www.broadcastnow.co.uk
2 May 2014
INTERVIEW
MASTERCLASS
BEHIND THE SCENES
Page 18
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Susanna Dinnage on Discovery UK’s plans
Be prepared: tips for running live events
From shore to screen: animating beach finds
C4 eyes co-pros with China Chief exec opens door to Chinese broadcasters and producers working in ‘high-value’ genres BY PETER WHITE
Channel 4 is to open its doors to international co-productions with Chinese broadcasters and producers for the first time. Chief executive David Abraham (below) held a number of meetings with high-level Chinese networks and producers this week, during the inaugural Sino-British Television Programme Innovation Management Summit. It took place in Xiamen and was organised in association with Pact. The broadcaster recently appointed former Red Arrow exec Simon Maxwell as its head of international drama, and bigbudget drama is one area of focus. Abraham told Broadcast that C4 is becoming more connected and global, and that as content costs rise, it is likely to “work directly on projects in high-value genres”. “I’m hoping my trip to China is the start of this opportunity,” he said. C4 has previously ordered series such as Gok Wan: Made In China and documentaries including China: Triumph And Turmoil, but it has not yet co-produced a project from the country. “Like the Chinese, we face many challenges as an industry: challenges of international technology, which has no boundaries; challenges of viewer behaviour; and the challenge of competing with the Americans,” Abraham said. “We are a state-owned organisation… and there are quite a few parallels between C4 and channels in China. This could be the beginning of a process in which Chinese television becomes even more
Made In China: C4 has ordered series such as the Gok Wan-fronted show, but has never co-produced with China
Like China, we face challenges such as international technology with no boundaries David Abraham, Channel 4
innovative and better known internationally, and it’s very appropriate to have 30 of our leading British producers here to work on creating great new programmes.” Abraham was joined at the event in China by UK production
companies including Shed Media, Alchemy TV, Zig Zag and Reef TV, and he backed the firms to win commissions from Chinese broadcasters. More than 80 Chinese networks, including Shanghai Media and Jiangsu Satellite TV, attended the summit, and all are keen to bolster their standing in the international TV industry. The networks want both to acquire formats and jointly develop original series.
Formats such as Outline’s The House Of Tiny Tearaways and Icon Films’ River Monsters attracted much interest (see page 5), while Objective Productions unveiled plans to develop projects exclusively for China on the back of a version of The Cube it made with Dragon TV for Shanghai broadcaster SMG. Abraham said he was hopeful that Chinese broadcasters would “take some risks with the companies that have travelled from the UK”. “They will not let the broadcasters down. They will work harder than anyone. Their ideas are highly original and their production skills and desire to work internationally are both huge,” he said.