TV Drama MIPTV 2014

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TVDRAMA

WWW.TVDRAMA.WS APRIL 2014

MIPTV EDITION

Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Horror / Starz’s Chris Albrecht / AMC Networks’ Josh Sapan

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CONTENTS FEATURE

Year of the Reboot

18 Thirsty for More Fantasy, science fiction, supernatural and horror shows are generating record ratings across the globe.

Television seems to be following a trend as of late that the Hollywood film studios have long been on board with: the reboot.

Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Editor Mansha Daswani Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Managing Editor Joanna Padovano Associate Editor Joel Marino Assistant Editor Simon Weaver Online Director Victor L. Cuevas Production & Design Director Phyllis Q. Busell Art Director Cesar Suero Sales & Marketing Director Faustyna Hariasz Sales & Marketing Coordinator Terry Acunzo Business Affairs Manager

Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP & Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Drama © 2014 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tvdrama.ws

In increasing numbers, TV executives are looking to existing series and feature films for inspiration. 24 is coming back this summer as a limited event series on FOX, with Kiefer Sutherland reprising his role as Jack Bauer. NBC is reviving Heroes as a miniseries for 2015, after cancelling the show four years ago. HISTORY is taking on one of the most-celebrated TV programs of all time, the 1977 miniseries Roots, as a new eight-hour project. And these are just some of the classic TV dramas that are being brought back to the small screen.

Then there is a whole other crop of big-screen blockbusters that are now making the leap to television. From Fargo to From Dusk Till Dawn, from Rosemary’s Baby to Barbarella, many stories that once played out in the movies are getting revamped with TV treatments.Television offers the chance to take characters and plots from the feature-film world and explore them with more depth than the two- or three-hour film allowed.

Continuing with the trend toward remakes, scripted formats are also having an impact on the face of TV drama globally.

The Bridge (Bron/Broen), The Returned (Les Revenants), Wentworth and Broadchurch are just a few of the international hits that are being adapted with local versions in various markets.

The television prequel is also having its time in the spotlight. A&E’s Bates Motel depicts a teenage Norman Bates, set well before the days of the iconic film Psycho.The NBC drama Hannibal tells the story of FBI agent Will Graham’s relationship with Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the years before he’s caught and imprisoned for his cannibalistic murders (the scenario that drove the Thomas Harris novels, including The Silence of the Lambs). Next up is Better Call Saul, which focuses on Breaking Bad’s Saul Goodman before he met Walter White.

With so many ideas being revisited in the TV landscape, is there still room for fresh concepts to break through? Drama producers today are challenged to present original stories and characters that can stand on their own and grab the attention of network executives and audiences. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but innovation reigns supreme.

These and other topics will be explored in depth in this brand-new publication, which is the latest addition to the World Screen portfolio. TV Drama is accompanied by a website, TVDrama.ws, and an online newsletter, TV Drama Weekly, to bring our readers the latest developments in the genre across the globe.

—Kristin Brzoznowski

18 INTERVIEWS 10 Starz’s

Chris Albrecht

14 AMC Networks’ Josh Sapan

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Eccho Rights • Kurt Seyit & Sura • Who Are You • Perfidia Starring Kivanç Tatlitug and Farah Zeynep Abdullah, Kurt Seyit & Sura is a book-based romantic drama from Ay Yapim that Eccho Rights is bringing to this year’s MIPTV.The production is about a womanizing Turkish lieutenant who runs away with the daughter of a noble Russian family. Fredrik af Malmborg, Eccho Rights’ managing director, describes Kurt Seyit & Sura as an “eye-catching epic love story set against well-known historical events and periods—the Russian Revolution, the heyday of the Ottoman Empire.” Other highlights from Eccho Rights include Who Are You, a supernatural cop show from CJ E&M, and Perfidia, an Argentinean thriller from Cisne Films. “With a fastpaced story and rich themes, Perfidia asks the million-dollar question: who can you trust, if not an old friend,” says af Malmborg.

“Dramas with strong themes and great characters in extreme situations never go out of style.”

—Fredrik af Malmborg Kurt Seyit & Sura

FremantleMedia International • Jamaica Inn • Dicte • Wentworth

A pair of book-based series lead the drama slate that FremantleMedia International brings to this year’s MIPTV. The first, Jamaica Inn (Origin Pictures), drew its inspiration from the classic novel penned by Daphne du Maurier, while the second, Dicte (Miso Film), was adapted from Elsebeth Egholm’s literary works. The company is also presenting Wentworth, a prison drama.“After the huge worldwide success of the first series [of Wentworth], which is now in almost 80 territories, we are very much looking forward to showcasing the upcoming second series from Australia,” says Sarah Doole, the director of global drama at FremantleMedia. “The story continues as viewers are taken back to the Wentworth Correctional Centre and continue to follow the female prisoners as their lives unfold.”

“Not only is Wentworth a brilliantly classy and stylish drama, it also fast becomes addictive viewing!”

—Sarah Doole Wentworth

Russia Television and Radio/Sovteleexport • Demons • The Iron Ivan • Ash Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel Demons has been adapted as a miniseries, which Sovteleexport is showcasing on behalf of Russia Television and Radio this year in Cannes. The company is also bringing to the market the feature film The Iron Ivan. “In the early 20th century in the U.S.A., [Ivan Poddubny] was officially acknowledged as the strongest man in the world,” says Julia Matiash, the director of Sovteleexport. “He was a Kazak and started as a circus athlete. This is a story of a real man, real love and real struggle.” Then there is Ash, an action drama spotlighting Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror and World War II. “The series is designed as an intriguing story full of dangerous adventures and complicated choices,” says Matiash.

“Russian products are getting more and more popular in international markets.”

—Julia Matiash Ash 328 World Screen 4/14

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Shine International • The Smoke • INXS: Never Tear Us Apart • From Here to There The nature of heroism is questioned in The Smoke, a scripted drama that Shine International is promoting this MIPTV. “Intricately woven story lines and beautifully realized characters serve to create an authentic, deeply moving and very funny depiction of what it means to be an everyday hero,” says Nadine Nohr, the company’s CEO.“Combined with an incredible cast and extraordinary production values, it is a drama for our times.” Shine is also bringing to the market INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, which centers on one of the world’s most successful rock bands, and From Here to There, a thriller starring Philip Glenister that, according to Nohr, weaves “an intricate fictional story of a family in crisis around the political, social and cultural regeneration of a city, generation and era with complexity and humor.”

“The demand for scripted programming is still incredibly strong, a trend driven by increased opportunities to view.”

—Nadine Nohr The Smoke

Turkish Radio & Television Corporation • The Golden Apple • A Tale of Yusuf

Founded 50 years ago, Turkish Radio & Television Corporation (TRT) is the national public broadcaster of Turkey. Its programs are being offered to the international market at MIPTV, where the focus will be primarily on dramas. The Turkish drama The Golden Apple touts the tagline “Live for your country, die for your love.” Mehmet Demirhan, the deputy head of TRT’s TV department, lists the show as the top highlight for MIPTV. Demirhan also points to A Tale of Yusuf, set in the early 19th century. The story follows Maria, a beautiful young woman born and raised in the Ottoman lands that run through Europe. By the will of her deceased father, she finds herself in Istanbul searching for her uncle, who is a high-ranking military officer.

“TRT has already made a name for itself in Europe, the Balkans and the Middle East.”

—Mehmet Demirhan The Golden Apple

Zodiak Rights • Braquo • Back to Saint Tropez • Solsidan The winner of the 2012 International Emmy Award for best drama, Braquo has already sold to 113 countries.There is a third season ready to offer now as well, which Zodiak Rights will be speaking to buyers about at MIPTV. The company is also highlighting Back to Saint Tropez, a spin-off series of the original cult saga Saint Tropez, which sold to more than 120 countries.

There is a fifth season in production of the comedic drama Solsidan.“There is a new interest for European drama/non-American drama triggered by the success of The Returned, the French drama series sold in over 70 territories,” says Marc Nowak, the general manager of Zodiak Rights (Paris). “Until very recently, broadcasters did not even consider non-English content.They now turn to us, distributors, to see what we have in store.”

“While dramas have always quite easily traveled to neighboring countries, they now trigger worldwide interest as long as they are high-quality shows dealing with universal themes.”

Braquo 330 World Screen 4/14

—Marc Nowak

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By Anna Carugati

For the past several years, the U.S. premium service Starz has been boosting its roster of original productions. Spartacus and Magic City were followed by The White Queen, Da Vinci’s Demons and Black Sails. Starz CEO Chris Albrecht, who was instrumental during his years at HBO in creating high-quality award-winning programming, wants to introduce viewers to characters and worlds not often seen on television. As Starz produces more of its series and sells them internationally, audiences around the world will also have the chance to immerse themselves in new environments and even travel through time.

STARZ’S CHRIS ALBRECHT

TV DRAMA: Are you still pursuing the strategy of going straight to series on a project instead of producing a pilot?

ALBRECHT: That is one of the things that people are copying from us. It’s what Netflix is doing. It’s what HBO just did with True Detective. People are now realizing that the straight-to-series order is not unusual. It’s a viable option when they are thinking about how to get in business with people.We’ve learned how difficult it is, especially with these big serialized dramas, to just go right into production without a pilot, so we’ve been spending more money in the development process. If we get a script and we like it, we’ll then put together a small writers’ room.We will then break out the entire season and a few episodes so we really are much more prepared when we go into production. By getting as much of the writing done, you have a better chance of understanding where the series is going. Even though that doesn’t solve all of the issues. [You still ask,] Do I have the right actor in the right role? Is my cinematographer shooting it the way that I hoped he would? Those are a few of the things you get to see when you do a pilot. We are getting better at anticipating the challenges of working without a pilot.When I was at HBO, we didn’t do a pilot for Rome.We went right to Rome and shot it and looked at the first three episodes and thought, Uh oh, this isn’t what we were hoping for. But we had so much money that we went back and re-shot it. The days of spending that kind of money are over.

TV DRAMA: Tell us about the upcoming series Power.

ALBRECHT: We’re excited to be in business on a contemporary

show that is shot in New York, which is a place where I have shot several shows in my career. It’s always an exciting place. Power was a great idea that was brought to us by Curtis Jackson, also known as the rapper 50 Cent.This is a case where the writer, Courtney Kemp Agboh [creator and showrunner of Power], came to us and had never done her own show before. She had been a writer for a while and had recently been in a really good [production] system on The Good Wife. She had a really strong point of view about the world and the characters in Power. It’s got a lot of the flash that appeals to people—the glamour of New York, the danger of crime and drugs. At the heart of it is also a love triangle, a starcrossed romance that is very much driven by two people who made a choice early in their lives not to pursue a relationship and then have to live with the question,What would have happened 332 World Screen 4/14

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already blowing up the Internet with their passion for any information we can give them about what’s happening, the casting or story lines. It’s about an Englishwoman, a nurse, who returns from the war in 1945 to her husband who she hasn’t seen since the war began.They go to Inverness in Scotland to reunite and reconnect. They are a little estranged from each other and after [walking through a circle of stones], she finds herself back in the early 18th century in exactly the same geographical place that she left. She’s [stuck in the 18th century] and forced to marry another man and it’s a great time-travel romance across centuries.

It’s a great love story, and it’s also uniquely a very fun and accurate look at a period and a lifestyle that I think will not only be interesting to the audience, but in some cases will make you wish you could just go back and live that way.

Power is one of Starz’s new original series, with a world premiere set to take place at MIPTV.

if I had taken that path? I certainly think that is something that a lot of people can relate to.The faces and the characters in this show are people that I don’t think you see in other series on television.

Power has a lot of African-American and Hispanic characters who look like people who live out in the world and not necessarily like people who just inhabit television shows.The fact that we are able to bring Power to MIPTV and have it be the world premiere there is also very good for us because it’s an important part of our strategy of being able to afford these shows, of getting our brand known in places outside the U.S. and selling these shows around the world.

TV DRAMA: And Da Vinci’s Demons and Black Sails are

returning for second seasons?

ALBRECHT: Yes. What we have been trying to do with our

shows—Power, Black Sails, Da Vinci’s Demons and even Outlander—is depict worlds and characters that aren’t on television elsewhere. It’s hard to say that in an absolute sense because there are so many shows, and people can make analogies from one thing to another. But particularly when you look at Da Vinci’s Demons through the mind of David Goyer, you see historical characters in a world of historical fantasy-action-adventure who are also superhero-like. In season two we go from Florence to the New World to Goyer’s vision of the Inca civilization and Machu Picchu. It’s exciting, it’s lavish, it’s fun, and to me it’s unlike anything that is on television. If you think [about the fact] that we shoot it all in Wales, then you really go,Wow, how do they do that?

Da Vinci’s Demons follows Black Sails, then Power, and then Outlander, which is based on the international best-selling series of historical fiction-fantasy-sci-fi novels by Diana Gabaldon.

She has tens of millions of fans around the world. The fans are 334 World Screen 4/14

TV DRAMA: Are you satisfying fans through social media and giving them little tidbits of what’s to come? Do you find that social media can help you promote your shows?

ALBRECHT: I think social media is critical.We need to be great at it.There is obviously a learning curve because it’s always changing. Ron Moore, who is an executive producer on Outlander, came to me early on, because I was a little worried about doling out information about the show on social media. He said the fans want as much as you can give them—no pun intended, fan the fans!

He said, I’ve done this on Battlestar Galactica, and I’m telling you, you can’t give these people enough. So we followed that strategy.

We’ve been targeting the fans and letting them be the insiders, and then we’ve been using that core to start to build awareness through social media for people who may not be aware of the book but may be interested in the [genre].The best advocates you can have now for shows—and don’t take this the wrong way—aren’t necessarily reporters and the press, but other fans.

TV DRAMA: What upcoming projects is Starz preparing?

ALBRECHT: We recently announced Survivor’s Remorse, our first

comedy. Even though comedies don’t often travel well outside the U.S., this one is set in the world of basketball, and professional basketball is one American sport that travels well outside the U.S. It’s also a world we haven’t seen before on television.Two of our partners are LeBron James, who probably is the greatest basketball player on the planet right now, and Tom Werner, who along with Marcy Carsey executive produced some of the best sitcoms, and who is now the chairman of the Boston Red Sox. We announced a show that will be on in 2015, which is called Flesh and Bone.Again, it’s from a writer who hasn’t done her own show before but who has come up in a great system, this time Breaking Bad.The writer is a woman named Moira WalleyBeckett. Although Flesh and Bone is set in the world of ballet, it’s a lot more about women’s images—as seen by themselves, as seen by other women, as seen by men.We decided that seeing these dancers do what they do is really the very essence of the show.

So we went out and held an actual worldwide casting process with real dancers. Instead of looking for actors who could dance, we did the opposite.We looked for dancers who might be able to act. The scripts for this show are terrific, but you see these dancers and you realize these people can basically fly! The things that they can do with their bodies are just incredible, and so inform the drama and the characters. I always say we’re going to do this show with no net. This is one I am particularly excited about, simply because I know no one has ever approached a show this way before.

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AMC’s

The taglines of the channels owned by AMC Networks clearly tell viewers what they can expect when they tune in: AMC—“Something More”; IFC—“Always On. Slightly Off.”; SundanceTV—“What’s Next, Now.” These channels are not only home to some of the mostwatched and most critically acclaimed shows, such as Breaking Bad, Mad Men and The Walking Dead; they also offer miniseries like Top of the Lake and imported series like The Returned. Josh Sapan, the company’s president and CEO, shares his philosophy for finding and showcasing unconventional storytelling that features unique and memorable characters.

TV DRAMA: Breaking Bad was such a groundbreaking drama.

Has achieving that kind of viewership success and critical acclaim changed the way your team looks for shows?

SAPAN: No, it actually has reinforced what brought us to Mad Men and Breaking Bad, which is that we look now more than ever for what we think is exquisite storytelling, with compelling characters and a real focus on that which will engage people most profoundly without tricks. And because we really do think that looking in the rearview mirror is dangerous, looking for shortcuts is dangerous, looking to imitate is treacherous, we should very simply try to find the very best stories with the most depth. If I can create an analogy, which is not meant to sound fancy, it’s interesting to look at movies or books—and I would offer that the best movies and books are the ones with the freshest stories. I like to read fiction, and I like to see what is winning the prizes, and the books that are derivative are infrequently terribly compelling. The movies that are derivative may do well at the box office in some instances because they have familiar constructs or characters, but the ones that really blow people away are the ones that are completely original and committed in the eyes of the creator.

I actually think this year’s Golden Globe and Academy Award nominees are an interesting example of that because they are a pretty interesting collection of films, from American Hustle to The Wolf of Wall Street to our own Blue Is the Warmest Color to 12Years a Slave to August: Osage County to Philomena to Saving Mr. Banks and Her—boy are they fresh! So amidst the sea of sequels, which are fine and of course do business, there is some pretty substantial box office and commerce at the theater turnstiles occurring for expressions that are pretty damn unprecedented. I think that is actually also occurring in TV, and you see it on our own channels. Rectify on SundanceTV, which returns for a second season this summer, is breathtaking. We have a new series on SundanceTV called The Red Road with Julianne Nicholson, Jason Momoa,Tom Sizemore and Martin Henderson, written by Aaron Guzikowski, which I think is spectacular and unique. The Spoils of Babylon premiered [in January] on IFC and is really fresh and crazy, and it joins Portlandia. I am a true believer that while there is certainly a commercial vein [on television] that is predictable and familiar, we are in an era, facilitated in part by technology, in which people find the time because they can, and they adjust [their viewing to suit their schedules] frequently via DVR and on demand.They have the attention and therefore they have the interest and the capacity to find and stay with more nuanced 336 World Screen 4/14

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JOSH SAPAN material that ultimately is more rewarding and creates greater engagement. So that’s why I think we’re seeing some of the series rising to the top that are by most people’s agreement simply structurally better and critically better without much dispute.

TV DRAMA: Which other shows would you like to highlight?

SAPAN: WE tv will have its first scripted drama coming this

June called The Divide, from Richard LaGravenese, who wrote The Fisher King and Behind the Candelabra. The series is based on a central character, a woman involved in the Innocence Initiative, which is based on something in the real world called The Innocence Project. It centers on one woman’s story of missionary-type work and she is a very interesting character— it’s one of the most, if not the most, interesting women’s drama on American cable television. Spoils of Babylon, from Will Ferrell, set ratings records for IFC. It’s a broad parody of a sweeping miniseries, and it’s quite funny and ironic and stars Kristen Wiig, Tobey Maguire and Tim Robbins. On SundanceTV we have The Red Road about an indigenous population of Native Americans that has been intact for a very long time and is somewhat isolated. The story is about the conflict between them and an encroaching suburban, affluent world. It’s about a crime and these two conflicting worlds embodied in two men who grew up there and represent the two sides. Then Rectify comes back for season two this summer, and later this year we have a terrific miniseries with Maggie Gyllenhaal called The Honourable Woman. And then we will have a second season of The Returned (Les Revenants), a French series with subtitles, airing on a commercial television channel, SundanceTV. I don’t know that there has ever been a non-public television outlet in the U.S. that has successfully aired, with good ratings, a series in a foreign language for multiple seasons. I say that not to pat ourselves on the back, but to indicate that there might be an interesting emerging trend occurring with so many shows being adapted. For example, our AMC series The Killing was an adaptation of the Danish series Forbrydelsen. There’s also Borgen, and Homeland, which is an adaptation of an Israeli show. It seems like maybe the time has come for American television to do something that European television has done, which is be very happy to show a TV series in a foreign language with subtitles. We have a film company, IFC Films/Sundance Selects, and have been a big exhibitor of foreign films for years, so it’s heartening to see people happy to watch something in a foreign language on television.

TV DRAMA: And what do you have coming up on AMC? SAPAN: The Walking Dead returned in February and the first

episode drew nearly 16 million viewers. We have a Revolutionary War drama called Turn, which premiered April 6 and offers an interesting twist because it deals with spies working in George Washington’s army. It’s an interesting portrayal of revolution, because revolution often seems binary— good guys against bad guys. This is more about neighbors and the decision they must make to be for or against a separate America. I personally find that interesting because I often think, not that I am any big academic, that history makes things seem black and white, particularly when there is revolution or change of government, and I always think that’s probably not the case. It’s probably that you are in some swirl of ambiguity about whether you are for or against [the cause, and are also considering] your personal interests and the protection of your family, but you’re up against principles and it’s probably pretty damn murky for many people.

We’re of course also looking forward to April 13, when Mad Men returns for the first half of its final season.

This summer we’ll have a show called Halt and Catch Fire that’s set against the backdrop of what was called the Silicon Prairie—Texas in the ’80s—when the personal computer industry was being developed. And we have Better Call Saul, the prequel to Breaking Bad, coming late in 2014 about what Saul was up to before he met Walter White.

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By Anna Carugati

This April, AMC premiered the Revolutionary War drama Turn, which is being repped by Entertainment One Television International.

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NBCUniversal’s Dracula.

THIRSTY FOR MORE Fantasy, science fiction, supernatural and horror shows are generating record ratings across the globe. By Jane Marlow emember the days when Doctor Who’s Daleks looked like trash cans on wheels wielding a sink plunger and a food whisk? The time when the Star Trek crew used to communicate with the Enterprise using something resembling your mom’s old powder compact? Although modern-day fantasy/scifi/supernatural programming is hugely indebted to these early trailblazers, it’s now boldly going where few of its predecessors have been before: mainstream.

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The shift from niche to network is evident in the U.S., where research from Twentieth Century Fox International TV reports that in 2014 an unprecedented 15 fantasy/scifi/supernatural series will be airing on the five major U.S. broadcast networks.

The success of shows like the zombie drama The Walking Dead, an AMC-FOX International Channels co-production represented by Entertainment One Television, first drew attention to the genre’s potential.The show’s season four premiere on AMC was its highest-rated yet with 16.1 million live viewers. Prentiss Fraser, the senior VP of worldwide sales

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BBC Worldwide’s Atlantis, which has been commissioned for a second season, nabbed presales to CANAL+ in France and Space in Canada ahead of its MIPCOM launch in October.

and acquisitions at Entertainment One Television Inter national, says that after a high profile MIPCOM launch, clients were very quick to come on board.

“AMC had a number of very successful shows, such as Mad Men, leading into The Walking Dead, so they’d already established themselves as a global brand. It was the perfect time for a show that was splashy like this. It was such a departure from what you’d expect and so bold. It just took off.”

Now, she says, she’d be hard pressed to find a territory The Walking Dead hasn’t sold into.

With the werewolf thriller Bitten, and Haven (based on the Stephen King novella The Colorado Kid), in eOne’s catalogue, Fraser credits the genre’s ratings dependability.

“These types of shows consistently deliver across a number of seasons,” she comments. “We’re just going into our fifth season of Haven in the U.S. and globally, and all the partners who have picked up the show along the way have also come on board already. These shows [generate] an audience base over and over again.”

NOT SO HOLLOW

GOING MAINSTREAM

Don McGregor, the executive VP of NBCUniversal International TV Distribution, says the U.S. networks’ embrace of this genre is giving confidence to the international market.

“As clients see the success of these types of shows on mainstream channels in other markets (such as Grimm and Dracula on NBC on Friday nights in the U.S.), the demand and willingness to take risks on their own schedules has increased,” says McGregor. He sees a growing appetite for the genre across the board from the U.K., Asia—including China—Latin America, Europe and Australia. Grimm has sold to over 250 territories.

“Genre programming can fit well on a broad free-TV terrestrial channel, similar to the way Grimm and Dracula fit on NBC,” continues McGregor. “Or they can also thrive as a flagship show for a cable or DTT channel such as Defiance on Syfy. SVOD services also really drive streams with this type of content, even in the secondary window.”

Twentieth Century Fox International TV research backs up McGregor’s observation when it reports that in Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden, more than half of the top 15 U.S. fantasy/sci-fi/supernatural series in each territory air on free-TV channels.

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Marion Edwards, the president of international television at Twentieth Century Fox TV Distribution, says the affection the U.S. feels for fantasy/sci-fi/supernatural has been slower to catch on internationally, but she uses Sleepy Hollow as an example of how the genre is transitioning.

“A year ago Sleepy Hollow was not that interesting to the networks in the U.K. but very, very interesting to the cable outlets,” Edwards says. “We licensed it to a cable outlet in the U.K., Universal Channel, and ever since [it first aired] we’ve been fielding calls from networks basically saying, We really missed the boat. So I don’t think they’re going to let that happen again.”

So the old stereotype of sci-fi and fantasy audiences being a nerdy club open only to those fluent in Klingon exists no more. Like many other shows in the genre, BBC Worldwide’s Atlantis appeals to a broad family audience with an equal gender balance.

“I think the stigma of the sci-fi and fantasy labels that might have existed in the past is nothing to fear now,” says Louise Mountain, BBC Worldwide’s director of fiction strategy and development. “That’s because these shows are delivering compelling stories and brilliant characters that you connect with. They also deliver surprise.”

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Mountain says that crime is still BBC Worldwide’s bestselling sub-genre but adds, “It’s that constant quest to find a distinctive proposition, and fantasy/sci-fi does lend itself to being able to create rules and a world that can be really engaging for an audience.”

Shows like Atlantis and Doctor Who do well in Englishspeaking territories, Mountain says, but Asia’s tradition of manga and its love of action adventure means there are opportunities to exploit the genre there too. Another BBC Worldwide show, the low-fi sci-fi/fantasy drama Misfits, has gathered a cult following in Italy, France and Spain and is a hit in the U.S. and Canada. Its progress in Germany is representative of the way the genre is growing. Mountain explains, “Misfits started on a digital platform [MyVideo] because that has traction with a slightly younger audience, but its performance on that platform enabled us to do a TV sale [to ProSieben FUN].”

Mountain adds that even the Nordics, which have a strong tradition of crime drama, are becoming more receptive to scifi and fantasy. “We are noticing that digital platforms are starting to provide more opportunities for British and U.S. content as well, so it’s opening up the market there.”

Katie O’Connell, the CEO of Gaumont International Television (GIT)—the outfit behind NBC’s horror series Hannibal and Netflix’s vampire- and werewolffilled Hemlock Grove—believes that shows in this genre have always been developed, but more of them at the moment are “sticking.”

into the local language and have it go out at the same time,” explains George. “But with Black Sails we got the Frenchlanguage version completed in time for them to go the day after the U.S. launch. It generated a lot of attention and helped the launch of the series in the territory as it added a lot to the allure of that show.”

The obvious answer to why these dramas are having their moment in the spotlight is that audiences currently have a desire for escapist storytelling.

ALLEGORICAL STORIES

For Fox’s Edwards, fantasy drama is about creating interesting venues within which stories with a clear distinction between good and evil can play out. GIT’s O’Connell suggests that building fantasy worlds enables writers to tell stories that are difficult to address head on. “It’s a way to take on interesting themes that are about the geopolitical nature of what’s going on in the world,” O’Connell says. “By putting it into a narrative that is fantasy or sci-fi, you can discuss the influence of terrorism or other things that are going on in the world. A show like Homeland does a really wonderful job, but fantasy is another way to tackle what’s on everyone’s minds, their feelings and fears. The allegorical approach to sci-fi and fantasy is what makes it globally appealing.”

CREEPING-DOWN COSTS

“You could hear an [idea for a] wonderful fantasy sci-fi film for television 10 or 15 years ago, but it would be cost-prohibitive,” says O’Connell. “You would have needed a major feature budget to do it, so it was something that couldn’t exist on the small screen. The advance of visual effects, CGI and prosthetics are enabling us to create effects that are as good as those in the movies.We had a werewolf transformation in season one of Hemlock Grove that I would put against major movies that had much larger budgets than we did. To do that in episodic television was amazing.”

The ability to produce TV with production values usually associated with movies is a key factor in this genre’s growing popularity. Gene George, executive VP of Starz Worldwide Distribution, says there’s always been a demand for fantasy/sci-fi in Europe, Latin America and North America, but the reason for its current popularity taps into a broader desire for quality drama series.

“International broadcasters are looking for product that is very special,” says George.

“Things they can get their marketing teams behind and potentially launch as event programming that will separate them from a lot of the other shows that are out there.”

Starz’s pirate series Black Sails sits on the edge of the fantasy genre spectrum and George reports that it has now been licensed across the globe, with a particularly impactful debut on OCS in France. “Usually there isn’t time to dub a show 4/14 World Screen 343

Twentieth Century Fox’s Sleepy Hollow was the surprise hit of the U.S. fall season, scoring an early renewal by FOX.

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Gaumont’s critically acclaimed NBC and AXN co-production Hannibal sold into the U.K., among other markets, with a slot on Sky Living.

The fact that, by their nature, fantasy/sci-fi shows are often not rooted in a particular culture adds to their global appeal.

“The ‘what if…?’ premise that often underpins sci-fi or fantasy shows allows them to transcend cultural boundaries,” says BBC Worldwide’s Mountain. “What if I could travel in time? What if there was a clone of me? That could be relevant wherever you are in the world.”

Doctor Who goes a long way to back up this theory. Sold into 200 territories, the 50th anniversary episode, The Day of the Doctor, broadcast to 90-plus countries, spanning six continents simultaneously on TV and online. Plus, the simulcast theatrical screenings took $10.2 million at the box office in three days.

The appetite for Doctor Who was seen in markets such as Sweden and Norway, where it doesn’t have a primary thirdparty broadcaster outside of the pan-Nordic BBC Entertainment window. On Facebook, the show’s audience growth is being fueled by Latin American fans. Airing on BBC Entertainment in Latin America, viewers are also turning to Netflix to access Doctor Who in the region.

CATCH-UP TIME

Modern fantasy/sci-fi attracts a broad audience of women and men, particularly in the all-important 18 to 34 demographic. It also has a dedicated core of viewers who are perhaps more inclined than others to interact with their favorite shows across multiple platforms.

“Walking Dead fans have appointment viewing with the show, then they might watch it again on demand, they might re-watch old seasons on something like Netflix, they might purchase one or more versions of the DVD depending on whether they’re collectible or the packaging is different,” eOne’s Fraser explains. “Then they blog about it and download the apps and watch the webisodes.”

With shows reaching out to audiences through social media, a truly global audience can be amassed and exploited, particularly by nonlinear platforms.

“The studios are experimenting a lot in this genre because I think they’re not only seeing them as a linear opportunity 344 World Screen 4/14

but they’re also heavily investing in catch-up and on demand,” adds Fraser. “I think they’re looking to invest in shows that are going to live in multiple spaces as opposed to entertain a family of five watching TV together on a couch.”

GIT’s stylish gothic horror series Hemlock Grove was the second of Netflix’s original commissions. With Hannibal— whose crime scenes also dip their toe into the surreal—airing on NBC, O’Connell say GIT has always had a portfolio approach, adding, “Everything that we do is from a global outlook. Is this going to be appealing in Europe, in the U.S. and all the areas where we distribute our shows? But it starts with the creative and what the best platform for a particular series is.”

She says that rather than targeting a high-school audience for Hemlock Grove, the idea was to attract “an audience who loves the Eli Roth-type genre, who loves gothic family drama with huge, heightened twists.”

When developing shows in this genre, the message that comes across loud and clear is that prioritizing character and storytelling is key to creating a hit. BBC Worldwide’s Mountain says that having a core family of characters whom viewers can connect with is essential. “You have to care about them, even if they are aliens,” she adds.

In order to maximize sales in a genre that can be quite graphic, paying attention to individual market sensibilities is important too. For example, eOne’s Fraser says that in order to get The Walking Dead approved for air in Germany they worked with local regulators and broadcasters to produce a second edit of the show that complied with the ratings system. Bitten is also available in two versions—one is a more liberal Canadian version and the other U.S. edition contains slightly less swearing and nudity, which Fraser says is also appealing to some territories in Eastern Europe.

Is this purple patch for fantasy/sci-fi/supernatural set to continue? “What generally tends to overwhelm the marketplace and kill popularity is when people start producing junk,” concludes Fox’s Edwards. “If it’s not good, people get disappointed, they turn away and it falls out of popularity. If we continue to produce interesting, unique, fun worlds for people to visit, they’ll go there.”

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