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TVASIAPAC
WWW.TVASIAPAC.WS
DECEMBER 2015
ASIA TV FORUM EDITION
Format Trends / Spotlight on Kids’ TV / Asian Drama Cleverman’s Iain Glen / Sony’s Hui Keng Ang / MDA’s Angeline Poh
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CONTENTS FEATURES
A Decade of Change It’s the tenth anniversary of TV AsiaPac this year, a milestone that prompted me to go back and look at my coverage of the region from a decade ago.
Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Executive Editor Joanna Padovano Sara Alessi Associate Editors Joel Marino Assistant Editor Victor L. Cuevas Production & Design Director Phyllis Q. Busell Art Director Simon Weaver Online Director Dana Mattison Sales & Marketing Manager Terry Acunzo Business Affairs Manager
Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV AsiaPac © 2015 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tvasiapac.ws
Browsing through the big Asian media news headlines of 2005, I was pretty amused to see how many pertained to China, and how its regulations were giving everyone a massive headache. Disney’s then incoming CEO Bob Iger, at the opening of Disneyland in Hong Kong, said that the company would hold off on building a theme park in mainland China until authorities loosened the country’s strict media regulations for foreign content. Rupert Murdoch, speaking at a conference in New York in September 2005, reportedly said he had “hit a brick wall” in China, noting that Chinese media authorities were “paranoid.” That same month, there were new reports of Chinese authorities tightening restrictions on content available to internet users. You could say what a difference a decade makes: Shanghai Disneyland is slated to open in 2016. Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, although it has divested its STAR China business over the last few years, is bullish about Chinese-language content—and about the money it can make from the Chinese box office. China’s streaming market is among the most vibrant in the world. And yet, there are still regulations that most people selling into China don’t really understand. Nevertheless, content owners are plodding forward, selling their shows to OTT platforms and, increasingly, licensing formats for local adaptation. This tenth-anniversary edition of TV AsiaPac explores the format business, hearing from distributors about the new opportunities they’re seeing, both in major markets like China and India and in emerging territories such as Cambodia and Mongolia. We also provide an in-depth look at another booming business, kids’ content. With a wave of new platforms, linear and digital, distributors are feeling upbeat as they head to Asia TV Forum. What hasn’t changed much in the last decade is the interest in Korean drama. The Korean wave has had its ups and downs but the genre is still going strong, as I found in doing an article about the growing popularity of Asian drama. The rising demand for Asian scripted content prompted Sony Pictures Television Networks, Asia, to launch ONE and GEM in the region. We hear from Hui Keng Ang about Sony’s Asian channel business in this issue. We also feature Angeline Poh of Singapore’s Media Development Authority, who talks about raising the island nation’s profile as a content provider to the global market. —Mansha Daswani
GET DAILY NEWS ON THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
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24 ASIAN SPIN
Formats remain an integral tool for Asian broadcasters looking to ramp up their local programming slates.
32 CHILD’S PLAY
Kids’ content distributors discuss how their businesses are faring across Asia.
40 PASSION FOR DRAMA
A spotlight on the latest trends in Asian drama.
INTERVIEWS
45 Cleverman’s
Iain Glen
47 SPT Networks’s
Hui Keng Ang
50 MDA’s
Angeline Poh
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9 Story Media Group Nature Cat / Wild Kratts / Peg + Cat A house cat who dreams of exploring the great outdoors takes center stage in Nature Cat, a new animated series that 9 Story Media Group is showcasing at this year’s ATF. “Nature Cat is not only incredibly funny, it also delivers the everimportant universal message of encouraging kids to go outside and explore their natural environment,” says Federico Vargas, the company’s director of distribution. “We’re particularly excited about Nature Cat for the Asia Pacific because it’s a bridging property, in that it serves kids 4 to 8 who are too old for preschool but too young for content for 6- to 11-yearolds.” 9 Story is also offering up Wild Kratts, which is currently in its fourth season on Discovery Kids Asia, along with the Emmy-winning preschool program Peg + Cat.
“Each of these shows features universal themes that appeal to children all over the world.” —Federico Vargas Wild Kratts
ABC Commercial The New Adventures of Figaro Pho / Beneath New Zealand / Prisoner Zero Humor and friendship are at the center of the children’s series The New Adventures of Figaro Pho, which ABC Commercial is offering to buyers at ATF. “Asian buyers will love this quirky, bright celebration of friendship and fun that reflects the energy of kids’ imaginations,” says Robyn Campbell, the company’s senior sales manager for Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Another title with family appeal is the children’s show Prisoner Zero, a sci-fi adventure series that features 2D animation and targets kids aged 8 to 12. Meanwhile, the three-part factual series Beneath New Zealand, another highlight from ABC Commercial’s slate, looks at how earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis have shaped the country, its people and its history.
“We are very excited about the growing OTT space in Asia and the opportunities for new partnerships it presents.” —Robyn Campbell Prisoner Zero
ABS-CBN International Distribution The Promise / On the Wings of Love / Ang Probinsyano The 2015 remake of The Promise, one of ABS-CBN International Distribution’s most successful dramas, retells a story of undying love in a contemporary setting. “We are confident that global audiences who loved the original 2000 drama, as well as a new generation of viewers, will find this remake equally engaging,” says Evelyn Raymundo, the company’s head of integrated acquisitions and international distribution. Another highlight from the ABS-CBN catalogue is On the Wings of Love, a toprated romantic drama about two young people who aspire to live the American dream. Currently breaking records in prime time is Ang Probinsyano, an action-packed family drama about a man who secretly takes the place of his long-lost twin brother after he dies in the line of duty.
“Most of our buyers find that our dramas are somehow an ideal cross between the emotional fire of Latin telenovelas and the quiet intensity of Asian dramas.” —Evelyn Raymundo The Promise 48 World Screen 12/15
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Blue Ant International Jago: A Life Underwater / Land of Gremlins / The Weapon Hunter An aging but skilled hunter is the focus of Jago: A Life Underwater, available in HD and 4K. “This award-winning, familyfriendly documentary follows an 80-year-old hunter who hobbles around on land but dives like a fish in a single breath, descending to great depths for several minutes to stalk his prey like a true underwater predator,” says Solange Attwood, the senior VP at Blue Ant International. Another highlight on the company’s ATF slate is the blue-chip, 4K natural-history series Land of Gremlins, set in Madagascar and featuring exotic rain forests, tropical dry forests, deserts and fascinating creatures. In addition, the company is showcasing the 6x1-hour series The Weapon Hunter, which follows Paul Shull, a rock ‘n’ roll promoter and expert swordsman, as he tracks down collectibles.
“We are keen to co-produce and develop more content throughout Asia given the appetite for highquality, local programming.” —Solange Attwood Land of Gremlins
Bomanbridge Media Chef in Your Ear / Fit for Fashion / Odd Squad Format rights and the finished English-language versions of Chef in Your Ear are available from Bomanbridge Media at ATF. The show sees two top chefs compete to create a restaurantquality dish, but neither can enter the kitchen and instead must coach clueless cooks by sharing advice via an earpiece. CEO Sonia Fleck says, “The show ticks all the boxes for Asia: it’s fastpaced and intense but has fun challenges and a nice mix of celebrities with challenging contestants.” In addition, the company is highlighting the second season of Fit for Fashion, in which regular men and women are transformed into stylish and confident individuals through a grueling competition. Bomanbridge’s offering also extends into the kids’ space with the math series Odd Squad from Sinking Ship Entertainment.
“These shows really reflect the caliber of quality we are striving for during Bomanbridge’s next phase of growth.” —Sonia Fleck Odd Squad
Calinos Entertainment The Girl Named Feriha / Emergency Love / Relationship Status: It’s Complicated A young girl is stuck between her dream of wealth and the reality of her humble existence in the drama The Girl Named Feriha, which Calinos Entertainment is presenting to buyers at ATF. Another highlight, Emergency Love, tells the story of Sinan, an emergency room doctor whose tidy and quiet life is disrupted by his new assistant, a clumsy woman named Nisan. Meanwhile, the complex relationship between a TV writer and a famous actor is at the heart of the romantic drama Relationship Status: It’s Complicated. Asli Serim, the international sales director at Calinos, notes that the show “is actually a remake of a Korean title.” She adds, “All of these titles have universal story lines and they will appeal not only to Asian buyers, but [to buyers] from every other territory, too.”
“Our aim is to enter new markets and work with countries we haven’t cooperated with before.” —Asli Serim Relationship Status: It’s Complicated 50 World Screen 12/15
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DreamWorks All Hail King Julien / The Adventures of Puss in Boots / Dragons: Race to the Edge The DreamWorks channel launched across Asia this year. The network partnered with HBO Asia for playout, affiliate sales and marketing. “Thailand was the first market to go live, with CTH; Malaysia followed quickly with Telekom Malaysia,” says Eric Ellenbogen, co-head of international TV and DreamWorks Classics at DreamWorks Animation. “We’re 24/7 in seven languages, in HD, and we just deployed a fully responsive channel website and a Watch & Play app.” The network serves as the home of DreamWorks Animation characters. “We’ve launched with our new original series featuring characters from our movie franchises, including All Hail King Julien, The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Dragons: Race to the Edge and the alloriginal Dinotrux, with much more to follow.”
“We expect to be fully distributed in every major territory across the Asia Pacific by next year.” —Eric Ellenbogen All Hail King Julien
Gusto TV A is for Apple / Fish the Dish / One World Kitchen Food series are the main attraction that Gusto TV is serving up at ATF. A is for Apple is a cooking-challenge show that sees three chefs select ingredients based on letters of the alphabet. Seafood dishes are demystified in Fish the Dish. Five chefs from different culinary backgrounds showcase Indian, Thai, Japanese, Italian and Argentinean cuisine in One World Kitchen. Chris Knight, Gusto TV’s president and CEO, says, “All of these series are shot in 4K, are informative and fun, and feature great hosts and recipes. We offer turnkey multiplatform content and marketing solutions.” These include short programs (webisodes), recipes, on-air promos and high-resolution food photography. “Our shows are shot in English but are designed for easy versioning into other languages,” he notes.
“Gusto is two years old and this is our first time at ATF. We’re eager to learn more about audience preferences and buyer needs in the region, and hope to make many new friends at ATF.” —Chris Knight A is for Apple
Keshet International Who’s On Top? / Knockout / Trade Up The game show Who’s On Top? leads Keshet International’s ATF slate, which is chock-full of entertainment formats. The title sees contestants answer questions while on air pods that rise or fall depending on their replies. Trade Up, meanwhile, is a trivia game show that gives players the opportunity to win a new car. Another offering is the hidden-camera prank show Knockout, in which celebrities go head-to-head trying to pull off the same complex prank scene with as much creativity as possible. Kelly Wright, sales director at Keshet International, says that selling the game show BOOM! in the AsiaPac region is also of importance. “We are committed to long-running partnerships for our brands in the Asian market,” Wright says.
“Our formats tend to be ‘genrebusters,’ which gives them the feeling of being something brand new.” —Kelly Wright Trade Up 52 World Screen 12/15
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MarVista Entertainment Terrordactyl / Most Likely to Die / The Inspectors Terrordactyl centers on two ordinary men trying to survive an extraordinary situation: a full-on assault across Hollywood by ancient flying reptiles. The creature feature is just one of several titles MarVista Entertainment is presenting to buyers at ATF. The film Most Likely to Die is about a group of friends who gather for a party before their ten-year high school reunion, until one by one they start to go missing and turn up dead. The company has also seen a demand for co-viewing content in many territories, including Asia, according to Vanessa Shapiro, MarVista’s executive VP of distribution. In response, MarVista recently acquired The Inspectors, a series about a teenager who helps his mother solve crimes involving various types of scams.
“MarVista is well suited to address the growing needs of OTT/digital platforms, and we are eager to present our titles to existing and potential partners.” —Vanessa Shapiro Terrordactyl
Media Development Authority of Singapore Wild Cities / Long Long Time Ago / Dinosaur Train The Singapore Pavilion at ATF, led by the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), is hosting 64 companies, collectively offering more than 170 titles for international distribution. Highlights include Beach House Pictures’s factual series Wild Cities; Long Long Time Ago, a film from J Team Productions and mm2 Entertainment; and the fourth season of Dinosaur Train, an animated series co-produced by The Jim Henson Company and Sparky Animation. “ATF’s attendees will have opportunities to network with our TV producers and film directors during Singapore Hour and get an exclusive preview into our upcoming made-in-Singapore content during our Sneak Peeks session,” says Angeline Poh, the assistant CEO (industry) at the MDA.
“MDA is excited to host the Singapore Media Festival for its second run this year, and we are happy to welcome a new constituent event, Digital Matters, on board.” —Angeline Poh Long Long Time Ago
NeweN Distribution Beyond the Walls / Polo / Terror Studios From the creator of Witnesses comes Beyond the Walls, a thriller about a young woman trapped in a haunted house. NeweN Distribution is bringing that title to ATF, along with the second season of the hit preschool program Polo. “We believe that Polo, a beautiful non-dialogue animation series helping little ones to develop their imaginations as well as their expression abilities, will find [a] home in Asia,” says Sophie Eap, NeweN’s international sales manager. Another highlight from the company is Terror Studios, a documentary that explains how ISIS is recruiting young people from the West. “Asian buyers have already shown a strong interest in Terror Studios as ISIS goes far beyond the Middle Eastern region and the West, and is a global phenomenon that shakes the whole world,” says Eap.
“Our goal is to expand our presence and develop relationships with our existing partners as well as new potential partners in [the AsiaPacific] region.” —Sophie Eap Beyond the Walls 54 World Screen 12/15
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Rive Gauche Television Ultimate Homes / True Supernatural / Fame Kills Lifestyle, supernatural and crime are top genres from Rive Gauche Television’s ATF offering. Ultimate Homes tells the stories of people who went to great lengths to build their dream homes in the most unlikely and challenging of places. In the paranormal realm, True Supernatural “explores the world of supernatural legends and takes an investigative look into whether or not they are fact or fiction,” says Bryan Gabourie, the VP of distribution and development. “Our experts study findings buried in archives and hidden museums, uncovering the truth about controversial artifacts in history—items that provide proof that the supernatural exists,” he adds. The crime series Fame Kills offers a glimpse into the experiences of rising stars whose lives were cut short by deadly encounters.
“As always, we continue to work with incredibly talented producers and represent programming that answers the call in fulfilling our broadcast partners’ needs.” —Bryan Gabourie True Supernatural
Sony Pictures Television Networks, Asia Animax / ONE / GEM Sony Pictures Television (SPT) Networks, Asia, is the home of English general-entertainment channels AXN and Sony Channel, as well as Asian networks Animax, ONE and newcomer GEM, which is a joint venture with Japan’s Nippon TV. “GEM meets the growing demand for premium Japanese and North Asian content in Southeast Asia, and in the coming months we’ll be expanding its footprint in the region,” says Hui Keng Ang, the senior VP and general manager of SPT Networks, Asia. The company is also focusing on content curation for the networks, with same-day telecast and localized original productions set to headline in 2016. “We’ll sustain AXN’s momentum gained from The Amazing Race Asia, The Apprentice Asia and Asia’s Got Talent, which set new pay-TV ratings records in 2015,” says Ang.
“GEM is the premier destination for the latest in Japanese drama, variety and comedy shows.” ©Nippon TV
—Hui Keng Ang
Dr. Rintaro, Psychiatrist on GEM
TRX www.trx.tv The RightsXchange (TRX) is a global trading platform for secondary television and online video rights. “TV and online video rights have been traded the same way for decades,” says CEO Matthew Frank. “It’s a slow and laborious process resulting in many deals taking an unacceptably long time to conclude. Our belief is that by using proven market technology and building an online trading platform, we will bring a much-needed efficiency to the market that will benefit both buyers and sellers.” Frank adds, “What TRX brings to the market are much faster and efficient transactions, as well as an aggregated site that allows all buyers to find and bid for content from many distributors in one place. It gives sellers the ability to quickly and easily exploit all the value in their catalogues.”
“TRX allows distributors to not only exploit all of their catalogue at once, but also reach many more buyers and transact with them quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively.” —Matthew Frank 56 World Screen 12/15
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FremantleMedia’s Asia’s Got Talent on AXN.
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Spin By Mansha Daswani
Formats remain an integral tool for Asian broadcasters looking to ramp up their local programming slates. he new format restrictions in China, Asia’s biggest media market, had some distributors feeling a little wary last year. To be fair, China, with its myriad regulations on imported programming, has always been a bit of a puzzle for content distributors. Nevertheless, it has become a massive market for format sales, and new laws implemented in 2014 had some rights-holders worried about what the future held for their businesses there. As it turns out, China remains a lucrative territory for companies with adaptable concepts, and the country’s leading platforms, both linear and online, snapped up a wide range of titles this year from a variety of territories. Of note, Dori Media Group licensed several scripted comedy formats to China, and Sohu shored up the rights for an adaptation of Saturday Night Live. The sitcom Mad About You is getting a Chinese treatment, as are Keshet International’s scripted formats Traffic Light and Loaded. There was a new Chinese agreement on the factual-entertainment format Gogglebox from all3media international, and Global Agency did a deal with IPCN for a remake of the talent show The Remix. And that is just a sampling of the numerous acquisitions made by Chinese broadcasters and production companies in the last 12 months. China is only one of several Asian markets that had format distributors buzzing with activity in 2015. “It’s been a busy year for us,” says Haryaty Rahman, the senior VP of sales and distribution for Asia at FremantleMedia International. “We’ve just completed renewal deals for Got Talent in Cambodia, Myanmar, Mongolia and the Philippines, and we’ve recently closed a collection of new deals in Cambodia for Thank God You’re Here, The
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Price Is Right, Cash or Splash and The Noise, as well as Family Feud in Myanmar.” The newly combined Endemol Shine Group has also seen a surge of activity this year, reports Fotini Paraskakis, the company’s managing director for Asian operations. “In the last 18 months, Endemol Shine in Asia has closed 150 deals and we have continued to grow from strength to strength since our recent merger. By year end, we will have MasterChef in six territories, plus our very own pan-Asian production; and our hit music-entertainment show Your Face Sounds Familiar in five territories. Anything Goes, The Choice and Deal or No Deal are still going strong.” Keshet International (KI) has been so busy in Asia, it decided to set up an office in Hong Kong, led by former Eccho Rights executive Gary Pudney. “Having a strong and fast response team on the ground to facilitate deal-making is sure to take our business in the region to the next level,” says Kelly Wright, sales director at KI. “It will also help us build our third-party distribution catalogue and become more involved in the production of our formats locally.”
HOT SPOTS For the distributors surveyed here, business has been booming across the region, but there are a couple of particularly hot markets, notably Thailand and Vietnam. “In Thailand, because of the launch of 24 DTT channels, there is a great deal of demand for formats,” says Hyeonza Hong, senior VP of sales for Asia at ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE). “In Vietnam, most channels are actively buying key international formats, as most of them have been successful with local versions.” Hong says that ITVS GE recently clinched deals on Get Your Act Together and
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Keshet has built a thriving format business in China, where recent adaptations include Master Class.
Sing My Song in Vietnam, and The Line in Thailand. In China, meanwhile, it has a new co-development deal with Huace to produce a show leading up to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Yi Qiao, sales manager for the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa at Red Arrow International, also highlights Vietnam and Thailand as key territories. “My Man Can has proven to be a big success in Asia, with a second season commissioned in Thailand and the first season to start airing in Vietnam this year,” she says. “Vietnam continues to be a key territory for us in terms of sales, with 23 format deals in the territory this year,” adds Endemol Shine’s Paraskakis. “We’ve also seen huge growth in Thailand with the digital channel expansion, and in the Philippines there has been great solid growth with consecutive successful seasons of Big Brother, Deal or No Deal, Your Face Sounds Familiar and Minute to Win It.” Indo-China has emerged as a strong performer for FremantleMedia, Rahman says, particularly Cambodia. “The market has only opened up to Western formats in the last 18 months, but a number of our titles are now being produced there. Following our success in Cambodia last year, we’re now seeing Mongolia opening its doors to more and more of our programming. As well as further extending our relationship with Mongol TV, the producer of Mongolia’s Got Talent, we’re currently talking to other broadcasters in this market to bring more of FremantleMedia’s formats to local audiences.” Isil Türksen, sales director for Asia at Global Agency, pinpoints China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam as having been her focal points this year. “We connected with many new producers and channels thanks to our increasing presence in the region,” she says. For 2016, she’ll be focusing on Southeast Asia in general, as well as opportunities in China. For Electus International, China has been a key growth market this year, according to VP Cyrus Farrokh, who adds, “We are always looking to do more in India as it’s a vibrant market and we are finalizing a deal with a broadcaster that we hope to announce soon. We are seeing strong interest for our scripted formats in South Korea, including Jane the Virgin, which we are currently in discussions with a partner to adapt.”
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Jessica Cox, format sales executive at all3media international, highlights the company’s success in China and Korea with titles like Sexy Beasts, Gogglebox and Are You Normal? “We’ve had phenomenal success with Are You Normal? in China, with the second season achieving a huge 430 million downloads for the Tencent VOD platform,” Cox reports. “The dating format Sexy Beasts is also proving a big hit for KBS in Korea, and a local version of the event game-show format The Million Second Quiz has just begun to air in China on Mango TV.” Wright says that KI is already active in eight major Asian territories. “We’re looking at putting format adaptations on the air in Thailand, India and Vietnam, which are the next major markets.”
NEW MARKETS Qiao at Red Arrow is particularly intrigued by new opportunities in Korea and Japan, “because they are very strong in format development themselves,” she says. In Japan, Red Arrow sealed a landmark deal with Nippon TV and Hulu for a local version of the crime drama The Last Cop. Japan is also on Cox’s priority list at all3media. “Japan has always been a prolific creator of TV shows, but hasn’t brought in many external formats,” she notes. “We’re really happy to have some deals in Japan in the pipeline that we will be able to announce shortly. We’re also doing more business in the Philippines and Thailand after our recent success with Cash Cab. In addition, we see strong opportunities in Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia that we plan to exploit during 2016.” Paraskakis has her eye on building the Endemol Shine presence in smaller markets like Cambodia, Myanmar and Pakistan. “Cambodia is ahead with a vibrant format market now in place and we expect Pakistan and Myanmar to follow suit soon. MasterChef has now sold in all three territories and our classic game shows like Deal or No Deal and 1 vs 100 are receiving a lot of attention there, too.” Unlike in years past, when it seemed like only game- and talent-show formats sold into Asia, broadcasters across the region today seem eager to try out a variety of genres. But there are a couple of staples that remain on broadcaster wish lists.
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interested in concepts that can be “socially beneficial to audiences.” In Korea, Hong has observed an interest in “smart and creative shows that can attract younger audiences. And they are also actively looking for ways to bring in digital advertising money in collaboration with their linear channels.” Türksen says Global Agency has experienced broad interest in its talent shows, including The Remix, which recently premiered in Indonesia, and Keep Your Light Shining, launching in Cambodia in 2016. The game show Is That Really Your Voice, meanwhile, is performing well in China. “There is now also a wide interest for game shows, especially on the physical/comedy side. Reality formats are also in demand given that they are somewhat related to or include local celebrities.” For KI’s Wright, “Shiny-floor entertainment formats that are funny, energetic, colorful and packed with celebrities continue to be at the top of Asian buyers’ wish lists. That includes talent shows, game shows and variety shows— broad formats that the whole family can enjoy, including physical game shows. In China, you hear the words ‘outdoor reality’ quite a bit.”
Vietnam has emerged as a big format buyer for a number of distributors, including ITVS GE, whose Get Your Act Together was recently produced in the market.
PRIME CUTS “Game shows with a comedy spin are in heavy demand,” Prime time is the core focus for most channels’ original says Red Arrow’s Qiao. “We still see big shiny-floor enterprogramming needs, notes Electus’s Farrokh. “Broadcasttainment shows working well in Asia. Budgets are someers’ budgets have been slashed over the years for format times quite small, which proves challenging, but levels of acquisitions in daytime and [they’re] moving investment creativity and talent are high, helping to keep up the qualand focus into prime time.” ity and ambition of the shows. Both talent shows and physHowever, Endemol Shine’s Paraskakis has observed a ical game shows are still popular in the region. Also, female percolating interesting in formats that can be stripped in lifestyle shows are doing well.” access prime time. “Step Right Up, Next One and even The Endemol Shine’s Paraskakis agrees with Qiao that Money Drop [are] doing really well for us in Southeast Asia.” game shows, reality and talent are key genres for Asian broadcasters. She’s also seeing continued interest in mega brands like MasterChef, Deal or No Deal, Minute to Win It and Big Brother. Got Talent and Idol show no signs of slowing down at FremantleMedia’s Asian operations. “Mongolia’s Got Talent and Myanmar’s Got Talent are now the highest rated shows ever in their respective markets, while Cambodia’s Got Talent and Cambodian Idol have received special commendation from Cambodia’s Prime Minister, Hun Sen,” Rahman says. Not that it’s impossible to crack the region with a new concept. ITV-Inter Medya will be showcasing its brand-new format slate at Asia TV Forum. Can Okan, president and CEO, says the company will be at the market with a variety of game shows, led by Answer If You Can, Celebrities in the Kitchen and The League. ITVS GE’s Hong lists family entertainment and talent as strong performers in Southeast Asia, while Chinese platforms are more all3media international’s Are You Normal? has been a huge success for Tencent in China.
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Hulu Japan’s first scripted series was a version of Red Arrow’s The Last Cop.
ITVS GE’s Hong comments, “Our clients don’t just look at our formats for prime time—they look at the titles and consider in which slot it would work best for them. There are times when a broadcaster will come to us with a specific requirement for a specific slot, but this is not always the case. In the main, our partners look at a format first and see whether it could work on their channel and, if so, what time would be the best fit.” Hong adds, “On-demand access is a must these days. Everyone wants to link the show with online access and, furthermore, look at ways to increase their revenue opportunities from digital viewing.”
Global Agency’s catalogue already includes a title picked up from Asia—it launched the Thailand-originated Golden Scale at MIPCOM. Keshet, too, is trading in Asian concepts. Dating Hunter from Huace/Croton in China has been optioned by Keshet Studios for a U.S. adaptation, and KI is actively distributing the Chinese talent-show format Not a Star Yet. “And we’re looking for others,” Wright notes. “In general we see an opportunity to build a bridge between the cultural divide of Asia and the West, in particular China and the West, and we’re excited by this challenge. Asian buyers tend to purchase heavily from within the region (e.g. Korea to China, Japan to Korea), but there is still a lot of work to do in applying the same fluidity to the East-West pipeline.”
ASIAN CREATIVITY Another emerging trend is that Asia is not just an importer of formats, but also a hub for creating concepts that can be exported. Red Arrow has a co-development pact with Japanese broadcaster Nippon TV to create new entertainment and reality formats for the international market. Electus has developed a title with a Chinese partner, and Farrokh says the company is always looking for ideas it can bring back to the U.S. At ATF, he notes, “more than half of our meetings are with IP owners. There continues to be more openness from U.S. channels to consider formats originating from outside Western Europe, which is creating opportunities for us. We acquired a Korean format that we set up at a U.S. channel.” Paraskakis says that Endemol Shine will be stepping up its efforts to source Asian concepts in 2016. “We will consider more local co-development initiatives with a view to seeing these ideas travel across the region and then the globe,” she says.
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BIGGER & BETTER For Wright, KI’s new Hong Kong office is being envisioned as the company’s “Asian anchor, creating strategic deals for content development, production and acquisition that will propel our business forward in 2016 and beyond.” Format distributors are feeling upbeat for their prospects in 2016, as the demand for local content shows no signs of abating. And new opportunities are continually emerging. “For 2016, we will be focusing on the potential in branded opportunities by working more directly with agencies and brands,” Paraskakis says. She’ll also be looking at “new business models and ways of revenue sharing.” The proliferation of OTT platforms is also set to create more chances for content owners to do deals in the region. As Red Arrow’s Qiao says, “When you see how much the TV landscape has been changing in the last few years, there is a lot of potential for both our formats and scripted shows to find a home in Asia.”
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9 Story’s Nature Cat.
CHILD’S PLAY
Kids’ content distributors heading to ATF tell Mansha Daswani how their businesses are faring across Asia. he number of platforms for kids to access content is on the rise across the globe, and Asia is no exception. In fact, there have likely been more new platform launches for children’s programming in the region over the last few years than anywhere else in the world. When kids’ programming powerhouse DreamWorks Animation decided to launch its first 24hour channel, it targeted Asia, with the DreamWorks channel now available in the region. ZooMoo, backed by David Haslingden out of New Zealand, has been expanding across Asia and beyond. The Mandarin-language preschool service Miao Mi was announced this year. CBeebies, Toonami and others have been steadily building on the number of homes they reach in Asia via new carriage deals. And there’s been plenty of activity on the nonlinear front, too, with new services like WeKids and YOU Kids On Demand in China. Hopster has arrived in the region and Netflix, with its growing offering of children’s programming, has landed in Japan and is set to expand further in 2016. “Asia’s probably the most dynamic territory in the world today,” says Craig McGillivray, VP of distribution at Breakthrough Entertainment. “There are still places that don’t have full cable penetration yet. But at the same time, there are territories that are passing cable and going right to [online streaming].” Digital platforms are potential partners in terms of distribution and, eventually, co-production, notes Andrea Graciotti, the head of sales and co-productions at Rainbow. “Kids are becoming decision makers in terms of what to watch and
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when to watch, and OTT/digital platforms give them the chance to create their own programming. From the perspective of an independent producer such as Rainbow, these new-media [platforms] increase the exposure of our content and help boost the awareness of our shows.” Asked about the new opportunities she’s finding with streaming services, Natalie Lawley, managing director of Escapade Media, says, “Over the past 12 months, the OTT/ digital platform conversations and deals have increased significantly. Escapade’s kids’ titles are developed for crossmedia exploitation, where different platforms can license different assets of the brand specific to their needs. It’s an exciting time for the expansion of content and we are looking forward to more of those discussions at ATF.”
WINDOW SHOPPING Joanne Azzopardi, VP of sales at Beyond Distribution, refers to OTT services as “an additional window that we haven’t exploited previously.” Kids’ content, she notes, is a driver for both single-territory and regional digital services. “In some cases, linear broadcasters will also acquire these rights, so you have multiple players, non-exclusive deals and a whole new revenue stream.” Gulshan David, sales manager for the Asia Pacific and the Middle East at Imira Entertainment, says the company has developed relationships with some 80 percent of the region’s new platforms. “They are IP friendly, quick in their selection and decisions, and [they provide] repeat business.”
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Escapade is doing well in Asia with factual kids’ titles like Kitchen Whiz.
David adds, “As content owners, it is refreshing to find value in [our] library as well as new titles.” For content owners, understanding the rights you have to exploit—and knowing exactly how you’re going to window them—is crucial. As is having the kinds of programming that Asian kids want to consume. And that appears to be quite a mixed bag.
set, he says. 9 Story hopes to follow up Wild Kratts’s success with its new series Nature Cat. “Aimed at the same 4-to-8 demographic, the show is part comedy and part adventure, while also teaching kids how to connect with nature. We expect it to do quite well within the Asia Pacific.” For Rainbow’s Graciotti, “the real driver to deliver ratings are strong character-driven stories with a high power of identification between the audience and the protagonists of the stories themselves.” Winx Club has achieved this, Graciotti continues, “boasting millions of viewers each day through broadcasters on every continent in the world, with massive appeal to girls from 4 to 10 right up to tween/teen.” He’s hoping to replicate that success with the brand-new Regal Academy, which will be on offer at ATF alongside another new series, the tentatively titled My American Friend. ABC Commercial’s Robyn Campbell, senior sales manager for Asia, Australia and New Zealand, lists the preschool series Bananas in Pyjamas as one of her top sellers in Asia. Also drumming up interest is The New Adventures of Figaro Pho and a range of content from The Wiggles, such as the brandnew show Emma! “We have licensed exclusive short-form content from The Wiggles on the leading children’s app, PlayKids, which is available in the region,” Campbell says. While animation tends to dominate kids’ programming sales into Asia, a number of companies are doing well with live-action content. The Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF), for one, has scored recent deals on the
FAMILY TIME Robby Amar, executive director of distribution at MarVista Entertainment, says he’s seen demand for shows that encourage co-viewing, as well as a need for “branded content, or content that has proven success, particularly in the U.S. In this category we have, for example, our recent movie for Disney XD, Pants on Fire.” MarVista has done well with its teen movies in Asia, Amar adds, referencing deals in the Philippines for titles like Absolute Zero, Meteor Storm, My Dad Is Scrooge and Cop Dog, as well as for family films such as Princess and the Pea, Breaking Free and Undercover Kid. The company has also been licensing series into Asia, recently inking a deal for Heroes: Legend of the Battle Disks with HBO and HBO Family. Preschool has been a strong seller for a number of companies, including 9 Story Media Group. Federico Vargas, director of distribution, highlights a recent pact on Peg + Cat and Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood in China with Sunshine Culture and Communication, as well as a volume deal for 130 half-hours covering a range of genres with TV3 in Thailand. “Our content is performing well across several kids’ genres, from preschool to 6-to-11 comedies and from live action to animation,” Vargas adds. A particular success for 9 Story in Asia has been Wild Kratts, targeting the “underserved” 4 to 8
ABC Commercial will be looking to roll out the preschool series Emma! at ATF.
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Regal Academy is among the new highlights from Rainbow, which is aiming to expand its business in Asia.
live-action shows Bushwhacked, Little Lunch and Hoopla Doopla, among others. “Broadcasters are always looking for great original kids’ series across all genres and ages,” says Roberta Di Vito, international sales manager at ACTF. “Series that are story-driven, with likable talent and quality productions, will always be a hit with kids. Asia is a huge region, and while animation remains very popular with some broadcasters, really good live-action comedies and adventure factual series have also been hugely successful.”
GETTING REAL Escapade, too, has a strong slate of live-action factual fare, including the game show Kitchen Whiz, the preschool offering Jay’s Jungle and the brand-new CBBC commission Teenage Ice Trekker. “Over the last 12 months we have definitely seen increased requests from buyers for natural-history series for children, along with documentaries that appeal to children,” Lawley reports. “Live-action tween edutainment has always worked well for Beyond in Asia and continues to do so,” says Azzopardi, citing sales on shows like Totally Rubbish and Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom. “Both titles are commissioned by CBBC
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in the U.K. and we find the educational, entertaining elements for that age group work really well for our broadcasters in AsiaPac,” Azzopardi notes. “Live-action series tend to be difficult to place in Asia unless they have some educational component, especially if that component is science-based.” Comedy is also a hot commodity, observes Breakthrough’s McGillivray, who mentions the animated Rocket Monkeys and Pirate Express as having been some of the company’s biggest successes in Asia. Breakthrough also arrives at ATF with a live-action movie, Bruno & Boots: Go Jump in the Pool. “Five or six years ago, it would have been really tough to get a liveaction comedy series into Asia,” McGillivray says. “But Bruno & Boots is more of an event program, and this is not just slapstick comedy: it’s really a story about kids in high school, so it is relatable.” Imira has largely been selling animation into Asia, with titles like the comedy Rat-a-Tat, a non-dialogue series with some 234 episodes available, and the brand-new Alisa, which David says “fills the gap for many who are looking for gender-neutral programming. We already have VOD deals lined up and will conclude pay-TV and free-TV partnerships at ATF.” Imira is also presenting the live-action show Jamillah & Aladdin, which David says is “getting great traction in the region, and we are considering a few offers from Indonesia, China and Malaysia.” For many kids’ distributors in Asia, the panregional broadcasters have tended to be their biggest customers. But companies are angling to drill deeper with their Asian businesses by reaching single-market channels. “It’s about getting into the specific territories as opposed to strictly focusing on the pan-regionals,” Breakthrough’s McGillivray says. “Especially in Southeast Asia—so Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand—and then keeping up with what we’re doing in places like Hong Kong and Korea. Japan’s a tough one, as dubbing is always an issue. I’d love to be doing more there, but it’s really challenging.” MarVista is also bullish on Southeast Asia, with Amar listing the Philippines as one of his biggest customers. “We’d love to be doing more business in Malaysia, which is a strong market that consumes large volumes of content,” he adds. “Our biggest partnerships to date have been with multiterritory pan-regional services,” notes 9 Story’s Vargas. “But we’ve also seen regional success with Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and India.”
MOVERS AND SHAKERS Imira’s strongest Asian market currently is India, the “home turf” of its parent company, Toonz Entertainment. “Other Asian markets we fare well in are Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, and we are gaining significant traction in South Korea and Thailand,” David says. “Our thrust for 2015 will be on China—although we are making gradual inroads in
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Rocket Monkeys, an animated comedy, has been one of Breakthrough’s biggest successes in Asia.
VOD and OTT, other partnerships need to happen. We also are in conversation with Japanese partners and we see an opportunity for bringing more Japanese content back home.”
PLANNING AHEAD Looking ahead to Imira’s AsiaPac business in 2016, David highlights local-content investment as being a key strategy. “We are investing in local IP and co-production. We have a sizeable 2D and 3D studio in India that can cater to this bandwidth. We are currently thinking about starting local offices and partnerships in at least two growth economies, China and Indonesia.” McGillivray says that Breakthrough is open to co-producing with an Asian partner, given the dramatic increase in the
quality of the animation coming out of the region. In addition to long-standing animation giants Japan and Korea, China, India, Malaysia and Singapore have all developed their own kids’ content creation sectors. It appears, though, that there’s enough business to go around, with distributors feeling upbeat as they prepare for ATF this year. “The market for kids’ content remains strong, and we have solid relationships with many partners whom we anticipate will continue to work with us on our kids’ programming initiatives,” notes MarVista’s Amar. “We have seen tremendous growth in the territory over the last year and a half,” says 9 Story’s Vargas. “We expect this to continue as we make new inroads in vast territories like China and India, markets with exciting growth potential.” Graciotti says that “Rainbow’s goal is to take a leading position in Asia in terms of audience reach and distribution. We are confident that our portfolio of content addressing [many] demographics and crossing different genres speaks a universal language that can be appreciated by a worldwide audience. Thanks to these elements, we are working hard to establish a valuable presence in Asia as well.” Escapade’s Lawley states that “there are constantly new channels, platforms and opportunities opening up. There are definitely areas where the company would like to do more—India is one of these areas—and not just in program sales, but across licensing and merchandising and VOD platforms.” Beyond’s Azzopardi is looking forward to renewing pacts with existing partners and is eyeing the potential to format some of the company’s quiz series for kids. “This region is a priority for us,” says ABC Commercial’s Campbell. “We are actively talking to many AsiaPac partners and constantly looking for new ways to expand the reach of our content. We are expecting significant growth in AsiaPac over the next year.”
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Passion Drama
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for
Asian drama is a hot commodity within the region and increasingly popular around the world. By Mansha Daswani
he digital upstarts arriving in Asia are not just battling it out for access to the Hollywood studios’ deep libraries. The region’s new players are well aware that to make it in Asia, they need a lot of local content. That demand, combined with the emergence of platforms like DramaFever, Viki and others bringing Asian content to the world, means that purveyors of scripted content from the region are finding a wealth of new opportunities. Of course, it’s not just OTT players who have realized the value of Asian drama. Sony Pictures Television (SPT) Networks, Asia, whose business has largely been driven by Englishlanguage entertainment on AXN, has made a big bet on the regional content business. First it launched ONE in order to tap into the ever-present demand for Korean content. The channel has proven to be a strong performer in territories like Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. “Recently we brought the star of The Gang Doctor into Jakarta and Singapore and we engaged almost 10,000 fans during this two-day trip,” says Hui Keng Ang, senior VP and general manager at SPT Networks, Asia. Following the success of ONE, SPT partnered with leading Japanese broadcaster Nippon TV for GEM, a pay-TV channel that is delivering hits like Death Note across the region. HBO Asia has also dipped its toes into the Asian-drama business, releasing its third scripted original, Halfworlds, earlier this year.
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CROSS-BORDER APPEAL Japan and Korea were the first to prove that dramas made for one specific market in Asia could actually travel across the region—and then around the world. Within the continent, Japanese dramas have had the greatest resonance in Taiwan and Hong Kong, according to Shigeko “Cindy” Chino, senior director of international business development at Nippon TV. Comic-based stories such as Death Note and The Files of the Young Kindaichi have been strong sellers, Chino notes, alongside female-led dramas like The Pride of the Temp and Mother. One of Korea’s biggest producers and exporters of content, CJ E&M Corporation, has found Japan and Southeast Asia to be particularly fruitful when it comes to scripted acquisitions. “Historical and romantic comedies are steady sellers,” reports Ellen Oh, international sales executive at the company. Southeast Asian markets have also opened up to the dramas being produced by the Philippines’s two major broadcasters: GMA Network and ABS-CBN Corporation.
“GMA’s artists are well known to the audience and have developed their own fan base in countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore and Malaysia,” says Roxanne Barcelona, VP of GMA Worldwide. Buyers in those countries have much to choose from, with GMA producing at least 24 new dramas a year across the melodrama, fantasy and romance categories. The melodramas have become particularly popular, Barcelona says. “Viewer profiles in Southeast Asia are similar to the Philippines, meaning housewives from the ages of 25 to 45. Our dramas attract them because they capture their emotions and they can identify with our stories.” ABS-CBN’s biggest buyers hail from Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and, more recently, Thailand. “Strong family ties and traditional family values with very strong romantic [elements] are recurring themes in our dramas, and Asians find these close to home,” says Evelyn “Leng” Raymundo, the head of integrated acquisitions and international distribution at ABS-CBN. “Most of our buyers also find that our dramas are somehow an ideal cross between the emotional fire of Latin telenovelas and the quiet intensity of Asian dramas.” Also looking to deliver a cross between Latin American soaps—which have long found fans in Asia—and local drama is Mexico’s TV Azteca, which partnered with Malaysia’s Astro for adaptations of three of its shows, to be produced by Global Station. The pact began with A Love to Remember, which TV Azteca’s distribution arm, Comarex, has been introducing to broadcasters across Asia. “We already have numerous countries interested in the Malay version of A Love to Remember and we have several offers on the table that are still under discussion,” says Martha Contreras, the head of sales for Asia at TV Azteca/Comarex. “We are delighted with the response so far.” Global Station is now at work on adapting Fierce Angel, and Contreras says the version for Astro will give international markets “an opportunity to get to know and see Malaysia and all that it has to offer.” TV Azteca is looking to replicate the Astro model elsewhere. “We are in the process of closing several other partnerships with TV stations in Southeast Asia to localize our formats for audiences in the region,” Contreras says. Those local versions will then be repped by Comarex. South Asian content owners, among them Zee Entertainment Enterprises, have also found opportunities to sell their scripted shows, produced primarily for Indian consumption, to other markets. “Most countries from the Asia-
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Pacific region have a natural affinity for Indian dramas,” says Sunita Uchil, the global head of syndication and chief revenue officer for international ad sales at Zee. So do the Middle East and Africa, Uchil adds.
GLOBAL ASPIRATIONS
A wide range of scripted Asian content will be available at ATF, including, from the top, ABS-CBN’s On the Wings of Love, CJ’s Bubble Gum and Nippon TV’s Angel Heart. 76 World Screen 12/15
CJ is aiming to extend its scripted tentacles well beyond the region in the year ahead. Arriving at Asia TV Forum with a slate that includes the romantic comedy Bubble Gum, CJ “is planning to travel further to India and beyond,” Oh says. “We believe OTT VOD will become the right vehicle to take us there.” For Chino at Nippon TV, Turkey and Australia are key growth opportunities, as is the digital space. “Digital rights account for the largest portion of our revenue now,” she says. “This was not the case just a year ago. Although it is a challenge for us to keep up to the digital-driven speed, it is also a new chance for us that opens up opportunities for our dramas to travel to the Western world.” Another way that can happen is via scripted formats, Chino adds. “We are currently negotiating with various parties, including broadcasters and digital platforms, on how we can create locally adapted versions [of Nippon TV shows]. Such local versions will give us the momentum to reach out to the other parts of the world.” At ATF, highlights include the crime series High&Low and Higanbana, the female-led A Girl’s Breakfast and the suspenseful Angel Heart. GMA’s Barcelona is aiming to capitalize on a growing interest in Asian drama from markets around the world, with key offerings that include the brand-new launches Little Nanay, Tila Madrasta and Dangwa, and proven performers such as Beautiful Strangers and The Half Sisters. “Furthermore, we will continue to strengthen our presence in Africa, which we have maintained in the last five years,” Barcelona says. Barcelona also sees the potential for scripted-format sales for Filipino content. “In fact, we sold two drama formats to two Asian broadcasters. At MIPCOM this year, we received quite a number of inquiries from several broadcasters and production companies regarding our scripted formats. These companies are in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.” Zee is bringing to ATF a broad mix that includes the crime drama Agent Raghav: Crime Branch, fronted by well-known actor Sharad Kelkar, and the historical series Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani, among others. Uchil is looking to expand Zee’s syndication business further in Asia and the Middle East—where the broadcaster also has a presence with its pay-TV channels. She is also looking at opportunities presented by digital players, both in Asia and around the world. “We are exploring and understanding the medium and believe in arriving at a mutual value where both the content and the pipe can evolve together while providing the consumer with easy and seamless access,” Uchil says. With a catalogue of 210,000 hours across a broad range of content, Zee is able to offer a variety of options for different time slots, Uchil adds. Africa has become a key market for ABS-CBN. “We have established a strong presence in Africa since 2002, with Ugandans as our dramas’ most avid fans,” Raymundo says. “This year marked a breakthrough when we were able to penetrate Central Asia, Southeast Europe and even Latin America, whose telenovelas we continue to import.” As the business of drama becomes even more international, expect to see more borders come down for Asia’s top scripted exporters.
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Over the course of his 30-year acting career, Iain Glen has starred in television and film projects on both sides of the Atlantic. In film he is perhaps best known for the Resident Evil franchise, while in TV he has had memorable turns in Doctor Who, Downton Abbey and, most recently, as Ser Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones. His latest television project is Cleverman, a futuristic drama from Goalpost Pictures and Pukeko Pictures for ABC Australia. Sold by Red Arrow International, the six-parter will air in the U.S. on SundanceTV. Glen tells TV AsiaPac about his enigmatic character, Jared Slade, and the universal themes explored in the series, which is set to premiere in 2016. TV ASIAPAC: How did you hear about Cleverman, and what appealed to you about the project? GLEN: It was one of those lovely e-mails you get from your American manager with a couple of scripts attached and a synopsis. [It came with] a letter from Rosemary Blight, the producer, that provided a whole load of background information about how the story came about—[it draws from] Aboriginal mythology and characters like the Clever Man and the Hairies, these super-human individuals. It was a very full e-mail. And then I read the scripts and I thought it was a strikingly original drama; I don’t think I had read anything like it. I really liked the feel of the role. I needed no persuasion. As an actor I invariably choose [a project] because of the writing. If you have really good writing, then there’s bound to be very good people behind it on a directing level, on a production level. I said yes, and then a couple of months later we started shooting in Sydney. TV ASIAPAC: Tell us about your character, Jared Slade. GLEN: He is a media mogul. He is a very powerful, wealthy man. He has his tentacles spread far and wide—he’s into property, media, pharmaceuticals, farming. He’s a selfmade man and I suppose in some ways a man of the people. We used Richard Branson, Virgin’s [founder], as a kind of blueprint, which felt right in lots of ways. [Branson is] very approachable, with a good common touch about him, and Slade is like that as well. The only difference is that Slade doesn’t promote himself in quite the same way as Branson does. I don’t mean that negatively. If there’s a hot-air balloon Richard will be in it, but Slade isn’t like that. He stays more in the background. That’s partly because he has a number of things going on, and I think he quite likes to be invisible. At the beginning of the series he is helping fund a medical center within the Zone, this ghettoed area where the Hairies and more of the impoverished people from society have been contained. He’s using his own money to try and help them with medical facilities. He’s trying to find a solution to the racial divide and the racial tension, and he’s putting his energies into that. There’s a benign aspect to it, but there’s also a slightly worrisome aspect. The science that he’s investigating [would] extricate the DNA that makes the Hairies what they are, and then that starts to get into slightly morally dangerous territory. TV ASIAPAC: How do you think audiences around the world will respond to this story? GLEN: It’s always a guessing game and you never know, but all I can say is that the themes of it are very universal. There’s nothing difficult in this series. It’s so clear what
Iain Glen the themes are, and they should be relevant for you wherever you live in the world, sadly, because [the show is] about the racial divide. It’s a relationship drama, but it’s about how you live with the “other” in society, those who look different from you, have a different language from you. We’ve got loads of people walking through Europe trying to get away from their own countries and find lives in other countries. That’s what this drama is about; it’s about this different group coming in that the majority population is very fearful of; the majority wants to exclude them and wants to blame them. It echoes back to Aboriginal issues and what Aborigines suffered when the white people arrived, but it’s not specific to that. It’s specific to Aboriginal folklore: the Clever Man and the Hairies are taken out of Aboriginal folklore and, I think, woven very subtly and cleverly into a futuristic drama. The show feels like it crosses genres. It’s underpinned by the relationships. It’s about brothers and mothers and husbands and wives. That keeps it very grounded. TV ASIAPAC: The business of drama has become so much more international. You’re a Scottish actor in an Australian drama being sold by a Munich-based company! GLEN: It’s cross-pollination, isn’t it? It is a good thing. It’s nothing but good news. Good drama is good drama. You go down a very dangerous route if you think, What about this drama can you make internationally appealing and universal? Starting from that and [wondering], will people understand this word or that behavior?—don’t go there! Just make something true to where you’re making it, and it will resonate. People will find their own associations and won’t be told what to think. I hope that’s the case with Cleverman.
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When AXN launched in Asia in late 1997, its prospects were uncertain. In a landscape where pay TV was a long way away from taking hold, AXN bet big on the idea that Asian consumers would come to love a 24-hour destination for largely imported action and adventure programming. The risk paid off, with the channel now a firm fixture in 19 countries across Asia, drawing in viewers with high-profile U.S. shows like The Blacklist and Quantico, and buzzy Asian originals such as Asia’s Got Talent. Off the back of AXN’s success, Sony Pictures Television Networks, Asia, has built a bouquet of successful brands in the region, including Animax for anime; Sony Channel, which skews female; and, more recently, two Asian entertainment services: ONE, featuring Korean dramas, and GEM, delivering Japanese content. Hui Keng (HK) Ang, the senior VP and general manager of Sony Pictures Television Networks, Asia, tells TV AsiaPac about the importance of those two channels in the region’s rapidly evolving multichannel business. TV ASIAPAC: How did the partnership with Nippon TV for the Japanese entertainment channel GEM come about? ANG: Nippon TV is the leading Japanese broadcaster and in 2014 they won the “triple crown,” which means they won prime time, early prime and all day. In 2015 they are still number one. They really have a vision to expand internationally, expand beyond terrestrial and expand beyond [program] syndication. Sony has built a nice bouquet with a good number of channels, and Nippon TV really liked how we’ve marketed content into brands
Sony Pictures Television Networks
HUI KENG ANG and engaged consumers. They approached us and we concluded a JV deal in April of this year. The channel started on October 1. When we flipped the switch it was immediately available in four countries and on eight platforms. We have a vision of rolling this channel out to the entire Southeast Asian footprint, plus Hong Kong. There are still seven or eight territories that we’re working on. That’s the immediate goal, and that’s what the next 12 months will be all about. Of course, once we reach a critical mass—when we have two or three more key territories—we will be looking to go beyond linear: OTT, SVOD, etc. TV ASIAPAC: You also have a Korean entertainment channel, with ONE. How is that performing? ANG: While new players are coming into the market, the share the channel occupies is still about 70 percent of the TV viewership among four regional players. We continue to engage our audience through various means. Just as we did with the American content on AXN and Sony, for the Korean content we have selected key shows that air very close to the Korean telecast. That has been very well received and has kept us in the leading position. We continue to bring the artists from key shows into markets. Just recently we brought the star of The Gang Doctor into Jakarta and Singapore. We engaged almost 10,000 fans during this two-day trip.
TV ASIAPAC: Is linear the focus for the ONE rollout, or are OTT and SVOD opportunities on the agenda? ANG: For ONE it is a linear conversation, and that is primarily a function of the programming rights we have licensed from [Korean broadcaster] SBS. But when the OTT market is a lot more established and mature, then there will be conversations we can have. TV ASIAPAC: Are there plans to develop original content with your programming partner, SBS, for ONE? ANG: It’s definitely something we’re looking at. SBS has lots of formats. There are conversations happening. TV ASIAPAC: AXN and Sony Channel are so well established. Why was it important for you to add Asian content to your channel portfolio? ANG: English-language content, primarily from the Hollywood studios, has always been the driver for pay-TV audiences in Southeast Asia. The pay-TV market over the last decade has only been tapping the very affluent households. As pay TV gets into the next tier of penetration, you are beginning to get into the median income. These are the people who will look up to English content, but deep in their hearts they really enjoy Asian content: Korean content, anime and the Taiwanese and Hong Kong dramas. We identified the next wave within this, and that’s
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ANG: The linear pay-TV business is the core, but we have already engaged [with our affiliate partners] in terms of TV Everywhere. Most of our affiliate platforms are able to use our existing linear channel brand on a TV Everywhere service. We are already in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. As long as the platform has the ability, we are happy to work with them. From a VOD perspective, we are constantly looking at the rights we have to expand. We have our VOD content within StarHub Go and Astro on the Go. It’s a delicate balance. The next question is, when do we go direct to consumer? Sony Pictures Television Networks, as a company, has digital assets. For example, in the U.S., U.K. and Australia we have an AVOD platform called Crackle. That business is very successful. We can roll it out in Asia anytime we want. We want to make sure that our existing partners are taken care of first, and secondly, is the market ready for such a service? And then beyond AVOD, we have other SVOD services in parts of the world. So, Sony Pictures Television Networks as a company has the assets. It’s about timing and it’s about there being the right business model and the right partnership to roll this out. TV ASIAPAC: You did a pan-regional version of Got Talent this year. How important is original programming for AXN? ANG: Original is a core pillar within my programming strategy. It is no longer a nice-to-have; it is a must-have. It engages with the audience, it allows us to differentiate ourselves and continue in our leadership position, and it creates opportunities for social engagement. The goal is to go big, go regional and go local. Asia’s Got Talent and The Amazing Race Asia, those kinds of shows are regional platforms. They are broadcast in 19 countries and we have faces from three, four or five territories participating in the shows. We’re also going local. We will select one or two key markets and produce a show just for them.
The Time We Were Not in Love airs on the Korean entertainment channel ONE.
Japanese content, which had been very popular 25 to 30 years ago in Southeast Asia. So having that portfolio of both English and Asian languages gives a very good mix to target the entire pay-TV audience. TV ASIAPAC: What’s new at AXN? ANG: You’ve heard about our rebrand. We’ve almost closed out the window [on our U.S. imports.] All the key properties we have—The Voice, Quantico, The Blacklist—are telecast in our footprint within 12 hours of the U.S. broadcast. We want to counter piracy—we want the audience to hear the buzz about these big shows in the U.S. and then they can watch them almost within the same day. Year to date the AXN success story is still very, very strong. We are still the number one broadcaster in Southeast Asia among all the English-language channels. TV ASIAPAC: You rebranded Sony Channel last year. How have audiences and platform partners responded to the new look? ANG: Affiliate platforms in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore are loving the new look and loving the new content. It’s not just about a brand change. We have significantly invested in the programming, so we added on How to Get Away with Murder, Madam Secretary and Jane the Virgin. We’ve just added StarHub to the distribution, in addition to Singtel TV in Singapore. TV ASIAPAC: As the market continues to evolve, how are you satisfying the demands from both audiences and affiliate partners for multiplatform access to content?
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TV ASIAPAC: Looking ahead to 2016, what’s your outlook for SPT’s channels business in Asia? ANG: Very exciting and slightly challenging. Exciting because we’ve just launched GEM, so we’re going to strengthen our leadership in Asian content. We have high-quality originals coming out—pan-regional and single-market shows—that create social-engagement opportunities. And we’ll be engaging platforms in terms of how we fulfill their own digital expansion opportunities. Challenges come with the whole economic situation and the outlook in key Southeast Asian markets. Whether it’s Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines or Thailand, we have some foreign exchange challenges, and some political leadership instability and uncertainty. Then you have Netflix and a few of the other OTT players announcing launches in Asia. They are disruptors. As with any disruption, there will be confusion and it will take at least 12, 24, 36 months before the new normal settles. TV ASIAPAC: Are there any other local initiatives you’re working on that you’re particularly excited about? ANG: We just rolled out Picture This, a global corporate socialresponsibility initiative. Each of the regions has identified a project. For us in Asia, we’ve seen an overuse of plastic bags, so we have engaged the winner of Asia’s Got Talent, the shadow dancer group [El Gamma Penumbra] to perform an act to demonstrate how the excessive use of plastic bags and not recycling enough can cause a lot of environmental issues.
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ANGELINE POH MDA
By Mansha Daswani
In a first for the Singaporean media business, a TV-movie from the small island nation (Spelling Armadillo) picked up a nomination for an International Emmy Kids Award this year. For Angeline Poh, the assistant CEO for industry at the Media Development Authority (MDA), the accolade is a testament to how far the Singaporean content business has come. For the last 15 years or so, the Southeast Asian country has been working on raising its profile in the global market with high-end animation and factual, as well as, more recently, formats and drama. Poh speaks to TV AsiaPac about her ambitions for Singaporean media companies in the year ahead.
TV ASIAPAC: I know it’s been a lot of hard work for Singapore to be recognized as a content provider to the global market. What are some of the strategies that aided in this effort? POH: We’ve been working on building our media industry and focusing on deepening our capabilities to produce and deliver high-quality productions that resonate with audiences. It’s been a long journey. There are no shortcuts to success on that front. It’s been 15 or more years since we started putting in the effort to build an international track record. Prior to that we were doing a lot of things for the domestic market. Around the late 1990s and early 2000s, we started working with international networks like Discovery and National Geographic, and we never looked back.
Today we’re very proud to say that we have a stable of production companies and talent who are able to be real partners with these networks to deliver high-quality programs. We have production companies that are able to secure commissions directly from the networks in the U.S. We even now have production companies producing programs for our local free-to-air broadcaster that are getting interest from international broadcasters. One example is Wild City by Beach House Pictures. It’s about wildlife in urban Singapore. It’s become a format that other cities have said they could do. It was also a coup that Beach House was able to get Sir David Attenborough to narrate Wild City. We feel like we’ve made some progress and have had some achievements, but the landscape is changing. We’ve got new types of commissioners—OTT, SVOD, AVOD, online video—so what does that mean from a production standpoint and from a concept-development standpoint? When you’re in nonlinear and there are no commercial breaks, how do you script for that? How do you engage the audience in a 360-degree way through social media? Just when we thought we’d figured it out, we found new things to learn. It never stops. We have established ourselves as a partner of choice for networks that want to do high-quality pan-regional international programs. If you look at shows like MasterChef Asia, Asia’s Got Talent, Asia’s Next Top Model, a lot of them are done in Singapore or by companies [based] in Singapore. We are recognized now for our ability to deliver on our promise, but we don’t rest on our laurels—there’s still a long way ahead to ensure that we continue to remain relevant to the commissioners and to audiences. TV ASIAPAC: Are animation and factual still Singapore’s key strengths? Do you see other genres emerging as strong suits? POH: Factual is definitely a strong suit, and also formats. In animation, we have seen the industry evolve to a point where we have companies generating their own IP, taking those projects to the market and working on the licensing and merchandising on their own. It’s another step forward for the industry. In terms of drama, it’s a little bit newer for our industry, but we see promise. HBO Asia is starting to do a lot of originals out of Asia. Last year they had Grace, and this year they’ve got Halfworlds. I think there’s going to be a lot of potential for drama that could resonate across the region.
TV ASIAPAC: Looking ahead to 2016, what are some of your strategic priorities for the MDA? POH: Continuing to help companies build their capabilities to deliver quality programs. We’re also going to start exploring more in the nonlinear space. We’re going to open Creators’ Space, a shared facility that will draw in and build a community of online video creators. It’s going to have production studios and working spaces. If we look beyond the infrastructure and the space itself, we’re really trying to build a community of creators and put together a series of programs to develop our next generation of storytellers. We’re building the ecosystem with creators at the core but bringing partners on board. They could could be MCNs, advertising agencies, brand owners. We really do feel that future filmmakers, TV producers and storytellers are going to come from this space.
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