Participant Media’s Miura Kite on demand for content driving social change

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.

Los 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 fi lm migrates across to television.

After spending more than a decade focused almost solely on fi lm, Participant began making moves in the TV space in 2018 with the launch of its fi rst television project, America to Me, a 10-part Starz docuseries examining inequities in the US school system. Later the same year its fi rst scripted TV project, Ava DuVernay’s miniseries When They See Us, debuted on Netfl ix.

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 diversifi ed 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 sciencefi ction 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 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 fi nd 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 fi lm 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 offi cer, Diane Weyermann, who was a pioneering producer and integral part of Participant. As the fi rm 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.

Left: Miura Kite. Above: When They See Us

Miura Kite will be part of the production team showcasing Participant’s new doc Boeing today at 11.30am in Hall 3.