava DuVernay’s miniseries When They See Us, debuted on Netflix. The company’s TV ambitions have continued to gather momentum since then, says senior VP of global television Miura Kite, who joined Participant in 2017 with the task of building out a broad and diversified slate of programming spanning multiple genres. “Our projects don’t have to be straightahead historical shows. On the TV side, we’re very open to using cable comedy or sciencefiction to explore social issues,” she says. This was on full display in its next project, the UK drama series Noughts + Crosses. Broadcast last year on BBC One and the BBC iPlayer service and returning for its second season in 2022, the show is set in a dystopian future where racism divides society. Now, the goal is to widen the slate with more diverse projects and multi-season shows. Participant is currently in development with HBO Max on a sci-fi drama called In Memoriam from British playwright Charley Miles and Mr Robot director Niels Arden Oplev, produced by UK-based Buccaneer Media. It is also in development with Hulu on Interior Chinatown, based on Charles Yu’s novel examining Asian
Left: Miura Kite. Above: When They See Us
and American male identity. In an industry obsessed with trends and what’s around the corner, Kite says she prefers not to put too much stock in chasing what she thinks buyers are looking for. “I always find that it’s better to bring something to buyers before they even know they wanted it.” For Kite, the biggest shift she has seen in the industry is the ever-escalating competition for talent and IP. On the IP front, Kite notes there used to be a time when Participant was something of an outlier in its pursuit of content with social impact at its core. That, emphatically, is no longer the case. “If there’s a climate change article and we get in this bidding war with someone, we’re like, ‘What is this? It used to be that we were the only ones who wanted these.’ But we’re happy, because it’s better if more people are thinking about impact and how to propel change,” she says. On the talent front, securing top-tier names is a growing challenge, she says, but Participant has some advantages in that its long-running film division, which has worked with many of the industry’s brightest lights, can provide access. The intense competition for talent is a challenge that Kite says she enjoys, as long as the TV sector “doesn’t
become like the ‘tentpole-isation’ of features, where it’s only [interested in] huge IP.” As Participant has burrowed further into the scripted space, the coproduction model has become increasingly attractive, both on the business and creative side, says Kite. Around a third of Participant’s development slate comprises projects set outside the US. These include a scripted series set in Jordan and the UK, as well as a pair of documentary series, one set in Ethiopia and Indonesia and the other about the African diaspora. Another project is set in Brazil and Europe. “Four years ago, you couldn’t really sell a show set in another country. But now the huge appetite for international content has widened the aperture,” she explains. The company was recently shaken by the passing of its long-time chief content officer, Diane Weyermann, who was a pioneering producer and integral part of Participant. As the firm looks to the year ahead, Kite says the company is motivated and inspired to carry out Weyermann’s creative vision. “She always maintained the integrity of the brand and stood by the artists. We want to continue doing that work and making art that causes people to feel seen and heard,” she says. Miura Kite will be part of the production team showcasing Participant’s new doc Boeing today at 11.30am in Hall 3.
Series | 12 x one hour (2 seasons)
PROFESSOR T Set against the glorious and prestigious backdrop of Cambridge University, Professor T is a high-end primetime crime series starring Ben Miller, produced for ITV and PBS.
Speaker Q&A: Moritz von Kruedener 13
DAY 2
Beta things to do Moritz von Kruedener, MD at Germany’s Beta Film, looks back over the past year and ahead to 2022, while also offering a glimpse into the Munich-based company’s development pipeline. What were the biggest changes in the international TV business in 2021? In 2021, there was a significant increase in SVoD consumption on the broadcaster side. Accordingly, the production of programmes for non-linear outlets increased. Local streamers also laid their foundations in 2021 alongside the global players. This allows for new combined financing models for high-end drama in the European market. In Germany, for example, we partnered with local streamer RTL+ on Sisi and House of Promises, produced by X-Filme. On the production side, this year we saw the consolidation of national companies into larger national or European, fully integrated media conglomerates. The key, however, is to maintain access to creative talent. And lastly, a pleasant development: 2021 has highlighted that European series have become an inherent part of the broadcast and streaming landscape, not only in Europe, where they have become a real alternative to North American content, but also in the US. How has the growth of local streamers impacted the production market? The entry of new national platforms into the market, mostly as extensions of the existing urther increased linear broadcast groups, has further e players are now the demand for content. These lobal streamers increasingly competing with global to produce very local content. For producers, this opens up new ways of mpared with the financing and producing. Compared d by global all-rights deals typically offered ow for more streamers, local streamers allow flexible financing models and for partnerships tors like us to with coproducers and distributors vel, to retain IP produce on an international level, e distribution and to participate in worldwide revenues. What is the future of linear broadcasters in the age of streaming? adcasters’ Most of the former ‘linear broadcasters’ ecause are not truly linear anymore because mented onthey have successfully implemented
demand options. For national champions like TF1 in France or RTL in Germany, the answer seems to be a combination of linear and nonlinear. The extent to which linear options will remain available will differ from country to country. Linear broadcasters, nevertheless, are still responsible for the greatest overall investments in fiction production in most European countries. This is sometimes forgotten. Financing large-scale European projects, so that producers are not forced to give away all IP, is only possible with national, often linear, broadcaster involvement. How will the international TV business be different in 2022? Much will depend on the pandemic and whether production will return to its former pace and amplitude. One thing is certain, demand for creative and technical talent will remain very high, the competition for creative content will increase and thus production costs will rise further. At the same time, producers from countries that were historically focused on producing locally or providing production services are increasingly becoming internationally acclaimed creatives. Sisi
Moritz von Kruedener
What content are you developing that will define the next phase of your programme strategy? It remains our goal to be a partner for the best local producers and allow their hits to also become successful internationally. With the production of The Net, we are taking this idea to the next level. Together with four local production companies, we are producing four different series out of four countries: Italy, Germany, Spain and Austria. These series relate strongly to regional issues but are interconnected through storylines, locations and characters. The common denominator is the world of football. For all projects that we participate in, we look closely at their international potential. Hence, we have been expanding our activities in the Nordic and Eastern European regions. At Content London, we will present The Shift, a hospital drama described as “Nordic light” by creator, director and showrunn showrunner Lone Scherfig. Furthermore, we are venturing more into English-language content, for e example, by cooperating with Eagle Eye Drama on an Hotel productions like Professor T and Portofino. chal What will be the biggest challenges and 202 opportunities facing TV in 2022? With the increasing demand fo for content but at the same time a slight m mismatch in available finance to cater to this high demand and getting the best creatives, throug international ‘financial engineering’ through partnerships will be key to c creating series that can stand out. Moritz von Kruedener will b be speaking more Pr about The Net in the Hot Properties session today at 9.30am in Hall 2.
Speaker Q&A: Gavin Reardon 14
DAY 2
Incendiary ambitions Incendo’s Gavin Reardon tells Jordan Pinto how the Canadian producer-distributor has retooled to capitalise on opportunities in the international scripted market.
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ontreal-based Incendo has built a reputation as a prolific producer of premium TV movies over the past two decades. It has also dabbled in the high-end drama space on the multi-partner coproduction Versailles, a French historical drama set during the reign of Louis XIV, which ran for three seasons from 2015 to 2018. More recently, Incendo has retooled its scripted team with the addition of former Spotify and Dynamic Television exec Holly Hines and veteran scripted exec Graham Ludlow as it looks to capitalise on new opportunities in scripted. C21 caught up with Gavin Reardon, the company’s head of international sales and coproductions, who arrives at Content London with a slate of scripted projects, including Canada-Ukraine coproduction Monster Inside. What has Incendo’s recent scripted expansion looked like? We brought Holly and Graham in to help the company focus on three prongs: Canada, US/ international and our distribution operation. First, we are developing content tailored specifically for the Canadian market. We have a very strong distribution arm in Canada that allows us to speak to local broadcasters every day, so we're very plugged in to that market. Second, we have projects we're pitching in the US first, which Holly is overseeing. That’s something fairly new for us. Typically, we were focused more on the international coproduction market, which was how we put together Versailles, for instance, on which we were the minority Canadian copro partner. We have been looking for projects to join in a similar fashion – projects that have some components already in place internationally, either an anchor broadcaster in Europe or the majority of the
Concept art for Monster Inside
financing in place. But now we’re focusing on the US too. And finally, with our large Canadian distribution arm, we’re able to generate more revenue out of Canada than most other companies. Tell us about the genesis of werewolf drama Monster Inside. I went to Kyiv Media Week in 2019 and got talking to a friend, Kateryna Vyshnevska, who has been at Film.UA Group for many years, about different ideas and projects. She told me she was working on something
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to try to attach talent. You can argue whether that’s more or less necessary today than it was two years ago, but there’s so much production going on that it’s difficult to get talent. t Gavin Reardon
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with [Stockholm-based] Eccho Rights. It was something that made sense for everybody for different reasons. For Incendo, it was a genre project but it had a level of humour that we liked and thought would work for the North American market. The fact the Canada-Ukraine coproduction treaty was ratified around the time of that market gave us the impetus to figure it out. Obviously, the last year has been challenging, but it gave us time to develop it to the point where we feel it's ready to talk about.
What other types of scripted content are you developing? Things with a broad, four-quadrant interest that you could theoretically get everyone at home watching. Admittedly Versailles wasn't that, but we are looking for shows that are more general viewing. We're interested in procedurals, true crime series and cozy mysteries, as well as period pieces, though less so today than we have been in the past. I can't think of anything that we're not at least reading to see how it can be put together. What challenges does Incendo face as it looks to break into the scripted series market? After Versailles, it might feel like there's been a lull, but that hasn’t really been the case. We’ve been developing projects we believe in, and we're in a market that's so competitive and congested that things just take a long time. We have projects that have been in development for quite a while with big broadcasters, with Amazon, for example. Versailles itself took six years to go from the first meeting to being on air. It's highly competitive to try to attach talent. You can argue whether that's more or less necessary today than it was two years ago, but there's so much production going on that it's difficult to get talent. Another challenge is standing out in a competitive market. We've explored many different ways – from how we market content we're pitching, to the materials we put out, who we pitch, how we pitch and at what time of year. Everybody needs something at some time, it's just making sure you're pitching the right thing for the right person at the right time. Catch up with Gavin Reardon and the Monster Inside team at the Hot Properties: Drama session today at 10.30am in Hall 2.
Conleth Hill
Siobhán McSweeney
Brenda Fricker
Small Town, Big Secrets
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Speaker Profile: Superna Kalle DAY 2
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StarzPlay, the Lionsgate-backed international streamer, has sex and violence on the mind in Europe and Latin America as it rides the international content boom. Superna Kalle, president of international networks, spoke to Nico Franks.
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ot so long ago, StarzPlay was the magpie of the international TV business, picking up hidden gems from third parties and dubbing them for subscribers in markets such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK and India. This content would supplement the premium drama on the service from its US cablenet sibling Starz, home to shows such as Outlander, Power Book II: Ghost and strip club drama P-Valley. But now StarzPlay is a fully fledged commissioner of its own original series, a strategy being led by Superna Kalle, president of international networks at Starz. This push means Kalle is convinced she has the “best job in the world right now” due to the clamour around international content, driven in large part by Netflix and the success it has seen with global hits such as Money Heist, Squid Game and Lupin, a particular favourite of Kalle’s. So far, StarzPlay has teamed up with the likes of TF1, StudioCanal, Canal+, Mediapro, Pantaya, Fremantle, Fabula and Bambu on French- and Spanish-language originals such as A French Case, All Those Things We Never Said, Express, Señorita Mexico, Toda la Sangre and Nacho Vidal: An Industry XXXL. If there’s one word that unites these series, set in worlds varying from murderous beauty pageants and kidnapping to the adult film industry and serial killers, it’s “edgy,” says Kalle. The only outlier would be All Those Things We Never Said, based on French author Marc Levy’s romantic comedy of the same name, which avoids dark underworlds but P-Valley
Starz vehicle Superna Kalle
nevertheless still manages to include a quirky fantasy twist. StarzPlay is now available in 60 countries around the world and, depending on where you are, you’ll either associate it with wholesome family-friendly fare, in markets such as the Middle East, North Africa and India, or the complete opposite if you’re watching in Europe or Latin America. In the latter two regions, StarzPlay “leans very heavily into women, sex, violence, crime thrillers and vice – things you would not normally find on broadcast television, so absolutely nothing is family-friendly. You definitely do not want to watch this with your children or grandparents around,” warns Kalle. This content sits alongside US imports such as Power Book II: Ghost, Power Book
III: Raising Kanan and Black Mafia Family, which stem from Starz’s targeting of African American audiences stateside and also strikes a chord with black viewers in France, Brazil and the UK, says Kalle. The exec is being supported in StarzPlay’s European originals push by consultants in Madrid, Peter Tortorici and Mireia Acosta, as well as a team in the UK capital, where LA-based Kalle is in town today to speak at Content London. Partnerships on premium dramas with high production values are key to StarzPlay’s originals push and its preference with copros is to have the first window in the home country, although exceptions can be made. Every deal is different and StarzPlay is open to a multitude of agreements, from bringing in Lionsgate as a worldwide distributor to only taking an original in a specific market and leaving the rest to its copro partner. Russia, China and parts of South-East Asia, meanwhile, remain without StarzPlay, so it has no need for rights in these markets. For example, StarzPlay will be first to release All Those Things We Never Said in the UK, Ireland, Germany and German-speaking Europe, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Latin America, including Brazil. However, it has second-run distribution in France, where Canal+ will launch the show, along with Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Frenchspeaking Africa, Myanmar and Vietnam, with StudioCanal holding rights to the series for the rest of the world. The ideal format is 8x60’, Kalle adds, and StarzPlay tends to debut episodes weekly, rather than making them all available at the same time to allow binging. Meanwhile, originals in languages other than French and Spanish are on their way, promises Kalle, who adds she is on the lookout for a “whodunnit.” But given StarzPlay’s propensity for sex and violence, don’t expect it to be an Agatha Christie adaptation. Hear more from Superna Kalle in the Starz session today at 12.30pm in Hall 1.
Speaker Profile: Gráinne McGuinness 18
DAY 2
Making sure the kids are alright Gráinne McGuinness of Paper Owl Films argues that public broadcasters have a key role – and responsibility – when it comes to tackling mental health issues in kids TV. Karolina Kaminska reports.
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elfast-based children’s prodco Paper Owl Films’ ethos is to create content “that makes a difference, inspiring audiences to see the world in different ways.” To achieve this, the studio produces programmes touching on various themes and issues, one of which is mental health. One of Paper Owl’s flagship shows is Pablo, an animated series it has produced since 2017. The programme, which airs on the BBC’s preschool channel CBeebies in the UK and on networks in 20 other countries, follows the adventures and challenges of a five-year-old autistic boy. “The most joyous project of our life at Paper Owl has been Pablo,” says creative director Gráinne McGuinness. “What creating Pablo did for us as a team at Paper Owl was give us the mantra of thinking differently and seeing the world in different ways. We worked with a wide spectrum of people – neurotypical and autistic – who all had their own challenges and passions in their lives. In creating that show, it made us all feel very passionately about the fact thatt this is what we want to do in all our shows.” s, Paper Owl last In line with this, mated film Sol, year released animated which focuses on a young boy hrough grief and his journey through ath of his following the death s currently grandma, and is in production on Happy the or CITV Hoglet, a series for gehog about a baby hedgehog ame, who, despite his name, py. is not always happy. The subject of mental ng more and health is featuring more in children’s TV, as awareness around the issue increases. And for McGuinness, it is a vital topic to address when making kids’’ programming. 00% of the future, so “Children are 100% Pablo
nothing could be more important than having nurturing, caring, positive takeaways in our content for that audience. It is the most important audience and the most demanding audience,” she says. “Children will very quickly switch off if they think they’re being preached to, so it’s about getting those messages out in a way that’s done through positive modelling; not by letting kids know that they’re being spoken to but by creating relatable characters and situations that they normally find themselves in and that model healthy behaviours. “Preschoolers and young children are continually engaged in emotional discovery; they feel things so massively, whether it’s the joy of being on a beach or the absolute anguish of not getting what they want. It’s a very natural thing to build in positive emotional discovery in content for them. Not all children have positive modelling of mental health in their homes, so it’s more important than ever we model it in the content we create. “When I was a child, we didn’t have this kind of discussion. We didn didn’tt have th this passion for mental health and establishing es good mental health patt patterns in our yyounger yo unger children and o our younger viewers. I’d say my ow own journey in life would have been be helped an awful lot if I’d had these messages as a child, child because life is fu full of highs and llows. We experie experience all sorts, we e experience grief, we experience expe joy and it’s about navigating it all.” Pubcasters are the most likely to commiss commission kids’ content that covers th themes like mental health, according acco to McGuinness. In fact, sshe doesn’t
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Child Children are 100% of the future, so nothing could be more important than having nurturing, caring, positive takeaways in our content for that audience. Gráinne McGuinness, Paper Owl Films
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think Sol – which was commissioned and funded by pubcasters TG4 in Ireland, S4C in Wales and the BBC – would have been made had it not been for those channels, although it was picked up by commercial networks CITV and Channel 5 afterwards. “We wouldn’t have been able to tell that story if it had just been for a commercial broadcaster,” McGuinness says. “It took public service broadcasters to take the risk of addressing a subject like grief for us to be able to make the special. “Public service broadcasters are willing to take a risk. They are willing to reflect minorities and they’re willing to see all children reflected on screen, whereas traditionally commercial broadcasters have had to appeal to more established demographic categories that meet their commercial needs. “I feel very passionately about the fact that we will always need our dedicated public service broadcasters, but there’s absolutely no reason why commercial broadcasters can’t find ways to create meaningful content for children as well. If we are creating content for young children that promotes mental health, we have to do that in a way that attracts the biggest possible audience because we want the biggest possible audience to engage.” Hear more from Gráinne McGuinness on this topic at the Kids Wellbeing Content session today at 9.30am in Hall 3.
In Pictures 20
DAY 2
Red Bull Originals’ Sebastian Burkhardt
C21Media’s David Jenkinson with Rola Bauer, MGM’s president of international TV production
Netflix exec Lindsay Salt gives Content London the thumbs up
The Studio21 Drama Series Script Competition
Smithsonian Channel head James Blue
In Pictures 21
DAY 2
Rapper Graft performs at the A+E Networks party
Author Irvine Welsh
EbonyLife CEO Mo Abudu Producers Jean-Benoît Gillig and Camilla Deakin prepare to take the stage
Dougray Scott and Joanna Vanderham, stars of Crime
Last Word 22
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DAY 2
Learning the new language of content
hances are you’ll hear two things repeated again and again during your time at Content London this year. The first is that audiences are, more than ever, in the market for local content – stories that reflect their lives. Hence streamers, whether that’s Netflix, Disney+ or Viaplay, are here at Content London to develop and commission swathes of local originals to add some specificity to their SVoD services. The second is that audiences are seeking out programming from different countries Nico Franks explores the ramifications of global audiences’ seemingly and cultures like never before, partly as an insatiable appetite for both local- and foreign-language programming. unexpected consequence of the pandemic, when viewers sought a change of scenery amid the lockdowns. Meanwhile, hot new US series never make it Luckily for our industry, these two pearls of to market as studios prioritise their best content received wisdom don’t appear to be mutually for their own streaming services. Even arguably exclusive. In the same way audiences are clearly the most popular US show on air at the moment, In the same way hungry for shows that are dark as well as light, Succession, is written by a British/American audiences are clearly they crave a mixed diet when it comes to TV – team of writers out of Brixton, south London. hungry for shows that devouring local produce as well as tucking into Today we will hear from Disney+ and Netflix are dark as well as light, they crave fare from more far-flung places. and tomorrow HBO Max and Amazon, all of a mixed diet when it comes to TV – This is a world forecast by execs at Content which are here at Content London as part devouring local produce as well as London in years gone by. But not even the most of their considerable drive to attract new optimistic of panellists could have predicted subscribers outside the States, eyeing up the tucking into fare from more farit would unintentionally create such a severe non-English-language successor to Succession in flung places. shortage of translators, resulting in dodgy select markets all over the world. Nico Franks dubbing and sub-par subtitles. But not every country’s local industry will This could only be the beginning of the benefit from this push in the same way the UK non-English-language revolution, as the called the “disproportionate” amount of British has, and it’s important not to give the US-based gradual implementation of the European content shown in EU countries. streamers too much of a halo. After all, they are Union’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive – So where does all this leave English-language backed by tech giants, many of which do not which requires streamers to have at least a 30% programming? In many ways, it depends on the even pay their fair share in taxes back home, let share of European content in their catalogues – accent. UK content seems more popular than alone in international markets, and they don’t begins to have an impact in the years ahead. ever, but US programming has been gradually invest in local markets in the same way public This could prove a boon for international disappearing from international broadcasters’ service broadcasters do. producers with outposts in different European primetime schedules for years now. Meanwhile, according to one UK-based exec countries, theoretically able to speaking at Content London this coproduce with themselves and week, after years of meddling, US allowing a streamer to meet its partners are no longer demanding obligations in different countries with as many changes to casting, plots or one piece of content. scripts, as the need to ‘Americanise’ European works status continues shows for their domestic audience has to apply to audiovisual content diminished. originating in the UK, as the UK As the US streamers’ local-language remains party to the Council of push shifts up another gear, will this Europe’s European Convention on hands-off approach and trust in local Transfrontier Television, regardless expertise continue or, as we enter this of Brexit. Fears remain, however, that new era of global content, could we see the EU will target Europe’s biggest a gradual ‘Americanisation’ of nonSuccession producer of film and TV and what it has English-language programming?
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The official Content London Daily magazine is published by C21 Media Ltd (www.c21media.net). Editorial director: Ed Waller. Reporters: Jonathan Webdale, Clive Whittingham, Nico Franks, Jordan Pinto, Karolina Kaminska, Michael Pickard, Gün Akyuz, Ruth Lawes, Oli Hammett. Chief sub editor: Gary Smitherman. Senior sub editor: John Winfield. Photographer: Simon Wilkinson. Production: Eleanore Hayes, Courtney Brewster. Events: Gemma Burt, Chloe Hocking. Content London Daily client contacts (C21Media): Odiri Iwuji, Peter Treacher, Hayley Salt. Editor-in-chief & managing director, C21Media: David Jenkinson. Meet the Content London Daily editorial team in the Horsfall Room (Kings Place) or via press@c21media.net. © C21Media 2021
O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis © Luisa Ferreira
A Espia VENTO © Patricia NORTE_Recados Andrade Ukbar do Filmes Mundo © Hugo Delgado
VENTO NORTE_Recados do Mundo © Hugo Delgado
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