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THE MAGAZINE OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA • OCTOBER 2013
www.worldscreen.com
MIPCOM Edition
European Television RTL’s Guillaume de Posch BBC Worldwide’s Tim Davie Endemol’s Just Spee MTG’s Jørgen Madsen Lindemann Talpa’s John de Mol War and Peace’s Andrew Davies Tele München’s Herbert Kloiber Gaumont’s Christophe Riandée Doctor Who’s Steven Moffat Dogan TV’s Irfan Sahin Beta Film’s Jan Mojto ITV Studios’ Kevin Lygo Armando Iannucci Crosses the Pond for Veep MIPCOM Honors
DreamWorks Animation’s
Jeffrey Katzenberg Viacom’s
Philippe Dauman Globo’s
Carlos Henrique Schroder FOX International Channels’
Hernan Lopez Netflix’s
Ted Sarandos Scripps’
Jim Samples Nickelodeon’s
Cyma Zarghami Astro’s
Rohana Rozhan
Claire
Danes BIG STARS ON THE SMALL SCREEN
Kevin Bacon Alec Baldwin James Spader PLUS: Content Trendsetter Award Winners
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contents OCTOBER 2013/MIPCOM EDITION
162
Publisher Ricardo Seguin Guise Editor Anna Carugati Executive Editor Mansha Daswani Managing Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Contributing Editor Elizabeth Guider Special Projects Editor Jay Stuart Editor, Spanish-Language Publications Elizabeth Bowen-Tombari Associate Editor Joanna Padovano Associate Editor, Spanish-Language Publications Jessica Rodríguez Online Director Simon Weaver Art Director Phyllis Q. Busell Production & Design Director Victor L. Cuevas Production Associates Chris Carline Meredith Miller Sales & Marketing Director Cesar Suero Sales & Marketing Manager Vanessa Brand Business Affairs Manager Terry Acunzo Senior Editor Kate Norris Contributing Writers Andy Fry Bob Jenkins Juliana Koranteng Joanna Stephens David Wood Copy Editors Daniel Ellis-Ferris Grace Hernandez Maddy Kloss
94
110
Jeffrey Katzenberg
94
The CEO of DreamWorks Animation will be honored at MIPCOM. —Anna Carugati
Claire Danes
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The star of Showtime’s award-winning Homeland. —Anna Carugati
James Spader
110
The film and TV actor is the lead in The Blacklist. —Anna Carugati
Alec Baldwin
114
Baldwin discusses his movie and documentary projects. —Anna Carugati
Kevin Bacon
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The actor talks about his hit series The Following. —Anna Carugati
Milestones
124
HERNAN LOPEZ
The CEO of FOX International Channels on the group’s 20th anniversary. —Anna Carugati
Spotlight
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TED SARANDOS
Netflix’s chief content officer talks about the streaming platform’s approach to original programming. —Anna Carugati
Content Trendsetter Awards Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP & Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development WORLD SCREEN is a registered trademark of WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, Suite 1207 New York, NY 10010, U.S.A. Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.worldscreen.com ©2013 WSN INC. Printed by Fry Communications No part of this publication can be used, reprinted, copied or stored in any medium without the publisher’s authorization.
146
Profiles of this year’s recipients. —Anna Carugati & Mansha Daswani
Armando Iannucci
158
The British writer takes us inside the critically acclaimed HBO comedy Veep. —Anna Carugati
Special Report
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EURO VISION
This special report on the European content-production business includes interviews with RTL Group’s Guillaume de Posch, BBC Worldwide’s Tim Davie, Endemol’s Just Spee, Modern Times Group’s Jørgen Madsen Lindemann,Talpa’s John de Mol, Andrew Davies,Tele München’s Herbert Kloiber, Gaumont’s Christophe Riandée, Steven Moffat, Dogan TV’s Irfan Sahin, Beta Film’s Jan Mojto and ITV Studios’ Kevin Lygo. —Joanna Stephens & Anna Carugati
23 World Screen 10/13
Industry Trends
202
BINGE FACTOR
A look at how binge viewing is changing the way shows are made, scheduled and sold. —Elizabeth Guider
One-on-One
241
VIACOM’S PHILIPPE DAUMAN
The president and CEO of Viacom talks about the strength of the company’s brands. —Anna Carugati
On the Record
387
RTL GROUP’S GUILLAUME DE POSCH
As co-CEO, de Posch oversees all of RTL Group’s broadcast assets outside of Germany, as well as FremantleMedia. —Anna Carugati
In Conversation
439
GLOBO’S CARLOS HENRIQUE SCHRODER
The CEO of Globo discusses the broadcaster’s continued dominance in the face of emerging competition. —Anna Carugati
DEPARTMENTS PUBLISHER’S NOTE WORLD VIEW GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE VIEWPOINT MARKET WATCH UPFRONTS ADVERTISERS’ INDEX WORLD’S END
30 32 34 36 38 42 627 630
WORLD SCREEN is published nine times per year: January, March, April, May, June/July, October, September, November and December. Annual subscription price: Inside the U.S.: $70.00 Outside the U.S.: $120.00 Send checks, company information and address corrections to: WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, Suite 1207, New York, NY 10010, U.S.A. For a free subscription to our newsletters, please visit www.worldscreen.com.
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contents milestones OCTOBER 2013/MIPCOM EDITION
HIT SEEKERS Buyers at leading free- and pay-TV channels discuss spotting hits, output deals and the need for nonlinear rights 220…INTERVIEWS Modern Times Group’s Jørgen Madsen Lindemann 228…Doctor Who’s Steven Moffat 232…RTL II’s Jochen Starke 237
GROWTH SPURT How important is scale? 320… QUEST FOR THE BEST Programming trends 328…OH BOY! Boys’ action shows 353…INTERVIEWS DWA’s Jeffrey Katzenberg 360…Nickelodeon’s Cyma Zarghami 366…Gumball’s Ben Bocquelet 370…Degrassi’s Stephen Stohn 374…Lagardère’s Caroline Cochaux 376…9 Story’s Vince Commisso 380…SPECIAL REPORTS m4e/Telescreen 265…PGS 297…BLE 337 FASHION FORWARD A look at fashion and modeling formats 414…REAL OR FAKE? Exploring the constructed reality trend 422…INTERVIEWS Talpa’s John de Mol 430…Endemol’s Just Spee 432…ITV Studios’ Kevin Lygo 434
LET THERE BE DRAMA Docudramas are shaking up the factual business 458…TRAVEL TAKES OFF The latest innovations in travel content 466…INTERVIEWS Physicist Brian Greene 472… Scripps Networks International’s Jim Samples 474
REFLECTING CHANGE Surveying Asia’s top pay-TV channel brands 492…INTERVIEWS FOX International Channels’ Zubin Gandevia 500…Astro’s Rohana Rozhan 502
asia pacific HIGH ON DUBAI The emirate is luring international companies with investment schemes and sophisticated studios 514…PROFILE INTV in Jerusalem 518…INTERVIEW Wananchi’s Richard Bell 520
ARGENTINE FOCUS A profile of this media market 546… INTERVIEWS Telemundo Internacional’s Marcos Santana 566…ON TV’s Bernarda Llorente and Claudio Villarruel 581…Telefe’s Tomás Yankelevich 584
magazines appear both inside
THE LEADING SOURCE FOR PROGRAM
These targeted
World Screen
INFORMATION
Listings of numerous distributors
and as separate
attending MIPCOM 587
publications. 26 World Screen 10/13
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publisher’s milestones note BY RICARDO GUISE
Thank You, Anna This column celebrates 20 years of Anna Carugati’s contribution to World Screen. But one day in all those years stands out above all others. I will remember that day, in September of 2000, for the rest of my life. It was the worst day in my professional career. I thought I would not be able to make it. But I did, thanks to Anna. It all started when my then-editor of seven years came to my office a few weeks before we were sending the MIPCOM edition to the printer. This was a stressful time, even if all things went perfectly according to plan. My editor sat down and nervously told me that a huge conglomerate was hiring him to work on several magazines that competed with us. This publishing group had a plan, and the plan was to annihilate us. It started a couple of years earlier, when they created several titles similar to ours—we had TV Europe, they launched Television Europe; we had TV Latina, they launched Television Latin America. They would send numerous people to the markets, build palatial stands, and have girls on Rollerblades distributing their magazines. It was a formidable display of wealth and power. At one time, when I was extremely happy to finally get an upgrade to business class when flying to a market, I ended up sitting next to their head of sales, who spent a couple of hours detailing their five-year plan to conquer the world and dispose of us in a trash bin. I so much wished I were back in my usual economyclass seat! None of this braggadocio really scared me. Until that day when my editor came to my office. He said that he needed to leave immediately. In shock, I asked him if he could stay for at least two more weeks, as we were putting to bed the biggest edition of the year. He said that, as a condition for hiring him, they demanded that he start his new job as group editor right away. I remember saying, “You know they are doing this just to kill us, right?” And he said, “Yes, I do.” With these last words, he said goodbye and departed. Completely dazed, I left my office and took my commuter train to Long Island. An hour after it departed, I realized that I was on the wrong train and in a very scary neighborhood. That was my state of mind! I got off, tried to look tough, then immediately took the next train back to Penn Station. Anna had first started writing for us in 1993, as a freelance reporter based in Italy. A few years later she became a full-time member of the editorial team. In September of 2000, Anna had been my wife for a little more than two years. We had a child, Alessia, 30 World Screen 10/13
who was barely a year old. When Anna was expecting Alessia, the arrangement I made with her was that she would work from our house and help our editor to the best of her ability, but taking care of our infant daughter was going to be her primary responsibility. Our lives turned upside down when I finally arrived home very late that evening, after spending some hairy moments on the wrong train platform. As I explained to her what had happened, I could see it in her eyes: the changes that she knew needed to be made were going to be pretty devastating for her. But Anna did not blink. She immediately took on the editor’s responsibilities, which caused a complete upheaval in her life. She now had to commute for hours every day and leave our daughter with a babysitter. It was a very difficult personal moment, and she made a huge sacrifice to help this company stay afloat. Not only did World Screen stay afloat, it positively flourished. More than ever, we were determined to prove that an independent company that is passionate in its pursuit of excellence was not going to end up being a giant conglomerate’s road kill. Of course, our exponential growth in print and online has been the work of the entire editorial team, including the indefatigable and multitalented (we ran out of titles to define her contributions) Mansha Daswani, who recently celebrated her own milestone: her tenth year at World Screen. Meanwhile, as the years passed, that conglomerate slowly dissipated, and our ex-editor had to be present as one executive after another was fired, until it was finally his turn. He eventually worked with us again as a freelance writer. It took some time, but we got over it. Anna vastly improved on what she was given, helping make this the most important publishing group in the industry. Over the years, she has interviewed every top executive of every major media company in the world. She set the tone for accurate and ambitious reporting, which is overwhelmingly evident in this October issue, the biggest and most impressive edition in our 28 years. But more than anything else, she saved my sorry ass on that miserable day when I felt I was not going to make it. As Nietzsche said, what does not kill you makes you stronger. And it sure helps to have Anna as your partner!
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world milestones view BY ANNA CARUGATI
As Time Goes By How quickly do 20 years go by? Very. But we only realize that as we look back. We are usually too preoccupied with what needs to be done by tomorrow to notice how fast time is passing, until we are surprised by our children growing or the inexorable impact of age and gravity on our bodies. Why am I focusing on 20 years ago? Because I was doing some research and realized that I started writing for this magazine in 1993. That got me thinking about what has changed since then and what has remained the same. Bill Clinton was sworn in for his first term as president in January of that year. In February, terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in NewYork. In June, Clinton ordered a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad. U.N. inspectors were in Iraq looking for nuclear weapons. Even though Clinton brokered a peace accord between the PLO and Israel, it hardly seems much has changed in the incendiary Middle East. Also in 1993, Czechoslovakia split into two countries, Poland held parliamentary elections and in Russia there was a constitutional crisis prompting a mass uprising against President Boris Yeltsin. The Maastricht Treaty took effect, formally establishing the European Union.Yes, the countries in the former Soviet Bloc have embraced democracy, a positive change, but while the Union has grown, it is THE ENJOYMENT OF European struggling to keep its footing. Of course, the most bizarre GOOD STORYTELLING AND event of 1993 was when Lorena Bobbitt, in a moment of desperate rebellion against her abusive ENGAGING CHARACTERS husband, sliced off his penis with a knife. After fleeing in her car IS TIMELESS. with the dismembered member, she flung it out the window into a field, only to call 911 in remorse. Eventually, John Wayne Bobbitt was reunited with his penis, literally; it was surgically reattached. “Bobbitt” became a verb, and people everywhere were talking about this in conversations animated by cheers from sympathetic women and flinches of pain from men. Perhaps this event drew so much attention because those were the days before reality television—audiences weren’t yet inured to the antics of people who will do just about anything in search of 15 minutes of fame. The pop-culture highlights of 1993 included the finale of Cheers, which attracted 80.4 million viewers (that doesn’t happen anymore); among the new shows that year were Frasier, The X-Files and NYPD Blue. A wide range of feature films enthralled audiences: Jurassic Park, Mrs. Doubtfire, 32 World Screen 10/13
Schindler’s List, Philadelphia, Sleepless in Seattle and even Free Willy, whose significance in the U.K. was far different from what the film’s creator intended. Television in Europe was experiencing a flurry of activity: deregulation of the broadcast industry was giving way to a number of successful commercial networks, such as RTL Television and Sat.1 in Germany, Canale 5 in Italy,TF1 and M6 in France, and Telecinco and Antena 3 TV in Spain. Cable and satellite channels were being launched. Most of these new networks and channels relied heavily on imported programming, the lion’s share of which came from Hollywood. That has definitely changed.The European Union may be struggling with economic problems, but its member states have active content-creation and export sectors.The U.K. has a long tradition of period and cutting-edge drama, the Germans have cop shows, the French and Italians have mini-series, Scandinavia has given the world noir crime series, most countries have home-grown soaps— and that’s only on the fiction side. Europe has been a hotbed of formats, first from Holland and the U.K., and now from across the continent.We examine Europe’s fervent production and distribution industries in our main feature, all evidence of significant development in the last 20 years. In this issue, which I believe has the best editorial lineup we’ve ever offered, we interview some of the leading executives in the industry today, from DreamWorks Animation’s Jeffrey Katzenberg toViacom’s Philippe Dauman to Globo’s Carlos Henrique Schroder to the RTL Group’s Guillaume de Posch. We focus on the major issues facing the media business, including binge viewing, the penchant viewers have for watching one episode after another of their favorite shows.We examine the phenomenon in a feature; we also speak to Ted Sarandos, the chief content officer at Netflix, the main vehicle for binge viewing.We also look at topics including docudramas and travel programming, consolidation in the kids’ business, constructed reality and fashion formats, top channels in Asia and Dubai as a production hub in the Middle East. As a special treat, we offer conversations with Claire Danes, Alec Baldwin, James Spader, Kevin Bacon, Armando Iannucci, Andrew Davies and Steven Moffat. No matter how quickly the years pass, the enjoyment of good storytelling and engaging characters is timeless.
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global perspective BY BRUCE L. PAISNER
The DVR Cliff My 4-year-old grandson,Wyatt, came to visit us at the beach this summer. Normally, I would not cite him for anything, but he turns out to be an important statistic. Four years ago, his parents remodeled their house in D.C., and having disconnected the cable for that, never reconnected it.Wyatt grew up watching DVDs and Netflix. Our TV system at the beach is pretty basic cable, so when Wyatt became rambunctious I turned on a kids’ channel. He watched for a while, turned to my daughter and said, “Mommy I don’t like this program.” It was a commercial. Wyatt had never seen one. So Wyatt is the tip of a looming iceberg, people— millions now—who seldom, if ever, watch TV commercials. One major ad agency estimates that almost 50 percent of all households now have DVRs, and at least one third of that group regularly watches prime time on a delayed basis, skipping most commercials.The damage is greatest among people with more income— the very people who buy the things that commercials sell. It is hard to believe that both the DVR population and the number of people who use it will not grow. And that’s just the beginning, because people increasingly have ways to watch “television” that do not EVENTUALLY, IF involve broadcast or cable at all. So-called “over-the-top penetration” has NOTHING IS DONE, video passed 40 percent and is growing. Tablets are already MAJOR ADVERTISERS in one in five U.S. homes and growing fast. Advertising does appear on these delivWILL LEAVE ery systems, in some cases, but it’s more limited and a TRADITIONAL TELEVISION. different experience. Eventually, if nothing is done, major advertisers will leave traditional television, which would be unfortunate on many counts, starting with the fact that advertising supports most TV program creation in the U.S., and more and more around the world. And this movement could happen suddenly—thus, the DVR “cliff ”—if major advertisers come to grips with the fact that the demographic they seek is skipping their ads. So what is to be done? As with many problems, the first task is to recognize the problem, and the fact that it won’t go away. People who fast-forward through commercials do hit the play button every once in a while, generally, according to research, when the ad is for an upcoming movie. The industry has to find ways to arrest the fast-forward and 34 World Screen 10/13
get consumers to hit play. One senior network executive calls it “embracing the DVR experience.”This should be a priority, because the statistics show it is an escalating problem, and to some degree a solvable one. People will stop the fast-forward to watch something that interests them. (My view is that, despite recent setbacks for broadcasters, the courts will not allow commercialskipping devices.) And individuals seldom get the transition from fast-forward to play exactly. Which is why the commercial spots just after and just before the program have become so valuable. Increasingly, events— sports, news, major TV mini-series—have instantaneous value, partly because of the watercooler effect. People watching event programming are much more likely to watch it live, commercials and all. Secondly, commercials just need to be different.When watching is an option, not an obligation, people’s behavior changes, yet the content, storytelling and style of most commercials is not very different from years ago. People watch Super Bowl commercials because they’re well-made and entertaining. Regardless of expense—or with new ways to control expense—this once-a-year standard may have to become the new norm. Thirdly, and paradoxically, we may find ourselves back in the early days of television, when products and sponsoring companies get placement in the titles of shows. This, other forms of branded entertainment, and the many varieties of so-called “product placement,” will become a lot more urgent as the real audience for the actual commercial spot declines. And fourth, with the inexorable growth of “pay TV”—everything from Netflix to Hulu Plus—advertisers will have to find other ways to reach potential customers. One fertile area is the addressability of people who watch TV over the Internet. As companies get better at identifying and tracking those viewers, they will learn to direct and pinpoint advertising messages. For 60 years, television has been almost too easy—produce a commercial and people watched it. Just as this new Internet-delivered, pay-for-what-you-want era will require vast changes in business models and basic thinking from the TV industry, it will demand the same from the people who make and sell products. That is the need and the challenge. If it is not met, the industry will find itself walking over a DVR cliff as steep as any fiscal cliff facing the industrialized countries. Bruce L. Paisner is the president and CEO of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
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milestones viewpoint BY PAUL ZILK
Hosting The New Golden Age of TV Something big is changing in the entertainment industry. At this year’s MIPCOM, where some 13,000 delegates from over 100 countries will represent the increasing diversity of players operating in the entertainment ecosystem, be prepared for headlines that read, “Cinema joins television and digital in the golden age of television.” In 2012, Kevin Spacey, Jane Campion and Harvey Weinstein crossed paths on the Croisette in Cannes, only they were doing so not at the world-famous Cannes Film Festival, but at the leading international television and digital event, MIPCOM. Spacey came to promote Netflix’s $100-million House of Cards to international television buyers, while Academy Award–nominee Campion discussed her television drama debut Top of the Lake. Iconic film producer Weinstein made his first-ever MIPCOM appearance, telling his keynote audience that television is “such an exciting area at the moment, and movies are shrinking to some extent. So it’s the right time for us to get into TV in a big way.” These three appearances at MIPCOM signaled a major change: top executives, major companies and talent usually associated with cinema are stepping forcefully MIPCOM CONTINUES TO into what many are now calling the “new golden age of an age when BE THE LARGEST television,” demand for high-end TV drama, new sources of online INTERNATIONAL EVENT financing and distribution and digital innovation are the order of the day. SERVING THE TELEVISION Fast-forward 12 months, and the cinema community’s AND DIGITAL SECTORS. interest in the television sector is increasingly apparent at MIPCOM 2013. MIPCOM’s Personality of the Year and keynote speaker, Jeffrey Katzenberg, has delivered a string of film hits at Disney, DreamWorks SKG and DreamWorks Animation (DWA), including the hugely popular Shrek franchise. Now he is fast-tracking DWA into television, with a commitment to produce hundreds of hours of original programming based on the studio’s animated films and the Classic Media library. Fellow MIPCOM keynote speaker Ryan Kavanaugh, the CEO of Relativity Media, heads a company with a track record in film production that includes The Social Network, Limitless and The Fighter. The nextgeneration studio, which incorporates unscripted production specialist Relativity Television (Catfish: The 36 World Screen 10/13
TV Show), has recently expanded into scripted programming, initially targeting sitcoms, drama and sketch-comedy series. With European television channels favoring high-end drama series such as Britain’s Downton Abbey, Germany’s Generation War or Denmark’s The Killing over prime-time film reruns, and U.S. audiences absorbing shows like Mad Men, Band of Brothers, Homeland and House of Cards, television is increasingly being seen as the place for directors, writers and other top talent to tell their stories. Spacey said at MIPCOM 2012, “When I look now, the most interesting plots, the most interesting characters, they are on TV.” Top of the Lake executive producer Iain Canning, who produces film and television, reiterated Spacey’s message, saying, “There are no barriers between storytelling—epic stories can be told on television. If this is the golden age of television, I hope it continues and that we can play a part in that.” Scandinavian film and TV producer Lars Blomgren, the man behind Danish/Swedish crime drama Bron (The Bridge), is certainly playing his part in the golden age. At the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, he noted, “A lot of creativity has moved over to TV,” adding that he now prefers what he called the “impressive” business atmosphere at MIPCOM to the Cannes film event. The latest remake of The Bridge is The Tunnel, a co-production between Canal+, Sky Atlantic, Shine France and Kudos, distributed by Shine International, that will be unveiled internationally at the MIPCOM World Premiere TV Screening on October 7. The growing diversity of the industry is reflected in this year’s keynote speaker lineup. In addition to Katzenberg and Kavanaugh, MIPCOM audiences will hear from senior executives from Bravo and Style Media, FremantleMedia, Amazon Studios, ZEE, Facebook, MGM Television, Electus, TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies. It’s a coming together of powerhouse television producers, film companies moving into television and digital playmakers. With over 100 countries represented, MIPCOM continues to be the largest international event serving the television and digital sectors, and this year the spotlight turns to Argentina, MIPCOM’s Country of Honour. “The MIPCOM focus on Argentina is a unique platform for international buyers, co-producers and distributors to discover the quality, vision and diversity of our content and original stories,” noted Liliana Mazure, the president of the Argentine National Film Board (INCAA). Paul Zilk is the CEO of Reed MIDEM.
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market milestones watch BY ROD PERTH
Time for Reinvention We’re all incredibly fortunate to live in what is indisputably the most interesting time in the history of television. But, it’s also a time of tremendous challenges. All of us who attend MIPCOM and NATPE understand that markets serve a critical function, allowing exhibitors and buyers to network and explore new opportunities that lead to business transactions. For almost 60 years, it was a simple, relatively predictable business. Shows were developed and licensed to a network, then marketed internationally or packaged in output deals. Hits offset deficits, and international revenue cushioned creative risks. Now, new digital platforms, on-demand viewing and thousands of viewer choices anywhere, anytime, have changed the narrative. The separation between traditional and new digital media no longer exists, but this is still a hitdriven business—even technology won’t change that. Our reinvention as a business depends on how we develop, distribute, and adapt 60-year-old models to new realities. Historically,TV has adapted and thrived in the wake of new technology.The remote control, the VCR, DVDs and the explosion of cable channels were all tech-driven advancements that actually opened vast new opportunities. Technology’s impact is non-negotiable, and we must reach viewers even as they migrate away from traditional viewing platforms.The challenges are steep and traditional business models steeped in legacy have no place in today’s digital ecosystem.We must be nimble, stay informed and reinvent old assumptions, because technology will keep disrupting even as it creates amazing new possibilities. This digital tsunami has demolished barriers to entry for video producers and distributors, and this year the walls between linear and digital programs finally collapsed. Viewers are changing how they watch, and in this golden age of quality drama and comedy, on-demand binge viewing has actually saved marginal shows that networks otherwise would have cancelled. This previously unmeasured viewing that is now being counted provides massive incremental bumps in ratings. Online, video companies seek new ways to package original productions as quality programming real estate for advertisers. Advertisers and show creators are just beginning to realize the potential of social networks and secondscreen engagement, which will provide important new sources of revenue.Web channels are attracting top writers and producers who create award-winning dramas and comedies. Though not advertiser supported, Netflix has proven that beautifully produced, award-worthy programming is no longer limited to broadcast and cable networks. Soon, new original productions from Amazon, Apple, Hulu, Xbox, Google and YouTube will join Netflix’s original shows—all available online and on-demand. 38 World Screen 10/13
But how do we quantify and monetize cross-platform content viewership and engagement? Eventually, new ratings systems will measure this traffic and micro-measure how consumers respond and purchase, encouraging marketers to reexamine how they reach consumers across every viewing device. Leading the industry effort to understand the cross-platform viewing experience, NATPE is partnering with the Consumer Electronics Show on a groundbreaking study examining not only how viewers interact with a second-screen experience, but also how showrunners shape their content to exploit second-screen interaction. Study results will be released at both CES and NATPE, and we are confident that they will lend valuable clarity to this ever-evolving terrain. While we’re in the south of France, it’s worth noting that the titanic shifts and business struggles playing out in the U.S. market—embodied by the Time Warner-CBS dispute over retransmission fees—offer important lessons for television producers and distributors. These battles illustrate the fundamental tug-of-war between content creators and the cable operators who control subscribers’ access to channels. In the worst case, the financial ecosystem and co-dependency that exists between broadcasters and linear distribution could be in danger, and the fallout could threaten the very underpinnings of television economics. While these negotiations play out, new television delivery systems are becoming viable over-the-top viewing options for angry consumers. Google, Intel and Apple are each developing new, direct-to-consumer web-based receivers. The ripples of these technologies will continue to spread outward as networks and advertisers face the same conundrum—reaching the right audiences who have thousands of new options—with economics that make sense. While its nature rapidly changes, the business is still driven by relationships and face-to-face interaction. That’s why markets like MIPCOM and NATPE, which serve as major touchpoints in the deal process throughout the year, remain vitally important. These markets are a valuable nexus that bring scale to an engaged community. All of the moving parts fit together, deals can happen and fundamental questions about our industry can be examined. The reasons for all of us to be hopeful far outweigh the reasons for concern. Our industry can rise once again to the challenges posed by mold-breaking new technologies. Fifty years from now, they’ll tell stories about how we adapted to this brave—and slightly intimidating—new world. I’m glad I get to be part of this story! Rod Perth is the president and CEO of NATPE||Content First.
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AFL Productions • Curse of the Diamonds • Outrageous and Hilarious • Naked & Funny AFL Productions continues to expand its library by accumulating a unique collection of HD clips, bloopers and hidden-camera gags. Yuri Volodarsky, the company’s owner and head of development and distribution, says the mission is to “maintain a leading position in the world as a one-stop shop for distributors in this genre.” AFL has been particularly successful in helping channels fill late-night slots, with programs such as Naked & Funny and 2Rude4UTube. “Both are hilarious non-verbal comedy winners,” says Volodarsky. At MIPCOM, the company will be presenting Crazy TV Pranks and Outrageous and Hilarious, which are suitable for daytime and access prime slots,Volodarsky says.AFL also has a 4x1-hour historical mini-series, Curse of the Diamonds, based on a true story regarding Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.
“We want to venture into other areas such as drama and long-form comedy production to tap into the resources and talent that AFL has within its reach in the production community.” —Yuri Volodarsky Curse of the Diamonds
all3media international • The Million Second Quiz • Hinterland • Midsomer Murders
One of the U.K.’s leading independents, all3media international is celebrating its tenth anniversary. It has refreshed its branding to mark the occasion.The company is highlighting a mix of drama and formats for its MIPCOM lineup, among them the groundbreaking The Million Second Quiz.The format takes entertainment onto the scale of a major live sporting event, as it runs nearly 12 days in prime time and has 24/7 multiplatform and app play to coincide with the broadcast. Other format highlights include Reflex. In the way of drama, the new detective series Hinterland has been chosen as the official Tuesday MIPCOM Screening.The company is also showcasing Midsomer Murders and a second season of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.
Hinterland
AMC/Sundance Channel Global • Sundance Channel • WE tv Sundance Channel recently debuted in Latin America, rolling out in seven countries on DIRECTV. “Latin America is a key part of our global growth strategy, so this launch has been particularly important for us,” says Bruce Tuchman, the president of AMC/Sundance Channel Global. “We’ve also had new launches in Belgium, France, Poland, Indonesia and the Philippines over the past few months, so we continue to focus on expansion across Asia and Europe as well.” In Europe and Asia, the channel is premiering series such as Low Winter Sun and the mini-series Secret State. In Latin America, the acclaimed series Mr Selfridge and Rake are on air. Tuchman says that the plans are to expand Sundance Channel around the world and WE tv across Asia through both linear and authenticated on-demand services.
“There continues to be a strong appetite for our globally renowned, distinctive programming across both Sundance Channel and WE tv.” —Bruce Tuchman Mr Selfridge on Sundance Channel 42 World Screen 10/13
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American Cinema International • Fast Track • Kiss Me • Raptor Ranch Brett Davern, known from MTV’s Awkward, stars in the action movie Fast Track, which tops the list of highlights from American Cinema International (ACI). In it, he plays Danny Krueger, who wins a scholarship to the Fast Lane Racing Academy but will have to team up with his worst enemy if he wants to be the fastest. ACI is also introducing the coming-ofage drama Kiss Me, which stars John Corbett (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), Jenna Fischer (The Office) and Rita Wilson (Runaway Bride). “We are very proud of and excited about Fast Track and Kiss Me, and hope that both films find buyers that believe in them as much as we do,” says Chevonne O’Shaughnessy, the president of ACI, which is also presenting Raptor Ranch.
“Both Fast Track and Kiss Me feature exceptionally strong casts from hit films and television shows worldwide.” —Chevonne O’Shaughnessy Fast Track
Artear • The Brave Ones • Compulsive Times • Wolf
Three brothers take the law into their own hands in The Brave Ones, a new telenovela on offer from Artear. It tells a story of vengeance, yet one that is also laced with love. Another novela being presented by Artear is Wolf. It centers on Lucas, who, following his 30th birthday, discovers that during a full moon he becomes half man, half wolf. Series are also part of the Artear offering, including Compulsive Times. The show is set in The Renacer Foundation, a therapeutic space for outpatients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder.They all take part in group therapy, which is led by Dr. R. Buso, aided by his loyal friend and colleague Ezequiel as well as the psychologist Dr. Julieta Despeyroux. Together, this team of professionals will make the patients face their own anguish, fears and desires.
Compulsive Times
Artist View Entertainment • April Rain • West End • Fit to Be Bride Feature films have been a sweet spot for ArtistView Entertainment. At this market, the company is offering two new action-based titles with April Rain, which involves an eclectic group of terrorists, and West End, about an undercover FBI agent put in a position to betray the people closest to him. Scott Jones, the president of Artist View, says that “these types of films cross over all cultures and have been the mainstay of our business for the last 20-plus years.” The company has expanded, however, into the lifestyle arena. “Our new lifestyle series are focused primarily on the wedding industry, again because it is a subject that is a part of every country’s culture.” The first title in Artist View’s wedding-themed lifestyle portfolio is Fit to Be Bride.The veteran Hollywood personal trainer and stand-up comedian Debbie Praver hosts this workout series.
“In the past we have always found great success with our high-action and thriller-based feature films.” April Rain 44 World Screen 10/13
—Scott Jones
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ATV • Tatar Ramazan • Peace Street • Fugitive At last year’s MIPCOM, ATV set its sights on penetrating Southeast Asia, Northeastern Europe and Latin America. The company managed to achieve these goals, says Ziyad Varol, ATV’s head of sales, and has also entered Ukraine, Georgia, Pakistan and Slovakia with its programming.This time around, Varol says that ATV is eyeing prospects in the U.S. and some Western European countries. ATV will be presenting buyers from these and other international territories with Tatar Ramazan, the story of a man who seeks justice. ATV introduced Peace Street at MIPCOM 2012, and the series now has a new season. “Fugitive is our latest release, with huge expectations from Turkish audiences,” says Varol. Gurkan Uygun, who was in Valley of the Wolves for ten seasons, stars in Fugitive.
“As one of the leading channels in Turkey, ATV has to always [aim high and] bring the best in Turkish drama every upcoming season.” —Ziyad Varol Peace Street
Azteca • Lucky Me • Prohibido Amar • Hombre Tenias Que Ser
In the drama Lucky Me (Corazon en Condominio), a charismatic taxi driver meets an educated young women and is instantly smitten. After winning the lottery, he will do everything in his power to win her heart, including buying a condo in her very expensive building. Lucky Me is one of several new dramas that Azteca is highlighting for the market. Others include Prohibido Amar, set inside the Consorcio Aguilera textile emporium, where there is a passionate triangle between Gabriela Ramirez, a successful fashion designer; Ignacio Aguilera, the owner of the company; and Rafael Hernandez Cosio. Hombre Tenias Que Ser is set within a prestigious advertising agency, where one woman is willing to stand out in a man’s world.
Hombre Tenias Que Ser
Band Contents Distribution • Natália • Rio Negro • Brazil: The Challenges of a Country You Don’t Know Each of the highlight offerings from Band Contents Distribution provides a look at how life in Brazil really is, according to Elisa Ayub, the company’s director of international content. Natália, for example, tells the story of a young, married girl from Rio de Janeiro who is given the opportunity to become a model when she turns 18. “Rio Negro shows the most beautiful landscapes around Rio Negro’s river, from the Amazon region to the rich histories from locals,” says Ayub. “Brazil:The Challenges of a Country You Don’t Know reveals Brazil’s great cultural variety, emphasizing that the country isn’t just samba and soccer.” Ayub adds, “We want to establish Band Contents Distribution, a division of Grupo Bandeirantes, as a major reference for international content distribution.”
“Brazil is one of the world’s biggest markets, and that is reflected in our business.” Natália 46 World Screen 10/13
—Elisa Ayub
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BBC Worldwide • Atlantis • The Moaning of Life • Hidden Kingdoms With the demand for bold, original dramas at a high, BBC Worldwide is placing its bets on Atlantis. The 13-part series, based on the stories of Greek mythology, comes from the creators of Merlin. From BBC Worldwide’s factual-entertainment slate is the fivepart travelogue The Moaning of Life, documenting Karl Pilkington’s travels around the world and his journey of self-discovery. Also new to the catalogue is the three-part Hidden Kingdoms. “The BBC’s Natural History Unit is celebrated internationally for using the latest filming technology and combining that with innovative storytelling and an in-depth perspective on the natural world,” says Paul Dempsey, the president of global markets at BBC Worldwide. “Its latest production, Hidden Kingdoms, puts the microscope on tiny animals and their exciting lives.”
“We’ve got big plans to continue building the fanbase for BBC brands all around the world.” Atlantis
—Paul Dempsey
Beyond Distribution • Crime & Investigation • People & Society • Children’s
There are a number of crime and investigation series in the Beyond Distribution catalogue. Munia Kanna-Konsek, Beyond’s head of sales, calls the genre “an absolute must and an absolute winner,” highlighting the new series Addicted to the Life and A Stranger in My Home. Also in the genre is season seven of Deadly Women and ten new Facing Evil specials. The people and society genre has Charlotte: My Story, which is the follow-up to Baby Charlotte and Charlotte: A Life without Limbs. “The program is heart-wrenching and heartwarming,” says Kanna-Konsek. “It is a truly inspiring piece of television.” Beyond also has a wealth of children’s programming. Absolute Genius with Dick & Dom and Hero Squad are both live-action, educational series for the 6to-12 group.
“All three genres are consistent winners with the viewers, with their appeal targeted at men, women and kids.” —Munia Kanna-Konsek Charlotte: My Story
BoPaul Media Worldwide • Video Mercury Films library • Ovidio Assonitis library • Aries Films library There are 17 titles from the Video Mercury Films catalogue that BoPaul Media Worldwide (BMW) is presenting at MIPCOM, among them the Porky’s trilogy, The Stunt Man and Zorro, the Gay Blade. BMW also recently picked up representation for 11 titles from the Italian filmmaker Ovidio Assonitis, including Beyond the Door and Red Riding Hood. There’s also a small library of features from Aries Films that includes, among others, Stagecoach, starring John Wayne. The company will be heavily promoting the 720-title library from RKO Pictures for licensing in Asia, says Paul Rich, BMW’s owner and CEO. “We have sold every other territory perpetuity licenses for this library, and we are confident that it will be of prime interest to big TV players, investors and bankers in Asia.”
“Our principal target is the television market in Asia.” —Paul Rich The Stunt Man 48 World Screen 10/13
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Canal 13 SudMedia • Vertigo • Freshman Mama • Chile, Recommended Canal 13-Chile has a 54-year history as one of the main multimedia organizations in the country. “This year, 13 SudMedia makes its grand debut as a distribution company, offering a great variety of content: documentaries, feature films and animated series, among others,” says Marina Del Canto, the company’s head of international sales. Among the titles on offer are Vertigo, a game show featuring celebrities from the worlds of sports, music, politics and television competing in front of a live audience. The novela Freshman Mama (Mamá Mechona) is about a 40-year-old woman who enrolls in college.The documentary series Chile, Recommended takes viewers on a journey through the country’s many faces, flavors and cultures. Further factual offerings include Palestine in the South and Red Handed.
“We continue to offer products that bear the stamp of innovation and quality that characterizes Canal 13-Chile.” —Marina Del Canto Freshman Mama
Canal Futura • Going Back • Final Destination: Education • Forest Management
The lead programs from Canal Futura all approach subjects that are relevant to many people’s lives worldwide. For example, Going Back takes a sensitive approach to talking about the prison-management system. “It’s a polemical topic, one which is a source of ongoing discussion for many governments and populations,” says Lucia Araújo, Canal Futura’s general manager. Final Destination: Education is inspired by the Pisa rankings, giving an international overview of education. “The stories shown in the films provoke a reflection on the different approaches to stimulating student development,” Araújo says. “The world’s collective gaze is already fixed on the largest rainforest on the planet. Forest Management tells the stories of local Amazon communities who work with the forest in a sustainable way.”
“MIPCOM is a chance to start new relationships with organizations that share our aim of bringing social change through audiovisual production.” Forest Management
—Lucia Araújo
Caracol Television • Football Dreams: A World of Passion • The Voice of Freedom, Helenita Vargas • The Lord of the Skies Caracol Television believes that audiences from all over the world will be able to find a unique connection with its latest productions. “From the unforgettable characters to the high-quality levels of production, Caracol will be sure to please,” says Estefania Arteaga, the company’s sales executive for Eastern Europe and Asia. The slate includes Football Dreams: A World of Passion, The Voice of Freedom, Helenita Vargas and The Lord of the Skies, as well as the new entertainment format The Dance Floor. “It is always important for us to assess the various needs for content, especially in the Asian and Eastern European markets,” says Arteaga. “As content providers, we are not afraid to take risks; we continue to share unique and real stories across all platforms and look forward to continuing our expansion into these regions.”
“We really went all out by creating stories that touch on universal topics such as football, love, music, dance and suspense.” —Estefania Arteaga Football Dreams: A World of Passion 50 World Screen 10/13
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Carsey-Werner Television Distribution • That ’70s Show • The Cosby Show • Grounded for Life When Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner set up CarseyWerner Television more than 30 years ago, they did so with one philosophy in mind: “Quality over quantity—every program must be worthy of its airtime.” The company has carried this mantra through to its present-day activities. It represents such beloved classic sitcoms as The Cosby Show, starring Bill Cosby, and Roseanne, led by Roseanne Barr and John Goodman. Both series are now offered by Carsey-Werner in an HD format. Also offered in HD by the company are 200 episodes of That ’70s Show, which follows a group of teen friends coming of age in the 1970s, as well as the sitcoms Grounded for Life and 3rd Rock from the Sun.
Grounded for Life
That ‘70s Show
Content Television • Serangoon Road • The Wipers Times • The Great Train Robbery
Period drama continues to prove popular in the global marketplace, and Content Television has a number of new titles in this genre. “Period drama gives producers the opportunity to create an absorbing atmosphere and backdrop to intricate story lines and deliver programming that viewers can really sit down and immerse themselves in week after week,” says Saralo MacGregor, the company’s executive VP of worldwide distribution. Offerings include Serangoon Road, an action drama set against the backdrop of 1960s Singapore, and The Wipers Times, a 90-minute drama feature based on the true story of a satirical newspaper published on the front lines of World War I. From the acclaimed writer of Broadchurch, Chris Chibnall, comes The Great Train Robbery, set around the events of a train hijacking in Britain in 1963.
“These new titles carry all the hallmarks of internationally appealing prime-time drama: strong casts, well-crafted story lines, subject matter with timeless appeal and renowned production talent.” —Saralo MacGregor Serangoon Road
Daro Film Distribution • Rescue 3 • Crossbones • Beyond Justice There are two brand-new action/thriller movies from Daro Film Distribution: Beyond Justice, starring Vinnie Jones and Mischa Barton, and Disengaged, starring Martin Sheen and Mena Suvari. Dolph Lundgren, known from his work in such films as The Expendables and Universal Soldier, stars in Rescue 3, an action-adventure series from the creator of Baywatch. John Malkovich leads the action in Crossbones. Also an actionadventure series, Crossbones tells the story of the famous pirate Blackbeard. “Our main focus for MIPCOM this year is to present our new and exciting product to the global market,” says Pierre-André Rochat, the company’s president. “It is always a great opportunity to catch up and do business with old colleagues, whilst meeting some new faces, too.”
“These [titles have] great concepts and actors attached to them that are sure to keep you sitting on the edge of your seat.” —Pierre-André Rochat Rescue 3 52 World Screen 10/13
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Distribution360 • This is Scarlett and Isaiah • Twin Factor • Talent Hounds Building on the popularity of the This is… brand, which has sold well for Distribution360, is This is Scarlett and Isaiah. The live-action preschool series is a lead offering for the company, which is also presenting the format rights for its kids’ reality show Twin Factor. “This is our first market selling a pure format and we’re really excited about expanding into that growing area,” says Kirsten Hurd, the company’s director of international sales and acquisitions. “Buyers and producers are looking for smart formats that can translate and be easily adapted to local markets and I believe they’ll find that in Twin Factor.” Hurd also highlights Talent Hounds, noting, “The demand for pet- and dog-related programming continues to grow as more and more people turn to their pets for companionship.”
“We have just bolstered our sales team and hope that helps make inroads into Latin America and Eastern Europe.” This is Scarlett and Isaiah
—Kirsten Hurd
Dori Media Group • Enigma • Little Mom • Family Restart
The catalogue of Dori Media Group has diversified to include weekly and daily dramas, comedies, entertainment, reality, docureality and kids’ content. “Our catalogue consists of content that travels worldwide,” says Nadav Palti, the president and CEO of Dori Media Group. “The idea, the concept, the story line and even the look of the cast in our dramas can be suitable all over the world. One example is the game show Smart Face, which was sold to over 30 countries and performed very successfully in all countries where it went on air.” For this market, Dori is highlighting the daily drama Enigma as well as the reality series Family Restart. In Family Restart, a life coach helps families mend their broken relationships. Also on the list is Little Mom, a prime-time comedy that reveals the harsh realities of life after having kids.
“Over the past year we have felt a growing interest in our Israeli content, which will continue at this coming MIPCOM.” —Nadav Palti Enigma
DRG • The Roux Scholarship • Know It All • Top Boy This MIPCOM marks DRG’s first outing since the MTG Studios acquisition, “so it will be an important time for us to reinforce the fact that we are still an independent distributor,” says Jeremy Fox, the company’s CEO. DRG is presenting buyers with UKTV’s The Roux Scholarship, which follows a unique culinary competition that has been running for 30 years. DRG also represents both the finished series and the format for Discovery Canada’s Know It All. “We believe the series’ combination of large-scale, explosive and exciting challenges and super-sized egos is the perfect recipe for international success,” says Fox. DRG is also excited about the second season of Top Boy, produced for the U.K.’s Channel 4. “This is a modern, dramatic and intriguing series, full of twists and turns, that is sure to keep audiences hooked,” says Fox.
“We pride ourselves on our independence and we still remain committed to providing a specialist service in distributing content and representing international production companies.” The Roux Scholarship 54 World Screen 10/13
—Jeremy Fox
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Echo Bridge Entertainment • Degrassi: A Whole New Generation • Lidia’s Kitchen • Healing Quest There’s a 13th season of the Degrassi franchise being offered by Echo Bridge Entertainment, bringing the total number of episodes to 357 for the teen series. Echo Bridge is also launching Lidia’s Kitchen, led by chef Lidia Bastianich, and Healing Quest, hosted by Olivia Newton-John.Additional highlights include The Apartment: Style Edition, and The Challenger, a Muay Thai championship. “All the series above are award-winning shows with high production quality and provide hours of entertainment for the entire family,” says Emilia Nuccio, Echo Bridge’s president of international distribution. “They attract large audiences and have universal appeal in their various themes, including individual empowerment, innovative approaches to health, cooking as a way of life, and the overall pursuit of an improved lifestyle.”
“We are open to discussing all forms of business ventures, from partnerships in the launching of channels to full representation in certain territories to joining distribution forces with other companies or acquiring libraries.” Degrassi: A Whole New Generation
—Emilia Nuccio
Endemol Group • The Ark • Death Comes to Pemberley • The Incredible Spice Men
Both The Ark and Death Comes to Pemberley are period dramas featuring star-studded casts. The Ark, which tells the stories of World War I’s front-line medics, stars Oona Chaplin, Hermione Norris and Suranne Jones. Death Comes to Pemberley, adapted by Juliette Towhidi from P.D. James’s best-selling novel, features Anna Maxwell Martin, Matthew Rhys and Matthew Goode.The Endemol Group is presenting both titles along with The Incredible Spice Men. “There is incredible demand for cooking programs around the world,” says Cathy Payne, the CEO of Endemol Worldwide Distribution. “The Incredible Spice Men aren’t reinventing the wheel, they are spicing up our lives and our food by offering an alternative—let’s not change those tried-and-tested recipes, let’s give them a bit of oomph!”
“We are working with a number of new external producers, which is exciting news and we want to ensure we deliver the goods for them.” —Cathy Payne Death Comes to Pemberley
Entertainment One Television International • Klondike • Bitten • Welcome to Sweden The event mini-series Klondike marks the first big-budget scripted production for Discovery U.S. “This stunning adventure will be coveted by the most prestigious broadcasters internationally,” says Prentiss Fraser, the senior VP of worldwide sales and acquisitions at Entertainment One Television International. The company will be presenting the project along with Bitten, a werewolf-themed series being produced for SPACE in Canada. “This genre series has all the makings of a cult hit,” says Fraser. Also topping the list of highlights is Welcome to Sweden, a romantic comedy produced by siblings Amy and Greg Poehler. “Comedy is on the rise currently and buyers are looking for a property that will be easy to promote and find an audience for,” says Fraser.
“This market, there will be a huge focus on the long-term strategy for our content.” —Prentiss Fraser Bitten 56 World Screen 10/13
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Launched in 1993, Kanal D is Turkey’s leading media company in the development and production of entertainment, news and information for a broad audience base. Marking its 20th birthday, the broadcaster is leading Turkey’s television ad market and ratings, delivering content on multiple screens and actively selling its popular originals across the globe. Irfan Sahin, the CEO of Dogan TV, which operates Kanal D and a number of other assets, tells World Screen about the broadcaster’s strengths as it celebrates a milestone anniversary.
shows, such as Yaprak Dökümü [Leaf Cast], Ask-i Memnu [Forbidden Love], Binbir Gece [1001 Nights], Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman Ki [Time Goes By...]. WS: What gives Kanal D its edge over other channels? SAHIN: Kanal D has been the market leader for the
last decade and this gives Kanal D its edge over other channels. Kanal D’s main competitor is again Kanal D. We try and try new formats, new dramas
KANAL D TURNS 20
IRFAN SAHIN and new stories every season and strive to understand, “What’s the next big thing in the market?” “What are the hidden emotions in the hearts and minds of our audience?” “What are the new ways of doing things?” again and again. WS: What has been your approach to news? SAHIN: Kanal D airs almost an hour of daily news
programming at 7 p.m. and a short bulletin of 15 minutes during weekdays at noon. Kanal D is also one of the TV channels with long-running socio-political weekly discussion programs on its schedule. WS: How popular is your online platform netD? SAHIN: netD was launched recently and it is
WS: What are the driving forces behind Kanal D’s success? SAHIN: At Kanal D, we’re not merely a distributor and broadcaster of content, but also we’re in the business of making content from scratch. We have an effective and dominant role in every step of production; we make the final decisions [in] script writing, storytelling, casting, direction and music. We’re developing projects with these principles either inhouse or together with independent production companies. This way we can be proactive and set the trends for programming in the market. Last but not least, we strive to understand the global and local Zeitgeist and turn it into program offerings that can perfectly tap into the needs and tastes of the audience. Having this all in the same melting pot, we’ve come up with phenomenal stories, TV series and 2 World Screen 10/13
becoming very popular with its wide variety of premium content, which includes short- and longform videos of TV serials, documentaries, sports, health and cuisine [shows], webisodes, movies and live shows. The library consists of all current and archive content from Kanal D, CNN Türk and TV2 (channels owned by Dogan TV), other third-party content and original content produced or commissioned by netD. With the launch of netD, we created a new platform to address not only increasing demand for online catch-up TV, but also very dynamic online viewing habits and tastes. Dogan TV’s online assets have grown significantly in the last five years, exceeding 250 million video views annually. We believe that with better online video services and decreasing piracy in the market, this trend will get stronger. WS: How does the entertainment channel TV2’s pro-
gram schedule complement the offerings of Kanal D?
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SAHIN: With the new [ratings] system and emerging and fragmenting TV viewing trends, there’s now [increased] audience viewing, especially among [higher income] people, outside of the major five [terrestrial] channels. TV2 is well positioned to fit into the new TV landscape. TV2’s concept is based on variety and quality and therefore it acquires various genres and formats. WS: How is the advertising market in Turkey this year?
What does Kanal D offer advertisers that they cannot get with other channels? SAHIN: In comparison to the first five months of 2012, January to May 2013 TV adspend has increased by 20 percent, [which is faster] than the Turkish GDP growth rate. Kanal D offers a [wide] opportunity to its advertisers in standard commercial-break usage. In addition, Kanal D generates out-of-the-box ideas for its advertisers seeking to differentiate themselves from their competititon.
WS: How popular is your international channel, Euro D? SAHIN: Euro D is the leading channel among the
Turkish-speaking audience abroad and Turkish serials have a very important role establishing and maintaining its leading position there. WS: Are there plans for launching more channels like Kanal D Romania in other countries? SAHIN: Dogan TV is an entertainment group. We’re monitoring the opportunities in the local and global markets. There have been some offers made to us. If we see the grounds for further investment, we can evaluate them. WS: In what areas do you see growth for Kanal D? SAHIN: Kanal D will continue to be the flagship for
Dogan TV in the coming years. We’ll look for the opportunities in the entertainment business globally or locally that will make us grow in organic or inorganic ways. One thing that we’ll stick to is that we invest in content.
Ozlem Ozsumbul As the head of sales and acquisitions at Kanal D, Ozlem Ozsumbul is leading the charge to take the Turkish broadcaster’s hit dramas and formats across the globe. She tells World Screen about her expansion strategy.
with more than 45 titles. Time Goes By..., Gümüs, Fatmagul, Kuzey Guney, Lady’s Farm, Forbidden Love, Rebellious are some of the dramas that have reached many territories. The success of Turkish dramas had started in the Middle East and North Africa and then reached Central and Eastern Europe, Asia and the Far East. MENA and Central and Eastern Europe are the territories that have the highest viewership of Turkish drama series.We are expanding to Western Europe and Latin America.
WS: What has been Kanal D’s overall strategy for expanding its
reach worldwide? OZSUMBUL: We have a long history and ethnic variety in
Turkey, so we have many stories. To share what we do, how we feel and how we live are the first steps for us. When we start to work with a TV station somewhere else around the world, we are just concentrating on what they need and how we can help them. As a broadcaster we know that content and the audience are the kings. We are trying to find the correct answer, content, story for our foreign neighbors and friends. International distribution is really important for Turkey and Turkish media. This is not only content export. We share our stories, feelings and introduce our culture and our beautiful country. This is the best way to promote our country internationally. It brings many additional benefits to the economy, industry and tourism, as well. WS: What have been some of your most popular shows globally? OZSUMBUL: Kanal D is the most successful TV station in Turkey. As
a broadcaster we always have the best titles, stories, casts and productions on our screen.That’s why we reached audiences in 75 countries
WS: Are you selling the formats to Kanal D shows? OZSUMBUL: As Dogan Media Group we have our own pro-
duction company. D Production and In D House are producing many programs and dramas for our channels. For example, Time Goes By... is our own production, which we distribute; it is a hit title in many territories. We also produce entertainment shows such as My Partner Knows. We sold the format rights to Romania, Lebanon, Spain, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan. WS: What are the main opportunities for your international dis-
tribution business? OZSUMBUL: We are open [to] new projects that will help us reach our target TV audience. We are ready to share our experience and also [to] learn more about other territories. Because of our busy days we are not able to concentrate on co-productions and other new opportunities now, but we have many offers and good ideas from many international companies. Next year we believe that we will enter Western Europe with our international stories and high-quality productions.
4 World Screen 10/13
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM KANAL D Time Goes By... It’s 1967. Ali Akarsu, a ship’s captain, spends most of his time away from his family. His wife, Cemile, takes care of their four children. One day Ali finally comes back home from his journey. This time there is a dark side no one knows about. There is something unusual about his behavior. Cemile finds a letter in Ali’s pocket that will lead to many events that will turn the Akarsu family’s life upside down. The letter will reveal his secret—he’s having a love affair with a foreign woman. Is Cemile going to forgive her betraying husband? Who will Ali choose? Can this family be made whole again?
Mercy Narin is a young woman who has overcome many difficulties in her life through hard work and determination alone and is well on the way to becoming someone successful without help from anyone. She is a true heroine who has overcome the blows dealt by her mean family and the big city. Her story starts in a small village but ends in Istanbul.
Waiting for the Sun
My Partner Knows This entertainment program, with more than 150 episodes broadcast to date, airs every weekend in a prime-time slot and features lovers and engaged and married couples.The couples will find out how much they really know about each other and how much they trust each other.The game show consists of five games per episode. The fact that the competing couples do not hear each other’s answers is one of the most important key points of the show. The winning couple takes home a brand-new car! 6 World Screen 10/13
Demet has raised her daughter, Zeynep, as a single parent. She has hidden the truth about Zeynep’s father from her for many years. The simple life the pair leads in a small town is destroyed when the shop Demet owns goes bust. She receives a helping hand from her best friend, Jale, who is the headmistress of one of the most prestigious private schools in Istanbul. She offers Demet and Zeynep a place in her house in Istanbul. Demet gets ready for a new beginning there, working at Jale’s sister’s shop. Zeynep finds it hard to adapt to the city. On her first day at school she comes head to head with Kerem when she saves another boy who was being tortured by Kerem and his gang. Will Zeynep find happiness and her missing father in Istanbul? Will Kerem’s fixation on revenge turn into love?
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Filmax International • The Red Band Society • The Visitor of Prisons • Invader The star of the Filmax International slate is the series The Red Band Society. Following the show’s successful broadcast of season two on the public Catalan network TV3 and later on Spain’s national network Antena 3, Filmax is heading to Cannes to close up the remaining territories that have not yet picked it up.The series has already been sold into, among other territories, the U.S., Frenchspeaking Europe, German-speaking Europe and Mexico. “While buyers are waiting for news about a possible third season of the Albert Espinosa-penned show, in 2014 big adaptations of the original series will be broadcast in Italy, Chile and Peru,” says Ivan Diaz, the head of the company’s international division. Other Spanish product on offer from the company includes the TV movie The Visitor of Prisons and the feature film Invader.
“International critics and audiences alike have been impressed and deeply touched by the emotional show The Red Band Society.” —Ivan Diaz The Red Band Society
Foxtel • Wentworth • Aussie Pickers
The Australian drama Wentworth, which aired on Foxtel’s SoHo channel, has garnered international interest. It has already sold to the U.K.’s Channel 5 and TVNZ in New Zealand. Foxtel also recently saw success with Aussie Pickers on A&E in Australia, adapted from the U.S. series American Pickers. “We recently launched two terrific lifestyle shows, River Cottage Australia, which was inspired by the U.K. series and features incredible Australian vistas and produce, and From Paddock to Plate, which again showcases some of the incredible foods from our part of the world,” says Brian Walsh, Foxtel’s executive director of television. “In other production news, we have just finished our eighth season of the runaway success Australia’s Next Top Model, and currently before the cameras [is a] new season of Grand Designs Australia.”
“We’re on the lookout for formats for our entertainment, lifestyle and factual channels.” —Brian Walsh Aussie Pickers
FremantleMedia International • Full Circle • The Fashion Fund • Save with Jamie FremantleMedia International’s highlights include the highconcept drama Full Circle, the docu-series The Fashion Fund and a new title from the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, Save with Jamie. “We’re bringing our best-in-class talent to MIPCOM in three different genres,” says Lisa Honig, the company’s senior executive VP of international distribution for the Americas. “With Full Circle we’re supplying the award-winning screenwriter, director and playwright Neil LaBute; in lifestyle we’re satisfying the evergreen appetite for Jamie Oliver, who now has a presence in 200 territories around the world; and in entertainment we’re delivering huge names in fashion such as Anna Wintour and Diane von Furstenberg, not to mention Vogue, Condé Nast and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).”
“In addition to working with our own production companies, we continue to seek partnerships with top brands, writers and innovative companies in all genres.” —Lisa Honig Save with Jamie
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Gaumont International Television • Barbarella • Hannibal • Hemlock Grove Jane Fonda famously brought the sci-fi icon Barbarella, who first appeared in French comics in the 1960s, to life in a film of the same name. Now, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who co-wrote the James Bond blockbuster Skyfall, have teamed up with Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn on a new TV series featuring the character. “Barbarella is a big focus for us at MIPCOM,” says Erik Pack, the head of international distribution and co-production for Gaumont International Television. “We are looking for key partners as we really start to build this series. We are talking to major broadcasters as well as international pay-TV platforms.” Gaumont International Television is also going to be busy renewing existing deals and closing unsold territories for Hannibal and Hemlock Grove. Both series have been renewed for second seasons.
“Both Hannibal and Hemlock Grove being picked up for second seasons has given us a real boost in interest for both series.” —Erik Pack Hemlock Grove
Globo • Gabriela • The Life We Lead • My Dear Handyman
Globo’s Gabriela is a remake of a highly successful TV drama from the ’70s that was inspired by Jorge Amado’s novel Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon.The series is about a young immigrant who captivates everyone with her naïve yet provocative sensuality. “Gabriela has proven that it remains contemporary and tasteful after 40 years,” says Raphael Corrêa Netto, Globo’s executive director of international business. Globo is also bringing to the market The Life We Lead and My Dear Handyman. “Filmed in HD with careful photography and beautiful scenes in Brazil and Argentina, the touching The Life We Lead obtained 24 rating points and a 52-percent share in Brazil,” says Corrêa Netto. “And My Dear Handyman is currently on the air in the United States on Telemundo with good public acceptance.”
“Each year we have the opportunity to get a deeper understanding of the needs of the market and to offer products that can be adapted to the programming strategies of each region.” The Life We Lead
—Raphael Corrêa Netto
GMA Worldwide • My Husband’s Lover • Temptation of Wife • Deception There’s a love triangle at the center of GMA Worldwide’s My Husband’s Lover, between a man, his wife and his secret boyfriend. Temptation of Wife, the Filipino adaptation of the top-rating Korean novela of the same name, tells the story of two women whose friendship is torn apart when one sleeps with the other one’s husband.The story in Deception is also about two best friends, both of whom are very unattractive. One has an ugly baby, the other has a pretty one, and the children are secretly switched at birth. Roxanne Barcelona, the VP of GMA Worldwide, says, “GMA dramas are proven to be marketable in a wide range territories. Acquiring a GMA drama makes for a valuable and worthwhile investment.” Barcelona names Europe and South America as the territories that GMA Worldwide is targeting for sales.
My Husband’s Lover
“GMA dramas are competitive with the best in the world.” —Roxanne Barcelona 66 World Screen 10/13
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GRB Entertainment • My Beautiful Game • My First Home • Monsters & Mysteries With the 2014 World Cup fast approaching, GRB Entertainment believes that interest will be high for the soccer-themed My Beautiful Game.The series highlights the best goals, epic saves and greatest players in the history of the sport. GRB is betting on the worldwide popularity of vampires, ghosts, the supernatural and paranormal to drive sales for Monsters & Mysteries. The company also has high hopes for My First Home, given that the topic of real estate is one that crosses all borders internationally. As for GRB’s sales goals, Mike Lolato, the company’s senior VP of international distribution, says, “We are focusing this year on Asia, and China in particular, as well as Eastern Europe. Our business has been growing steadily in these territories and we feel there are even more opportunities for our content.”
“When selling programs we always keep the international audience in mind; we want everyone around the world to either relate to or have a vested interest in the content.” —Mike Lolato My Beautiful Game
Incendo • Ice • The Good Sister • Time of Death
Incendo is continuing its mandate to produce high-quality TV movies with compelling story lines and strong characters, which are traits that have established the Incendo Thriller brand worldwide. “Incendo has always raised the bar with its unique casting, modern, edgy and thrilling scripts, and high production values that create a new standard in made-for-television movies,” says Gavin Reardon, the company’s head of international distribution and co-productions.There are two new 90-minute TV movies being presented: The Good Sister, which is in production, and Forget and Forgive, currently in development.The company also has in its catalogue the female-led Time of Death. Incendo is now increasing its involvement in series. It is developing Ice, set in the dramatic and clandestine world of diamond trading, with One Three Media.
“Incendo’s films are hugely successful around the world and represent the gold standard for television movies.” Time of Death
—Gavin Reardon
ITV-Inter Medya • Black Rose • In Between • The Family The popularity of Turkish dramas has been spreading from country to country.The crop of dramas being presented by ITVInter Medya comes with a track record of solid ratings performances in Turkey. “According to our past experiences, we are pretty sure that they will perform successfully in other territories as well,” says Can Okan, the company’s president and CEO. The series Black Rose, set in the small farming district of Halfeti, is the story of two brothers at war. The drama In Between is based on the novel Fatih-Harbiye from Peyami Safa, depicting life and love with all their contradictions and conflicts. The Family tells the stories of Gürcan, who can move things around with his mind; Zeynep, who can read minds; Tilki, who can become invisible; and Aylin, who can generate electricity from her fingers.
“All of these titles have stories that are so fascinating they are addicting for the viewers.” In Between 68 World Screen 10/13
—Can Okan
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ITV Studios Global Entertainment • Breathless • Stepping Out • Kentucky Bidders From the team behind Mr Selfridge comes Breathless, an ITV Studios drama set in London in 1961. The series was created and written by Paul Unwin, the co-creator of the long-running medical drama Casualty. “It’s set during a fascinating period, just before the sexual revolution, and features strong characters and gripping story lines,” says Tobi de Graaff, the director of global television distribution at ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE).Another new ITV Studios production is Stepping Out, an entertainment series that sees celebrities dancing with their reallife partners. ITVS GE is also offering Kentucky Bidders, which follows the action at Sammie’s Auction House in Kentucky. “There’s a real international appetite for character-led reality programming and Kentucky Bidders fits the bill perfectly,” says de Graaff.
“Breathless is a stylish, touching and beautifully shot period character drama, and I think it will resonate with viewers around the world.” —Tobi de Graaff Breathless
Lionsgate Entertainment • Satisfaction • Anger Management • Mad Men
The half-hour comedy Satisfaction takes a humorous looks at a group of friends who are in a transitional phase in their lives.They come together to share their romantic wins and losses, life crises, personal ambitions and overall ups and downs. Satisfaction leads the Lionsgate Entertainment comedy offerings alongside Anger Management. The series, which has 100 episodes available for broadcasters, sees Charlie Sheen starring as a therapist who specializes in anger management, though has anger issues himself. In drama fare, Lionsgate has more episodes of the ratings hit Mad Men to offer the international market. Also in the series space are Nashville, a drama set against the backdrop of the country music scene; Weeds, about a pot-selling suburban widow; and the Netflix original Orange Is the New Black, set in a women’s prison.
Anger Management
Satisfaction
Mance Media • The Bartenders • Real Heroes Among Us • Magic Man For broadcasters looking to fill their holiday slots, there is Mance Media’s special Magic Man, featuring Greg Frewin.The company also has a wealth of series for buyers looking for lifestyle content and docu-series.This includes The Bartenders, about Manhattanbased mixologists, and Real Heroes Among Us, which tells stories of courage and hope of everyday people doing extraordinary things. “On the film side, our new worldwide distribution partnership with Continental Media enables us to offer first-run feature films at MIPCOM for the first time,” says Matthew Mancinelli, the company’s CEO. Mance Media currently has more than ten completed pictures in its film slate for buyers, including the indie The Most Fun I’ve Ever Had with My Pants On, the horror film Bigfoot: The Lost Coast Tapes and the drama thriller Duke.
“Mance Media is excited to be returning to MIPCOM this year with both first-run television series and feature films.” —Matthew Mancinelli Magic Man 70 World Screen 10/13
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MarVista Entertainment • 1,000 to 1 • Final Recourse • Escape from Polygamy There are new TV movies being offered by MarVista Entertainment, spanning the action, drama, true story and romantic comedy genres. “We will be debuting 1,000 to 1, starring David Henrie and Beau Bridges, which tells the inspirational true story of college basketball player Cory Weissman, whose indomitable spirit helped him beat the odds to stay alive after a devastating stroke destroyed his promising career,” says Vanessa Shapiro, the executive VP of sales at MarVista Entertainment. “There’s also the nail-biting thriller Final Recourse, starring Teri Polo as a socialite who spirals into despair after her son dies in a car crash that she believes is her fault, and a passionate drama, Escape from Polygamy, starring Mary McCormack and William Mapother, which...takes viewers inside an extreme religious sect that advocates polygamy.”
“There is a strong appetite for TV movies from broadcasters all over the world.” —Vanessa Shapiro 1,000 to 1
MediaBiz • Crazy About Love • Left on the Shelf • The Things We Love
As the sales agent for Argentina’s Pol-ka Producciones, MediaBiz is launching the new drama series Crazy About Love at the market. The story centers on three women at a psychiatric hospital who take part in a project aimed at bringing them back into society. Left on the Shelf, another drama series from Pol-ka, is about three sisters who are plagued by being unlucky in love. “These two series are based on unique ideas filled with drama that captures the audience,” says Alex Lagomarsino, CEO and partner at MediaBiz. Lagomarsino says that audiences can easily relate to the situations that both stories present. MediaBiz is also focused on sales for Pol-ka’s The Things We Love, a comedic telenovela. It tells the story of a lonely soccer referee whose niece and two nephews decide to move in with him.
“We want to stay connected with our Latin American clients and consolidate our commercial relationships in Russia and Turkey.” —Alex Lagomarsino Left on the Shelf
MediaCorp • Wheatfield Sailors • Sorrowgacy • Defector Singapore’s MediaCorp is one of the main partners of The Asian Pitch, a competition for original documentaries produced by Asian filmmakers.There were four winners from last year’s event, and MediaCorp is now ready to offer those finished documentaries to the market.They are Wheatfield Sailors from Taiwan, Sanitary Towels Inc. and Sorrowgacy from India and Defector from South Korea. “They are original documentaries made by Asian directors, with interesting story lines from an Asian perspective that will excite international audiences,” says Tang Yun Leung, the VP of content distribution at MediaCorp. “Beyond these, our MediaCorp productions for the new Toggle platform will soon be marketed to international broadcasters,” including a range of TV movies, documentaries, game shows and mini segments on food, fashion, beauty and more.
“MediaCorp creates a diverse range of high-quality and compelling content, so there is definitely something suitable for any market.” —Tang Yun Leung Sorrowgacy 72 World Screen 10/13
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Miramax • From Dusk Till Dawn, the series • Miramax library • Revolution Studios & Samuel Goldwyn libraries The Miramax library includes such well-known films as Good Will Hunting, Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bill franchise. Miramax also looks after the libraries of Revolution Studios and Samuel Goldwyn Films. “We remain focused on bringing these titles to new territories and new platforms, and providing exceptional content to a global audience,” says Joe Patrick, the executiveVP of worldwide television at Miramax. “We are pleased to bring new television content to the table this market as well, and are happy to be working with acclaimed filmmakers on our first TV projects.” This includes a series based on the action/horror franchise From Dusk Till Dawn from Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. The show is being written, produced and directed by Rodriguez for the El Rey network in the U.S.
“Miramax is home to an incredible library of films with a uniquely engaged global fanbase that continues to grow.” —Joe Patrick Pulp Fiction
Mission Pictures International • The Ultimate Life • Love Finds You in Sugarcreek, Ohio • Christmas for a Dollar
The TV-movie drama The Ultimate Life, a sequel to the highly acclaimed and popular The Ultimate Gift, premiered on the Hallmark Channel and is also getting a theatrical release in the U.S. Mission Pictures International, which specializes in family and faith-based films, believes the title will perform strongly in the international market as well. “Given the audience reaction and buyer demand following The Ultimate Gift, we are confident The Ultimate Life is going to be a big hit that almost sells itself,” says Chevonne O’Shaughnessy, the president of Mission Pictures. O’Shaughnessy has equally high hopes for Love Finds You in Sugarcreek, Ohio, which she says has “a great script and is part of a book series with huge potential.” The holiday film Christmas for a Dollar is also leading the slate.
“Christmas for a Dollar is an exciting period film with a large ensemble cast and a family story we think will resonate in any market.” —Chevonne O’Shaughnessy Christmas for a Dollar
Multicom Entertainment Group • Official Films catalogue • Kushner-Locke catalogue • Liberation/Film Ventures catalogue The Official Films catalogue, represented by Multicom Entertainment Group, features a dozen classic American TV series, including The Invisible Man. Multicom also looks after the Kushner-Locke catalogue, which includes indie films such as Freeway; multi-season series like Tropical Heat and the animated Teen Wolf; and mini-series, including Gun and JFK: Reckless Youth. Also part of the catalogue are titles from Liberation/Film Ventures, among them numerous cult horror flicks like The House on Sorority Row as well as a handful of original series and specials like Religions of the World and Gipsy Kings in Concert. “We would love to penetrate the Chinese and Indian television markets, as well as emerging countries like Brazil, while continuing to build out our digital distribution business,” says Irv Holender, Multicom’s chairman, of his MIPCOM goals.
“Our programming covers numerous genres and we have hundreds of hours to fill many of them.” —Irv Holender Gun 74 World Screen 10/13
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MultiVisionnaire Pictures • Future of Money • Stormhorse • My Dog the Champion Themes such as money, friendship and love are present in the lead titles from MultiVisionnaire Pictures. Highlights include the docuseries Future of Money, which is in preproduction; the family film Stormhorse, currently in development; and My Dog the Champion, a family film that is completed and ready for sales. “As a customercentric company, we’ve been listening to buyers on their territory trends and demands, and align our acquisition and development strategy to meet the needs ahead,” says Sean Haley, managing partner at MultiVisionnaire. “We plan to produce four or five projects per year and our focus is TV-friendly features and films. MIPCOM is a really important platform for us; we want to meet with channel commissioners, programmers and co-production partners to discuss long-term working relationships and strategies.”
“These programs echo human messages, with no language or cultural barriers.” —Sean Haley My Dog the Champion
National Geographic Channels • Brain Games • Mafia’s Secret Bunkers • The ’80s: The Decade That Made Us
For 125 years, National Geographic has been recognized as a leading source for compelling stories with exclusive access. “Our catalogue reflects this commitment to riveting, reliable and entertaining content,” says Germaine Deagan Sweet, the senior VP of global content sales.“The programming is a broad range of quality productions from our in-house production unit, National Geographic Television, and the many talented independent producers and production companies we represent.” Titles that exemplify the breadth of topics available from the company include Brain Games, which explores how easily the brain can be fooled, and Mafia’s Secret Bunkers, a current-affairs special about the Mafia arrests in Italy. The ’80s:The Decade That Made Us, meanwhile, features interviews with icons from the 1980s.
“NGC’s global sales team is rolling out over 250 new hours at this market alone.” —Germaine Deagan Sweet Brain Games
NBCUniversal • Ironside • Chicago PD • Dracula Episodic procedural shows with distinct lead characters are in demand globally, according to Belinda Menendez, the president of NBCUniversal International Television Distribution and Universal Networks International. “These are the series that bring in the largest audiences around the world,” she says. “In Ironside and Chicago PD, we have two shows that fill this need for broadcasters.” Blair Underwood stars in Ironside, which is a gritty retelling of the original series that aired on NBC in the 1960s/1970s, and Chicago PD is the police-oriented spin-off of Dick Wolf’s hit series Chicago Fire. “Recently, we’ve also seen a great response from international audiences toward genre dramas and think Dracula will be a good fit for that market,” says Menendez. Dracula is a reimagining of Bram Stoker’s novel and stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
“All of these shows feature strong story lines, interesting characters and high production values; we’ve found that series possessing those elements really resonate with viewers.” Ironside 76 World Screen 10/13
—Belinda Menendez
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ON TV Llorente & Villarruel Contenidos • Televisión por la identidad • Televisión por la inclusión • Televisión por la justicia In 2008, ON TV won an International Emmy Award for the mini-series Televisión por la identidad, and last year, the stars of Televisión por la inclusión, Darío Grandinetti and Cristina Banegas, were recognized with an International Emmy for best actor and best actress, respectively.The company is also working to complete the Televisión por… trilogy with Televisión por la justicia, which will deal with cases of institutional injustice. “We just won a competition with [Argentina’s] National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts to do a cycle of 13 units that will finish the saga,” says Claudio Villarruel, ON TV’s president and co-founder. Regarding Argentina being the country of honor at MIPCOM, Bernarda Llorente,VP and co-founder, says that it gives the company “the opportunity to better showcase the Argentine productions.”
“We are really proud of Argentina because all the producers and channels have done so much for the television industry, and much of the Argentine content has been exported to the world.” Televisión por la justicia
—Claudio Villarruel
ORF-Enterprise • Janus • Yummy: Cooking with Kids • Secrets of Bumblebees
ORF-Enterprise is introducing the series Janus. Marion CamusOberdorfer, the company’s head of content sales, says the show is “half captivating detective series, half pharmaceutical thriller, with an excellent cast and a mysterious story behind it.” CamusOberdorfer calls the series Yummy: Cooking with Kids the “perfect international program for children that encourages them to cook and learn about new simple, but delicious dishes.” ORF-Enterprise is also coming to MIPCOM with a new title from its renowned Universum strand, Secrets of Bumblebees.The documentary “will not fail to impress, with astonishing pictures in macro and high-speed cinematography,” says Camus-Oberdorfer. She adds that in addition to sales, the focus for this market is on sourcing new co-production partners for nature and wildlife docs.
“We hope to enlarge our range of international co-productions and create extraordinary programs for the future with international channels, distributors and partners.” Janus
—Marion Camus-Oberdorfer
Peace Point Rights • Played • Colin and Justin’s Cabin Fever • Crave Peace Point Rights recently picked up the rights for Muse Entertainment’s new drama series Played for select markets. In its factual and lifestyle catalogue, the company has a new production, Colin and Justin’s Cabin Fever, and also has some fresh titles in the featurefilm genre.This includes Crave and The Child from Stealth Media. “These shows are just examples of how our catalogue has continued to grow in depth and breadth, especially on the scripted side, where we now have an extensive movie catalogue through our partnership with the U.K.’s Stealth Media as well as scripted series through our new relationship with Muse Entertainment,” says Les Tomlin, the president and CEO of Peace Point Entertainment. “The topics and stories have universal appeal and will resonate with viewers everywhere.”
“Our focus at MIPCOM continues to be on growing our international clientele on both the sales and acquisitions sides.” —Les Tomlin Played 78 World Screen 10/13
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Power • New Worlds • Breaker Morant: The Retrial • The Great Penguin Rescue Power is co-producing a brand-new lavish period drama, New Worlds, along with Company Pictures for Channel 4 in the U.K. The four-hour mini-series is set in the 1680s in England and America, and charts a story of love, loss and the fight for the freedoms and liberties enjoyed today. Along with launching the new project, Power is unveiling a brand refresh this MIPCOM. “We are repositioning ourselves as a generalist producer and distributor of powerful entertainment,” says Susan Waddell, the company’s CEO. “We are playing to our strengths as a small, adaptable and hands-on operation with an intimate knowledge of our product that can supply content distinct from that of the studios.” Power is also highlighting the doc series Breaker Morant:The Retrial and wildlife-focused The Great Penguin Rescue.
“We want to communicate to the production and broadcast community how Power as a company has evolved and continues to do so and to invite people to re-evaluate the company.” —Susan Waddell New Worlds
Red Arrow International • Lilyhammer • The Escape Artist • Johan Falk
Red Arrow International has been building up its drama slate, which features Johan Falk, The Escape Artist and Lilyhammer. Steven Van Zandt is back in the second season of Lilyhammer, following a successful first season. The Escape Artist sees David Tennant, known for his roles in Doctor Who and Broadchurch, playing a defense lawyer whose talent for getting clients out of tight legal situations comes back to bite him. Sitting high atop the wave of popular Scandinavia dramas is Johan Falk, which broke all records for TV4 in Sweden. “Our strategy is to create global program brands with built-in marketing messages for broadcasters,” says Jens Richter, the managing director of Red Arrow International. “Recognizable casts, awardwinning creative, bestselling novels and overall outstanding stories help our clients in capturing the audience.”
“All of these shows boast terrific talent, thrilling stories and high production values.” —Jens Richter Lilyhammer
Rive Gauche Television • The Illegal Eater • Who Let the Dogs Out • Mountain Movers A pair of pooches lead the action in Rive Gauche Television’s Who Let the Dogs Out. The series features Tillman the Skateboarding Dog and Norman the Scooter Dog as they search for the most talented and inspirational canines. Rive Gauche also has something in its slate for foodies with The Illegal Eater. The show hunts down dining experiences that are underground and illegal, in an exploration led by Steven Page, the former lead singer and guitarist of the band Barenaked Ladies. Meanwhile, Mountain Movers follows Chris “Gunny” Gunnarson and the Snow Park Technologies team as they design and build some of the most impressive winter sports projects across the nation. “These shows will appeal to the global market because they are unique in their own way within their genre,” says Jon Kramer, the company’s CEO.
“It’s very exciting to have a slate of programming that can appeal to a wide range of broadcasters.” The Illegal Eater 80 World Screen 10/13
—Jon Kramer
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Saban Brands • Julius Jr. • Digimon Fusion • Power Rangers Super Megaforce Fans all over the world are currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of Power Rangers. Saban Brands is marking the event by launching a brand-new season, Power Rangers Super Megaforce, which will premiere on Nickelodeon in the U.S. and around the globe in 2014. “The show has a strong connection to fans of all ages and backgrounds, and we are delighted to continue to provide it to fans worldwide,” says Kirk Bloomgarden, the senior VP of global consumer products at Saban Brands.There are also two new properties on the company’s slate, Julius Jr. and Digimon Fusion. “With Julius Jr., we foresee a successful new television property for the preschool market,” says Bloomgarden. “With a preexisting fan base for Digimon, we expect Digimon Fusion to have no problem appealing to the global market,” he adds.
“At MIPCOM, we will focus on the expansion of distribution internationally for Power Rangers, as well as our upcoming brands Julius Jr. and Digimon Fusion.” —Kirk Bloomgarden Power Rangers Super Megaforce
Scripps Networks International • Siba’s Table • Andy Bates Brazilian Street Feasts • Baggage Battles
One of the shows that Scripps Networks International is particularly excited about is Food Network EMEA’s Siba’s Table, an original series featuring the South African celebrity chef Siba Mtongana. “The series is a great mix of how-to, lifestyle and personal storytelling, which makes it a great fit within Scripps overall,” says Kevin Chorlins, the company’s VP of marketing and communications for international. “It appeals to a wide range of international audiences.” Another talent Scripps is keen to promote is the British chef Andy Bates. His latest series, Andy Bates Brazilian Street Feasts, follows as he explores Brazilian cuisine, street food and culture, before creating his own interpretation of the local fare. New Travel Channel U.S. titles include Dig Wars and another season of Baggage Battles.
“We’re the leading creator of home, food and travel lifestyle content, so we’ll continue to play to that strength as it relates to both our TV networks and international program-sales strategies.” —Kevin Chorlins Andy Bates Brazilian Street Feasts
Shaftesbury/Smokebomb Entertainment • Mighty Mighty Monsters • Backpackers • Long Story, Short Shaftesbury has partnered with Bron Animation to bring to the market Mighty Mighty Monsters, a trio of animated comedy specials for kids. “Mighty Mighty Monsters is a beautifully animated new franchise for kids and families, with charming, highly relatable characters,” says Ryan St. Peters, the VP of sales and business development at Shaftesbury/Smokebomb Entertainment.The Smokebomb Entertainment digital slate includes the comedy Backpackers and the provocative drama Long Story, Short. “Backpackers and Long Story, Short speak directly to young-adult audiences and have the flexibility to be packaged and programmed for broadcast, online or mobile to meet the diverse needs of a variety of online platforms and broadcasters,” says St. Peters.
“Mighty Mighty Monsters meets the needs of global broadcasters looking for specials to program around events, including Halloween, New Year’s and summer vacation.” —Ryan St. Peters Mighty Mighty Monsters 82 World Screen 10/13
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Sierra/Engine Television • The Black Box • Crossbones • Siberia Sierra/Engine Television’s Siberia is a scripted series that combines the genres of mystery, sci-fi and reality. “As a series that was fully financed before any network was attached, Siberia became a trendsetter in the television-packaging and finance space,” says Chris Philip, the company’s CEO. The Black Box, meanwhile, scored a straight-to-series order from ABC.Another U.S. network series on offer from Sierra/Engine is Crossbones, a drama starring John Malkovich as the iconic pirate Blackbeard. The series is being presold by Sierra/Engine and will air on NBC in midseason 2014. “The straight-to-series model is thriving, as we continue to team with U.S. networks, independent production companies and international broadcasters to bring high-quality programming with unique financing models to the global marketplace,” says Philip.
“Siberia sparked water-cooler conversations in a myriad of media outlets from fans and industry professionals alike after its premiere on NBC.” —Chris Philip Siberia
Sky Vision • Moonfleet • Doll & Em • Duck Quacks Don’t Echo
The comedic drama Doll & Em was created by and stars Hollywood A-lister Emily Mortimer and her real-life best friend Dolly Wells. Leona Connell, the head of global sales at Sky Vision, which is presenting the property, calls it an “intimate, funny portrait of female friendship, set against the backdrop of L.A., and it also features a number of surprise high-profile celebrity cameos.” Sky Vision is also showcasing the featurelength swashbuckling drama Moonfleet, an adaptation of the John Meade Falkner novel set in a small Dorset village. Capping off the list of highlights is Duck Quacks Don’t Echo, which Connell says is “a particularly exciting acquisition for us, as we represent both the U.K. and the U.S. series rights as well as the format rights.”
“All these shows are made with big budgets with a major broadcaster and a global audience in mind.” —Leona Connell Doll & Em
Smithsonian Channel • Aerial America • 9/11: The Heartland Tapes • Space Voyages The Aerial America series has exceeded all expectations for Smithsonian Channel, according to David Royle, the executive VP of programming and production. “It’s a ratings hit in the States and it’s already selling amazingly well internationally,” he says. Other Smithsonian Channel highlights include 9/11:The Heartland Tapes, which spotlights the 2001 terrorist attacks by using archival footage, and Space Voyages, an exploration into the past, present and future of space travel. “We’ll be spending a lot of time at this MIPCOM looking for nonfiction series in the areas of history, aviation, science, natural history and popular culture, but we still have room for some groundbreaking specials—the ones that can create a splash in the marketplace,” says Royle.
“We have enjoyed a lot of success collaborating with other broadcasters, and it’s enabled us to create some really memorable and entertaining television.” 9/11: The Heartland Tapes 84 World Screen 10/13
—David Royle
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Starz Worldwide Distribution • Black Sails • The White Queen • Hit the Floor Michael Bay, known for directing high-budget action films such as Transformers, is behind the new pirate adventure Black Sails. Starz Worldwide Distribution is putting the show center stage this MIPCOM. “We have seen extremely high demand already from the global marketplace based off of the publicity buzz over the past 12 months and associated awareness on the series,” says Gene George, the executive VP of worldwide distribution at Starz. The White Queen proved to be a hit for Starz at MIPTV and is again a lead offering. “Both shows fit the mold of what a Starz original series aims to be: epic, cinematic television that is truly premium and travels well globally with exciting story lines, great casts and amazing production values,” says George.The company is also presenting the VH1 summer drama Hit the Floor.
“Black Sails is arguably the most widely anticipated series ever in the history of Starz.” —Gene George Black Sails
Sullivan Entertainment • Ronaldinho Gaucho’s Team • Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series • Super Rupert
Promoting its lineup of family-friendly entertainment programs is what is top of mind for Sullivan Entertainment.This includes the animated Ronaldinho Gaucho’s Team, based on a fictional childhood of the two-time FIFA World Player of the Year. Anne of Green Gables:The Animated Series features the Anne of Green Gables character that has charmed audiences around the world. The live-action Super Rupert, co-produced with the BBC and YTV, follows a 10-year-old in his pursuit to protect the world and the residents in his town from unseen evil forces. “Through powerful storytelling, the [characters] in our series are both engaging and thought-provoking, teaching life lessons on the importance of family, friendship, self-confidence and team play,” says Kevin Sullivan, the company’s CEO.
“Our family and children’s programs were designed to promote a balance of education and entertainment.” —Kevin Sullivan Super Rupert
TANDEM Communications • Crossing Lines • Breaking Off The TANDEM Communications action crime drama Crossing Lines takes place in several exotic locations. “Crossing Lines has built-in international appeal,” says Rola Bauer, the president of TANDEM Communications who is also co-creator and executive producer on the series. “The show is an original idea, touching on things that are happening globally today and that happened to Americans many years ago, which is how criminals cross the borders in such a fast manner that you can’t figure out what they’re doing until after the crime has been committed and they’ve skipped the country.” Another highlight is Breaking Off. “With Breaking Off, our story will center on this fascinating and frightening reality about how global warming can no longer be denied and must be heeded,” says Bauer.
“For us, it’s not just about delivering quality programs, but also supporting our partners in their efforts to create events around them.” —Rola Bauer Crossing Lines 86 World Screen 10/13
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TM International • Ruby Red • Unknown Heart • Cosmos Each of the three highlights selected by TM International is unique in its genre. “Ruby Red is a masterpiece in family entertainment, based on a worldwide bestseller and offering excellent franchise opportunities for distributors, broadcasters and platforms alike,” says Carlos Hertel, the company’s head of international sales. “Unknown Heart, a cross-generational family saga, follows the over 40-year tradition and expertise we have in high-quality Englishlanguage drama production,” Hertel continues. “This high-profile mini-series not only represents a unique value proposition for TV, but also for non-linear distribution outlets, which are now increasingly looking for exclusive content to engage their customers.” Rounding out the highlights is Cosmos.The doc series comes from the multi-award-winning director Prof. Kurt Mündl.
“Our mission statement has always been customer satisfaction, and together with our partners we are committed to delivering the best value for our clients.” —Carlos Hertel
Unknown Heart
Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution • 24: Live Another Day • Sleepy Hollow • The Crazy Ones
Kiefer Sutherland reprises his iconic role as agent Jack Bauer in the action-packed 24: Live Another Day.The story is set several years after the events of the final season of 24.The television event, slated to air in 2014, is being offered to international buyers at MIPCOM by Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, which also has Sleepy Hollow.This supernatural drama puts a modern-day twist on Washington Irving’s classic 19th-century tale about Ichabod Crane and the infamous Headless Horseman. Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution also has the workplace comedy The Crazy Ones, marking the return of legendary comic actor Robin Williams. Sarah Michelle Gellar, best known from her lead role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, co-stars alongside Williams. The duo is teamed up with Ally McBeal scribe David E. Kelley on the show.
24: Live Another Day
Sleepy Hollow
Twofour Rights • The Hotel Inspector • Born to Kill? • Tom Daley Takes On the World Twofour Rights, the in-house distribution arm of the producer Twofour, was launched just one year ago at MIPCOM 2012. “With Twofour Rights reaching its first birthday, we’re looking to build on its initial success by continuing to innovate, including harnessing cross-platform opportunities and co-productions,” says Anthony Appell, the head of sales at Twoufour Rights.The company is presenting The Hotel Inspector, Born to Kill? and Tom Daley Takes On the World, among other highlights. “The Hotel Inspector is now reaching into its tenth series, with over 100 episodes, and we’re delighted to be distributing a format that works for daytime or prime time, in the U.K. or internationally,” says Appell. Born to Kill? has already been sold into 85 territories, while Tom Daley Takes On the World is brand new for the market.
“Our broad catalogue of features, factual and entertainment means we’ve got over 400 hours of content that works across all territories.” Tom Daley Takes On the Wolrd 88 World Screen 10/13
—Anthony Appell
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Venevision International • Lucia’s Secret • Sweet Thing • My Life in Sayulita The series Lucia’s Secret leads off the Venevision International slate. The show was shot on location in southern Florida andVenezuela, “producing thrilling scenes that we are confident will capture the interest of a wide range of audiences, generating positive ratings and market share for broadcasters throughout Latin America and abroad,” says Cesar Diaz, the company’s VP of sales.Venevision is also introducing the new telenovela Sweet Thing, which is currently in production at the company’s Miami studios. There’s also the scripted reality series My Life in Sayulita. “With these three shows, we are exemplifying the spectrum of genres contained in our vast programming catalogue to target all demographics, from the action-packed series with Lucia’s Secrets and the classic telenovela with Sweet Thing to the teen reality series with My Life in Sayulita.”
“All these shows have elements that will yield excellent audience statistics in any market where they are strategically broadcast to reach their specific demographic.” —Cesar Diaz Sweet Thing
WWE • Total Divas • Raw • WWE Main Event
While WWE continues to provide its long-running flagship weekly episodic programs Raw, WWE Main Event, SmackDown, Superstars and NXT, there’s also something new and a little bit different in its catalogue this time around.The 14x1-hour reality show Total Divas looks into the lives of the WWE Divas and Superstars outside of the ring, “giving it a very broad and mainstream appeal,” says Ed Wells, the senior VP and managing director of international operations at WWE. “Now that we have added the reality show Total Divas, we are providing a comprehensive entertainment offering that appeals to the global market.” As a preeminent provider of pay-per-view (PPV) content, WWE is also offering 12 PPV titles for the calendar year, including the pop-culture extravaganza WrestleMania.
“WWE is excited to say it has a completely new offering this year in the form of the reality entertainment show Total Divas.” Total Divas
—Ed Wells
ZDF Enterprises • The Bridge II • Countdown to a Catastrophe • Your Song Topping ZDFE.entertainment’s lineup is Your Song, in which youngsters under the age of 18 are given the chance to present an original song to the TV audience. Countdown to a Catastrophe, which looks at the interconnections between natural disasters, heads the ZDFE.factual slate. In ZDFE.drama, the focus is on The Bridge II, which is the second season of the Danish-Swedish crime drama.The ZDFE.junior category features the live-action teen series Sam Fox: Extreme Adventures. “Each of these programs takes a well-rounded, open view of its topic, and doesn’t settle for ‘empty carbs’ anywhere,” says Fred Burcksen, the executive VP and COO of ZDF Enterprises. “Moreover, these shows have already been proven hits either on ZDF or on other highprofile broadcasters around the world.”
“We celebrated our 20th anniversary this year, so we must be doing something right!” —Fred Burcksen The Bridge II 90 World Screen 10/13
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JEFFREY KATZENBERG
DreamWorks Animation
By Anna Carugati
No doubt you have seen, and probably marveled at, one or more of the movies produced under the stewardship of Jeffrey Katzenberg. Starting with his days as president of Paramount Studios with Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saturday Night Fever, Grease or the Academy Award–winning Ordinary People and Terms of Endearment; then as chairman of The Walt Disney Studios with films like Pretty Woman and Dead Poets Society, Katzenberg has shepherded a string of movies that have become modern classics. But his biggest impact on the motion-picture industry came with animated films. The Little Mermaid advanced the genre and helped revive The Walt Disney Studios, and was followed by Aladdin, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. In 1994, Katzenberg founded DreamWorks SKG with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, and among the pictures produced were three Academy Award-winners: American Beauty, Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind. In 2004, DreamWorks Animation (DWA) was spun off as a publicly traded company, with Katzenberg as CEO and director. Today the world’s largest animation studio has released such hit fran-
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chises as Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, Puss in Boots and How to Train Your Dragon. In 2012, DWA earned revenues of $750 million. The Croods, released in March, is contributing to a healthy 2013 so far. Katzenberg’s dogged work ethic, which allowed him to accumulate a remarkable body of work, also earned him a reputation as a pretty harsh taskmaster. Today, a mellower Katzenberg is leading DWA into the digital world, shifting its direction from a studio that releases a couple of features a year to a company that produces content for multiple platforms. The man with an eye for the visually dazzling and story lines that touch the imaginations and hearts of young and old is looking straight into the future and spotting opportunities. Not only has DWA set up a television division, it has acquired Classic Media as well as the YouTube teen-targeted network AwesomenessTV, whose CEO and founder, Brian Robbins, will be developing a DWA-branded digital family channel. Katzenberg, who is receiving MIPCOM’s Personality of the Year award, shares his vision of the future of entertainment and how digital media and technology are revolutionizing the business.
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Creative hub: Fostering creativity and technological innovation have been Katzenberg’s mandates at the DreamWorks Animation campus.
WS: Where do you see digital delivery taking the movie
based on the size of the screen you watch it on. If you watch in on a smartphone, you’ll pay 99 cents. If you watch it on a tablet, you’ll pay $1.99. If you watch it on a TV screen, you’ll pay $4.99, and if watch it projected on a wall in your house, you’ll pay $15.99. If you go to an IMAX theater and see it on a jumbo 90-foot screen, it will be $50 and it will be something dazzling.
industry? You have talked about consumers paying for movies by the inch—would you explain that? KATZENBERG: There are many different transformations that are occurring in our business. If you go back 75 years, people saw movies on movie screens. And then television screens came along, and then computer screens, and now it’s smartphones. I do imagine a moment in time, while I’m still around, when movies will come out, and they will be in theaters for a period of time, a reasonably narrow window, but an exclusive window in which they can be enjoyed in what is the premium experience for which they are created. The movies we make here today are made to be seen on the biggest possible screen with the best possible sound, in 3D, and we work really, really hard and invest incredible sums of money to ensure that each time our audience goes into a movie, they are dazzled visually by what they see. It is one of many goals we have for each movie that we should take our audience to a place they have never been to before. After movies come out of the theaters, there are many windows they travel through. Rather than pay based on where in the time continuum you get to experience a movie, you are actually going to pay for it based on the quality of the image and the experience that you have. Seeing a movie on a smartphone is a terrific way to watch, but it’s not the same as watching it on a TV screen, which is not the same as watching on a movie screen. So I made the analogy that you’ll pay for what you watch
WS: What new opportunities is the digital world offering? KATZENBERG: I think there is actually much bigger opportunity. There is a whole new platform that is very quickly revealing itself as a new form of engagement for audiences. Here is the way I would explain it. In the 1950s, television came along and it filled these very big gaps that existed in all our lives, meaning,What do you do before you go to school, before you go to work, while a housewife is doing chores around the house, when you come home after work, after dinner, on weekends? This incredible thing called television—the linear experience—filled these gaps. Six and a half hours a day is what the average American is spending watching television; it’s kind of astounding. Then, about four or five years ago, a confluence of things happened that started to reveal that in addition to these gaps that people have in their lives, they also have smaller spaces—the in-betweens.The in-between is when you are waiting for an appointment, or when you’re on a bus going to your job, or you are waiting for a friend outside a store, or you arrive early to a dinner at a restaurant. In your day, there is an amazing number of in-between moments. Suddenly, a portable device comes along that allows you to fill those in-between moments. I first became aware of this with very simple casual gaming. Certainly there is texting, sharing, searching, but from an engagement standpoint, casual gaming stopped me in my tracks—everywhere I went, I noticed people were playing Tetris.
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between time will be as valuable as what we call television today. There is a very powerful accelerator in all of this, and that isYouTube.As I said, there are two things happening: on one hand, I’m watching casual gaming and the power of a device that has become a new platform, and on the other hand I’m watching user-generated, short-form content on YouTube, which is completely on fire, and these two things are converging. I think people are going to be surprised by what starts to happen in these spaces. I will not be surprised if three or four years from now there is a series as compelling and as exciting to me as Homeland is, for which I get a 5-minute episode every day, and pay for it. If somebody could tell me that starting next year there will be another season of Breaking Bad but it’s going to be in snacks rather than in full meals—every day five days a week, I’ll get a 5-minute serial on Breaking Bad—I would be there. WS: And DWA is ready to create these snacks. KATZENBERG: That’s the partnership with Awesome-
nessTV and Brian Robbins. There are two things about AwesomenessTV—the first is the business itself, which we are all impressed with and saw the value in, but we could not possibly separate that from the talent and genius of Brian himself. Here was a guy who created the first hits for Nickelodeon and who understands kids and tweens and teens as a storyteller as well as, or maybe better than, anybody working today, who suddenly devotes his creativity and his resources to creating this short-form content, and he is perfect. If you watch the things that he is creating today, they’re dazzling. Brian Robbins is going to be one of the true great stories in this space. He already is, but he’s only just getting started. WS: Over the years, what have you found to be some
Animated powerhouse: DreamWorks Animation’s roster of blockbuster featurefilm franchises includes, from top, Shrek, Puss in Boots and Kung Fu Panda.
This is a very fast evolution that is driven by the device itself. Today, we have in our hands devices that can deliver rich media instantly. Five years ago that did not exist. As these devices got smarter and smarter, the quality of what you could do in these spaces grew. Today, and this is where AwesomenessTV comes along, what Brian Robbins calls “bits, bytes and snacks” are filling this incredible place of opportunity. I’ll say something certainly bold—it may turn out to be stupid, but I’ll say it. Five years from now, the in-between moments that we have in our lives—and the smartphone is going to expand what we can do in those moments—are going to be as valuable as the bigger gaps. Because our lives are getting filled up with many, many more things every day, we will have more in-between times than gaps, and in a handful of years the value of that in98 World Screen 10/13
of the best ways to nurture creativity and to inspire great storytelling? KATZENBERG: A lot of that comes from creating a great environment for talent. If you came here to the DWA campus, you’d see it in a second. This company exists to celebrate creativity and storytelling. We work very hard here to ensure that people actually love their work—not like it, love it. If people love their work and they love coming to work, then we win. I wish I had understood many years ago what I understand today. I’m certain that if I have an epitaph it will likely be,“If you don’t come to work on Saturday, don’t bother coming on Sunday.” I have to say I did say those words; I’m guilty.And I also have to say that when I said them, I actually meant them! But I was not as smart then as I am today. I’m not saying that hard work isn’t great, but I don’t consider what I do work. It doesn’t feel like work because I love what I do so much. It’s so rewarding and it’s so exciting and interesting that I can’t even associate the word “work” with it.And that is what we try to create for people here. They come every day here and to the
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Where to?: DWA’s acquisition of Classic Media gave it access to a portfolio of characters that includes the British favorite Noddy, star of Noddy in Toyland.
studios in Northern California and our studio in Bangalore to be creative and to make great films, television shows and short-form content. I hope they don’t think of it as work. WS: DWA has always made it a point to stay current with technology. Could you give some examples of how technology has changed or enhanced the making of an animated movie? KATZENBERG: We are a technology company—in fact, if you look at the creation of digital images, the technology platform that we are working on today is a step ahead of anything that exists anyplace else. And the reason for that is that we always wanted to have our artists feel that if they can dream it, they can make it. We actually use technology to fulfill their imagination. To give you an example of the process of making a movie here, just recently we saw the sequel to How to Train Your Dragon. I remember when the creator/writer/director of the movie outlined his story, one of the things that was very important for him in the second movie was that the world of dragons was suddenly going to become vast, and dragons would [be able to] do all sorts of things. One of the very first things he did was sit down with our animation technology department and talk about his ideas. I remember him saying to our CTO [chief technology officer] that he wanted a dragon to be able to go underwater and breathe fire. The CTO said, “Wait a minute, how can he breathe fire underwater? How is that possible?” The guys here looked at the creator like he had lost his mind, but they said,“OK, we’ll get back to you next week.”They went off to figure out how they could do that. Our technology is at the service of our artists. 100 World Screen 10/13
From a business standpoint, we are three months away from completing a four-and-a-half-year data technology initiative, the biggest ever undertaken by this company and probably by any entertainment company, which we did in partnership with Intel.We created a new form of software to make our animated movies. Many, many, many tens of millions of dollars have been spent to create this; it was really a man-on-themoon project when it started.We wanted to see if we could truly change the nature of how we do animated films. And by the way, this has implications for anybody involved in any form of graphic arts or digital imagery.We are the R&D center of it, and its success will be valuable for many industries and many businesses, which is why Intel invested in it.The end result of this, which is already being delivered, is that it’s the first time that a new technology has allowed us to actually do three things: to be better, to be faster and to be cheaper. A common business equation is that in the rule of better, faster, cheaper, you can get two [of these advantages], but you never get all three.You can get faster and better, but it ain’t cheaper.You can get faster and cheaper, but it ain’t better. For the first time ever, at least in our experience, we have something that is better, faster and cheaper, and to get specific about it, the cost of our movies starting this year, for what will be delivered at the end of next year, will go from $150 million to $120 million, and yet the quality of the images we are able to create will actually go up. So technology has been more than our friend, it has been an essential foundation for what our artists do. And interestingly, here on this campus, we refer to our tech talent as artists. Somebody who writes great software is as creative and artistic to us as somebody who creates a beautiful image. WS: How important is 3D to the future of movies? KATZENBERG: It’s a mixed bag, unfortunately. It’s partic-
ularly disappointing to me because I feel like we were one of the very first to come to 3D. We made a big gamble and a big investment and really stepped out along with Jim Cameron, who was on the live-action side while we were on the animation side.We didn’t stick our toe in the water; we dove right in. I feel that we actually delivered on the promise of 3D for our audience. Unfortunately, I don’t think that everybody else did. It really took away from the excitement of the experience. Some people are really interested, but I think a large part of the audience just doesn’t really care anymore. The good news for us is that because we have amortized the investment we made in building a 3D platform here, in terms of every aspect of our design and our storytelling and our storyboarding and our filmmaking, it actually doesn’t add incremental cost anymore. We have the capability to do it. I think 3D makes our movies
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Speedy snail: Turbo, released this summer, is being adapted by DWA into a series for Netflix, called Turbo F.A.S.T.
visually richer. Even when you see a 3D film in 2D, it’s a different visual experience. So we are going to continue to make them in 3D. However, 3D has not achieved my hopes and ambitions as a platform, particularly in television. There was never any content that made it of value for TV, ever. A little bit of sports could have, but it never transitioned from theater into the home experience in any meaningful way. The consumer-electronics business delivered their end of it. They had beautiful TV sets; some of them were glasses-free. It was the content business that never stepped up. WS: Of all the movies you have produced, with which did
you have the most personal connection or involvement? KATZENBERG: I have twins, a boy and a girl.They’re 30
years old, so they are not children anymore.You would never presume to ask me which of my children I love best. WS: No I wouldn’t. OK, so I’ll just move to the next
question! I see where this is going! KATZENBERG: But having said that I will tell you two
things. There are two movies over the years that had a more personal connection for me. One was The Lion King because the story was an idea that came out of a personal experience in my life. So when I watch The Lion King, I don’t see the same movie that everybody else sees because of a specific set of circumstances that happened to me when I was in my 20s that left these very strong feelings and impressions on me.That story is a fable based on those incidents that happened in my life. So when I’m watching that, it’s not so much a movie! And the other, the riskiest movie that I have ever been involved in, is Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. It’s the story of a wild horse. It’s a purely animated film, the protagonist doesn’t speak, and it’s almost a silent film in that way. For me it celebrates the animators more 102 World Screen 10/13
than any movie of modern times. I have this admiration and appreciation for the artistic work that went into that movie. It was one of the last hand-painted animated movies. WS: What do you consider to be the most important con-
tributions you’ve made to the motion-picture industry? KATZENBERG: I’ve been very lucky. I have had incred-
ible business success and that success has given me lots of resources.The things I have the greatest sense of accomplishment for are the things I did for other people rather than the things I have achieved for myself. I remember when I came to Hollywood for the first time. I was 23 years old; it was the early ’70s. I came from New York. I have this incredible almost déjà-vu moment. It was the middle of winter and I remember driving down Sunset Boulevard in a convertible and seeing for the first time this world with the billboards up there, winding into the Beverly Hills Hotel. All of this was so much greater than anything I had ever seen or known or imagined. For me, at the time, to succeed in this world meant two things: own a house on the beach in Malibu, and win an Academy Award. If you do that, you’ve made it. So I got a house on the beach in Malibu but I didn’t get an Academy Award until this year. The thing that was interesting about this, which I didn’t really understand until it happened because, frankly, it was unexpected, was that it was not something I worked for. It’s the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. We got an Academy Award for Shrek— yes, you get Academy Awards for movies that you make—but I never thought of [a humanitarian award]. Interestingly, that turned out to be the most important thing that happened to me in the movie business, and it has nothing to do with movies, because that was for work that my wife and I did on behalf of other people and not on behalf of ourselves.
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Today she is known around the world as Carrie Mathison, the brilliant but troubled bipolar CIA agent in the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning Showtime drama Homeland, but Claire Danes has been honing her acting skills since she was a child. At 14, she starred in the acclaimed TV series My SoCalled Life, for which she won a Golden Globe. She then worked in a wide range of movies, from artistic films like The Hours, Me and Orson Welles and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet to the commercial Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. She earned her second Golden Globe and first Emmy for her performance in HBO’s original movie Temple Grandin. Danes’s portrayal of a highly gifted yet autistic young woman, who became an accomplished professor, caught the eye of executive producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa. In fact, when they were writing the pilot of Homeland, Danes was the actress that immediately came to mind for the role of Carrie, for which, to date, Danes has won two more Golden Globes and two more Emmys. While shooting season three, Danes talked to World Screen about the craft of acting and the complexities of espionage, psychology and even patriotism.
WS: What appealed to you about Homeland? DANES: The pilot was immediately gripping. It
was obviously a piece of excellent writing, which one doesn’t come across very often. I was intimidated by it. It was ambitious and this character was and still is incredibly dynamic and complex and a little difficult. When I get just a little bit afraid, I think, Gosh, OK, fine, I think I have to do it! The pilot was terribly engaging and I wanted to read the next episode. I believed that other people would feel the same way.
By Anna Carugati
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WS: Tell us about your relationship with the cast and the
crew. Do you develop a shorthand, for lack of a better word, when you work with people over a period of time? DANES: Absolutely, but one of the reasons that the show continues to work is that it continues to change, so the dynamics are always shifting. In this season, Carrie is incredibly isolated, so I haven’t worked with any of my pals. I’ve had maybe one scene with Mandy [Patinkin, who plays Saul Berenson]. Brody [played by Damian Lewis] has buggered off! Morena [Baccarin, who plays Brody’s wife, Jessica] is in her own corner of the show that I don’t have much involvement with, so it’s been a little lonely in that respect. But mostly the same crew is around, so there is familiarity and that sense of community that has remained intact.The show is often about loneliness, so sometimes as an actor I experience that, too. WS: How did you prepare for the role of Carrie? I imagine
you did a lot of research into bipolar disease and the CIA? DANES: I did. It was a very interesting little syllabus I put
together for myself before the first season. I did delve into both of those subjects and found them to be incredibly riveting. I have to tune up every so often; I have to go to that material and remember what I had studied so intensely before we started. But I kind of get it now. It was about seeing her through all these various adventures with as much integrity as possible.These are both subjects that happen to naturally appeal to me. I am interested in psychology. I thought I would be a therapist, actually, if I wasn’t going to be an actor, and I studied a lot of that in college. And the world of espionage is almost by definition totally fascinating, and not entirely unrelated to the world of theater, which of course Argo pointed out so wonderfully. It’s about role playing and being intensely perceptive.
Suspicious minds: Heading into its third season on Showtime, Homeland, licensed internationally by Twentieth Century Fox, was adapted from a hit Israeli series.
WS: Did you have any concerns about how the writers
would deal with topics like terrorism, patriotism, espionage and bipolar disease? DANES: Absolutely, because the show is talking about incredibly volatile themes and ideas and ones that are playing themselves out in real time. It’s risky, and I had to believe that the showrunners and writers would be incredibly responsible and sensitive to the kinds of feelings that they would arouse in people, because it’s big stuff. We are talking about some of the fears that are most alive right now. WS: I am a great fan of Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa. DANES: I am, too. I can’t believe what they are capable of !
Everybody is so committed to the show and we all care about it, and it feels like a high-wire act but one that is very much worth doing. Everybody involved is incredibly talented. And we all care a lot, that is something very special that I don’t take for granted. But it’s also interesting to be three years in and the experience keeps changing as it settles into the consciousness of pop culture. 106 World Screen 10/13
WS: How did your preparation for Carrie in Homeland compare to your preparation for the movie Temple Grandin, another very complex character? DANES: Not totally dissimilar, and I really like doing that. I like having projects like that and getting to expand my understanding of a compelling subject in the process of putting a character together. It’s different now because Homeland just keeps going, while [in Temple Grandin] there was a beginning, a middle and an end to the story we were telling. It was a very intense six weeks, but then I was jettisoned out of it. And now in Homeland, it’s just so hard for Carrie, it keeps being so hard for her, and now I’m a new mom. Last year I was pregnant, and now I have a baby, and that has been another challenge, trying to make sense of all of that while playing this very disturbed, challenged person. WS: In most episodes you have so many lines to learn,
have you had to change your method of memorizing and preparing for scenes? DANES: Basically I’m just always learning lines! When I get the script I tag the crucial scenes and the longer, more involved scenes and it’s a layering process. When my hair is being blown out, I’ll do one pass. When I’m being driven to work, I’ll do another pass. I just do constant drills with Hugh [Dancy, Danes’s husband] whenever I can. It’s important not to be, as Robert De Niro calls it, “bedroom ready,” which is when you think
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WS: Do you have to like a character before you take on
a role? DANES: Yes, I do, and that is why acting is so fun,
because you feel a kinship with somebody you regard as incredibly other or threatening. And then you realize, Oh, right, we are all kind of connected. WS: As a viewer, I love Carrie’s humanity. As flawed as
she is, that’s what draws me to her. DANES: I think she means well, she really does.
Ultimately she makes countless transgressions and she has serious issues with impulse control—for sure. But actually she is a deeply moral person and a deeply patriotic person. She’s a little bit like a superhero. She’s very troubled, and it’s very hard for her to cultivate real relationships in her life and for her to experience real intimacy, so she has sacrificed herself for this bigger cause. She doesn’t have much to lose because her life is a little empty anyway, and that’s a really interesting conflict to play with. WS: You mentioned patriotism. I know from having
spoken to Howard Gordon he’s very intrigued with the concept of what it means to be an American nowadays. You have an international perspective.You spend a lot of time in the U.K. DANES: I do, and I’m from New York, which is an unusual expression of America. It’s incredibly international. There are different kinds of people there. It’s interesting; I don’t really feel American until I’m not in New York. I dated an Australian guy for seven years and we had a place in Sydney. I spent a lot of time there and I was in Sydney on 9/11 and I never felt more connected to my homeland than I did at that moment. Globe-trotting: Danes picked up the award for best actress in a TV drama at the 2013 Golden Globes for her role as Carrie Mathison on Homeland.
you’ve got it when you’re in your bedroom and then you get to the set and you realize, oh wait, no, I could have spent more time on this! That muscle gets stronger the more you do it. One thing I like about television is the consistency of it.We have such erratic jobs and there is so little security, it’s really nice to feel like this is my studio. I get envious of artists who aren’t dependent on so many different factors, they don’t need a director, a writer, or another actor to play with, or a boom operator to catch the words, etcetera, etcetera. I’m in shape if I’m doing it all the time, and that is a big gift for an actor. WS: Because of the intensity of the subject matter and Carrie’s condition, is it difficult to dive in to her persona and then at the end of the day go back to being Claire Danes? As the subject matter becomes more psychologically complex, does that take a toll on you? DANES: I’m pretty good at differentiating and letting it go when the day is done. I’ve been playing Carrie long enough that I know her pretty well now, so I can attach and detach with some ease. Actually, it’s kind of easier when a character is very different from yourself. Sometimes, paradoxically, when there is a scene that actually overlaps with something you are experiencing directly or personally, it’s harder to play because you’ve got sort of a blind spot, it’s still unclear to you because you are in it and it’s harder to articulate it as that character. So it’s helpful that Carrie is a very different kind of person. 108 World Screen 10/13
WS: Speaking of international, Homeland has sold so
well in a lot of countries around the world. Is it all the themes it presents that make it so appealing to viewers in all these countries? DANES: Yes, I think so. We are talking about these characters as being flawed and vulnerable, and I think by extension our country as being flawed and vulnerable. Obviously, something we still honor in the show and still celebrate in the show is the value of our country, but I think that’s not so common, it’s not so usual, and I think that’s appealing to international audiences, too. WS: At the beginning of the season, do you know what
the story arcs will be, or does the story unfold for you as you receive each script? DANES: I am given the basic arc, certainly of my character and of the show at large, but they are writing the show as we are filming. It changes in profound ways over the course of the filming. So I can’t take anything for granted. It’s like surfing. WS: As an actor, do you have to be a little more flexible in a TV series than in a movie because you don’t always know what your character is going to be doing next? DANES: In some ways it’s not so problematic because the character doesn’t know what’s next either. All you really have to do is play what you know and trust that it will all make sense in the end!
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James Spader’s filmography is long and diverse, ranging from the movies Pretty in Pink, Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln to the television series Boston Legal, The Practice and The Office. Spader has played a wide range of characters, often scoundrels. This fall he stars in The Blacklist and steps into the role of Raymond “Red” Reddington, an ex-government agent who has gone off the grid. Known as “The Concierge of Crime,” he brokers deals for criminals and has become one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives. To everyone’s amazement, he turns himself in and offers to help catch a terrorist, but on one condition: if he can work with a rookie female agent. Spader talks to World Screen about this new role and his love of acting.
I also liked the idea that my hair was very long when I showed up in New York to start shooting the pilot. I liked the idea that an old, out-of-date surveillance photo of Red that the FBI had on the Most Wanted list was one with long hair. When you see Red for the first time in the pilot, I liked the juxtaposition in that he looks quite different. I’ve never worn my hair this short in anything I’ve ever done. I thought it would be nice that if I’m playing someone who’s come out of the shadows after many years of being away, he not carry this little baggage from previous lives that I’ve had as a performer. So I thought it would be nice that when he takes his hat off in the pilot, he does not look like me.
WS: How did you prepare for the role of Red? SPADER: All of my prep is really script-based and
WS: Is acting in a television series different from acting in a movie? Do you need to be more flexible because you don’t know how the character or story line is going to develop? SPADER: In television, one of the tricks is to try to find a way to allow the characters to evolve, develop and change over time and still be true to themselves. In terms of performance, at least for me, you are absolutely committed to the role that you are playing right then and there, in the same way that you are in your life, where you are decisive and committed to what you’re doing.You’re surprised in life by what comes down the road and you have to assimilate that. But within the context of everyday performing, ultimately you’re performing no matter what you are doing, whether it’s a television show or film. For a play, you’re performing those scenes in that moment on that day and for me I just connect to that. In a television show, there is a conversation about how you get to the next place or the next episode or 20 episodes later, and that is just a process in terms of story. But you just have to commit to all of that with conviction and sincerity.
imagination, and I read the paper every day. It’s funny, I’ve never been one to read a lot of crime novels or thrillers or espionage. I’ve read a couple of John le Carré novels over the years, but beyond that I’ve never really read that genre very much. But I love to read about [crime] in the papers.That world fascinates me and I follow it closely. Throughout your life you meet people who have lived in and out of those worlds. WS: Many viewers know you as Alan Shore from Boston
Legal and The Practice, or as Robert California from The Office. Red’s hair is very short. Was that in the script, or did you want to set this character apart, even physically, from Alan Shore and Robert California? SPADER: That was really twofold. Red’s hair was cut very, very short but I thought it suited him well. His invisibility for the past 20 years has been incredibly significant and important. He’s had to move swiftly and cautiously through life. It just seemed streamlined to me and eminently practical, because no matter where he is he can pop into a little barbershop and get his hair cut, or he can cut it himself in about ten minutes. It seemed to fit his life very well.
WS: Do you see scripts ahead of time, or does the story unfold episode by episode? SPADER: I tend to see some ahead but I also like surprise; that is one of the fun things about doing a televi-
By Anna Carugati
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Time to surrender: Sony’s The Blacklist is a key new show on the NBC grid this fall.
sion show. I am cautious about not asking too many questions. I like surprises in life and in work, so I appreciate that aspect of a television show, I really love that. It’s one of the things that is unique about it and exciting. WS: A lot of feature film actors have been coming over
to television in the last few years, and yet you’ve been in TV series for a long time. Did you see potential in television that your colleagues didn’t? SPADER: I think it’s fun to watch a character grow. I love to see the change in direction. Over the years, television has become more economically sound than the film world. It’s so funny, I find myself answering this question and I realize that I’m not really answering it fairly. I’m not even sure I’m the best person to answer it because I’ve been very lucky over the years in that I’ve been able to work a lot in different mediums, and I still continue to. I’m very lucky to be able to have that opportunity, and therefore I never had to give up one thing for something else. I like being able to take advantage of all of that because it’s all very different and it all piques my curiosity. Before I worked in television in any serious way, about 15 years ago or so, I hadn’t really thought about it; then, suddenly I was in it, and I discovered what fun there was to be had in that. I like details. I like small things, and television is great for that because it can explore the smallest thing over periods of time.Very often films present sea changes, and in television it isn’t sea changes, it’s small changes that lead to something larger. I like that, I like to see that unfold over a period. WS: So many feature films these days are blockbusters
or franchises. Many people in the industry say television has taken the place of smaller movies that are no longer being made. SPADER: Well, I don’t know about that. I’ve seen some very good small movies over the past years and also 112 World Screen 10/13
some films that were bigger in scope that I loved. I really loved working on Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. I had such a grand time on that, and I completely lost myself in the viewing of the film as well. I didn’t even have the sense that I was in it when I was watching it, I just loved it so much.There are some great films being made. At one time there may have been more delineation between mediums—people who did theater only did theater, people who did films just did films, and people who did television just did television. But I think that’s foolish. It’s foolish from a creative standpoint. There is something to be gained from all of them and there is certainly fun to be had from each of the different mediums, and that’s why I do this.You can earn a living and have fun doing it. What has forced a lot of people’s hands is the economics of it, and I appreciate that as well. But I think that there is a lot more to it than that, and there is great satisfaction to be had in all of it, so I take advantage of it the best that I can. WS: Do you prefer drama or comedy? You seem to like characters that encompass both. SPADER: Yes, that is exactly what I like. In the character of Red I saw the possibility for that, considering his life and the world he lives in. He’s got a strange and ironic prism through which he sees the world around him, and it’s left him with a strange sense of humor. WS: I spoke to a number of international buyers who
loved the pilot of The Blacklist. Do you feel that the show has elements that can interest viewers in many countries? SPADER: It’s international in its scope.The character that I play and the world that he inhabits is the international world, and therefore the cast of characters that are going to show up through the series are also international. And the people who work in the intelligence community that he encounters and so on are to a certain degree international as well. I like that about the show.
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AlecBaldwin By Anna Carugati
Alec Baldwin is so much more than an award-winning actor. Highlights of his prolific career include his work on stage (A Streetcar Named Desire, Macbeth); the films The Hunt for Red October, The Cooler and It’s Complicated; the TV show Knots Landing; and, more recently, his role as television executive Jack Donaghy in 30 Rock, which garnered him three Golden Globes and two Emmys. He has also hosted Saturday Night Live 16 times, more than anyone else; voiced Thomas the Tank Engine; hosted the Academy Awards ceremony; and narrated or presented the high-end documentaries Great Migrations and A Night of Exploration for National Geographic Channel. Beyond acting, he has campaigned for Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy. He is the radio announcer for the New York Philharmonic, where he indulges his passion for classical music. He writes a blog for The Huffington Post, hosts the show Here’s the Thing for public radio, and supports the Hamptons International Film Festival, PETA (People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and People for the American Way. A recent interview with World Screen demonstrates just how wide-ranging his interests are.
Photo Credit: Mary Ellen Matthews
WS: How did your association with National Geographic begin? BALDWIN: My association with National Geographic, like [that of] most people who are my age, began with my grandparents collecting the magazine. My grandfather put all of his magazines so lovingly into chocolate brown slipcases. And National Geographic has its place in the anthropological overview for children, especially when they are getting to be a certain age when animals aren’t just toys, they’re not cartoon figures; when kids get to about 7 or 8 years old, [they have] an interest in dinosaurs and the world and National Geographic becomes a part of that. As I got older, in the ’80s, and the world of cable television [started to develop], there were only a couple of publications that were successfully able to morph into a cable channel. Playboy was one of them, oddly enough! [Laughs] National Geographic was the other, but on a really successful level. I don’t get to watch a lot of TV. I wish I could, actually, but I just don’t have time. And if I’m not watching by appointment a ball game or the news or the debates or 60 Minutes or something that I’m fond of, if I’m home and I’m just dead and I want to relax, I think the only channel I can put on that I’m guaranteed there’s going to be something I want to watch is the National Geographic Channel. So I’ve admired them and what they’ve done. I get approached all the time. Many major, very serious cable [channels] would come to me and say, Would you do this program on camera or voice-over? Something very prestigious, something 114 World Screen 10/13
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had to say yes! I did, and I am an admirer of theirs and I am a fan of Nat Geo and Nat Geo WILD.And the National Geographic Channel is in 170-plus countries around the world, so it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. WS: You’ve also been a champion of documentaries for a long time. BALDWIN: I don’t know if the word is “champion,” but I’m a fan of them. I produce a program for the Hamptons Film Festival. The artistic director of the festival, David Nugent, and I produce a summer doc series. This year is our fifth year. We try to have a mix of the more purely cinematic [films]. Last year we showed Alma Har’el’s movie Bombay Beach, about these communities along the Salton Sea and at the terminus of the Colorado River and so forth. It was a beautifully haunting, weird movie. Then we’ll show something that is much more of a pure documentary, like How to Survive a Plague. We showed the Kunstler sisters’ biography about William Kunstler, their father, which was a beautiful film. We showed The Cove, where Louie Psihoyos went on to win the Academy Award. That was a weird moment for me to screen the Psihoyos’ movie in August of that year, interview him afterward, and then seven months later I hosted the Oscars and handed him the Academy Award for Best Documentary [Feature]. I am a boundless fan of the Maysles brothers [Albert and David], and their films Gimme Shelter and Grey Gardens. I love documentary film. WS: Tell us about Seduced and Abandoned, the documentary
Icy reception: NGC enlisted Baldwin to host its weekly series A Night of Exploration, which kicked off this summer with an episode called Crossing the Ice, about a journey across Antarctica.
with great people involved, smart, academicians, and so forth. I would say no because I was on TV for six and a half years [on 30 Rock], then the show went into syndication, and now I do these commercials for Capital One to fund my foundation (we give all the money away to charity). I was dreading that kind of fatigue. I thought, People are going to be so sick to death of seeing me on TV all the time. But I did Walking with Cavemen and Frozen Planet for Discovery and then I did Great Migrations with National Geographic. And when they came this time [for A Night of Exploration], even though my answer to everybody had been no, and I told my agent,“I’m authorizing you that the answer now is no. I just can’t do it.” And she said, “Well, National Geographic wants you to host their program for their 125th anniversary,” and I was like, damn! [Laughs] I 116 World Screen 10/13
you made to show how to get a movie financed outside the studio system. BALDWIN: Jimmy Toback and I had wanted to make a movie and we had thought a lot about it.We had three ideas for movies we wanted to do. In one of the movies we were writing, the two central characters were movie actors. It became difficult to figure out how to shoot the movie within the movie; that becomes very expensive, whenever you have moviemaking as part of the film. So we went around and around with the ideas of these three different films, and finally I said to him,“The Cannes Film Festival is coming; why don’t we make a movie about getting a movie made? Why don’t we make a movie about going to Cannes and to the Marché and [show] that aspect of pitching a film and trying to raise money?” That’s just ostensibly what it’s about; really, this is an homage to Cannes. We’re going to have the sweet and the sour. We’re going to show how the sausage is made to one extent, but also talk about the glory of it. And we did get [Bernardo] Bertolucci and [Roman] Polanski and [Francis Ford] Coppola and [Martin] Scorsese to talk to us. And the movie came out really well. WS: There’s a constant struggle, isn’t there, between art
and commerce? BALDWIN: That’s an understatement.The movie business
is in a tough place now because it’s like the food business.
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Top of the rock: Tina Fey’s critically acclaimed NBC comedy 30 Rock starred Baldwin as network executive Jack Donaghy, a role that won the actor three Golden Globes and two Emmys.
In order to feed Americans three square meals a day, there are a lot of corners we’ve got to cut. In order to get a mass audience that can help the movie turn a profit, in what is the octopus of the film-distribution system today, there’s homogeneity of the product. The movie business is in the potato-chip business now—it’s not a nutritious meal.
he’s got Boardwalk Empire. Scorsese was his executive producer. [Vince Gilligan] develops Breaking Bad and Matt Weiner has Mad Men. All these people who develop these shows, like Jenji Kohan, who did Weeds [and Orange Is the New Black], they birth these shows and they don’t seem to be any less happy than the people who are successful in the movie business.
WS: Hasn’t a lot of the great stuff that used to happen BALDWIN: Everybody says that. [The answer to that ques-
WS: How did 30 Rock get away with so much? BALDWIN: The networks have all gone through cycles
tion] leads to a long dissertation about the kinds of people that run these companies now and they don’t know anything about films, they don’t even like films. Years ago [Harry] Cohn, [Irving] Thalberg, the Warner brothers, and so forth, were purported to be people who, if they themselves didn’t make films, if they didn’t have that talent, they recognized people that did and they facilitated them. Now the people that run the major studios have no ability whatsoever to make films. They’re in the potato-chip business. They want to get the saltiest, fattest snacks they can and feed them to people and make money. And independent film struggles with a lot of the economic stresses that used to go into making good films. Let’s say you had a script and they finally agreed to let you direct it, and they get everybody on the hook and they say to you, “We thought we could give you $4 million.You’re going to have to do it for $3 million and cut more corners.” And eventually you’re incapable of making the film you promised yourself as a filmmaker you would make. You see countless people in the independent film world going off and making a film for the sake of making the film, and that’s the triumph.The triumph is, I got it made! Was that the film you promised yourself you were going to make? And it’s not, which is where television comes in.Television is faster, you’ve got to move a lot faster. It’s a muscle you have to develop, but people are able to. Terry Winter was a lieutenant of David Chase’s for years on The Sopranos and now
like this, where they find somebody who has the hot hand. CBS let Norman Lear do what he did and they didn’t interfere. NBC let Steven Bochco and Dick Wolf do what they did and ABC let Aaron Spelling do what he did. Lorne Michaels [was 30 Rock’s] protector. Lorne is a person who has the ear of the people right at the top. And what Lorne did was say,Tina’s going to go off on this little island of hers with her writing staff and their kind of crazy and funny view of the world and they need to be left alone. I’m sure that 30 Rock would have made more money, it would have been more profitable, and a lot of cuts would have been made, if the network had been more intrusive and more customary in the way that they dealt with [writers and producers]. But they didn’t. Lorne protected Tina. For example, if I’m in a scene with Tina and say, “How was your date?” and she says, “Well, we ended up snowshoeing,” wham, cut to Tina with some big parka on, huffing and puffing snowshoeing across the floor in the studio in Queens, and they’re blowing dry ice into the ring. Now, other people would have said, isn’t it funny enough just to tell it? But Tina didn’t, she wanted to show it. And that was the thing I always used to just marvel at—how Tina and company, they shot everything and showed it. And that cost a lot of money. Even for a little interstitial cut like snowshoeing, it wound up being three seconds of film of Tina huffing and puffing over the ice fields. And that was Lorne making sure she could do that.
in independent movies moved to television now?
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WS: What appealed to you about The Following? Had you been looking to do episodic television? BACON: I had been looking for about three or four years. I had different layers of snobbiness and resistance to the whole idea, based on the fact that when I started out as an actor, I had done a soap opera and my attitude was, once you say goodbye to television you don’t go back unless things are really not going well for you. That’s an antiquated notion of the industry based on the late ’70s, which is when I started. Then I saw Kyra’s experience on The Closer [Kyra Sedgwick, Bacon’s wife, starred in the TNT cable drama] and I started to adjust my thinking about it.We were at the dawn of a new age of television, going back to The Wire and The Sopranos and all these television shows that were having such a major impact on popular culture. The writing was so good and the performances were so exceptional that I started to say, hey, maybe I should be part of that. So I threw my hat in the ring and we started this search to find something that would be cool, and that involved also developing things. I had a couple of projects in development.These things take time. I read one amazing script after another and was totally jazzed about the idea of finding the right thing. I was also very resistant to the idea of network television because I felt like the schedule was going to be too long and the quality wouldn’t be as good as, say, on premium cable. Then I read The Following and it had all the things that I was looking for. WS: Ryan Hardy is a complex character and lives, at
least in the first season, in a very dark place. Does that take a special kind of preparation? BACON: If it’s something dark or something comedic or something romantic or whatever, I feel I still have to go through the same steps of building a back story, then making decisions about the internal and external qualities of the character. If there is any kind of technical research, in this case on the FBI, you do as much as you can. I don’t think there is anything specific about going into a dark place that would be different from the process I would do for anything else. WS: This role has also been very physically demanding. BACON: There has been a lot of running, a lot of fightKevin Bacon’s first film was National Lampoon’s Animal House, which led to roles in Diner as well as Footloose, the movie that launched his career. He went on to work with a variety of prominent directors: Oliver Stone (JFK); Rob Reiner (A Few Good Men); Ron Howard (Apollo 13 and Frost/Nixon); and Clint Eastwood (Mystic River). He won a Golden Globe and a SAG Award for his turn in HBO’s Taking Chance. He currently stars in the Warner Bros. TV series The Following as former FBI agent Ryan Hardy, who is called out of retirement to deal with serial killer Joe Carroll.
ing, and I hope that doesn’t change; I like that. I also have to say, the physical demands of shooting television go beyond what you actually see the actors doing on the screen. It’s very demanding to work the kind of hours that we work. That’s not just me, but everyone involved—the director and the crew work incredibly hard and often in really extreme weather. We were shooting in New York last year and had some outrageously cold weather. A short day for us is a 13or 14-hour day. A normal day is more like 16 hours, and [the crew] work longer than I do. It’s certainly a demanding gig; hour-long television is very hard. 10/13 World Screen 121
By Anna Carugati
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On the hunt: Warner Bros.’ The Following was a hit for FOX in its first season and has been renewed for a second.
WS: A lot of the scenes in The Following are really intense
and violent. Are those scenes as emotionally demanding for actors as they are for us as viewers? BACON: They are. They are emotionally demanding. While we have an extremely positive and energetic set, I wouldn’t say it’s a set of frivolity and goofing around and it’s one big party; there’s no pranking going on. Because of the nature of the material, we really have to hit the ground running, focus on it and get our work done.Yeah, if you are dying or killing or crying or screaming or fighting—I know actors who are able to turn it on and off like a faucet, [but] I don’t happen to be one of them. It’s a dark place to go to work for sure, but it’s also exhilarating and I love it. WS: What can you tell us about season two? Is the series still going to be dominated by the FBI and crime solving, or are we going to get into the characters a little more? As a viewer, I felt that that was a bit lacking; every time there was a great character, he or she got killed off! BACON: I would say it’s going to be less FBI-centric for sure. Hardy already left the FBI. He was pulled back into the FBI in season one and this season they attempt to do that, but he’s really resisting getting involved. He’s at a really different place in his life. He’s physically a lot more together and he’s sober. I’m with you; I’m into blood and scary stuff, but the stuff I am most drawn to is what I get to play—the emotional life of my character or of anyone else’s character. I think we are going to be a little bit more focused on that this year and maybe have a slightly lower body count. I don’t know, we’ll see! [Creator and showrunner] Kevin Williamson and I have talked a lot about wanting little stuff to play out, as well as trying to keep this house of cards together in terms of a plot, and Joe Carroll, and motivations, and Ryan Hardy and his journey as a man.There are a lot of balls in the air, but I think so far Kevin is doing a great job. WS: In season one, at different points in different episodes I didn’t know who was the bad guy and who wasn’t, or if a 122 World Screen 10/13
bad guy could also have good qualities. Does that richness of character make the show interesting to you as an actor? BACON: I get plenty of bad guys to play in the movies, so I didn’t want to be a bad guy on a television show. I wanted to do something heroic, and the second I say that, I have to think of where the flaws are and the vulnerabilities and all those kind of things—that’s what gives you a character. Ryan Hardy is not a guy with a cape; he’s a mess and that’s not going to change. It’s funny because this year we want him to be a little bit more together and a little bit happier, but he’s still going to have issues and they will start to come up over the course of the season. I do think that part of the reason people respond to the show is this idea that anybody can be a follower, anybody can be dangerous—there can be danger around every corner, and I think we are going to honor that again this year.There will be surprises. I feel that that is what our audience has come to expect from us, and we will stay true to that. WS: You said you played a lot of bad guys, but you also played a marine a few times. Is that a role you enjoy? I was just re-watching Taking Chance—what a beautiful film that is. BACON: Thanks. I like complex men. There is nothing that I either am always drawn to or won’t do. I would do horror, action or comedy. If the character is there and it’s someplace that I haven’t gone, or haven’t gone recently, I’m drawn to it—big movies, little movies, independents, special effects. There is always stuff that I wish I was offered that I don’t get offered. That’s always the plight of any actor; you just feel like, oh shit, I just wish I could get this or get that. But for the most part, when I stop and I look at the kinds of things people consider me for, I feel really grateful that they are really all over the map, both in terms of where the men happen to be from and the socioeconomic standpoint, and the fact that some are good and some are bad, some are funny and some are tragic.That’s what I always wanted to have as an actor and I feel really grateful for that.
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milestones
FOX INTERNATIONAL CHANNELS at 20
HERNAN LOPEZ
By Anna Carugati
In 1993, the first FOX channel outside the U.S. made its debut in Brazil. What set it apart from the competition was that FOX offered programming that was fresh, new, and not available elsewhere in the Brazilian market. The success in Brazil prompted the launch in many other territories, with FOX brands rolling out in the rest of Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East and Africa. Today, 20 years later, FOX International Channels (FIC) remains faithful to that initial mission of offering viewers what they can’t find on other services. FIC consists of 324 wholly owned and joint-venture channels. All together, the portfolio, which includes linear channels as well as their online and mobile extensions, reaches some 1.6 billion viewing subscribers. FIC is a unit of 21st Century Fox. FIC boasts a wide variety of services that are aimed at different target audiences, from the general-entertainment channel FOX; the female-skewing FOX Life; FOX Crime, for the fans of procedural dramas; and FX, the home of unconventional character-driven dramas and comedies; to National Geographic Channel; an array of sports and movie channels; as well as the STAR bouquet in Asia (excluding India). And the newcomer to FIC is MundoFOX, a broadcast network that launched last year, catering to the Hispanic market in the U.S. To better serve its viewers, FIC has set up production companies in a number of territories to tailor programming to local tastes. To offer advertisers access to the diverse audiences on its linear and nonlinear channels, FIC set up FOX One Stop Media, an integrated advertising sales arm. Hernan Lopez, the president and CEO of FIC, has been with the company since 1997. He has witnessed its expansion and success over the years and is confident there is much more growth to come.
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Star gazer: National Geographic Channels around the world will premiere Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, an update of the Carl Sagan classic hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, next year.
WS: FIC is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. LOPEZ: August of this year marked the anniversary of
when a team led by Elie Wahba launched the FOX channel in Brazil in what would be the first foray of the FOX television brand outside the U.S., but definitely not the last. WS: What was FIC’s original mission? What did it want to offer viewers that other channels weren’t offering? LOPEZ: I joined the company in 1997 so I have been here for most of FIC’s history. We always wanted to offer groundbreaking shows and choice that viewers didn’t expect and don’t expect to get from broadcast television. And that is still true today, and even though the competitive environment has shifted a lot, we still like to put in front of our viewers shows like The Walking Dead and The Bridge—which premiered in July as the widest global release that we know of, going to 124 countries—and doing it in a way that viewers and consumers can relate to and feel they have a connection to. WS: This must also offer advertisers something special, too. LOPEZ: Absolutely. We offer advertisers viewers that are
harder to get on broadcast television, in an environment that is different from what they can find on other television channels. WS: There are four segments of FIC’s offering: entertainment, factual, lifestyle and sports. Looking first at entertainment, how have you expanded and developed this genre? LOPEZ: Entertainment is how we got started with FOX as a brand for young adult viewers with an appreciation for American drama and comedy. Remember that when we had just started, we were only airing shows from the U.S. Over time we have expanded that portfolio to include brands like FX and FOX Crime on basic cable, and we have also expanded into the premium services with Moviecity in Latin America and FOX Movies Premium in Asia. In addi128 World Screen 10/13
tion, in Asia a few years back, we added the STAR portfolio of brands.This is, of course, outside of India.The company’s main channels in India are managed separately from FIC. STAR is a very strong brand throughout Asia. It originated there and it is a brand that resonates with our viewers in a very strong way. WS: And what about factual programming? LOPEZ: National Geographic Channel launched interna-
tionally even before it did in the U.S. It launched in 1997 and expanded throughout the world. FIC is actually the combination of the FOX channels that existed in 2001, which we then merged with National Geographic Channels International.What started as a very valuable property, and back then the only alternative to Discovery Channel in the documentary genre, has evolved into a true factualentertainment powerhouse that is universally known by platforms as one of the reasons why consumers subscribe to pay television. Last year, we asked Millward Brown Optimor, a research firm that is famous for doing studies on the financial value of brands, to measure the value of ours.After they conducted the study, they told us they had been skeptical about how much value they would find because they went in thinking that consumers were looking for shows, when in fact they found that FOX and National Geographic, among the whole universe of brands, are two of the biggest brands in the media space for pay television in all the countries where they did the survey. WS: With so much factual programming available, what are the National Geographic Channels doing to differentiate themselves and what kinds of shows have come to define the brand today? LOPEZ: The core of the National Geographic Society brand promise continues to be exploration. This year marks the 125th anniversary of the Society and the channels are celebrating a new age of exploration with shows that have a real appeal to younger and broader audiences.
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WS: What have been the advantages of moving NGCI’s contentsales division to London? LOPEZ: About three years ago we bought the commercial arm of the National Geographic Society that was doing syndication. We had our own syndication operation, so we bought their business, combined it with ours, and put the merged group in London. We did it because we realized that more of our clients are in Europe than in any other region, but we are working closely with our general managers throughout the world. As you know, we have a strong network of local offices in order to maximize the sale of our content, not only in factual but in all of our genres in each of the countries.
Zombie alert: Following the global success of The Walking Dead on FIC channels, the group is now working with the show’s creator, Robert Kirkman, on an original series.
One example is Brain Games, hosted by Jason Silva.The goal of the show is to communicate that you already own the most powerful game machine in the world, and that is your brain. We want to help you switch it on. Jason Silva guides viewers through the tricks that your brain plays on you. Just to give you an example, there is one episode about how our memory can be easily manipulated by other people who claim to have a better recollection of events.There are reenactments of what would happen if we had been on a jury where people, who were not even at a scene, claim, without a doubt, what happened in that scene.Then everybody starts remembering the events exactly as these people described them, even if they didn’t happen that way. Brain Games is one of our most successful recent shows. Another mini-series we are really excited about is Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which will launch in the spring.You may be familiar with the original show, Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. Now National Geographic Channel and FOX are bringing it back to life with Seth MacFarlane as executive producer and a large degree of CGI and in a much more entertaining way. It will premiere in the U.S., where it will launch on FOX and National Geographic Channel. Around the world, it will be a National Geographic Channels International premiere. WS: I was surprised to learn that Seth MacFarlane was such a huge Carl Sagan fan. LOPEZ: He is and, in fact, there is one specific episode of Family Guy where he talks about Cosmos. 130 World Screen 10/13
WS: Has FIC had a particular strategy for targeting female viewers in various territories? LOPEZ: We have. From a content perspective, our lifestyle group is probably the one difference between FIC and the FOX networks in the U.S.We have grown the lifestyle group on the backs of brands like FOX Life, our core brand, in order to target female viewers because we realized that FOX, of course, targets a broad audience; FX has a slight male skew, unintended but it does; Nat Geo also has a slight male skew and FOX Sports obviously has a male skew. In order to round out our portfolio, we wanted to have a brand that resonates with female viewers.We are still developing that group. We believe lifestyle is a huge growth opportunity for us and there will be more news coming out of this group in the next few months. WS: FIC’s approach to sports channels has been differ-
ent from other major media groups. LOPEZ: In the Netherlands, we became the majority
owner of a company that was set up by 18 first-division teams themselves called Eredivisie Media & Marketing. They had started their own channels, Eredivisie Live, to air all their local football games on premium and also exploit for resale their highlights domestically and all rights internationally.We have re-branded some of those channels as FOX Sports Eredivisie, and two additional FOX Sports channels and a FOX general-entertainment channel are on the basic tier in the Netherlands. Around the world, we are known for having long-term partnerships and seeking long-term partnerships with the leagues. It’s not everywhere that we can do an equity deal like we did in the Netherlands, but there are places like Latin America, for instance, where we have had long-standing
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Crossing borders: In a deal with Shine International, FIC picked up the first-window pay-TV rights to the FX series The Bridge.
relationship with CONMEBOL, the South American Football Confederation, and we are now starting a relationship with CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, and we are always looking to be great partners to our partners. WS: Sports rights can escalate to crazy levels, right? Is
that one of the major expenditures for a sports channel? LOPEZ: It is the major expenditure for sports channels
and for channel groups that have any presence in sports. They are expensive because platforms recognize the value and in turn, we get paid by the platforms.
the global level and now we are going to redouble our efforts and be the lead producers ourselves. This comes from the realization that we are branded content owners, as we now call ourselves.We are essentially a group that operates branded destinations. They were called channels before, now we refer to them as branded destinations. And for many years we were an aggregator of content on the entertainment side but we had been a producer and owner of content on the factual side.We saw the dynamics of both businesses.We saw how much better we could plan and how much more control we had of our product when we actually produced and commissioned it on the factual side, than when we simply acquired product on the entertainment side. So we decided to do in entertainment what we have been doing in factual for many years. The big success story that everybody knows is The Walking Dead, which was developed at AMC by Frank Darabont and based on Robert Kirkman’s bestselling comic book by the same name. Of course, we had a very strong part in it, but it was a product originated by them. It came to us after the script was already written.We are now into buying IP and developing original scripted projects in-house. One of the first properties we are excited about is also by Robert Kirkman, the creator of The Walking Dead franchise. We are developing it with Robert and Circle of Confusion. I don’t want to give too much away, although we have announced it already and it is something that we developed internally and we are looking at producing ourselves.
WS: Original productions have been very important to
your channels. At what point in the development of a channel do your teams make the determination that a channel is ready to invest in original programming? LOPEZ: Never soon enough in my view! Every local manager needs to feel comfortable that whatever they produce has to be of a quality that can sit comfortably next to The Walking Dead or Glee or Bones. So viewers can watch our channels and see a level of quality in the production and in the writing that is worthy of the FOX brand. That’s the biggest determining factor. It’s not only about coming up with the budgets to produce the original shows, that’s part of it; it’s also about coming up with a creative team or production team that can execute a high-quality show. WS: Many major production companies consider FIC to be a reliable international co-production partner.Will FIC continue to participate in co-productions? LOPEZ: Yes. Over the last six years we have been dipping our toes into original productions at the local level and at 134 World Screen 10/13
WS: Big events must have huge value to cable and satel-
lite platforms. Are they looking for programming like The Walking Dead or Cosmos? LOPEZ: Absolutely, because everyone wants those branddefining events. All those platforms are looking for highlights to advertise on their programming guides—those four or five programs each month they can point to subscribers and say, you cannot miss this and this is something that you can only get on pay television. Those are the kinds of programming events we want to bring to them, including Cosmos, The Walking Dead and The Bridge. WS: Although economies are quite sluggish in some regions, are you seeing pay TV remaining strong? LOPEZ: Yes, it is fairly strong throughout the world. We [worked on] a presentation for investors and the outlook is very strong throughout the world. There are a few countries where growth isn’t as strong, but those are the exceptions.
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Gang-related: The FOX channel in Latin America invests heavily in local productions, among them Cumbia Ninja from Fox Telecolombia.
WS: MundoFOX has also celebrated a birthday. August marked its first year on the air. What have been the accomplishments in the first year and how has the channel been received so far by viewers and by advertisers? LOPEZ: We have managed to establish ourselves in a very competitive marketplace as one of the brands that consumers know about and try. On several nights MundoFOX is competitive. There are five other broadly distributed broadcast networks in the U.S. Hispanic market and to be frank, we are way behind the leaders, but we are really happy with what we have done in a short period of time. The channel is establishing itself with viewers particularly well in Miami and in New York and it is growing in audience in a number of other places. WS: And where do you see potential for growth for MundoFOX? LOPEZ: We still need to increase our distribution.Today, we’re still at less than 50-percent distribution of the total U.S. households and there is definitely the potential for significant increase in the next year. As we increase distribution we will also redouble our marketing efforts and original production. At our Upfront presentation in May, I think people in the marketplace were surprised that we announced 20 new and returning series for MundoFOX for this broadcast season. It essentially shows that we have a strong commitment to bringing programming to the Latino viewers in the U.S. market that otherwise wouldn’t have been available and we are getting good response for it. WS: Tell us about FOX One Stop Media. LOPEZ: For almost ten years, FOX One Stop Media has
been the brand that we use to aggregate audiences 136 World Screen 10/13
[from] mostly our own channels, but in some cases, in Latin America and in Spain, we also service third-party channels. We want to bring advertisers audiences that they couldn’t otherwise get and also environments and applications that they don’t generally get as easily from other suppliers. We’ve done a lot of work on product integration with our creative-services department. In Latin America alone there are 50 people working in creative services to help integrate advertisers into our brands in ways beyond the 30-second spot. WS: Some time ago you said FIC would reach $1 billion in operating profits by mid-2015. Even with sluggish economies in several regions of the world, are you still on track to reach that goal? LOPEZ: Yes, we are. We set that goal long ago and even after the sluggish economies and the devaluation of several currencies, both in the last year and recently, we will still exceed the $1 billion operating profit target. WS: As you look out 12 to 18 months, what growth areas do you see for the portfolio as a whole? LOPEZ: Each one of the four segments has growth in it. From the channels that we operate we are still growing in ratings. In fact, in the last fiscal year, for the FOX Sports channels, out of the 20 countries where we measure ratings, 17 grew their ratings year-on-year. And that ratings growth still has not translated into advertising revenue growth or ancillary revenue because we have to wait for the expiration of the deals. Separately, a lot of our attention today is on expanding the sports portfolio. It’s the one that has upside for itself, but it can also drive upside for the whole bundle of channels through affiliate negotiations.
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milestones spotlight
WS: What factors had to be in place for Netflix to
invest in originals? SARANDOS: Scale. We needed a large enough sub-
scriber base so it would make sense for us to program for our own base. I don’t think we could have built a big audience from scratch for originals, but once we achieved a big enough audience, programming originals for them felt much more like a natural step. WS: What was the reasoning behind making such a substantial investment in House of Cards, not only financially but also in the caliber of the talent? SARANDOS: As a company we move pretty quickly, and what I didn’t want to do was create a multi-year test to figure out if original programming was going to be successful on Netflix. I didn’t want to do something small and then, if it didn’t work, wonder if it was because it was too small. I thought we had to do something substantial that would send a very loud signal to talent that we really were in this business, and to our subscribers that this was a meaningful differentiator among subscription services. So we had to make a little bit of noise the first time out. WS: How is the Hollywood creative community reacting to you now?
NETFLIX’S By Anna Carugati
Ted Sarandos The word “disruption” is so often used in the media business these days as new platforms and devices completely upend traditional business models and viewing habits. Well, there is no greater disruptor than Netflix. What started in 1997 as a DVD delivery service is today a leading online video-streaming platform that has nearly 38 million subscribers in 40 countries. Ted Sarandos, chief content officer, has been with the company since 2000, sourcing movies and TV series, cutting innovative deals with studios and content suppliers, breaking down windows and creating new ones and, most recently, commissioning original programming like House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black and the revived Arrested Development.
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SARANDOS: Very positively. It was very adventurous for
House of Cards to make that jump to Netflix, but what they have seen since is that we can build an audience; we can bring attention to the show and make sure that it gets seen and that it gets appreciated, even at the highest levels in the form of nine Emmy nominations. When we went into this, we did not have an awards-driven agenda. We didn’t even think that we qualified for Emmy Awards when we first convinced David Fincher or Kevin Spacey to bring House of Cards to Netflix. WS: You don’t give out ratings data, but you have lots of
information about what your subscribers are watching. What can you tell us about House of Cards viewers?
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Home entertainment: Netflix has amassed almost 38 million subscribers worldwide who pay a monthly subscription fee for streaming access to a host of movies and series.
SARANDOS: First of all, we know to the minute what
their viewing has been, on what device the viewing takes place, how many sittings and how many episodes per sitting. We have a very intense set of viewing metrics that we monitor all the time. We don’t track the audience demographically that closely because we don’t sell advertising. But we do compare other programs that they watch and enjoy, rate highly and complete. WS: How does this information inform future projects
or the selection of future talent? SARANDOS: It was a factor in deciding on House of
Cards that we could identify a sizeable audience of David Fincher fans. I don’t know if people identify themselves as David Fincher fans, but we could see in the data that they liked The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fight Club, Se7en and The Social Network, and these are all very different films. What they have in common is the point of view of the storyteller. I don’t think people even realize in their own viewing patterns who they really like, but we can tell from the data. We had a great combination of David Fincher fans, some hardcore Kevin Spacey fans, certainly Robin Wright fans, fans of the original House of Cards and fans of political thrillers. When we put that pool together, it gave us great confidence that if the show was executed well, we could find a big audience for it. And when the talent involved bet on the execution, it felt like a safe bet. WS: Tell us about how you marketed House of Cards to
your subscribers. SARANDOS: I was trying to bring something to the table
that others cannot. Our personalized merchandising and the personalized experience for our subscribers is something that I think we are uniquely good at, particularly 140 World Screen 10/13
relative to linear television. If you are a likely customer for House of Cards, we’ll feed you a trailer with something that is consistent with something you are watching right now. David Fincher oversaw seven unique trailers that played up different attributes of the show, and we delivered them in a very personalized and dynamic way. WS: Netflix premieres many episodes all at once. What kind of creative freedom does that give writers? SARANDOS: It really depends on the material. In the case of Arrested Development, every episode has a different running time. There are 15 episodes, which is kind of a funky episode count by TV standards. In the case of House of Cards, they are relatively uniform running times but none of the episodes contain traditional cliffhangers. We certainly don’t have the commercialbreak cliffhangers either. So it really gives storytellers the freedom to tell their stories without worrying whether or not the audience remembers what they watched last week. That also frees up 10 or 15 percent of the show’s running time to create much richer characters and denser plot lines. Those cliffhangers trick you into coming back after each commercial or after each episode. When you strip all of those out of each episode, you find it creates a very different rhythm to the show. WS: By releasing multiple episodes of a series at a time,
Netflix has created a market for serialized shows that didn’t exist before. SARANDOS: It definitely changed the economic model of television. Not only was it difficult to sell those shows, the networks were actively un-serializing serialized shows after [they showed pilots at the] May screenings. When we saw that phenomenon occur, it made us nervous that we wouldn’t have any off-net
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sale, which is the economic driver of those shows being made, we allow a lot of freedom. We definitely want to run a season and see how it comes out before we go forward, but the definition of a season and how many episodes it has is going to start to blur. Given the physical limitations of production, we’re trying to challenge some of those conventions as well. WS: Challenging conventions is at the
top of the agenda! SARANDOS: TV conventions suit net-
works and cable operators really well but not always consumers. And we’ve always been a very consumer-focused company. WS: Are you seeing great potential in the
children’s area? SARANDOS: It’s interesting. If you ask
House of Bluth: Netflix this year resurrected the cancelled FOX comedy Arrested Development.
opportunities for highly serialized dramas. It was one catalyst to start developing our own. WS: Are there certain audience segments you think are underserved? SARANDOS: We think the sci-fi category is one. Typically sci-fi tends to be kitschy on television, probably because of a bunch of constraints. We’re hoping to change that all with Sense8 [from The Matrix’s Andy and Lana Wachowski]. We are also moving into animated series for the very young with our DreamWorks Animation originals. We’ve launched something for the tween audience with Mako Mermaids, the sequel to H2O: Just Add Water. And now we are moving to sitcoms with Arrested Development and dramedies with Orange Is the New Black and certainly very serious dramas with House of Cards. We are trying to cover all different tastes and demographics. WS: All of your originals have gone into second sea-
sons. Are you also giving storytellers the freedom to tell their stories for as long as they need to, as opposed to saying, “We have to get to episode 100 because we want to sell the show in syndication”? SARANDOS: We are supportive of our studio partners [from whom we license these series]. They may need a very different product than we need. But for the Netflix 142 World Screen 10/13
ten people why they love Netflix you get ten different answers: one is that there’s a great deal of content, another is the very low price, or the convenience of having content available on every device. One of the answers we invariably get is that kids love watching Netflix on their iPads or on TV. We hear more and more people saying that their kids want to watch Netflix, not a certain show. Children’s programming has become an important and distinctive selling point of the service. We’ll see if kids’ original series create the same kind of brand affinity that comes from an original series for adults. Will these shows become another reason why kids want to stay engaged with Netflix? WS: There is a whole generation of kids today that has no connection to any one network, and some of them aren’t even seeing commercials. SARANDOS: It’s been one of the reasons parents really love Netflix—they can put their kids in front of it and know they will not get inundated with candy commercials or toy commercials. It’s really just about the viewing; it’s a safe environment. WS: You recently made a big deal with The Weinstein
Company. As you increase your original productions, what role do your acquisitions take? SARANDOS: Because viewers’ tastes are so diverse, we will always want to have a good volume of content. We will continue to push on originals, but we’ll continue to be one of the largest buyers of off-net product as well. On the TV side, we want to identify those high-quality super-serialized series that are getting ready to hit television, track their success and make sure that we have lined up future episodes the way we have, for example,
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WS: And are you looking to do
Anytime, anywhere: The Netflix service is accessible on a number of devices, including the Roku player, Apple TV and the iPad via a dedicated app.
with AMC—they have a very similar sensibility about their programming. We have an output deal with AMC so that when the next Breaking Bad or the next Mad Men comes along, we’ll have those series on Netflix. Movies play a pretty important role; a third of all viewing on Netflix is movies. We were attracted to The Weinstein’s Company’s output because of its high quality and super-diverse storytelling—and I say high quality in the form of Oscar dominance and critical acclaim. Day in and day out, you can count on Harvey [Weinstein] to make or find the best movies in the world. More than that, he is an incredibly inventive executive. I knew we would be able to innovate in the space with Harvey in ways that we never would have with a major studio: playing with windows, playing with formats, really rethinking the space. There is more to come on how that all takes place, but we are both looking at it like a blank slate. WS: And how are your relationships with the other studios? SARANDOS: Very good. Most of the studios are in
long-term deals with other pay-TV providers.That prevents us from doing much in the near term, which is fine.We’ve done a lot already about collapsing windows. When we first got into the business, all of our movies had to be ten years old, and now we are collapsing the pay-TV window with a few of the studios and showing [their product] earlier on Netflix.We are also doing animation output deals and you are seeing a lot more of those films debut on Netflix, like The Lorax, ParaNorman and others. We’re finding our sweet spot in the pay-TV window that isn’t necessarily in direct competition with HBO, Starz or Showtime. WS: Netflix is present in a number of international ter-
ritories. What factors do you look for in a country before launching? SARANDOS: I won’t give you the whole list for competitive reasons [laughs], but we do look for welldeveloped Internet infrastructure, strong tastes for Western content, mostly because we think that is our current expertise, and an ecosystem where people conduct business online. I strongly believe that those things will be in place around the world over time. 144 World Screen 10/13
original programming in countries around the world? SARANDOS: Absolutely—over time, just as we found enough scale in the U.S. business to bring our original programming, we’ll do the same in international territories. For now, we are offering originals of a different sort. The only way you can see new episodes of Breaking Bad in the U.K. is on Netflix; it’s like an original for the U.K. In Canada, we have shows like 90210 and others that actually premiere on Netflix. Instead of being available after the series has aired, they premiere the day after broadcast. So we are collapsing the window between U.S. broadcast and local availability in a lot of countries around the world. As for our original shows, we premiere them simultaneously in all of our territories, which is another key factor that differentiates Netflix [from] any other content provider, because there is no delay between the U.S. premiere and the local premiere. They are extremely popular in all the territories where we operate. For example, a lot of people would doubt that of House of Cards. On the surface it’s a show set in American politics, but on a deeper level it’s very Shakespearean storytelling. That travels extremely well. Orange Is the New Black is a phenomenon in every one of our markets. These are examples of more global storytelling for a global audience. WS: What does Netflix have to do to remain an “I can’t live without it” proposition for subscribers? SARANDOS: Instead of trying to figure out what the customers want right now, we have to also focus on what we think they might want in the future. We have to keep working on the content side, keeping in tune with the projects that are out there and how they reflect our consumers’ tastes, and at the same time really focus on delivering a differentiated content experience to consumers. So one level is the content itself. Another level is the quality in which it is delivered, because from country to country, and even from community to community in the U.S., Internet speeds vary. We have to build a service that is nimble enough to deliver high quality with variable Internet speeds, for example, or allow for the ability to stop and start a show, or pick up programming from one device to another—those are all things that our people are working on. I even think that the improvements in TV Everywhere are mostly driven by the quality of the Netflix service. So it’s spurring a lot of competition and, to your point, we just have to stay ahead of them the way we have for nearly 15 years.
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C O N T E N T T R E N D S E T T E R A WA R D S
I
t has never been more challenging to be a television programmer. Budgets are under pressure. Content owners want to be adequately compensated for all the extra rights—online, on-demand, catch-up—that are needed in today’s TV Everywhere world. New online platforms and digital channels are popping up every day, making it that much harder to keep viewers’ attention. In the quest for hits, broadcasters, free and pay, are having to make risky, often expensive choices as they try to determine what’s going to resonate with their audiences. We at World Screen are again teaming up with Reed MIDEM to honor some of these brave executives—who use a mix of market research, ratings data and gut instinct to take gambles on imported and original fare—with the third-annual Content Trendsetter Awards. In Denmark, Piv Bernth has been commissioning distinctive local dramas that are leaving a major mark on the global media landscape. Carmi Zlotnik is carving a niche for Starz in the U.S. premium pay-TV space, long dominated by HBO and, more recently, Showtime. In Australia, Ross Crowley at Foxtel has been successfully luring audiences away from the dominant free-TV space with his highprofile acquisitions and unique original series. And in Mexico, Azteca’s Pedro Lascurain is offering free-TV audiences innovative imports. You can read more about this year’s honorees in the pages that follow. These executives will receive Content Trendsetter Awards at the end of the Acquisition Superpanel: What Do Buyers Want? session at MIPCOM on Wednesday, October 9. This must-attend panel, taking place at the Grand Auditorium in the Palais, will see the honorees discussing their programming strategies in conversation with Anna Carugati, World Screen’s group editorial director. “For the third year in a row, we are delighted to be working with our friends at Reed MIDEM to honor four leading programmers with the World Screen Content Trendsetter Awards,” says Ricardo Guise, the president and publisher of World Screen. “In highly competitive marketplaces—the U.S., Mexico, Australia and Denmark—these four executives have been developing pioneering, innovative domestic content and seeking out the best properties from the global marketplace. Their insights at the Acquisition Superpanel will undoubtedly be invaluable for anyone in the business of making, buying or selling content. We are excited to be honoring their achievements at MIPCOM.”
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C O N T E N T T R E N D S E T T E R A WA R D S
Piv Bernth
Carmi Zlotnik
Head of Drama DR
Managing Director Starz
No other Danish creation has had as much of an impact on the international drama business as Forbrydelsen. Commissioned by public broadcaster DR and first broadcast in 2007, the series, known internationally as The Killing, kicked off the Scandinavian drama trend that has been making its way around the world over the last few years. It became a cult hit in the U.K., was sold around the world and was remade in the U.S. for AMC. Piv Bernth, who was an executive producer on the original Danish version, is today the head of drama at DR. She has had a hand in a host of other hit Danish exports, including Borgen and, more recently, Bron, which has spawned The Bridge for FX and The Tunnel for Sky Atlantic and Canal+.
This year has seen a number of major original programming initiatives at the U.S. pay service Starz, with the debuts of Da Vinci’s Demons and The White Queen. Next up, Starz will premiere the highly anticipated Michael Bay pirate drama Black Sails. As managing director, Carmi Zlotnik oversees the company’s originals, which include Starzled properties like Black Sails and international coproductions such as Da Vinci’s Demons with BBC Worldwide, The White Queen with Company Pictures, and the upcoming Fortitude with Sky Atlantic. Zlotnik has been getting the message out to the international content community that Starz can be the perfect home for smart, compelling programming.
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C O N T E N T T R E N D S E T T E R A WA R D S
Ross Crowley
Pedro Lascurain
Director of Programming and Channels Foxtel
Head of Acquisitions Azteca
Foxtel, Australia’s leading pay-television operator, has always been known as an innovator, constantly offering subscribers a wide range of top-quality programming, much of which is not available elsewhere. It is fitting that the company tapped Ross Crowley to be director of programming and channels, where he oversees the bouquet of Foxtel owned-and-operated networks that range from movies and factual to lifestyle, reality and drama. Crowley’s background makes him ideal for the job because he has worked in a variety of roles in programming and acquisition. He was with Foxtel in the mid’90s and then moved to the pan-Asian pay-TV service STAR, followed by the commercial broadcaster Nine Network, before returning to Foxtel.Today he is responsible for both linear and on-demand services.
Throughout his long career in television, Pedro Lascurain has witnessed key developments in Latin American and U.S. Hispanic free TV, cable and satellite television. In the 1980s in the U.S., he helped build the program offering of the cable channel Galavisión. In 1990, he was invited by Televisa, the market-leading broadcaster in Mexico, to be program manager for Canal 5. He then joined the satellite service SKY and helped develop the newly established pay-TV business in the region. Finally, in 1999, he joined Azteca, the company that fearlessly went head-to-head with Televisa.Today, as head of acquisitions at Azteca, he buys movies and TV shows for three channels and has been instrumental in helping them build significant audience share and viewer loyalty.
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C O N T E N T T R E N D S E T T E R A WA R D S
2011
2012
The inaugural Content Trendsetter Awards were presented to:
The second-annual Content Trendsetter Awards were presented to:
Mike Cosentino, the senior VP of programming at
Beverley McGarvey, today the chief programming
CTV Networks in Canada.
officer at Network Ten in Australia.
Jeff Ford, today the director of content at TV3 in
John Ranelagh, the head of acquisitions at TV 2 in
Ireland.
Norway.
Sarah Wright , the controller of acquisitions at
Malcolm Dunlop, formerly executive VP of TV pro-
British pay-TV platform Sky.
gramming and operations at Rogers Media in Canada.
Carlos Sandoval, who leads all acquisitions at Televisa
Gill Hay, then-head of acquisitions at Channel 4 in
in Mexico as general manager of the film division.
the U.K.
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By Anna Carugati
Known in the U.K. for his biting political satire on the BBC’s The Thick of It and its spin-off, the critically acclaimed film In the Loop, Armando Iannucci’s trademark style of comedy lays painfully bare the inefficiencies, insecurities and incompetence of elected officials and their staffs. He has brought his unique blend of humor and sarcasm across the Atlantic and produced Veep for HBO. The comedy stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Vice President Selina Meyer. Using the same insult-andprofanity-rich cinéma vérité style that marks The Thick of It, Iannucci has placed the U.S. political process, the 24-hour news cycle, the drive for power, and human frailties and misjudgments under his unforgiving microscope. Now preparing Veep’s third season, Iannucci continues to poke fun at politics and power.
WS: When you were writing the pilot of Veep, did you
have Julia in mind from the beginning?
WS: Were you intrigued by the limitations of the vice
president as always being second banana to the president? IANNUCCI: It’s that, but it’s also a second-banana role
inhabited by someone who up to then had been in a position of authority. So Selina, for example, had been a senator for some time. She had won several elections. She had no doubt been on several committees and had influence on legislation and had the power base in her home state. She was used to making decisions. So to go from that to having to voice the opinion of someone else and having to back the policy of someone else or to have your role shaped by someone else—because the VP’s role is whatever the president makes of it—is a challenge. If you are very close to the president, you have lots of power and influence. If you’re not that close, you have none. So you are entirely at the whim of the president. For a grown-up, hard-hitting politician, that’s a very, very awkward position to be in.
IANNUCCI: It was a long process of mine, thinking what
should be the central role—should it be someone in Congress, a senator, a governor, an ambassador, a cabinet member? Then we decided the vice president. And pretty instantly I thought it would be good if it’s a female vice president because we could make it feel a bit new, a bit fresh, and people wouldn’t say, Oh, is this meant to be Joe Biden? So we wrote the pilot script for Selina, and once we wrote it we realized that we’d need a very good strong comic actress to play her. Julia was the first name that sprung to mind and the first person I got in touch with, and it was all sorted pretty quickly after that. 158 World Screen 10/13
WS: Power is a theme that you really want to explore? IANNUCCI: Absolutely. In the first season it was all
about the frustrations of not being at the center, so we thought in the second season, what happens when you are given your wish, what does that do to you? How do you cope with the responsibility of the decisions that you have made? How is your personal life impacted by power and what you are doing publicly? Also, in the first season, I suppose it was very much Selina coming to terms with the limitations of her office. In the second term, having mastered her office, as it were, it was about
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had eight writers and it was a team-written show, so I had half absorbed the U.S. system there. I was very much the showrunner of The Thick of It, which is not a role that is common in U.K. television. Similarly, working at HBO reminded me a lot of doing stuff for the BBC, because HBO is different from the big networks—they want to protect the creator, so they give a lot of autonomy to the showrunner and to the writers. It’s not a huge season order; it’s only ten episodes. In many ways it reminded me of the protectiveness that I got when I was working for the BBC. But there were things to learn, many more resources at your disposal than you have when you do U.K television, which is both a good thing and a bad thing, because what you don’t want is this big monster that you have to control—we try to keep the show as streamlined as possible. Also, we were working in Baltimore. It’s a small city, it’s away from TV land; it’s not New York, it’s not L.A., so I didn’t get that sense that I was working in the heart of the American television industry. I felt more that I was working with a dedicated crew and a team that got together for the project, but there was a feeling of working in isolation, which is a good thing. WS: I’ve spoken to showrunners who’ve told me they Power plays: Julia Louis-Dreyfus has won two Emmys for her role as Vice President Selina Meyer on HBO’s Veep, which has been renewed for a third season for 2014.
wanting to do something else and take that ambition elsewhere. And viewers are also getting closer and closer to the president’s office and the president’s staff, seeing the West Wing and just getting nearer to the heart of power. WS: How do you and your collaborators research topics
or characters? I read that when you visit D.C. you have a “metaphorical magnifying glass.” What do you look for? IANNUCCI: When I go to D.C. I meet up with people who work in these departments and in these buildings and I say to them, Look, it’s not a documentary, I’m not out to expose great scandal or anything. I just want to get the details right and therefore I want to know the boring stuff: What time do you get in in the morning; what time do you get home at night; what’s the thing that takes up most of your day; if a call comes through from the Washington Post, the editor of this, or the presenter of that, who would take the call? And as you wander around these buildings, you realize they are much more shoddily laid out inside than they look from the outside.You gradually pick up a picture of how D.C. works. Also, when I am speaking to these people I am aware of how they speak and how they act. WS: Having first worked in the British system of pro-
ducing television, how did you transition into the U.S. model where there are more episodes per season and a writers’ room to work with? IANNUCCI: It’s interesting, because I was sort of doing that in the U.K. anyway. On my show The Thick of It, we 160 World Screen 10/13
often feel like CEOs of major companies. They have so many moving parts they have to juggle constantly! IANNUCCI: Absolutely, and while trying to keep the whole creative picture in your head. In the first season I directed five of the eight episodes, and in fact, in the second season, I found it worked a lot better if I only directed one episode out of the ten. [That way] I left enough creative space in my brain to look at the season as a whole and was able to stand back and view everything in context. That worked a lot better because when you are directing there really is no time to do anything else! WS: When you start working on a season, do you have
it all mapped out before you start writing? IANNUCCI: I’ll have it mapped out to halfway and a
little bit beyond, but I deliberately hold back on the last two or three episodes until we are much nearer the time to shoot those, because we find that while we’re shooting, we are constantly refining the stories and the characters and the situations. So in season two, the last couple of episodes were really written very quickly rather late on. In my head I had kind of worked out what was going to happen, but we only wrote it much nearer to the time we shot the episodes. There was that element of freneticism and ticking clock in the story lines anyway, so that kind of added to it. And similarly, in season three, I roughly know how it’s going to progress, but I will only decide what happens in the last four episodes in a few months’ time.
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EURO VISION
Many of its economies are in dire straits, but Europe’s content-creation sector appears to be booming. By Joanna Stephens These are interesting times for Europe’s content business. In an age of media fragmentation, constriction and consolidation; economic instability and new monetization models—or lack thereof; digital’s powers of disruption; and release and rights structures in flux, there are clearly challenges ahead. Amid this uncertainty, perhaps the most interesting thing about Europe’s content creators is that they are feeling so optimistic, particularly in the U.K., where the country’s independent TV production sector posted revenues of £2.8 billion ($4.3 billion) in 2012, according to the latest financial census from Pact, the trade association that represents the commercial interests of the U.K.’s indies. This represents a 16.5-percent hike in just one year—the highest single-year rise since the census began in 2004. It is now ten years since the codes of practice, also known as terms of trade between producers and broadcasters, were introduced in the U.K. to allow indies to own and exploit a share of the rights in the content they create. As a result, British program exports have risen sharply since 2003 and now account for about a third of all sector revenues. Added to this, after four years of spending reductions, domestic U.K. commissioners increased their investment by £292 million ($455 million) in 2012, with more
spending from the likes of the BBC and Channel 4 finding its way to the smaller players. MIGHTY ENGLAND
It’s no wonder that John McVay, the chief executive of Pact, is upbeat. “The TV industry has come through the recession pretty well in the U.K. and other developed markets,” he says. “With people around the world watching more television today than they did ten years ago, TV remains a fantastic mass media for advertisers.” The catch, however, is that you have to be very, very good to make it in the brutally competitive global market. “There’s no room for complacency in the independent production sector,” McVay adds. “Companies have to be smart to embrace international markets. It’s very easy to make bad TV, but the U.K. has a reputation for making great original programming in short runs, which gives broadcasters in other markets opportunities to create hits quickly. And because U.K. indies tend to own the copyright to their work, they can exploit their content more efficiently than many of their overseas competitors.” This is particularly true of formats, which, with some 40 percent of the world’s most widely sold concepts said to originate from the U.K., are arguably the British production industry’s greatest gift to global broadcasters. “If you’ve had a
hit in the U.K. as a format, you derisk that product for the international market and give buyers a lot of confidence,” McVay observes. The Pact chief’s claim that this is a “fantastic time of opportunity for cool creative producers” is echoed by Maria Kyriacou, the managing director of ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE). “It’s clear that there’s a strong appetite for content and formats that originated in the U.K.,” she says. She illustrates the point with a string of ITVS GE global hits, which include the returning franchises Mr Selfridge—now sold to more than 100 countries—Vera and Shetland, and the BBC Three structured reality format Boom Town, for which, at press time, deals were pending in a number of territories. “We now have ten formats that have been made in at least three countries,” Kyriacou adds, referencing quiz show The Chase, which premiered on U.S. game-show channel GSN this summer following successful runs in Germany and Russia. But while tried-and-tested formats tick the boxes for broadcasters seeking security, Kyriacou observes that, in today’s borderless world, audiences are drawn increasingly to programming—drama in particular—that opens a window onto other cultures. Coupled with an appetite for bigger-budget and more ambitious shows, this is driving increasing numbers of Euro-
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pean producers and broadcasters into international co-production. A case in point is Breathless, ITVS GE’s tentpole drama for MIPCOM, which is co-produced with WGBH. The medical series from the producers of Mr Selfridge is set in groovy 1960s London, an era of profound social, sexual and moral change. “We have high hopes for Breathless,” Kyriacou says, noting that the drama, which stars Jack Davenport and will air in the U.S. on Masterpiece on PBS, will be the subject of ITVS GE’s first-ever international screening in Cannes. COME TOGETHER
Also on Kyriacou’s co-pro slate is Thunderbirds Are Go (working title), a partnership between ITV Studios and Pukeko Pictures, in collaboration with Weta Workshop. “Distributors are becoming involved in coproductions much earlier,” she adds. “For us, this is an important point, particularly as we are seeing large deficits, and therefore careful early planning to push a production into profit is essential.” But don’t be seduced into a cookie-cutter approach to co-pro, Kyriacou warns: “One size does not fit all. It’s important to find an arrangement for each co-production that is right for that particular project. We prioritize finding the right partners. And the creative always leads.” One of ITV Studios’ co-pro partners is ZDF Enterprises
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Do not cross: One of the biggest hits out of the U.K. this year has been Shine International’s Broadchurch on ITV, which is being remade for FOX in the U.S.
(ZDFE), the commercial arm of the German public-service broadcaster. Among other projects, the two worked together on ITV’s £11 million ($16.9 million) hit Titanic, which, in the words of Alexander Coridass, ZDFE’s president and CEO, is the epitome of “the growing demand for wellmade historical dramas and bigbudget mega-productions.” Coridass sums up ZDFE’s strengths as “an understanding of content and subject, a broad international network and a willingness to take risks”—all qualities that are evident in the company’s recent co-pro ventures, which range from gritty Scandi crime (the Millennium cycle, The Bridge, The Killing) to factual (Doomsday: World War I, Last Secrets of the Third Reich) to children’s films and series (Mako Mermaids, Sam Fox: Extreme Adventures, Q Pootle 5). Having been involved in two of the most talked-about European series of recent times—The Bridge and The Killing, both remade for the U.S.—the ZDFE chief has clear views on why the Nordic noir crime wave is sweeping all before it. He lists creative freedom, strong stories, actors chosen for talent rather than looks, authors with permission to take risks and “production design that
plunges viewers into a unique atmosphere from the very first frames.” He adds, “In my opinion, Nordic noir is successful because of its homogeneity. Everything fits—including the most malevolent crimes.” SCANDI TIME
On the front line of the Nordic drama phenomenon is Patrick Nebout, managing director and executive producer of Stockholmbased Nice Drama, whose slate of high-concept projects includes a trilogy based on crime queen Kristina Ohlsson’s books with TV4 Sweden and an as-yetunnamed German partner. “I think it’s partly about being at the right place at the right moment,” Nebout says of Scandi drama’s current popularity. Like ZDFE’s Coridass, he says that the voracious appetite for original content from new players such as Netflix and HBO is a contributing factor. “But it’s also very much about the specific relationship between Nordic broadcasters and producers, which is based on trust,” he adds. “If a Scandinavian broadcaster likes your initial vision, and if they trust the creative and the production proposal, they’ll stand behind the project and back you 100 percent.”
The news in June that the European Union is to exclude, for now at least, film and television services from the ambitious E.U.-U.S. free-trade agreement currently on the table— “in order to protect the cultural and linguistic diversity of the E.U. countries”—has provoked mixed reactions within the industry. France’s CNC hailed the decision as a “historic victory” for European culture, but E.U. trade commissioner Karel de Gucht has expressed concerns that it could lead to the U.S. introducing similarly protectionist measures. BORDER PROTECTION
Nebout is firmly in the former camp. “It’s very good news,” he says. “It’s vital for Europe, made up of so many different cultures and languages, to protect and actively support its TV culture. Look at the recent global success of European drama. It shows we’re capable of producing big-budget, commercially viable fiction that travels very well around the world. As long as a show is compelling, exciting and entertaining, with a strong identity and vision, audiences don’t care about its nationality.” Another ardent supporter of the E.U.’s decision to exclude audiovisual services from the free-trade negotiations is Mathieu Béjot, the executive director of TV France
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International (TVFI), the association of French TV program exporters whose membership represents the majority of all of France’s international content sales. With France initially threatening to block the trade talks if its TV, film and online content industries were not protected from the might of Hollywood and SiliconValley, Béjot’s views are unsurprising. “One of the main qualities of Europe is precisely that it is so diverse and can offer such a wide range of programming,” he says. “To maintain and nurture that diversity, allowing E.U. states to protect and promote their own film and television industry is fundamental. The main challenge in years to come is to create a level playing field with the huge U.S. companies that bring programs to European audiences while avoiding any [contribution to] our own ecosystem.” Béjot is also blunt about the health of the French production industry. “The economic context and the creation of new DTT channels, not to mention a world of hyperchoice on multiple devices, has impacted traditional terrestrial broadcasters, which are still the largest commissioners of TV programs. Producing on constrained budgets for at least two screens has changed the way producers have to work,” he says. But it’s not all bad news, he adds, noting that France is still Europe’s animation powerhouse, having produced around 300 hours in 2012. Documentary remains a French forte; French drama has also undergone a renaissance in recent years, and is now characterized by edgier, more daring series, such as Les Revenants (which aired on Channel 4 in the U.K. as The Returned), Spiral (sold to BBC Four) and International Emmy Award–winning Braquo (available in the U.S. on Hulu). “One of the challenges for the French drama industry is to focus less on prime-time drama and produce more daytime or access series, with more episodes,” Béjot says. Interestingly, however, Béjot does not believe the eurozone crisis has had a significant impact on creative
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Swinging sixties: ITV Studios Global Entertainment is forecasting a strong response from international buyers to its new period medical drama Breathless.
standards. “Some genres are harder to finance and require more international partners, but no one has sacrificed quality yet,” he adds. This echoes the experience of ITVS GE’s Kyriacou, who has found that the recession’s greatest impact is that “people are willing to partner more.” And ZDFE’s Coridass goes a step further, saying, “I personally believe that the quality of productions has even risen.” SEEKING PARTNERS
But industry veteran Nadine Nohr, the CEO of Shine International, is less convinced. “In a recession, only a small number of ideas make it to the screen and they have to tick increasing numbers of boxes,” she says. “We have been lucky that the strength of some of our franchises [such as cookery superformat MasterChef and ITV’s record-breaking crime drama Broadchurch] have made them the exception to the rule, even in the more seriously affected markets.” Karoline Spodsberg, the managing director of Banijay International, is even less sanguine, claiming that Europe’s economic meltdown has resulted in more budget programming, along with more repeats and multiple seasons, even of mediocre shows. “With fewer opportunities for high-end content, there’s just less creativity across the board. It’s been harder to convince broadcasters to take a risk with a new commission.”
But despite the financial constraints in two of Europe’s hardest-hit markets, Spain and Italy, Spodsberg reports that Banijay’s local affiliates are thriving. Cuarzo in Spain continues to receive commissions on the strength of its track record, which includes long-running talk show El programa de Ana Rosa, while in Italy demand is building for Ambra Multimedia’s game show The Thing and cooking show Family Taste, devised by the creative team put together by recently appointed Banijay Group CEO Marco Bassetti. For BBC Worldwide, the world’s largest distributor outside of the Hollywood studios, having scale has been crucial to weathering the crisis. “We’re fortunate in that we’re a global business,” says Paul Dempsey, the president of global markets. “We do business in 200-plus markets around the world. We’re not reliant on any one revenue stream. We do have mixed income streams. That allows us to be more resilient in the face of the cyclical nature of economic changes and different business activities being stronger than others. Western Europe is a microcosm of that. Within Western Europe there are different revenue streams. You’ve got some very strong economies in Western Europe, even within the eurozone.”
This ability to weather local turbulence also applies to Europe’s super-indies, which now dominate the continent’s production landscape with their deep catalogues, multinational production capabilities and slick distribution machines dedicated to maximizing the value of IP across platforms, windows and territories. The likes of Banijay, Shine, all3media, Zodiak, Endemol, FremantleMedia and Red Arrow have acquired the scale necessary not only to compete on the international market, but also to reduce risk in an industry that remains unpredictable. RISE OF THE SUPER-INDIE
Shine’s Nohr points out that ongoing consolidation has also created groups that are active across multiple genres and territories. The result is “something of a micro-economy” where, if one market or genre dips, another can pick up the slack. “This doesn’t make you recession-proof,” Nohr adds, “but it does create flexibility and options. That said, there’s no room for complacency, whatever the size of your organization.” Spodsberg believes that the superindies are unmatched when it comes to incubating creativity, particularly in the current financial climate. Their deep pockets allow them to invest more in development and take bigger chances, she says, “and that’s proving to be good for creativity across the European market.”
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Another driver of creativity, Spodsberg suggests, is that European producers tend to retain their programming rights. “The rights for both formats and finished tapes prove again and again to be extremely valuable commodities, and, as long as this value flows back into the production community, it will nurture creativity,” she says. Louise Pedersen, the managing director of all3media international, the formidably successful distribution arm of U.K. power player all3media, agrees that the super-indies have raised the creative bar. She describes a virtuous circle: by aggregating distribution, the super-indies provide scale, negotiating power and the ability to fund production gaps in-house, thus ensuring that a better return is achieved on IP—which, in turn, pays for more creative freedom.The truth is that real quality is hard to produce on the cheap. “We are seeing a more diverse and vibrant range of output and content creation from the indie sector,” Pedersen concludes. In the future, Pedersen thinks that this scale will be pivotal to developing relationships with new players in the EST (electronic sell-through) and VOD arenas. “For example, our all3media pages on iTunes and the deals we are able to do with Amazon, Netflix and Hulu rely on being able to supply volume,” she says. “Looking forward, we hope to be working
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resonate with both buyers and audiences. “In this age, the success of a show is less about straight ratings and more about how engaged the viewers are,” he says. “Do they share clips online? Is it trending on Twitter? Does it have watercooler-chat status? The big entertainment shows often tick these boxes.” Lynn claims that the YouTube brand channels for the British versions of Got Talent and The X Factor have now each surpassed a billion lifetime views, rendering them the highest-rated channels for entertainment programs worldwide—and FremantleMedia the highest-rated TV producer on YouTube globally. FORMAT FEVER
Raging dragon: ZDF Enterprises’ Millennium trilogy, inspired by Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander novels, kicked off the surge in interest in Scandinavian drama.
with these platforms as commissioning broadcasters, too.” In terms of rights models for commissioning, the all3media international chief says that the U.K., Scandinavia, Italy and France have producer-friendly models that allow content creators to retain rights. “But this is currently less easy in Germany. Control of rights ownership is becoming more of an issue across Europe. One concern is broadcasters retaining rights they don’t need or don’t exploit.” ENTERTAINMENT VALUE
As to what’s selling internationally, Pedersen says that formats continue to perform, and she reports keen prelaunch interest in all3media’s two fall headliners: Studio Lambert’s Million
Second Quiz, which aired on NBC in the U.S.; and Objective Productions’ Reflex for BBC One in the U.K. “And drama is having a strong moment,” she adds, pointing to BBC One’s historical epic The White Queen, based on Philippa Gregory’s best-selling novels set during England’s Wars of the Roses, which all3media’s Company Pictures coproduced with Starz. Drama is also doing the business for Shine and FremantleMedia. Nohr is heading to MIPCOM with Shine International’s biggestever lineup of drama titles, including The Bridge, produced for FX in the U.S., and Sky1’s new primetime series The Smoke. Great storytelling and access to unique characters and situations will always be in
demand, Nohr says. “Drama that surprises you and moves you with perfect and invisible execution, like Broadchurch, transcends trends.” FremantleMedia International’s MIPCOM slate, meanwhile, includes the ten-episode drama Full Circle, the small-screen debut of award-winning screenwriter Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men), and two seasons of FremantleMedia Australia’s hugely successful Wentworth, a contemporary reimagining of the cult ’80s Aussie soap Prisoner: Cell Block H. According to Jamie Lynn, the executive VP of international distribution for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at FremantleMedia International, the company’s super-size entertainment franchises (Idol, Got Talent and The X Factor) continue to
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This helps to illustrate why finding the Next Big Format remains the holy grail for the super-indies. The Idol TV franchise is worth an estimated $8 billion. In the bumper year of 2010, The Guardian reported that ITV made well over £100 million ($153.6 million) in advertising revenue from The X Factor. A measure of the value placed on the top formats by broadcasters is that Northern & Shell boss Richard Desmond bought the U.K.’s Channel 5 for £103 million ($158.2 million), but paid a reported £200 million ($307 million) for a multi-year license to show Big Brother on the channel. “Historically, the big formats have tended to come out of the U.K. and the Netherlands, which are still great creative hubs,” says Lynn, whose MIPCOM format roster includes Genealogy Roadshow and a remake of the classic Through the Keyhole, hosted by Keith Lemon. But increasingly, great formats can, and do, come from anywhere and everywhere. Lynn points to Ireland, Israel and Turkey as particularly fertile markets. “The BRIC territories are also investing more and China is forging ahead with its creative industries, so there’s a bigger competitive field,” he adds. Istanbul-based Global Agency epitomizes this new generation of competition.The company burst onto the international scene with the contro-
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Hitching a ride: Red Arrow International’s expanding slate of English-language drama includes Restless, made by sister company Endor Productions for BBC One in the U.K.
versial format Choosing My Religion, and since then it has added a string of strong concepts to its portfolio, including Forbidden Love, the first Turkish-originated scripted format to be sold into the U.S. Other Turkish dramas from Global Agency include 1001 Nights and The Magnificent Century, which Global Agency founder and CEO Izzet Pinto says has now been seen in 49 countries, including China. At MIPCOM, Pinto is unveiling a new drama called Calikusu (The Wren) that will stretch over several seasons and 80-plus episodes. But don’t confuse Turkish drama with telenovelas—Pinto says, “These are big-budget prime-time drama series, not daily soaps.” Their appeal, he believes, lies in their family-friendly leanings. “Our main markets for drama are the Near East, the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan, which, like Turkey, are very conservative in lifestyle and values,” Pinto adds. “Latin telenovelas don’t reflect the reality of people’s lives in these territories, and U.S. dramas are even more alien to their experiences. But our Turkish series are perfect.Viewers love them, they get amazing ratings and they are cost-effective. It’s a compelling proposition.” QUALITY IS KING
In the end, the general view is that good programming will always find a home. Cathy Payne, the chief executive of Endemol Worldwide Distri-
bution, has seen the economic wheel turn several times in the course of a lifetime in distribution.The one constant, she says, is that “those special pieces of content” are always out there and will always attract buyers. “In general, people are prepared to spend a lot of money on the programming they really want and very little on the rest,” Payne says. “Even in a recession, you need your big, schedule-defining shows. But the rest of the schedule has to be handled as cost-effectively as possible, which means a lot of reruns and library product.” One such schedule anchor is Low Winter Sun, a co-production between Endemol Studios and AMC.The tenepisode series is based on a miniseries that Endemol’s Tiger Aspect made for Channel 4 U.K. some eight years ago. Payne predicts that Low Winter Sun will generate buzz at MIPCOM, and is also confident that BBC One’s period cop series WPC 56 and the Canadian sci-fi thriller Continuum will continue to draw international interest. Payne believes that much of Endemol’s strength is rooted in its noninterventionalist philosophy. “The U.S. studios have struggled outside of North America because they buy a U.K. or Australian company and try to run it like a U.S. company,” says Payne. “That doesn’t work because the models are so different.” Endemol, by contrast, identifies a company in a specific territory that is doing
something well, buys it and then, crucially, leaves it alone to continue to do what it does best. MACRO DYNAMICS
While Endemol’s international clout, local-market competence and culture of IP ownership are clear assets, it is not immune from the major issues confronting the industry. “A lot of the larger European producers will probably be targeted for acquisition by U.S. players, so there’ll be another wave of consolidation,” Payne predicts. She identifies another threat to be the growing tendency of broadcasters to control rights internationally, thus ratcheting up the competition for distributors. Jens Richter is another believer in the power of outstanding programming. “It will always be in demand,” says the managing director of Red Arrow International, which recently signed a multi-year partnership with Israeli cross-media specialist Screenz aimed at extending broadcasters’ brands to the second screen. “We know how to build program brands in both scripted and nonscripted content,” Richter notes. “We act global.We move fast.We dive deep into each market—alongside the traditional free- and pay-TV broadcasters, we work with digital platforms.” And in the wake of the Screenz pact this summer, Red Arrow is now able develop tailormade strategies for broadcasters seeking new ways to deliver content,
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create digital assets and open up additional revenue streams. With the specter of recession still haunting Europe, new monetization models are at the forefront of many minds. “In general, the crisis created a rethink with regards to financing and storytelling,” says Richter, who is optimistic that the worst of the downturn is now over. Echoing ITVS GE’s Kyriacou, he also reports more openness towards cost-sharing partnerships, on the basis that producing quality programming is now a formidably expensive business. “Stories aren’t as local as they used to be,” he notes. “These days, they have to intrigue prime-time audiences in several markets.” Red Arrow’s response to this challenge is to seek properties that combine creative vision with story lines that can travel and, ideally, have builtin marketing potential. Examples include Bosch, based on Michael Connelly’s book franchise which has a huge global fan base; spy mini-series Restless, based on William Boyd’s best-selling novel; crime series Jo, which marks the return of the legendary French actor Jean Reno after a 20-year hiatus from TV; and mobster saga Lilyhammer, which has scored record ratings in Scandinavia and proved to be a hit for Netflix. “All these projects are great in terms of creative, marketing and PR,” Richter adds. “These shows are brands from day one of shooting.” The last word goes to Nice Drama’s Nebout, who muses on the future of Europe’s production industry as it squares up to a world of mounting competition, financial constraint and the challenge of telling stories across multiple screens. “We’re witnessing a transformation of media distribution and consumption, but I don’t think this will change the way stories are told,” he says. “Linear storytelling appeared at the dawn of humanity and it hasn’t really changed since. So yes, the TV production industry is facing many challenges, but the current crisis will lead to much greater creativity and many more financing models.”
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Guillaume DE POSCH RTL Group wasn’t initially intended to be a worldwide format, but FremantleMedia believes it has the capability and the strength to be exported. WS: How would you like to expand inter-
national productions even further? DE POSCH: We will continue growing
through a combination of organic growth and acquisition. FremantleMedia will focus its investments on two goals: fuelling its pipeline of intellectual property across a broad range of genres and serving new digital audiences, for example with YouTube channels or gaming. FremantleMedia already announced a couple of deals in kids’ entertainment and are currently reviewing their strategy to expand in the drama genre.
tional platforms and broadcasters, but also to new platforms. FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment focuses on kids’ programming, which requires special attention. This is vital to the business cycles of the new businesses. We already see the benefits of this restructuring on costs as FremantleMedia reported a higher EBITA of €47 million ($62 million) for the first six months of 2013. Additionally, this result is driven by increased contributions from FremantleMedia North America and FremantleMedia Asia Pacific. WS: What challenges and opportunities does the digital world offer? DE POSCH: Digital is important for the whole of RTL Group. FremantleMedia is a content creator, and can therefore be platform neutral. Bear in mind that certain criteria need to be met when you are doing business with all platforms: What level of exclusivity do you grant? What price do you receive for your show? How protected is your show from a copyright point of view? What kind of marketing does the platform offer? All these questions are weighed by FremantleMedia in their decisions regarding whether to be on one channel or another. TV is the true social medium. In addition to the collective experience of watching television with friends and family, social networks such as Facebook and Twitter stimulate interest in watching live television, making com-
WS: What advantages will FremantleMedia draw from separating distribution from the digital and branded businesses? DE POSCH: To answer this question we Global hits don’t happen often, but it is need to go back ten years. Back then, as you FremantleMedia’s job to find shows that work in know, branded entertainment and digital country after country. Among these shows are weren’t that much of a concern for the proIdols, Got Talent and The X Factor, and there duction side of the business. Now, ten years are more to come, as Guillaume de Posch, a co- later, integrating both digital and branded CEO of the RTL Group, FremantleMedia’s par- entertainment within the mainstream proent company, explains. Truly successful shows duction business has become essential. nowadays start with a great idea and can thrive For this reason, Cecile Frot-Coutaz, the on multiple platforms. CEO of FremantleMedia, decided to reintegrate these two strands within the core WS: What have been some of Fremantle - production business to make sure all aspects Media’s strengths? DE POSCH: It’s a combination of two factors: RTL Group is Europe’s largest broadcasting big worldwide formats and local formats that can be exported. First, FremantleMedia is very organization, with 50-plus channels across much focused on rolling out worldwide franten markets. chises, from The X Factor, Got Talent, Idols to The Farmer Wants a Wife. These are formats fitting for a big rollout in multiple countries. Of of the business are fully aligned. The com- mercial time potentially more valuable. course, FremantleMedia ensures each show is mercial and creative teams will now be Accordingly, on the broadcasting side of the adapted to suit local tastes. even more connected, working side by business, it’s extremely important that a In addition, FremantleMedia tries to create side from the development stage onwards. broadcaster can retain a certain level of shows that are successful locally, which they By transferring these skills into the local exclusivity, to ensure it aggregates the maxcan subsequently export. Let me give you two production businesses, FremantleMedia imum audience on its own channel. But it’s examples. Take Me Out is a dating show that creates a far more direct and seamless inte- also a matter of branding. We want to make was originally piloted in France, was then gration between its production efforts and sure the broadcaster relies not only on the exported, and later reimported [by] the digital the commercial activity surrounding its individual programming brands, but also on channel W9. The other example is Wentworth, hit shows. the overarching channel brand. which is a very successful drama that aired on FremantleMedia International now focuses Foxtel in Australia. As a local show, Wentworth on licensing programming not only to tradi- For more from Guillaume de Posch, see page 387. 172 World Screen 10/13
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Tim DAVIE BBC Worldwide
The BBC is a treasure trove of high-end programming, from cult classic Doctor Who to entertainment format Dancing with the Stars and major natural-history series Planet Earth. BBC Worldwide sells these and countless more hours of programming and also manages channels around the world. Chief executive Tim Davie says that at the heart of any BBC Worldwide brand, channel or sale, there is quality.
WS: BBC Worldwide’s financial results for last year were strong despite difficult economic conditions in a number of territories. DAVIE: What was most impressive about BBC Worldwide was its sustained growth. If you look at the last few years, we’ve seen consistent growth, even though trading conditions last year were pretty tough. Not only did we deal with difficult macroeconomic conditions, but we had particular issues in places like the U.K., where retailers such as HMV have basically failed. There were a number of specific issues we had to deal with, but the business posted growth not only in terms of revenues, but also profit—and most importantly, we sustained margins north of 15 percent. Overall, it’s a pretty healthy scorecard for Worldwide at the moment!
WS: You have said that 2013–2014 would be a transformational year for BBC Worldwide. How do you envision better exploiting BBC brands? DAVIE: We will be announcing our strategy toward the end of the year, so I won’t talk in too much detail, but first and foremost, quality is of absolute, paramount importance in whatever we do. In terms of growing the business, my assumption is that we’ll keep driving up the premium nature of our content and differentiate ourselves in the market, rather than going purely for volume. Having said that, our catalogue will remain on a scale that is largely unparalleled. To do that, we need to ensure that we are working with two types of partners in a more integrated way. First, with the BBC in-house productions base, you’ll see Worldwide continue to be a very active partner editorially as well as commercially. Second, we have the opportunity to keep nurturing and developing our business with the independent sector, particularly in the U.K., but also with partners such as Temple Street in Canada. We just did Orphan Black with them, which got some real traction. You’ll continue to see us increase our ambition with regard to BBC in-house but also look for partners who can really develop programming of the high quality that is the BBC standard. My personal view is that there is still some way to go before we can
Having said that, I still think there is potential for us to keep developing, both in partnership with BBC in-house—our production units in L.A. as well as in the U.K.—and other independents, to develop fully owned hits that we can exploit not only in America but around the globe. In the North American market, we want to be a highly innovative and groundbreaking commissioner as well as a leading program-sales operation. WS: In what other territories, such as those in Latin America or Asia, are you looking to increase operations? DAVIE: BBC Worldwide remains underexploited in emerging territories. Currently, 4 percent of our revenue comes from Asia. We’ve got some notable successes and channels performing very well, but we remain an underdeveloped business. We will see growth from program sales—the traction that we are getting with our catalogue is growing—and we continue to look for the right channel opportunities in Asia and Latin America. Clearly, what we don’t want to do is simply plant flags around the world. We’re going to be selective and choose those opportunities where the BBC is highly distinctive and has a really clear role versus the rest of the market. And with regards to BBC brands, I come from a global brands background and I’ll take as an example BBC Earth. In Japan, there is a
With a powerhouse library spanning every genre, BBC Worldwide is the largest content exporter outside of the Hollywood studios. truly say we are fully exploiting all our content supply routes. WS: What growth do you see in the North
American market? DAVIE: First, we should be incredibly proud
that we’ve got a BBC America channel that is growing in an extremely tough market. I give enormous credit to Herb Scannell and the team at BBC America for building up a business that now has some scale and some real momentum behind it. 174 World Screen 10/13
BBC Earth experience called Orbi. It’s an immersive experience for blockbuster natural history.Visitors can see an amazing 15-minute film on a huge 80-meter-long screen, and they are completely immersed in the BBC brand. It’s a partnership with SEGA.We think that brand exploitation potential in live events and merchandising is significant, but it will require a degree of focus. You’ll see us really push for growth behind clear global brands that are highly distinctive rather than seize any tactical opportunities.
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WS: As a public broadcaster, the BBC has a responsibility to its license-fee payers, and on the other hand BBC Worldwide must operate as a commercial entity. How do you reconcile these two duties? DAVIE: It’s absolutely clear that the first priority of the BBC is to the payers of license fees in the U.K., and what is sacrosanct is to ensure that the U.K. services, free from advertising, remain the key platform that everything else at the BBC must follow. Having said that, I think it’s absolutely appropriate that beyond the U.K. public services, internationally and in things like the sale of physical goods in the U.K., we make money to reinvest in programming. One of the key things we did last year was invest £156 million ($244 million) in the U.K. to improve the programming. What I don’t buy is that we have to editorially skew things away from what works in the public service in order to deliver commercial success. Interestingly, the things like Doctor Who or the natural-history landmarks that have been the most successful commercially are the things that sit well with the BBC and its public-service remit. As an old-fashioned brand guy, [I believe] one of the things that is critical is protecting and building your brand reputation, not just chasing the nearest buck. My vision for Worldwide is very clear, which is that we will be first and foremost about building the BBC’s brand reputation globally, and from that will flow a highly successful and highmargin commercial business.
from an era of limited choice into infinite choice, there will be a clearing up of content that does not make the cut in terms of quality. So, my job as CEO of BBC Worldwide is to set an extremely high bar in terms of quality for our writing, our production, our programming and also how we present our content. I absolutely think that those without a highly distinctive offer or proposition, supported by content of the utmost quality, will struggle. The truth is that the digital environment will be unforgiving to those without absolute clarity about what they are offering and those who are not delivering things that are of the highest quality.
WS: With so much clutter in the marketplace,
WS: What are your hopes for MIPCOM
is product that is very well made and engaging going to beat out that which is mediocre? DAVIE: Indeed. I’ve been fairly vocal about this. There is no doubt that as you emerge
BBC Worldwide’s Atlantis.
this year? DAVIE: BBC Worldwide is the world’s
largest distributor of TV programs outside the U.S. studios, so I’m hoping for another 10/13 World Screen 175
strong performance in program sales. We recently reorganized our business, so we’re approaching this market re-energized and with big ambitions. This year our sales revenues exceeded £300 million ($470 million) for the first time, and we have now sold Doctor Who, Parade’s End, The Paradise and Ripper Street to more than 120 territories. In format licensing, The Great British Bake Off has 13 local commissions—including tremendous success in France—and Dancing with the Stars now has 46 local versions. I hope we can build on this at MIPCOM with a range of unique, world-class content— including new programs like Atlantis, a brand-new, 13-part fantasy drama set in a time of legendary heroes, mythical creatures and gods, alongside outstanding returning series such as Sherlock and Top Gear—and continue our remarkable success in sales and distribution.
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Just SPEE Endemol the U.S. In order to leverage the Endemol network, we created Endemol Worldwide Distribution [EWD], which has close ties to our English-language scripted business, particularly in the U.S. and in the U.K. and sells that output internationally. WS: How is EWD diversifying its catalogue? SPEE: In our thinking, it is very clear that
Endemol has launched many a global hit, from Big Brother and Deal or No Deal to The Money Drop. Today, after changes in ownership and management, the company, led by CEO Just Spee, is making sure its offering is broad enough to include unscripted and scripted, formats and finished programs, in order to fulfill the needs of broadcasters as well as digital platforms.
WS: Why was it important for Endemol to
get into scripted programming?
scripted is such a big driver of EWD’s business that it has to be its primary focus. Also, why would you have a distribution business at all? Because there are synergies with the rest of the business. There are lots of formats in our catalogue that you can package with other shows and all of a sudden they become very attractive assets. So we pride ourselves [on] offering a very strong catalogue of scripted and unscripted content to broadcasters, who are naturally interested because they get their hands on an exciting portfolio. Cathy Payne [EWD’s CEO] is very skilled at spotting what’s out in the market that has potential for us. For example, we just bought a very exciting asset from the BBC, The Ark, a World War I drama, which, with the upcoming 100th anniversary of World War I, will be a very interesting high-quality series. It’s also worth pointing out that Cathy makes the decisions as to where she wants to invest; it’s not up to our other operating companies. Cathy makes decisions based on the impact it will have on EWD’s business,
losers. The key theme for us is to follow the money, because that is what we believe will determine the shape of the landscape. So we will try to find out where the money is going and where the money is being made, which sometimes involves advertising models and in other cases subscription models. It can be different things. Why is this great for Endemol? Because we are all about content. The more channels there are out there, traditional or nontraditional, the better it is for us. We want our content to travel to those channels. What we have to do is learn to adapt the ways we produce, and adapt to specific consumer needs as they relate to those specific channels. So we have different approaches in different markets. One thing that is here to stay is online video. Nonlinear programming will be very, very big whatever form it takes. In the meantime, we stay in touch with all the parties out there, work with them, supply them with either original content or remakes of what we already have available. WS: In what areas do you see the most potential for growth in the next 18 to 24 months? SPEE: Because the restructuring of the debt has held us back in financial terms, we have only recently got back in the [mergers and acquisitions] game. There are still some very interesting parties out there that we would like to add to the family. This year we acquired a controlling stake in Kuperman, the leading
SPEE: Firstly, we recognized that if you want
to be successful in this business you can’t stay only in unscripted. If you want to be a supplier of choice to many broadcasters you need to be involved in both scripted and unscripted. Secondly, if you go back in time, Endemol’s original operation in the Netherlands has always been in scripted, as have the companies that we acquired in the early days, like in Italy and in Spain. But until a few years ago, our scripted business was only local, and it was non-English language. We said, If we want to really grow scripted, then we have to go into the U.S., because that is obviously where the biggest opportunities are. So we needed to try to use our leverage more on an international scale and not only on the local level. To that [end], we acquired some companies in the U.K. and we also set up Endemol Studios in
With 90 companies in 30-plus markets, Endemol is the world’s largest independent production company. not on the overall Endemol business. That works well. WS: What has been Endemol’s digital strategy? SPEE: The first thing to say here is that con-
trary to what so many people have predicted, we do not think television will go away in the foreseeable future. We believe television will remain very strong and will probably drive the business for a long time to come. [Regarding] digital, I think it is very difficult to predict who will be the winners and who will be the 176 World Screen 10/13
production company in Israel. Israel is such a creative market, and of all the creative markets around the world, that was the one we were not in. Meanwhile, we are still in the process of establishing a presence in all the key markets around the globe. Some of them we’ll do in a more organic way, which is to go in and establish a presence on our own, while in other markets we will look to acquire an established party if that is the better way forward. For more from Just Spee, see page 432.
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Jørgen M.LINDEMANN Modern Times Group ducing different genres from what Strix is doing in Norway. DRG is a fantastic program- and format-sourcing company, which will help us with all our markets. We are now present in ten free-TV markets and are launching in Tanzania as well towards the end of this year. We have been present in Ghana since 2008, so we need good stories for a wide range of markets. And we are constantly on the watch for these companies, so it’s not ending here. We would like to work with a lot of other content companies around Europe.
With pay-TV and free-TV services spanning four continents, Modern Times Group (MTG) is one of Europe’s leading entertainment groups. In addition to operating channels, the company owns MTG Studios, which produces a wide range of content through Strix, Paprika Latino and Novemberfilm, among others, and has a significant distribution business in DRG. As MTG president and CEO Jørgen Madsen Lindemann points out, compelling storytelling is the fuel that drives his businesses.
WS: MTG has recently acquired a 92.4percent stake in DRG and a 51-percent stake in Novemberfilm. What motivated these acquisitions? MADSEN LINDEMANN: It is important for us to have a constant focus on securing key high-quality content for all our markets. We love good stories. We love giving relevant content to our customers. We see a lot of content in the market, but we want to make sure that we find companies that can produce and tell good stories for our linear channels, for our pay-TV viewers and for our online customers. So that was the rationale for acquiring stakes in DRG and Novemberfilm. Novemberfilm is an exciting company and has a very experienced team. They are pro-
WS: Do DRG, Novemberfilm, Strix and Paprika Latino all complement each other and cater to different audiences? MADSEN LINDEMANN: Yes, and they also cater to different markets. Paprika is well established in Eastern Europe, where we have a strong presence. Strix is to a large extent focused on the Nordic markets. And Modern African Productions (MAP), our African production company that we started in 2010, is needed for our African expansion. They serve the markets that we are in and they also deal with a lot of different broadcasters. They also serve companies that compete with our free-TV channels; that is how we decided to set up the business. We want to make sure that our content companies are relevant and that they can tell good stories to a wide range of channels in different countries.
channels in five different countries in Africa. We are looking at more opportunities in Africa. Tanzania is next in line. We have licenses now and we will be launching either late this year or beginning of next year. We are also exploring opportunities in some of the other African countries. We are looking at everything: production companies, channel licenses, online businesses and so forth. WS: Tell us about MTGx, the group’s initiative to accelerate digital growth and innovation. Why was this important and what does it entail? MADSEN LINDEMANN: It was very important for us to reach new target groups and more people with our content, and now there is the possibility to do that through online as well. First of all, we have our existing formats and we have made sure that the formats we have on our linear freeTV channels are, to a large extent, converted so that they have an online component. It keeps viewer interest in the program alive throughout the week, in between episodes, and hopefully creates even more interest when the program is aired again. We have a wide range of extraordinary content that is only available online.To give you an example, in Denmark, during the second quarter, we had more online viewing than we had during all of 2012.That is why MTGx was set up, because we want to make sure that we also
Modern Times Group’s extensive footprint reaches across Europe and Africa, including high-growth markets like Russia. WS: You mentioned Tanzania.What opportunities does MTG see in Africa? MADSEN LINDEMANN: It is a key strategic market for us. Several of the sub-Saharan countries are projected to have the fastestgrowing economies in the world in coming years. Right now we are present in Ghana with our free-TV channel Viasat 1. In the second quarter they managed to turn a profit for the first time since we launched the business. We grew 44 percent on sales, which is fantastic. We also broadcast our pay-TV 178 World Screen 10/13
create dedicated content for the online world, as well as explore other growth possibilities in the digital environment. A part of MTGx is called xCreations, and focuses on development of online content. At the same time, Strix, Paprika and MAP also produce content for online. It is a way for us to reach out to many more customers than we do with our freeTV or pay-TV channels. For more from Jørgen M. Lindemann, see page 228.
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John DE MOL Talpa Media Group
He is often referred to as the father of reality television, having created Big Brother and several other shows that now define the genre. After cofounding Endemol, John de Mol set up the Talpa Media Group, where he continues to follow his passion for developing shows that become worldwide hits and connect with viewers on the traditional television screen and through digital media.
WS: Do you start thinking of digital and
second-screen opportunities during the development process, or does the show idea come first and the digital applications later? DE MOL: We think of digital at the very early stages. In the last five years, at least in my experience, digital opportunities were seen as extensions of programs. But that has changed due to the importance of the lasting connection you want to create with the viewers, not only as a producer and a broadcaster but also given the changing advertising business models and how they contribute to shows. We see many opportunities in the digital area for connected formats, so now our content department and our digital team are joining forces and working at the same time on the development of new ideas. On the other hand, I want to be clear that we are not automatically creating digital applications for our formats. They have to make
sense. They have to be logical extensions and have to be of use to the viewer or the user. Sometimes you see examples of digital applications and you can’t help but ask, what is the use if it doesn’t strengthen the format or strengthen the connection with the viewer in any way? So you have to be careful that you’re not doing it just for the sake of doing it.
you is that we will launch at least six new formats in the fall. For the first half of next year, we have a big new game show in development with an app and secondscreen application, so all the viewers at home can play along. And we are working on a very, very big new and groundbreaking reality show.
WS: Are you seeing some instances where
WS: Did you expect The Voice to be as suc-
digital applications can drive viewers back to the show on the linear channel? DE MOL: Absolutely. On The Voice we have plenty of those examples. The HomeCoach app, which is renewed every year with new elements, is creating a huge connection with viewers. If you play the HomeCoach app, you are absolutely going to watch the show. A new Talpa game show that launched in Holland earlier this year, called What Do I Know?!, has an app that has been downloaded 1.2 million times, and that is quite a number for a country with some 16 million people. Again, all those applications make sense because they have clear connections to the shows and offer clear added value to a viewer’s experience. WS: Is digital one of the growth areas at Talpa
Media? DE MOL: We definitely see digital develop-
ment as an opportunity, even on the creative side. Things that we have been discussing for ten years are now possible thanks to develop-
cessful as it is and sell in so many markets? DE MOL: It is in the maximum number of
markets where you can sell a show the size of The Voice.There are original productions of the format now in more than 50 countries, and if you look at sales of the finished show, I think it’s on air in more than 160 countries—that is probably as far as you can go in selling a show! Also, every season we look carefully at whether we can come up with elements that can improve the show and give it something fresh. On the other hand, with a huge success like The Voice, you also have to be careful not to change just for the sake of change.The viewer does not get fed up with the show as fast as the makers of it do. We are working on it every day, but the viewer is watching it once a week, so we have to be careful with making changes. But with small, fresh elements, we have tried to come up with little surprises without taking away the basic elements that work so well. We hope they keep viewers interested in The Voice for a long time.
From Big Brother to The Voice, John de Mol has been a pioneer in bringing concepts developed in Europe to global audiences. ments in technology. So digital also gives you extra room to maneuver creatively and come up with new ideas. WS: Since shows and creativity are at the heart of what you do, are there upcoming shows or significant deals that you would like to mention? DE MOL: Yes and yes! There are upcoming shows and there are significant deals. The timing is a little bit difficult right now to announce anything in detail. What I can tell 180 World Screen 10/13
WS: Is your team also looking at secondscreen applications? DE MOL: Yes, but they have to provide something extra and not be a burden. A second-screen experience has to be fun to make watching the show even more fun. After the show has aired, the second screen creates a lasting relationship with the viewer, while the broadcast only lasted one or two hours.
For more from John de Mol, see page 430.
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Andrew DAVIES War and Peace fairly confident about doing this sort of thing now, having done all these great books like Bleak House and Little Dorrit, which are of similar length to War and Peace. You just decide at the beginning: Who are the main characters? Who do we really care about? And make sure that they are at the center of everything.Then it’s fairly easy to see what you can strip away and what you have to keep. There are three main characters right at the center of War and Peace that you’ve got to keep in mind all the time, and then branching out from them there are their families, their friends, the people they fall in love with, their enemies. So I have tried to think about it in that organic way. And I find that works.
Andrew Davies has penned countless screenplays. He is best known for adapting the great works of literature for television, notably Pride and Prejudice and Little Dorrit, which won him an Emmy, but he has also adapted the original House of Cards for the BBC and Mr Selfridge for ITV. A true lover of the classics, he is particularly excited about his latest task: bringing War and Peace to the small screen.
WS: What is your impression of period
WS: Both broadcasters and viewers expect very high production values these days. Has that affected your writing? DAVIES: Yes, it has. I find two things happening. Mostly I have been writing for BBC or ITV. Generally the BBC always wants high production values but with a small budget; there is this desperate struggle to make it look expensive! But recently, with things like War and Peace, you’ve got big money from co-producers like HBO. People are saying to me, “Don’t be afraid to write it really big, Andrew! Spend some of our money! Let’s start with a bang! Let’s have thousands and thousands of people!” And I think, Bloody hell, this is a big change
in and they have a right to be heard. There are a great many executive producers giving notes, and one just hopes we are all going to be on the same page and the various voices aren’t going to conflict with each other too much. So far it’s all been OK, touch wood, as far as I’m concerned. But I can imagine how it could go all pear-shaped! WS: When you are adapting these classics,
are you thinking of ways of bringing in younger viewers, who perhaps haven’t read the books yet? DAVIES: Yes, I am, especially when adapting one of these great classics. War and Peace is one of them, and of course Pride and Prejudice and the Dickens novels as well. There are a lot of kids in school and college who are studying these books and a lot of kids who just like a good story. Obviously, I do want to make them use my television adaptation as an entrance to the novel because often these 19th-century novels are very daunting to read and the language is quite difficult. But one advantage is that the principal characters in these great novels are often very young. They are people at formative stages of their lives and there is a tremendous amount of coming-of-age stories and growing-up stories and young people falling in love and so on, which, whatever the period, are immediately attractive to young people, who are either in that situa-
drama today? DAVIES: Broadcasters like to have famous
worldwide recognizable titles and it’s more difficult to get a show under way if the original source material is one of the less popular novels. They have a tendency to do Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities over and over again, which I find a little bit frustrating as a writer because I’d like to break fresh ground. But at the moment I am feeling enormously good about the state of drama because I’ve been commissioned to do War and Peace, which is a huge title, and it’s a great privilege and a pleasure to be working on it. WS: How do you tackle such a rich, long novel
and break it down into episodes for television? DAVIES: It is difficult to cram everything in.
It is such a rich and complex story, but I feel
One of the most powerful people in British culture, Andrew Davies has been behind some of the U.K.’s biggest content exports. from trying to do a battle with the same six soldiers running around and around! That’s rather exciting! If you are trying to do major battles in a Napoleonic war, it’s nice to be able to have those resources at your command. I’m very happy about it. WS: Do you get notes from one person or are several executives reviewing your scripts? DAVIES: That is one of the things one has to contend with. There are a lot of voices involved. Of course, they are putting money 182 World Screen 10/13
tion or looking forward to being in that situation themselves. WS: In your work you have examined human nature rather carefully. Have human beings changed much over the last 200 years? DAVIES: I don’t think human beings have changed. Manners and conventions have changed. For example, virginity, marriage, sex before marriage, and sex outside marriage have changed a lot, in terms of the idea of romance. Nowadays, if you are writing a
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BBC Worldwide’s House of Cards.
romance set in modern times, the problem is, what’s to stop them? Drama comes from barriers to the characters getting together and of course there were so many more barriers in the 19th century: the person is from the wrong class, or the father objects, or whatever, and that provides for a lot of delayed sexual gratification. That’s a great thing. But if you are writing a modern screenplay you have to really think hard to find a good reason to delay the happy ending, I guess! WS: Of your vast body of work, were there
any screenplays that flowed more easily and were there others that were more challenging? DAVIES: I would say that the Jane Austen screenplays that I have done have been easier than most because Jane Austen has such terrific structure and she writes in a very dramatic way. She has really good scenes with good dialogue in them that sometimes all they need is editing down. Whereas perhaps the one I’ve had to do the most work on was Doctor Zhivago, which has hardly any scenes in it at all. The action seems to be implied rather than dramatized, so I had to create an awful lot of scenes. Of course, that’s my job. I don’t mean to complain about it, but that makes it much more a task of work, almost like reinventing the whole thing.
WS: How is War and Peace presenting itself ? DAVIES: War and Peace is absolutely wonder-
ful to work on. It’s got such wonderful characters and they are so subtly drawn, and Tolstoy is so good at displaying the contradictions of characters. It really does feel very immediate and modern and like real life. The difficulty is the vast scope of it and trying to get a structure that expresses the structure of the original, but it can’t be quite like Tolstoy’s novel because he keeps on having flashbacks and an awful lot of internal thoughts of his characters. So it throws up problems that are really fascinating, and finding the solutions to them is very interesting. I just love writing the scenes that he forgot to write or he left out. One of the greatest pleasures of adapting a novel is to write a scene that isn’t in the book in such a way that everybody who sees the adaptation thinks, “Ooh, what a wonderful scene, I must look it up in the book,” and then they can’t find it! WS: Does that give you a sense of power, of
literary power? DAVIES: Well, yes, it’s a huge pleasure. You
get actors saying, “What a wonderful speech this is! I’ve got to look it up in the book to see if there is more of it so I can persuade the director to give me more lines.” And they go looking for the speech and they can’t find it! Yes, I love all that kind of thing! 10/13 World Screen 183
WS: How do you feel about writing scripts
for commercial broadcasters and having to include commercial breaks? DAVIES: I find it’s quite a discipline writing with these built-in act breaks. The only thing I really dislike is watching it on the screen and sitting through these ads. If I could choose what they were advertising that might be better! I find that a little bit annoying, so I do tend to record these shows and skip through the breaks. But I don’t mind writing with that kind of discipline. WS: Do you follow a routine when you write? DAVIES: Yes, I’m at my best in the morning. I’ll usually start at half past eight or nine. I will actually be sitting at my desk most of the day and knock off at six in the evening. But I do dither and shilly-shally and write e-mails and surf the Internet and play little games on the computer. I am not ferociously disciplined. I’m quite disciplined about when I get to the computer and of course a deadline is a discipline. If I haven’t been going very well, I have a bit of discipline for myself, which is I have to do at least five pages a day. Or, if I do five pages in a day, I’ll allow myself to watch an episode of Breaking Bad as a little treat at about five in the afternoon!
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Herbert KLOIBER Tele München Gruppe But they are well-crafted and well-written, and their budget is around $1 million an hour. We are also producing a comedycrime series for ARD that has done 50 hours in less than two years, which is similar to the old U.S. broadcast network model of 22 episodes a year. I think you are right in saying that Germany has a track record with long-running series. The U.K. doesn’t do that number of hours. They do six or eight and then they do maybe a second season and then they stop. Usually when a show is really successful, they say, “This is actually too good. We should try our hand at something else!” We are often astounded [when there isn’t] a third season of God-knows-what because the BBC decides that, “That’s just enough of that!” WS: Are series like A Case for Two done with
certainly to Scandinavia. Italy and France have been good clients to a lot of the German cop series—Derrick and others like Kommissar Rex have aired in access prime time on big networks—although a little less so now. WS: Tele München also produces TV movies and mini-series. KLOIBER: We do lots of movies, even more 2x90 minutes and 4x90 minutes. The budgets far exceed what one single territory like Germany can afford to pay. It’s your classic Sea Wolf or Moby Dick or Richard Lionheart or the story of the von Trapp family, where you’ve got $8-million, $10-million, $12-million budgets and more, and maybe Germany will cover 25 percent. And then you go with your hat in hand and call on Hallmark or Showtime and broadcasters in the U.K. and Italy and usually get it done.
a German broadcaster? When Herbert Kloiber acquired Tele München Gruppe (TMG) in 1977, his goal was to produce and distribute quality programming for German-speaking countries and beyond. Today, as chairman, he has kept true to his vision. TMG produces feature films, documentaries, TV series and movies, event mini-series and— Kloiber’s passion—opera and classical music concerts. It distributes its own product as well as Hollywood fare, and owns interests in TV stations and a number of traditional and newmedia businesses.
WS: Germany has a tradition of producing
long-running series. Is Germany still the European market with the best production of episodic television? KLOIBER: Germany has traditionally been weak in creating sitcoms. Yes, it produces quite a lot of soap operas, but its strength has always been in one-hour dramas and particularly in the crime genre. There are at least 20 titles that have generated 100 to 200 episodes. We, in fact, own a large stake in Odeon Film, a company that just did the 300th episode of Ein Fall für zwei (A Case for Two), a series about a lawyer and a detective. These series have sold really well, obviously outside the Anglo-Saxon world, because they are shot in German.
KLOIBER: Yes, these are commissioned
WS: Are these mini-series always co-
works. These are orders that the German networks are not always fully financing, but largely financing. A Case for Two just ended because one of the actors couldn’t stand up any more! So we had to find a new series to replace it. There was a pretty serious pitching phase with ZDF to fill that slot again and, thank God, the people who had done A Case for Two for 30 years have won the sequel rights. Much of that is due to the regional
produced because of the amount of money involved? KLOIBER: Yes, and it takes roughly a year and a half from the time you set them up until they actually get a green light. So they take much longer to put together. From the time you say you’re going to try to do this until the time you go to the market and sell some product, it’s probably three years.
Quality and commercial viability mark the dramas and classical music concerts Herbert Kloiber has produced or represented. aspect of German television. The public broadcasters want to represent North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria, the former East, the Frankfurt crowd, so a lot of these cop shows are very indigenous to certain regions, much like New York cops or Chicago cops or CSI: Miami in the U.S. WS: And Tele München covers the rest of
the budget by selling these series elsewhere.
WS: And these big event mini-series sell
well internationally? KLOIBER: Those have sold very well. They are universal subjects.We have been, and are, doing action-adventure-literature; which is where Tele München has its roots. From 1970 onwards, it was always Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson and Jack London and, in recent cases, Moby Dick and so on and so forth.
KLOIBER: Yes, particularly to Austria and
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WS: Are there new mini-series coming up?
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Tele München’s Ruby Red.
KLOIBER: We’re planning a new one
starting early next year based on the von Trapp family, but no singing like in The Sound of Music! It’s the story of Georg Johannes von Trapp when he came back as a naval officer in 1918 at the end of World War I, up to the point about ten years later when he and his eight children immigrated to the United States because they were very anti-Nazi and got bullied a lot. It’s that early part of the story that led to The Sound of Music. It will be largely shot in Austria and other locations. We want to start shooting in March of next year, and we are having the second draft written. Richard Lionheart is also in the re-draft stage and hopefully will be ready by Christmas of next year. We are continuing to do a lot of Rosamunde Pilcher movies. Jane Seymour just had a wonderful part in our last one, called Unknown Heart, which will air on Christmas on ZDF and ORF. The Pilcher movies sell in at least 30 major territories every time we announce one, including the U.S. We are doing the next one in the summer of 2014, which will be called Valentine. Rosamunde Pilcher has become a brand. I believe we are on our 20th mini-series. WS: All of them are produced in English? KLOIBER: All the Pilchers we are producing
are done between Cornwall and Scotland, in the U.K., and they are shot in English and written by English writers who are well seasoned and have done a lot of work for the big U.S. and U.K. broadcasters. WS: What other productions is Tele
München involved in? KLOIBER: We continue to do a lot of
opera and music. The productions of the Metropolitan Opera in New York are still a big seller for us in selected markets, but good ones like Japan and Asia. We do eight to ten of those a year. We continue to work on programming with the Cleveland Orchestra.We recorded the Verdi Requiem in Vienna with Bayerischer Rundfunk. So, the music side is still very active. For the last couple of years, we have also been doing a little more in the documen-
tary area. We created a series called Cosmos that launched in 2011. We now have 18 hours that we are bringing to the market. We’re also selling our features. Some of them were generated by the joint venture we used to have with Paramount and Universal called Mutual Film.We are doing two or three new features a year and are now selling them under the TM International label. Before, we would give the distribution rights to whoever bought the films for France or Canada, because we really didn’t go to the theatrical markets, which were largely AFM, the Berlin Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival. TM International was recently at the Toronto International Film Festival selling features. WS: Is the DVD market holding up in Germany? KLOIBER: Yes, 2013 has not been a bad year for DVD. Obviously, there is a slide in rentals, but there is a big compensation of that slide in sell-through, largely driven by Blu-ray, where the numbers are doubledigit growth compared to 2012. The home-video market, which I call the phys186 World Screen 10/13
ical market as opposed to the digital market, has been stable with a small growth element. That doesn’t mean that we are looking at 2014 and 2015 with the hope that this trend would continue. We’re definitely waiting for somewhat of a heavy axe to come down as we had in our film print business, where by the end of 2013 there will be absolutely no more physical prints distributed to cinemas. WS: Have you seen an increase in demand
for product from digital platforms? KLOIBER: Oh yes, we have heavy competi-
tion in the market now with WATCHEVER [the streaming video subscription service from Vivendi] and with LOVEFiLM.This has triggered a healthy reaction from Sky Deutschland, which is in a much more aggressive mode now that they are breaking even. And we do a lot of business with the cable operators, like Unitymedia, Kable Deutschland or Telekom Austria for their on-demand offerings. The take-up rates are not really sensational.The disappointment is that there are thousands of titles on the on-demand platforms, but the revenue flow is still very small.
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Christophe RIANDÉE Gaumont market. There are so many new players, and those players are so eager to have original content that they are also open to new ways of doing business. We have approached the markets with a financing model that is completely different from the standard pilot system in the U.S. Basically, we are reproducing the independent-movie financing model, by combining the money coming from the U.S. with soft money and international presales. Hannibal was the first one to be done under this model. WS: Is this international cofinancing a model
you want to use on other projects as well? RIANDÉE: Yes. More and more broadcast-
Founded in 1895, France’s Gaumont is the world’s oldest movie studio. The company’s vice-CEO, Christophe Riandée, is relaunching its television division and leveraging the legacy, industry connections and association with quality that the Gaumont brand elicits. Riandée has opened Gaumont International Television in Los Angeles. This unit focuses on original ideas as well as iconic characters and so far has produced Hemlock Grove for Netflix and Hannibal for NBC.
WS: What motivated the decision to open a studio in Los Angeles? RIANDÉE: It was very simple. Sidonie Dumas, the CEO of the company, and I decided five years ago to relaunch the TV business of Gaumont.We realized quite quickly that if we wanted to have a long-term view we needed to produce and distribute programs all over the world. To do that, they needed to be English language, and English language means American. So it was clear in our minds that if we wanted to do something really significant, we needed to set up an American company. WS: What has been your approach to the American market? RIANDÉE: The American market is complex and competitive, but it’s a very evolving
ers all over the world are looking for original content. It’s not a question of owning the content, but controlling it in one way or another, partially or totally. That is exactly what Netflix has done on Hemlock Grove. That is also what we are doing with Canal+ on Barbarella. WS: What are the creative challenges
involved in remaking such an iconic series as Barbarella? Those of us who are old enough remember Jane Fonda in that role. How do you cast the remake? RIANDÉE: What is strong about Barbarella is the brand, because everybody knows about her without knowing exactly who she is,
Purvis and Robert Wade are in the process of writing the first episodes and the story lines of the first season. WS: Are there certain genres, perhaps thrillers
like Hemlock Grove, that are better suited to a Netflix audience that likes to watch many episodes all at once as opposed to watching them once a week on a regular linear channel? RIANDÉE: I am not sure that one specific genre is better for binge viewing than another one. I would say that when you love a TV series it’s hard to wait for the next episode. Binge viewing existed a few years ago when you were jumping on the DVD package and wanted to see everything at the same time because when the story is good, when you love the characters, you want to be with them all the time. What I am sure of is that Netflix is responding to a preexisting demand in the market. I am not sure this is something specific to a certain genre. We produced with them a gothic thriller, Hemlock Grove. They have something very interesting with House of Cards. They have Arrested Development and Orange Is the New Black. Even with the few projects they have ordered they are demonstrating that there is not a specific genre. WS: Are you tapping into the many rela-
tionships Gaumont’s film division has as you build your television division?
The iconic French film studio Gaumont has been making major waves in the global TV space with shows like Hemlock Grove. apart from the fact that she is almost always nude! But nobody has read the original comic book. A few, maybe, like you and me, have seen the movie! What is great about Barbarella is that it is a broad canvas. We have to reinvent everything: the story, the mythology, the characters around her and her journey. What we want to achieve is recreate the character and the world and the story while keeping the vintage look and feel of Barbarella. It’s a journey to write the first season. Nicolas Winding Refn, Neal 188 World Screen 10/13
RIANDÉE: Of course, that’s what we’ve
done with Barbarella and Nicolas Winding Refn. When I went to Bangkok to visit the set of Only God Forgives, the movie we produced recently, I asked him, “What do you think of Barbarella? We just bought the rights and want to make a TV series.” I was just having a professional conversation about what could be the vision or the angle of the movie, and instead, he jumped all over me and said, “Don’t tell anyone. I want to do it!” Katie [O’Connell, the CEO of Gaumont
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InternationalTelevision] experienced the same thing with Bryan Fuller, who is not in the movie business, when they had the conversation about Hannibal. Eli Roth is someone we weren’t working with, but he comes from the movie business and we did his first TV series, Hemlock Grove. And we have a bunch of projects, mainly for the French market and for Europe, that have been originated by movie directors we are working with. There is no difference for us between movies and TV series. If we are working with a director who is ready and willing to do both, we can do both with him. If he is willing to do only TV series, we can do TV series. If he is willing to do only movies, we can do movies.We don’t have a strict separation. Of course, we are using our feature-film contacts. More than that we are using our brand. I have the feeling that the brand is so well respected that when there is a TV series or a project produced by Gaumont, people trust the fact that we want to deliver high-quality product. WS: There has always been
Gaumont International Television’s Hemlock Grove.
a battle between art and commerce: doing something that is great and that will also sell. Are you finding that broadcasters are starting to understand better the requirements for something that is high quality but also commercially viable? RIANDÉE: With the movies we are producing and the TV series we recently produced, I am not sure it’s either art or business. It’s obviously business, because there is a lot of money involved. But if it is also art, I would [use the term] “highquality content” instead of art. And high
quality is what drives the business. If you want people and audiences to watch your TV series or movies in a world that is so connected, when there are so many screens available, either pay or free, you need to offer something that is really, really unique. If you produce something that has already been done, or something that is of average quality, audiences will suspect it quite quickly. So the only way to do good business is to produce highquality content. 190 World Screen 10/13
WS: What is your strategy for Gaumont’s
television business over the next two years? RIANDÉE: Our strategy is to produce a little bit more. We have produced two series. I’d say we are able to produce three to five series a year, but there will probably be years with two or three and, I hope, years with five. But the key to the future of our business is being global. In this hyper-connected world, we need to be global, not only American or international, but global. And global is my obsession!
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Steven MOFFAT Doctor Who & Sherlock This could be a really terrible year. I could crash Doctor Who and screw up Sherlock Holmes, and if I’d just shot Daniel Craig in the face I’d have ended all of British culture. But it didn’t work out that way. [Laughs] It was a very, very good year, and they’ve been very good years ever since. WS: Why did you want to put Sherlock
The Brits had a significant presence at the annual pop-culture convention Comic-Con this year, thanks largely to two of the U.K.’s biggest television exports in recent history: Doctor Who and Sherlock. Both are iconic British characters and both are being tended to by one of the country’s leading writers and producers, Steven Moffat. Head writer and showrunner of Doctor Who and co-creator of the updated Sherlock, Moffat has had a long career in British television, with credits that include Coupling and Jekyll.
WS: When you took over as head writer
and showrunner of Doctor Who, was it intimidating, being responsible for such an iconic television franchise? MOFFAT: You don’t really feel much pressure at the beginning because you’re just making a home movie in a big shed! You don’t really think anyone is ever going to watch it. Towards April 3, 2010 [the British premiere date for Moffat’s first season as head writer], I started to feel the pressure a little bit. We were doing Sherlock at the time as well, and Matt Smith’s Doctor for the first time, so Benedict [Cumberbatch, the star of Sherlock] and Matt were waiting in the wings of fame. I remember thinking, If these two things screw up, I’m finished! I just thought, What if they’re rubbish?
Holmes in a modern-day setting? MOFFAT: Mark Gatiss [the British actor and screenwriter] and I are huge Sherlock Holmes fans. We adore and worship those stories above all literature. Going back and forth from [filming] Doctor Who—we were both writers on it when Russell [T Davies] was running it—we were talking on the train about Sherlock Holmes. We got to talking about the many wonderful movies and the many terrible movies, which are almost more entertaining. We admitted shyly to each other that our favorites were the updated Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce movies [produced in the U.S. in the 1940s]. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce did two Victorian-set adventures and then they did 12 updated ones. At the time, people criticized them terribly—How dare you update Sherlock Holmes? The fact is, those cheaply made updated adventures are just a bit more fun. They somehow seemed to capture more of the pulpy fun of the original stories. So
literally got us in a room in London, where Mark and I sat and said, What would it be? Basic conversations like, What do they call each other? In the original they call each other Holmes and Watson. That would make them like a couple of public-school boys these days! So they call each other Sherlock and John. It became exciting for us when we realized how easily and properly it updates. In the original stories, Dr. Watson comes home from a war in Afghanistan and is looking for cheap digs, so he moves in with Sherlock Holmes. He can come back from the same place now. In the original stories he wrote a journal, which fell out of fashion for a very long while until it was reinvented as a blog. Sherlock Holmes always sent telegrams in the original stories because he preferred the brevity of that communication. We’re back at telegrams—we call them texts. Most of the adaptations have become about the Victoriana, but the original stories, there’s nothing in them that’s particularly Victorian. They are stories that are mysteries. The setting is just the world that Arthur Conan Doyle could see outside his window. I think by updating it you move the character closer to the audience. You move all the sepia-toned dusty Victoriana out of the way and you see him clearly again.
The BBC has entrusted Steven Moffat with two beloved British characters: Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes. what we said to each other was, “Someday, someone is going to think of doing that again. And when they do they’ll have a huge hit. And when they have that huge hit we’ll be very, very cross because we should have done it.” And then we’d leave the conversation! My wife, Sue, who is also a television producer, said, “Why don’t you just do it?” So she made us sit down and explain Sherlock Holmes to her. She knows nothing of the Sherlock books but she was instantly interested. She 192 World Screen 10/13
WS: British shows are doing well in the U.S.
What effect is that having in the U.K.? MOFFAT: I’m not sure if it has that much impact on us, to be honest. If I can be nationally chauvinistic, we’re having more impact on America! I look forward to a time when possibly in the far-off future there will be an American television series with an American lead in it, and maybe one of your superheroes won’t be played by a Brit! [Laughs] For more from Steven Moffat, see page 232.
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Irfan SAHIN Dogan TV Having this all in the same melting pot, we’ve come up with phenomenal stories, TV series and TV shows in the last decade such as Yaprak Dökümü [Leaf Cast], Ask-i Memnu [Forbidden Love], Binbir Gece [1001 Nights], Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman Ki [Time Goes By...]. WS: The competition among television
channels in Turkey is quite intense.Today, what gives Kanal D its edge over other channels? SAHIN: Kanal D has been the market leader for the last decade, and this gives Kanal D its edge over other channels. Kanal D’s main competitor is again Kanal D. We try and try new formats, new dramas and new stories every season and strive to understand,What’s the next big thing in the market? What are the hidden emotions in the hearts and minds of our audience? What are the new ways of doing things?
When the Turkish drama Gümüs first aired in 2005 on Kanal D, the channel’s management had no idea they had unleashed a cultural phenomenon and launched a hugely popular and profitable genre. Irfan Sahin, the CEO of Kanal D’s parent company, Dogan TV, explains that Gümüs and subsequent Turkish series travel the world thanks to their high production values, moving story lines and universal themes.
WS: Kanal D is Turkey’s market-leading TV channel. What have been some of the TV programs and formats Kanal D has introduced to Turkish viewers? SAHIN: At Kanal D, we’re not merely a distributor and broadcaster of content, but also we’re in the business of making content from scratch.We have an effective and dominant role in every step of production; we make the final decisions at script writing, storytelling, casting, direction and music. We’re developing projects with these principles either in-house or together with independent production companies. This way we can be proactive and set the trends for programming in the market. Last but not least, we strive to understand the global and local Zeitgeist and turn it into program offerings that can perfectly tap into the needs and tastes of the audience.
WS: You were the producer of the megahit Turkish drama Gümüs. What made it so successful and contributed to such tremendous ratings? SAHIN: Gümüs has a really interesting story. Gümüs was the first project for most of the people who took part in the project. It was a team with amateur spirit, passion and patience. Those days we couldn’t even imagine that Gümüs would be such a hit. The final episode was watched by 85 million people just in MENA [Middle East and North Africa, where
the prime-time slots of the commercial freeto-air TV market. Every commercial TV station airs at least one locally produced drama series. There is a great preproduction process in which the producers and the scriptwriters work hard on the story, the scripts and the cast. The series are shot in HD and in internationally accepted high quality standards. All these factors differentiate Turkish dramas from their regional competitors and inevitably bring higher quality and popularity. Turkish TV is not any different than other [TV] in many aspects. In Turkey, local production, especially drama, is very important. [At first it appears that] Turkish dramas are local, but the stories have universal elements that can be enjoyed everywhere in the world. People in Turkey and in countries from regions like MENA, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia come from similar backgrounds.We share similar values. Viewers in these countries can relate directly to the stories, cast—basically, to the majority of things they see in our TV series. WS: How are Turkish dramas received in the
Arab world? SAHIN: Turkish dramas made their way onto Arab television led by Gümüs. They are referred to as the soft power of Turkey, but it has to be stated that neither the producers nor the broadcasters want to take on such a role. Turkish dramas have begun to exercise a huge
Turkey’s top broadcaster has extended its presence with the sale of its dramas across the Middle East and parts of Europe. it aired as Noor]. We have done research in order to understand what’s the secret behind the success.And we have realized that the story was universal in touching hearts and moving people. Gümüs made everyone who took part in the project famous. WS: What makes Kanal D’s dramas so suc-
cessful in regions as different as the Middle East, the Balkans and the Far East? SAHIN: The success of Turkish TV production is stimulated by the high competition in 194 World Screen 10/13
influence within the Arab audience from Morocco to Iraq—the kind of influence that many content exporters can only dream about. People respond to what’s familiar, and this is the most important point in our case. Arab women have made clear their admiration for Noor. Arab husbands often ignore their wives, while on Noor, there is this context of arranged marriages, respect for elders and big families living together. [The characters] Noor and Muhannad openly love and admire each other.
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Jan MOJTO Beta Film the ’90s, notwithstanding all their differences, were ruled by certain basic principles, which were accepted by all of them. Now with this mix of Internet channels, classic public television and commercial networks, it’s much more complicated. It’s more work to bring those together.You need to finance the production before you start. In terms of program format, the ’90s were very much dominated by mini-series and TV movies, and today it’s series, 12 episodes, like Borgia, for example. Not so many subjects these days are based on literature, or if they are, it’s a different kind of literature. It’s not Tolstoy; it’s more commercial, works that are more easily accessible to the viewer.
One of the first television executives to set up international co-productions, Jan Mojto, the managing director of Beta Film, has more than 20 years’ experience bringing together partners and bridging cultures, viewers’ tastes and broadcasters’ needs. In the process he has witnessed the development of the European television industry, one that two decades ago struggled with making episodic television, but today, across the continent, is able to create high-end successful series.
WS: What were the challenges involved with co-producing mini-series and TV movies back in the early ’90s? MOJTO: The European television business was dominated by public broadcasters, and the fact that they were the key players meant that these co-productions were of high quality and very often adaptations of works of literature. These were high-class programs, in terms of content as well as production values.
WS: If the partners now are so varied, is it harder to find common ground on the subject matter? MOJTO: Strangely enough, it’s not, because given all those differences, if you have the right elements, such as the right subject and the right showrunner, you can bring the partners together. This is a completely new element in TV co-production. Who the showrunner is may be the determining factor in putting together the financial package. In the ’90s, it was very, very rare that we had U.S. partners. Today, in order to complete the financing, you often have to also take into consideration the requirements of the American market.And that means their style of storytelling. The essential,
MOJTO: Completely. At MIPTV this year, we presented—and it was a deliberate choice— programs that illustrated how rich serial production in Europe is. We had the series Grand Hotel from Spain, which now has 60 episodes of 45 minutes. This is a high-end production, similar in quality to Downton Abbey. Also in Spain we are in production with Alatriste, 12 hours based on very popular novels by Arturo Pérez-Reverte set in the 17th century. It’s an international production, not shot in English. Grand Hotel has great potential for distribution, and we hope so does Alatriste. In Italy, we are producing Gomorrah, a series based on a [book] by Roberto Saviano [that inspired a feature film] that won at the Cannes Film Festival.We developed this 12-part series together with Cattleya for SKY Italia, and it is in production now. In France, along with Atlantique, we are the main producers on Borgia. Another element that is new today is that whatever you produce, in whatever country, the question is, Does it have potential for international distribution? If yes, you should try to do it properly, respecting international standards of storytelling and production values.What is also new is that this doesn’t apply only to Englishspeaking productions but also to Grand Hotel, which was shot in Spanish. It aired in Britain on Sky Arts [in Spanish with English subtitles], so there is no longer a language barrier, and the one between Europe and the U.S. will disappear soon.
Jan Mojto has in-depth knowledge of European markets’ sensibilities, after two decades of perfecting the co-production process.
WS: How different are co-productions today? MOJTO: Today we are in a completely dif-
and quite often the only necessary element is the showrunner, and perhaps the cast. Borgia is a perfect example of what’s happening now. If you have a subject that has international potential and you have the right creative elements, then you can attract interest from major players also in the English-speaking world.
ferent world.The players on one side are still European public broadcasters, but also commercial networks and the Netflixes of this world. The players today do not have the same objectives. The public broadcasters in
WS: In the early ’90s, Britain and Germany were the only two markets that had considerable experience producing and writing series for television. Has that changed? 196 World Screen 10/13
WS: What kind of locally produced series
and mini-series is Beta Film interested in representing? Does it depend on the subject matter, whether it can be exported and the quality of the production? MOJTO: We do not have any strict rules about what we represent. If the day came that we had a rule, it would definitely mean that we would exclude something; we would be limiting ourselves, and this we should not do. My aim, and the corporate culture of Beta Film, is to remain open and not maintain any
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sort of rigid beliefs about what might work or what might not work. I can give you an example: the series Generation War. We are used to seeing war movies from the American point of view or from the French point of view. Why not do something where you tell the story of World War II from the German point of view? There are only reasons not to do it; nevertheless, we decided to do it. We financed the deficit in order to achieve high international standards of quality because the stories were good. What came out was a fascinatBeta Film’s ing drama. It has sold to more Borgia. than 60 territories already. Swedish television has not shown any German programs in prime time in the last ten years, but Generation War achieved the highest ratings in July. It was broadcast in Denmark with similar results. It aired in Poland and was very controversial because the Poles really suffered very much during the war because of the Germans, but it was very successful there as well. We sold it to the U.S. and Australia for theatrical release. All the broadcasters in France were interested and Canal+ bought it. Having said all that, you do not know at the beginning if something will work.The subject has to be interesting, and perhaps can have a general appeal. Then you have to produce it properly, but you also have to be lucky. As I said earlier, you always have to steer away from preconceived notions: the danger comes the moment you are sure you know what does not work, because then you may miss opportunities. But if you start a project believing you know what does work, it’s even worse. This is very simple and nothing new, and perhaps one of the basics of the industry. WS: What reaction has Generation War been
getting? MOJTO: It has generated a similar reaction
in everyone—people who have watched it were completely taken. It’s fascinating story-
telling. I have shown it to many clients, and when we have people here at Beta Film screening it, I try to sit in a corner and see what the buyer or the network executive is feeling, and I have never seen such undivided attention. At the end of the day, it’s very simple: yes, we are telling the story about the war, but we are telling human stories and human destinies in the most exceptional times and in the most difficult situations. And perhaps this is one of the big changes compared to the ’90s. Back then we were very inclined to portray historical events. Today, even if it is a historical subject, we are telling human stories. And given the number of channels, linear and nonlinear, that are available today, we have so many more opportunities to tell stories. Channels are hungry for programming, and this leads to the production of series like Borgia, Gomorrah, Alatriste, and so on. WS: Since U.S. dramas have been selling better in Europe in recent years, has that had an impact on the quality of European productions? MOJTO: Yes, CSI and HBO series have changed the way we tell stories in Europe. U.S. series are the best series, and this is what we measure ourselves against, this is 198 World Screen 10/13
the art of storytelling. The nice thing is that from time to time we succeed in producing something similar. Currently, we have a Flemish crime series called Salamander, a fascinating piece, could be an American series, in the best sense of the term. WS: Are there projects you still have not
done that you would like to do? MOJTO: Yes, there is one idea, which we are
already developing. Kaliningrad, a seaport city in the Russian exclave between Lithuania and Poland, was, for more than 600 years, till 1945, a German city called Königsberg, and the surrounding area was populated by Germans. The country life there was very similar to English country life, with large estates, big houses, people coming and staying for weeks at a time. It was a different world. My dream is to do a long-running series which tells the stories and uniqueness of this world that vanished at the end of World War II because the whole population had to leave. There are many fascinating elements to the series: the people who loved the outdoors and nature, the big estates, the importance of the family, fight for survival, geopolitical situations…and unique characters. It should be a mix of Brideshead Revisited and Downton Abbey, but German.
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Kevin LYGO ITV Studios
Given the economics of broadcasting today, a TV studio must do more than produce shows that satisfy the domestic audience. The quest these days is to make hits that can be exported and generate additional revenues. As Kevin Lygo, the managing director of ITV Studios, a division of the U.K.’s leading commercial broadcaster, maintains, the first master that must be served is creativity.
WS: ITV Studios had set the goal of increasing the amount of programming it provides the ITV network. LYGO: When I joined ITV Studios, we produced approximately 48 percent of the programs on ITV; the figure is about 60 percent now. We are very happy with our growth so far. It’s where we first concentrated our efforts and therefore it’s the first area to really demonstrate that what we’re doing is working.There’s still more work to do. I want to see more highvalue programming on the network and I want to see us making even more drama that can travel internationally. A big success for us is Mr Selfridge. It rates very highly on our own network, and we have sold it overseas really effectively. Just on its own, this one drama series makes a significant contribution to our profits and turnover. I would like more of those, and that’s where we’re concentrating a lot of attention at the moment.
WS: What’s your strategy for developing these dramas that will resonate at home and abroad? LYGO: The short answer is you’re sailing into danger if you try and prescribe a hit for everybody in the world. It’s not advisable to try and conceive of something that almost by algorithm will satisfy nations all over the world. You must always first go with the writer, the producer, the person who’s got the idea and the passion to make a really good show. Some dramas might perform brilliantly in your own market and go nowhere internationally; others might be okay in your own market and really succeed elsewhere. First off, you’ve got to deal with the ideas that emerge through the creative process and then think tactically and cleverly about how they could be best adapted to work in other countries. For example, Downton Abbey’s success has, in some ways, paved the way for Mr Selfridge to be so successful. People know what to expect from this genre of British drama. We’ve got a fantastic new drama called Breathless, which is set in the 1960s, against a medical backdrop. We’ve got high hopes that it will travel well alongside the other drama we’re making. WS: Can you tell us about ITV Studios’ development process and how it compares with the pilot system in the U.S.? LYGO: We make a lot of entertainment pilots as part of our development process and sometimes we do this in conjunction
scripts. At any one time we will have 30 or 40 scripts being written for both our own network and external networks. And then we move from there. Sometimes you might have a drama idea that lends itself to starting as a twopart on-air pilot. It will look to the viewer as an interesting program on television that night. But we’re looking at it as producers and broadcasters, assessing whether there is a series in it. If people, understandably, are nervous about committing straight to series, then one approach—which is slightly slower and more cautious—is to try a one-off or a two-parter or perhaps a three-parter on air. Quite often this happens in the summer, hoping it will go to series the following year. Vera, for example, is a very successful crime show that we make, but it started life as a one-off special. Having Brenda Blethyn in the title lead of a crime drama meant that it attracted the interest of viewers. So they watch and enjoy it, we’re proud of it, the network is pleased, and we go to series. WS: What are your thoughts on the U.S. broadcast networks beginning to embrace shorter-run series, inspired by the cable model? LYGO: There’s something refreshing about the shorter runs.With a few wonderful exceptions, the most interesting work in American drama has been on the cable channels. It’s an exciting new development for writers and producers. It’s more containable. It’s easier to see the arc within a 13-part than a 24-part series. It can
ITV Studios owns production outfits in a host of markets, while its distribution arm sells content to more than 3,000 broadcasters. with our network. With studio-based shows, you’re mad not to pilot them first. It’s much better to spend the budget needed to try something and then say, “Whoops, it doesn’t work!” than to submit ten parts and then just wince every week as it airs. In entertainment, we do invest in piloting shows, and that’s vital and crucial. With drama, there isn’t really a tradition in the U.K. of piloting like they do in the States, because of the costs. We spend a lot of time, money and effort working with writers on 200 World Screen 10/13
allow you to be a bit more experimental, a bit freer with the way you run the story. If you’re going to 24, it basically needs to be a formatted procedural show. There will always be a place for the long-runners, but as a maker of TV I think 13-part series are great creatively. Where broadcasters used to commission one show, they will now commission two to fill the same slot, and this gives producers another bite of the cherry, if you’re lucky. For more from Kevin Lygo, see page 434.
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BINGE FACTOR Broadcasters, producers and distributors weigh in on how the phenomenon of binge viewing is changing the ways shows are made, scheduled and sold. By Elizabeth Guider Eons ago, a little movie called Crash snagged the Oscar for Best Picture. Then, its backers decided to transform the film into a TV series. Unfortunately, the latter, well, crashed.And therein lies a tale. Peter Iacono, the managing director of international television at Lionsgate, the company behind Crash, believes that the failure of the smallscreen version to connect with viewers had much to do with viewer habits— namely, the fact that six years ago binge viewing was not a common thing. “Like the movie, the TV show had crisscrossing plot lines and complex characters,” Iacono says. “Nowadays, consumers have many more chances to absorb such series in one go. The show was like a 13-episode movie, but
without the ability to take it in all in one gulp, it lost momentum.” Much has changed technologically and culturally since that feature film and its small-screen spin-off. Iacono is now handling assorted distribution rights on Orange Is the New Black, which had its SVOD premiere this summer on Netflix. Such series are “dropped” in their entirety day-anddate, in the U.S., and in territories where the download service has established localized platforms (in Canada, Latin America, the U.K. and several other European countries). “The evolution of technology and the change in viewing patterns in such a short span is amazing,” Iacono believes. “The ability to watch content, almost movie-like, has freed up new ways to tell stories and develop characters.” As for the concomitant complication of more windows (and in some cases lower license fees for each one of them) Iacono is adamant that the greater slicing and dicing is a plus for program providers.
“It’s an ‘and,’ not an ‘or,’” he maintains. “The on-demand windows have opened up opportunities, just the way stripped sales of reruns [for shows that air, for example, Monday through Friday in the same time slot] did decades ago in domestic syndication.” As juggernaut procedurals like the CSI franchise (still a substantial money-spinner for broadcaster and rights holder CBS) inevitably wind down, and the Netflixes, Amazons, Googles, Apples, Aereos, Hulus and localized imitators thereof abroad gather steam, expect to see a broadened resurgence of open-ended, intricately plotted, serialized shows enticing new audiences. Over the last decade, cable has upped the creative ante, but oldschool free-to-air broadcasters are now quickly taking a page from their book and, seemingly overnight, online upstarts are trying their hands at fiction. Peter Tortorici, a longtime network programming topper and
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now CEO of GroupM Entertainment, sees the changes as positive ones, not as the end of the world as we know it. A death-knell for the Hollywood heavyweights? Not a chance, he says. NETWORK DOLLARS
“It struck me yet again at the network Upfront presentations how staggering the amount of money invested in original content is,” Tortorici says. “But staggering, too, is how high the quality is.” If the piloting process is ever cumbersome and costly, the few hits that emerge each season continue to pay off. “Doing all this is not a science; it’s an art,” Tortorici believes—and if there were an easier formula, “they probably would have found it,” he adds. Moreover, it’s hard to do at any price point, as Tortorici suspects newcomers like Netflix will soon discover. Despite all the buzz about digital newcomers, “big media companies are, in my view, well positioned to continue to thrive.”
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Face off: AMC’s Breaking Bad has benefited from viewers bingeing on previous seasons—almost 6 million people tuned in to watch the first of the series’ final eight episodes this summer, a new ratings high for the acclaimed drama.
Still, under the greater pressure to entice and hold on to viewers, broadcasters are stepping up their game. “Don’t clone, take chances” is the new directive from high up in Hollywood’s executive suites. Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, the executive producers behind the FX hit The Americans, concur that network suits are taking “bigger swings” and supporting “riskier” material. “They’re telling us (producers) to ‘make it interesting.’ If we envision a 7-minute dialogue scene, they’re saying ‘go for it.’” Adds Kevin Lygo, ITV Studios’ managing director, “What [binge viewing] can do for writers is allow them to have more complicated stories, because as a viewer you don’t have to hold it all in your head for a week anymore.You can be more subtle.You can have more variations of tone. Cliffhangers don’t necessarily have to be at the end of an episode.” For program distributors, too, the more bracing air sweeping through town is invigorating, suggests Marion Edwards, the president of international television at Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution. “There’s a sense of excitement as limited series, soaps like Scandal and
Nashville and complicated story lines like that of The Americans come back into vogue,” she explains. Asked what this means for her division, Edwards similarly puts the accent on the upbeat. “We get to license to new players popping up everywhere, and, [while] that entails a revamped business model and more windowing, we’re in a good place.” The trick, she continues, is “to keep the media ecosystem intact, and allow all its parts to thrive.”
that” on a yearly basis for those same rights in their territories. (Indicative, too, is the fact that the Hollywood majors’ trade organization, the Motion Picture Association of America, now tracks “digital” revenues accruing to their members as well as those from free and pay deals around the world.)
“Extremely valuable” is how Jeffrey Schlesinger, the president of Warner Bros.Worldwide Television Distribution, describes the worth to his own company of the digital windows that have opened Stateside and abroad for his dramas. Among the latest crop of serialized contenders to debut this fall is a reversioned Israeli format he is handling from the Jerry Bruckheimer stable called Hostages. What will be a telling milestone, Schlesinger suggests, is when one of the SVOD players abroad steps up to license the first exhibition window of such a show, rather than allowing that prerogative to remain with an established over-the-air broadcaster. For last year’s newcomer Revolution, there was “vibrant bidding” in Britain, the Warner Bros. exec says, from upstart online players. (The J.J. Abrams series eventually landed with “linear” player Sky in a deal last December.) As for Hostages, it will air in the U.S. on CBS, the network that has built its current success on the backs of procedurals like CSI and NCIS, but which recently rejigged its 10 p.m. Monday night slot for limited serialized dramas, beginning with this summer’s 13-part
DEMANDING CASH
As for revenues being generated by content providers from the carving-out of these new windows, hardand-fast figures are elusive. A couple of research sources hazarded that the on-demand services in the U.S. were likely forking out between $1.5 billion and $2 billion for program rights per annum, and foreign stations are shelling out “not much less than
Locked up: Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, distributed by Lionsgate, was dubbed the must-see binge series this summer in the U.S. 204 World Screen 10/13
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suspense series Under the Dome. Hostages will take over the time slot in the fall, to be followed by another action series called Intelligence come midseason. GETTING SERIAL
Procedurals, Schlesinger notes, continue to repeat well in domestic (as well as foreign) syndication, but serialized dramas are siphoning considerable revenues from overthe-top platforms. However, the trend toward binge viewing didn’t happen overnight. Brad Adgate, the senior VP of research at Horizon Media, points out that U.S. cable channels have been staging catchup marathons for their hit shows for a decade. Even before that, folks rushed out to buy boxed DVD sets to consume at home and then shelve. What’s changed, the longtime advertising researcher explains, is how—“finally,” he emphasizes— over-the-air broadcasters have caught on to the idea. “The broadcasters are finding that this is a financially sensible strategy that allows them to tackle more complex material,” Adgate says. He points to CBS’s experiment with Under the Dome and its lucrative (purportedly $750,000 an episode) post-broadcast replay on Amazon four days later. “Such shows lend themselves to binge viewing, and to the extent that that encourages more adventurous fare—and more originals, fewer repeats—broadcasters become winners. Advertisers too,” he contends. WINDS OF CHANGE
Since arguably nothing happens in television overnight, one could reasonably posit three inflection points in the development of alternative viewing options. The first came in 2000. Hearing the buzz about a tour-de-force performance by Kiefer Sutherland, people ordered the first season of 24 from their local Blockbuster in droves, and many became hooked, subsequently tuning in to FOX for the next seven seasons. In 2007, videorental-chain customers started
turning in their membership cards as they signed up for online platforms like Netflix. During long breaks between seasons of cable hits like Breaking Bad and Mad Men, streaming of prior episodes on newish digital platforms enthralled viewers who had missed out on the watercooler chat, or who wanted to have their memories refreshed and primed. Then, this year saw a string of high-profile binge-viewing options, beginning with Netflix’s House of Cards. Like cable networks before them, SVOD operators are funding and/or producing originals of their own, both to better brand their services and to build their own libraries. The David Fincherled House of Cards, which dropped onto Netflix’s lineup earlier this year, brought an unspecified tranche of new viewers to the site. Although the service jealously guards its ratings numbers, the downloading service now touts more than 37 million subscribers worldwide and its stock has rebounded 200 percent since a pricing kerfuffle two years ago. Per a recent Harris Interactive poll, nearly eight in ten Americans (78 percent) have utilized technologies that allow for viewing on one’s own schedule, with the top methods being on-demand services, TiVo, DVRs or other recording devices, Netflix streaming services, purchasing, renting or borrowing episodes or seasons on DVD, and Hulu/Hulu Plus, in that order of frequency. Of those who do so, more than six in ten (62 percent) consume multiple episodes of a single TV show at a time. For the report, 2,496 adults were surveyed online last February. To paraphrase the Sinatra classic, viewers, especially younger ones, are increasingly “doing it their way.” As a result, they’re causing producers and distributors to rethink how best to take advantage of this new wrinkle in watching content. Take Gaumont International Television, which handles various rights on another Netflix-originated title, Hemlock Grove. Treating the show
Armed and ready: 24, which is being resurrected by FOX for 2014, was a binge-viewing hit on DVD.
Man of the hour: The debate over how binge viewing would revolutionize the TV industry intensified when Netflix launched its first original series, House of Cards.
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Seeing red: Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, the producers of Twentieth Century Fox’s FX series The Americans, have found that networks are more open to riskier material as they look to maintain loyal viewers in a fragmenting market.
just like any other major property, CEO Katie O’Connell and her team shepherded stars and producers of that series to MIPTV, and in the wake of its season two pickup, clinched its first major European territory deal—in Germany with Tele München. AN EVOLVING MARKET
“The deals are all an adventure with everything evolving so quickly,” O’Connell says. Her mantra: be flexible, be nimble, and take nothing for granted in how windows have to be arrayed. That openminded approach applies equally to how certain serialized shows are getting made. Hemlock Grove’s executive producer, noted horror moviemaker Eli Roth, says he altered his editing process because of the ability of viewers to binge. “There was a lot of violence in the first episode, which I directed, and we realized that too much violence affected the second episode, in which the big moment is the werewolf transformation and you don’t want to
take away from that. And suddenly you realize that something in episode five should have been better set up in episode two. A lot of stuff goes back and gets reshot to clarify other things. Because nothing has aired, you can edit it in. We could go back and tweak. We looked at it like a 13-hour movie, knowing that people were going to watch three or four at a time.” That Netflix, which five years ago simply mailed discs in red envelopes to customers via the U.S. Post Office, garnered 14 Emmy nominations this year says something not only about the pace of change, but that the creation of good content is not the sole purview of the usual small-screen suspects. The majority of television executives don’t believe that the linear model is broken, at least not for now, but they readily admit they’ve got to keep a watchful eye out for the likes of Netflix and other similar digital platforms. In this larger context, bingeviewing options are part of a disruptive wave washing over the
media beach and spawning innovative ways to create, deliver and consume content—whether the change agents are behemoths from Silicon Valley, tech and telco outliers like Intel and AT&T or wily iconoclasts like Barry Diller. All have put traditional players in the TV space on guard. Apple, which has already upended the music business, is angling to introduce its own branded TV set; Google is courting content suppliers to let it make their shows more visible online via first-window deals and Diller is rolling out, of all things, an antenna-intensive service called Aereo, which beams broadcast/cable signals without bothering to pay those pesky carriage fees to the providers. (The established broadcasters don’t have their heads in the sand—lawsuits are popping up all over the place.) 100-PAGE CONTRACTS
Abroad, staying abreast of these tussles in the U.S. and attuned to changing consumer dynamics locally are two things to which
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national broadcasters are devoting more effort. Rüdiger Böss, the senior VP of group programming acquisitions for Germany’s powerful ProSiebenSat.1 Media, believes it is important both to continue to provide the “easily watchable” procedurals for his company’s free services, and to “make TV interesting for the next generation.” In that latter regard, he explains, “We are offering various ways that viewers can catch up on or preview or binge on series, especially these more serialized ones,” including both ad-supported and subscription options (MyVideo and maxdome among them). “Naturally, too, we are fighting for these SVOD/VOD rights with the Hollywood studios,” each of which, he points out, has a different strategy regarding avails, holdbacks and exclusivities. The complications of doing such digital-inclusive deals, Böss says, now mean that what used to be a ten-page contract for free-TV rights alone is now a 100-page document covering all kinds of options.
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a series so that viewers can feast on a particular show on a given day is quite a popular tactic. (Such stunts have worked with The Big Bang Theory and CSI, among others.) “It’s a way to shift catch-up from an online to a linear environment and expand the viewer experience,” Ford says. CREATIVE SHIFTS
In the bubble: Episodes of the CBS summer series Under the Dome were made available to Amazon Prime and Amazon Instant Video customers four days after the linear broadcast.
But, Böss hardly minds. “In the end, I’m believing in the new way and offering viewers more ways to watch and appreciate shows.” The only thing he would urge Hollywood studios to do is not leave viewers dangling or exasperated. “If one of these complex series starts to falter, then at least they should pressure producers to tie up the key loose ends [before the show gets canceled]. They should have a Plan B.” From a somewhat different perspective, longtime TV2 Norway acquisitions head John Ranelagh is frank about the challenges facing established players if they are slow to keep up with the times. “Broadcasters and networks need to maintain their traditional linear schedules, but they also need to cater to new habits by being present everywhere and offering a full range of viewing choices, even
if questions about monetizing the new approaches are as yet unanswered. If networks do not fill space, someone else will—and at their expense, as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu,YouTube and the like are all demonstrating.” The quickened pace of change, behavioral as well as technological, is imposing additional problems and costs. COST OF DOING BUSINESS
While most well-heeled European broadcasters now operate multiple niche channels, Ranelagh notes that more and more resources have to be allotted for national and local production. However well-made and broadly appealing they may be, American shows have two drawbacks: increasingly, he argues, they are produced by the sister studios of the network (thus presumably
limiting, if not stifling, outside talent and creativity) and secondly, the best shows are popping up (pirated or otherwise platformed) almost instantly in Europe after their U.S. premieres, thus diminishing their long-term appeal. Jeff Ford, who uniquely headed acquisitions teams at Britain’s top three commercial broadcasters (ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5) and is now director of content at Ireland’s TV3, takes the long view of the latest developments. There are, he says, reasons he’s not overly worried. “Each new bit of technology changes the game board, and yes, prior windows can devalue your own rights in a given case,” Ford admits. But, he emphasizes, there are opportunities for broadcasters like his. For one thing, his station is finding that “stacking” older episodes of
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The disruptions in the business and the digital advances have not escaped the creatives behind the camera and in the writers’ rooms. The executive producers of the FX series The Americans, Weisberg and Fields, say what’s really changed for them in this new environment is “the visceral, almost instantaneous feedback and involvement” they get from viewers via social media and the like. “It used to be that we’d get a couple of reviews after a series’ premiere and then, well, just a cold set of ratings on a regular basis,” Weisberg explains. “Nowadays,” continues Fields, whose background is in theater, “we can follow Twitter feeds, and what we learn from how viewers and fans and critics are reacting we often bring up in the writers’ room.” Adds Nick Hamm, the executive producer of yet another serialized drama, Rogue, which airs in the U.S. on DIRECTV, “There’s been a massive explosion in high-level drama in America,” and not by chance. “It’s because you’ve had a complete fracturing of traditional distribution, so people don’t watch television in the same way as they used to ten years ago. Appointment television is almost finished as an idea; network television is almost finished as an idea. The broadcasters will be the Internet; the broadcasters will be your app and they will be on your phone. That’s made material available in a completely different way. It’s like a great book: if you want to keep reading it, you’re going to keep reading it. Now you’ve got the opportunity to do that.”
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one-on-one
umner Redstone, Viacom’s executive chairman and founder, famously said, “Content is king.” Never has this phrase been more apropos than in today’s digital world, as the media conglomerate produces hours upon hours of programming it uses for its vast portfolio of networks or licenses to numerous linear and nonlinear outlets. As Philippe Dauman, the president and CEO of Viacom, maintains, the more platforms in need of content the better; provided, of
course, that remuneration is commensurate to the value of the programming. Viacom’s revenues in fiscal 2012 reached nearly $14 billion. After a period of decreased advertising revenues and a dip in ratings, particularly on Nickelodeon, ad revenues were up in Viacom’s recently reported third-quarter earnings, and Nick had found success with several new shows. Once again, it’s all about content. Dauman sits at the helm of a mega-content-creating factory. Viacom Media Networks is the largest group of ad-supported channels in the U.S. It is home to countless brands, including Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, BET, CMT, Spike, TV Land, Tr3s and Logo, which serve distinct audience groups. Many of these brands connect particularly well with young viewers, with shows that engender enormous viewer loyalty, generate ongoing conversations and create communities online and in social media. Such success stories include The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Teen Mom, and, most recently, Sam & Cat and The Haunted Hathaways. Around the world, Viacom International Media Networks operates more than 200 channels, which are seen in some 700 million homes in about 170 countries. These channels are either wholly owned, joint ventures or licensed. Viacom also owns Paramount Pictures Corporation, the legendary studio that today distributes films from a number of movie labels, including Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Animation, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. Upcoming titles include The Wolf of Wall Street and Transformers: Age of Extinction. Dauman met with World Screen in his Manhattan offices and talked about Viacom’s performance, investors’ take on media companies, working with digital platforms, and the ongoing value of engaging content.
PHILIPPE DAUMAN Viacom
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Beam me up: Paramount Pictures’ Star Trek Into Darkness has grossed more than $460 million worldwide in its theatrical release this year. WS: Viacom reported very good
third-quarter financial results, fueled in large part by Nickelodeon. DAUMAN: Nickelodeon has shown six consecutive months of year-onyear ratings improvements and [there are] more to come! We have developed some great new shows, both live-action and animated, in addition to our existing powerhouse shows. More generally, we have good ratings across the board on our networks, from MTV and CMT to BET and Comedy Central, and particularly in those time periods that are meaningful to us from a revenue point of view. As a result, our ad sales continue to show great momentum. Our affiliate revenues are looking strong.We did a very good deal with Amazon last quarter and we announced a big buy-back program. What motivated us to do the buyback was a combination of the business improving, the U.S. economy beginning to improve, our confidence in our own business and the macro economy going forward. We felt it was time to go back to prerecession levels of our leverage ratio. That gives us more room to con tinue to invest in our business and, at the same time, return more capital to our shareholders.
WS: A few years back, analysts were pretty down on media companies because of the uncertainty caused by technology constantly changing distribution platforms. Now media stocks are on the rise, so what’s changed? DAUMAN: Some people—particularly a lot of new players, shortterm investors or hedge fund types who really don’t have historical perspective—underestimate the importance of content. In addition, people are spending more time consuming content and there is more ability to access content in more places. We’ve always viewed technology as a long-term opportunity and it has been so over many decades. There has been technological change all along, but now it’s of a different kind, a very exciting kind. Every time there is a new platform or way of delivering content to consumers, whether it’s a Netflix or an Amazon or others, they understand that they need to have access to great content. They come to Viacom and to the other companies.That creates opportunity, and it’s not just in the U.S., it’s around the world. We’re in conversations with a lot of the players; in some cases they are relatively small companies that are looking to
expand into other countries and we’ll work with them.That gives us more rapid access to certain markets than we were able to get before. Investors also saw that media companies did relatively well in a recessionary environment. Ad sales are obviously cyclical because they are affected by the general economy, but there are certain parts of our business that are less affected. As an industry, we’re not recession-proof, but we are recession-resistant. People still want to go to the movies; it’s good value. People still watch television. Our media networks get affiliate revenues, which are not very much impacted by a recession, except to the extent that people aren’t buying new homes and therefore there aren’t any new pay-TV subscriptions. But what is remarkable to me, now that we have come out of the recession here in the U.S., is that during the worst of the recession, while the number of subscribers to pay television did not grow, it didn’t go down either. Every other sector of the economy went down. WS: Were investors also spooked
by what happened to the record industry? DAUMAN: Perhaps—I think what they underestimated was the ability
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of our industry to evolve and adapt. People love music, but it doesn’t have the richness of delivery that television has. We have sound, we have visuals and our content, in particular, connects well to social media. We may have learned a little something from what happened to the music industry in some respects and, when appropriate, we’re cautious about what relationships we enter into as we get into new distribution platforms. We are very welcoming of new ways to reach consumers—it’s the lifeblood of our business—but we do it in a way that is consistent with our overall business objectives. We try to give consumers more in different ways, but we do it in a way that also preserves the underlying economics of our companies, which, in turn, allows us to make better and better content. If you look at video content in general, the variety and quality keep going up. Yes, there is a lot of variety in music, but it’s always a threeor four-minute song, whereas because the budgets in television are so huge, there are cinemaquality television shows. And each of our networks spends more every year. We have increased our investment in programming every year over the last several years, including during the recession. We cut costs everywhere we could, but not on the content side.When you take the cumulative impact of all the companies investing in content, there is more and more choice, not just more types of shows, and the quality keeps going up. WS: Would you tell us about the
Amazon deal and how it evolved? DAUMAN: We’re in discussions
with everybody, and Amazon has become very seriously engaged in the SVOD market—it drives their Amazon Prime product. They were aware that our Netflix deal was expiring and were extremely interested in tapping our content. We already had a deal in place with Amazon, but they wanted more of our content and they really wanted
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that strong brand association with us. And they wanted some elements of exclusivity relating to three of our brands: Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central. But also remember that Amazon sells consumer products. So for Nickelodeon content in particular, if you are watching our shows, Amazon will suggest to you that you might want to buy some of our consumer products. So if you are watching SpongeBob SquarePants on Amazon, you might be motivated to buy a DVD or a T-shirt, which Amazon will market directly to you and ship to you. Amazon is uniquely able to do this. So they saw, and we saw, a great marriage [that would benefit both of us]. WS: So if you have merchandising,
it makes more sense to have a deal with Amazon than with Netflix? DAUMAN: For the consumer products part, yes. We do business with Netflix; in fact, very recently we signed a renewal with Netflix for Latin America. And at the same time when we did the Amazon deal, we provided more content to them for LOVEFiLM, which they control in the U.K. and in Germany.We have a lot of content and many brands. Different partners look for different things, and we try to satisfy what they are looking for. WS: How have some of your brands attracted young viewers and maintained relationships with them? DAUMAN: We have to do a lot of research to stay on top of what they are doing. We know that they are very social. We know they are heavy mobile users.They like to enjoy content on different platforms, so we try to appeal to all of those. We have been launching apps—we launched a very successful Nickelodeon app, which has more than 3 million downloads so far. We’ve found that kids are spending more time on the tablets than they were spending, on average, on nick.com. They like tablets more than computers; they are more engaged when they are using
the tablet, and through that engagement we can market our shows to them. If children enjoy watching Sam & Cat, The Haunted Hathaways, Sanjay and Craig or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on their tablets, then when they are in front of the television, they will want to watch those shows there as well. We recently launched an MTV app. Comedy Central has a Stand-Up app and is launching a Comedy Central full app. All our brands are rolling out apps. We see a lot of potential in mobile in general.We find more and more usage of the second screen while younger people are watching television. They can watch the show and live chat [at the same time,] and that makes them more involved and makes them say, let’s do this together, or this is fun, let me do it during the next episode. This year, we did our BET Awards show very differently. We created something we called the BET Experience. The awards show was on Sunday, June 30. Starting on the Friday before, we took over the whole area in Los Angeles where we were doing the show. We had the launch of Beyoncé’s world tour. We had concerts all weekend long. We had comedy stand-up routines.We had marketing partners that could promote their different brands. The awards show itself had the highest ratings in BET’s history except for the awards show we had the week that Michael Jackson died in 2009. During this year’s show we had 10 million tweets. That is the kind of passion that our brands drive. We recently announced a deal with Twitter and we will work together even more closely than we have on a lot of our events. A lot of Twitter’s traffic is driven by events of one kind or another, whether political or media events. They’ve recognized the fact that we are the company that does the most events, particularly for young people who are heavy users of their platform, and we recognize that Twitter is heavily used by our audiences; it all works well together.
Friends for life: Nickelodeon has continued its run of successful live-action tween and teen sitcoms with Sam & Cat. WS: Outside of the U.S., Europe is
Viacom’s most important market. How do you see the state of economies in the region over the next three years? DAUMAN: It’s been a tough environment in Europe over the last year. We’ve found that the U.K. has held up reasonably well. We’ve had problems for a while in southern
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Europe, in Spain and Italy, and other parts of continental Europe have had economic weakness. I think there will continue to be some weakness in the next year or two, because Europe was behind the U.S. in getting hit hard by the recession because of what happened to the financial industry. They are also behind in solving the issues.
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News you can use: The multi-award-winning The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central has been listed as a primary news source for many viewers in the 18-to-29 age range in the U.S.
Europe still hasn’t worked through some of the financial industry issues that the U.S. has resolved. Housing is coming back in the U.S. Most of the banks, certainly the major ones, are relatively healthy and have worked through their problem loans. Europe is still going through that process. There are also some more difficult social issues to contend with in certain countries. But we’re starting to see a bottoming out in some countries, like Spain. I’ve spent some time talking to my colleagues outside the company in Europe, and there is a feeling that there is still a little tough territory to go through, but there are some signs of stabilization. I expect that in the next three years or less you’ll start seeing an upswing again. We’ve been using this time to expand, launch new networks and continue to invest; then, when the European economy starts to pick up, I think we’ll start to see some signs of improvement next year that will really give us a lift. WS: You also have considerable business in Latin America. DAUMAN: Latin America offers great opportunity, so we are going to expand there. The way we operate around the world is that we have some wholly owned networks, others that are joint ventures, and still others that are licensed. In totally unrelated developments, we have taken full control of MTV in three important markets: in Italy, where we were having some difficulty and the channel was about to close, but we’re
about to take control of the brand; in Brazil, where we had a joint venture that we just couldn’t get out of until now; and in Russia. In all three countries we are revitalizing or entirely relaunching the MTV brand and then launching additional brands. So, we are using this time to build more and make our international business more important. WS: Is cable still a good business to
watching TV has been very stable. There will be changes, but if viewing migrates to any kind of device and we can monetize it—if it gets measured properly so that we can sell advertising on it and it becomes another revenue stream—it’s a positive for us. If you can watch content on portable devices, that increases viewing; it’s incremental to viewing on the linear channels. And for us it’s an opportunity.
be in, even with all the on-demand viewing going on? DAUMAN: It’s a wonderful business to be in, and a lot of the additional viewing on other devices will be done through the relationships we have with cable companies because, remember, in order to view content on broadband, you need broadband. A lot of the cable distributors and telephone distributors in the U.S. also provide broadband, so it’s a very good model. The cable-network business is also a very good model because it has multiple revenue streams—it’s not just a dual stream—because with a channel like Nickelodeon, you also have consumer products and other ancillary revenues, which allow us to invest in content, which in turn allows consumers to have richer content. Economics from the retail side drive the quality of what is produced and delivered. We are also marching forward towards so-called TV Everywhere, so people will be able to enjoy content in different ways. If you look at the evolution of viewing on the plain old TV screen, the amount of time spent
WS: Are big franchises still driving the movie business? DAUMAN: Consumers ultimately dictate what gets produced. The movie business is becoming more and more global and the U.S. is becoming less and less significant as a percentage of the overall business. That’s because there is a pretty stable number of theatrical screens in the U.S., whereas the number of screens around the world is growing, particularly in the emerging markets. In places like China, Russia and Brazil, there are many more screens being built than in the U.S. So it is critical when you make a movie for it to appeal globally. It’s hard to have a movie that appeals globally if it’s not one of those so-called tentpole films that have universal appeal, or that don’t have that much dialogue; they have to be very visual. That’s what’s driving the studios to do franchises. It’s less risky globally to make big tentpoles than to make a smaller movie. At the same time, if you make too many of them and release them at the same time, it puts a lot of pressure on their revenue-generating
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capabilities. This summer, for example, you saw an avalanche of tentpoles in the same year; this doesn’t usually happen. Paramount has a lot of franchises, like Transformers, which we are shooting now, and Mission: Impossible. We had Star Trek Into Darkness and World War Z this summer. They worked well, so we are happy. But that is what foreign audiences are looking for. China, which is becoming a very big market, allows 34 non-Chinese movies a year to be exhibited, and the ones they release are almost all American movies. They are looking for tentpoles—and preferably 3D or IMAX format.When we delayed the release of G.I. Joe: Retaliation and redid it in 3D, that got it into China, and it did good business there because consumers wanted to see it in 3D. A year and a half ago, it was a big deal to cross a $100-million box office in China, but now it’s becoming more routine. We will continue to make smaller films as well. But in terms of where the money is, the money is in the tentpoles. WS: Tell us about the new
Paramount Television division. DAUMAN: We are very excited about it.We recently announced new leadership in Amy Powell, a very talented executive. She’s been running our digital efforts for Paramount as well as a small label we have called Insurge. She has created low-cost content for digital platforms, which will serve us well in this new television effort. Since we are starting from scratch, we’re able to produce television for all new platforms. So we will produce for network television, pay television, our own networks and other people’s networks. You’ll also see some made-for-mobile and made-for-online content. It’s time for Paramount to be back in the television business.We will build the unit slowly as opportunities come up, and it will balance the vagaries of the motion-picture business. And television, in general, once you have built up that franchise, has more stability to it.
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onin the conversation record
ith 53 TV channels and 28 radio stations in ten countries, as well as the production and distribution powerhouse FremantleMedia, the RTL Group is Europe’s leading broadcast and entertainment company. In an effort to respond quickly to the fast-paced evolution of the media business due to changes driven by technology, the RTL Group has divided its businesses into three main areas: broadcast, content and digital. The strategy in the broadcast segment has been to push back against the ongoing fragmentation of the audience by setting up families of channels in the countries where the RTL Group is present. The model was first established in Germany, where a market-leading general-entertainment channel, RTL Television, was surrounded by a portfolio of channels that each either targeted a segment of the audience, such as RTL II for young adults or SUPER RTL for children, or focused
on a genre like n-tv on news or RTL Living on lifestyle programming. This strategy has been successfully replicated in France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary and Croatia. Given the tough economic conditions in several European countries, the advertiser-supported broadcast business in the region has been challenged. But despite declining advertising revenues, thanks to cost-cutting measures the RTL Group reported increases in EBITA and net profit to €552 million ($737 million) and €418 million ($559 million), respectively, for the first half of 2013. Total revenues in 2012 amounted to €6 billion ($8 billion). The company’s strong cash flow allowed it to make strategic investments, among them acquiring key broadcast rights to the German national soccer team and launching joint-venture channels in Asia with CBS Studios International. FremantleMedia has recently restructured with a focus on scaling up development of formats and integrating licensing and digital opportunities into local production operations. On the digital front, the RTL Group’s video services and websites attracted 4.8 billion online video views, which is up 35 percent year on year. The group also acquired a majority stake in BroadbandTV, YouTube’s fifth-largest multichannel network (MCN). Guillaume de Posch is a co-CEO of the RTL Group, responsible for all businesses outside of Germany, plus FremantleMedia, while Anke Schäferkordt, the other co-CEO, heads up all German operations. De Posch talks to World Screen about the challenges and opportunities of running a media company today.
GUILLAUME DE POSCH RTL Group
WS: Certainly the concept of a brand as
a destination that delivers a certain type of entertainment experience is key for a media company today, isn’t it? DE POSCH: Absolutely. Broadly speaking—in both FremantleMedia and the broadcasting side of the business—we consider ourselves to be a video provider in the broader sense, whether the video is provided through linear TV or on other nonlinear platforms. Our goal is to recreate the virtuous circle of the traditional broadcast business in the online world: offering the best content, attracting the biggest audiences and having the most effective distribution and monetization platform. It’s vital to be present on all new platforms, which is why we’ve invested in the multichannel network BroadbandTV, which—as the name indicates—is TV-like content 10/13 World Screen 387
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Stars in their eyes: FremantleMedia’s North American business includes two talent franchise juggernauts: America’s Got Talent on NBC (left) and The X Factor on FOX.
broadcast online via YouTube. This investment is an important step in the implementation of our strategic plan, “Broadcast, Content, Digital.” It significantly accelerates our expansion in the online-video market. BroadbandTV is a perfect fit and addition to the digital activities of both our broadcasters and FremantleMedia. It’s about content, aggregation and advertising sales in the online video world, and thus close to our core competencies. Following our recent acquisition in the online video world, on a fullyear basis, RTL Group will register over 15 billion online video views. Our strategic goal is to become a leading player in online video and online video advertising. WS: For the RTL Group, is online viewing still accretive to the linear viewing of the channels? DE POSCH: It is accretive. If you look at viewers’ TV usage, which is measured in number of minutes per viewer per day, it has increased across nonlinear channels over the past ten years. PVR, time-shifted, and online viewing—representing around 2 to 3 percent of total viewing, at least in our footprint— is in addition to, not instead of, linear viewing. That’s the good news. Over the long term, we believe nonlinear viewing could represent up to 15 percent of total viewing. It’s unclear whether this will be additional viewing time, or whether it will take away from linear viewing.
As a consequence, we are focusing on developing our offerings on both terrains. That way, if viewers migrate from one territory to the other, they can stay with RTL. WS: Have you seen a willingness
on behalf of advertisers to move to the online world? DE POSCH: Advertisers believe that the two media serve different purposes. Linear TV serves for brand recognition and mass appeal. In other words, if an advertiser wants to launch a new brand or a new product, it needs TV to get massive reach within a short period of time. Online video advertising promises strong growth. We are well positioned in this segment because we already know the advertisers who use audiovisual forms of advertising very well. Digital is also a nice addition for more targeted advertising or more sales-driven incentives. I know of no advertisers who have permanently switched from TV to online, or who focus exclusively on either media—I believe they all mix the two approaches these days. When you look at the development of international advertising markets, nearly everywhere there are two winners: TV and online. So as a group, we stand to benefit on two fronts. We are extending our television content into the nonlinear world. Digital is not a separate activity for us, but an integral part of the business, and it will become more and more important in the future.
WS: Everybody is using digital platforms, but young consumers perhaps more so. RTL Group has always been very good at attracting young viewers—RTL II comes to mind. DE POSCH: Our strategy for attracting young viewers is consistent across the group. We want to make sure we always have a linear TV offering for younger viewers, whether it’s RTL II or RTL Nitro in Germany, W9 in France, or RTL 5 in the Netherlands. But linear alone isn’t enough, which is why we offer catch-up TV as well. WS: You mentioned Germany. Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland is doing very well. DE POSCH: Yes, very well, and this is basically the continuation of the success that has been ongoing for years, with a strong lineup of channels, brands and individual programs. In the first half of this year, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland generated its best first-half EBITA ever, representing more than 50 percent of RTL Group’s half-year EBITA. It’s a large market, and a key component of our group. Overall, RTL Group reported strong results for the first six months of 2013. Despite a tough economic environment, all profit indicators—EBITA, profit margin and net result—were significantly up and we generated the second best first-half EBITA in RTL Group’s history.
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WS: What are some of the challenges that Antena 3 and La Sexta are facing in Spain now? DE POSCH: RTL Group has a 20.5-percent stake in the new Grupo Antena 3, which was renamed Atresmedia. The Spanish TV market has been dramatically consolidating over the past few years. Market conditions have been adverse for nearly 18 months, and consolidation has been the best way to react to the market’s weakness. The integration of La Sexta into Atresmedia allowed the new company to increase its revenues and profit over the past year, as Atresmedia has a stronger position in the market than Antena 3 had before. During the presentation of their 2013 half-year results, Atresmedia said that, in their view, the contraction of the Spanish economy will slow down during the second quarter of 2013. They suggested that the market may be moving into a period of stagnation and that the end of the recession might not be too far off. In summary, the consolidation between La Sexta and Antena 3 was an answer to the economic crisis, and we hope improvements in market conditions will soon put the company on a growth path again. WS: Is the RTL model of oper-
ating a family of channels an advantage when the economy takes a downturn?
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DE POSCH: I definitely think so. It
DE POSCH: The success of
allows each channel to target a specific group, and enables advertising spend to target individual channels, enabling better allocation of advertising budgets across channels. For example, you can offer more GRPs [gross rating points] at a higher cost on the leading channels, but if an advertiser doesn’t have a large enough budget, you can offer lower reach on one of the secondary channels, with a lower GRP cost. First-tier channels usually command a higher cost per GRP than second-tier channels, so it’s good to have a mixture of both.
Groupe M6 is driven by a couple of factors. First, their innovative programming has demonstrated over time that their strategy of developing strong brands in peak-time slots paid off. Examples include The Farmer Wants a Wife [L’amour est dans le pré], which was a big success during the second quarter, the access prime-time comedy Scènes de ménages, and the magazine Capital in prime time. This strategy is implemented throughout Groupe M6. At W9, France’s leading DTT channel in the commercial target group, a reality program called Les Ch’tis à Las Vegas is very successful in access prime time. So the first factor is creativity in programming. The second factor is their successful diversification strategy, which allows the company to be less
WS: Has the family of channels formula also worked in France, another country where the economic conditions are not very good? What has fueled the success of Groupe M6?
dependent on advertising revenues in times of economic turmoil. This model has proved its resilience. WS: Since the advertising ban was
imposed on the public broadcaster, France Télévisions, have the commercial channels in France been able to benefit from the ban or has the economic recession not allowed them to gain any additional advertising revenues? DE POSCH: They have definitely benefited in the past from this restriction on advertising in prime time on the public service.We hope that the government will maintain this position; that’s the way it should work, ideally like the model in the U.K. with no advertising at all on the BBC, or at least like the model in Germany with no advertising after 8 p.m. on ARD and ZDF.
That said, when economic conditions are tough, you have a combination of two factors: the restriction of supply due to the ban on advertising in prime time on the public service, and reduced demand from advertisers because of the recession. Plus, the additional channels that were launched in December 2012 created a more competitive environment. WS: Have the RTL stations in
Hungary and Croatia seen some success despite the sluggish economy in the region? DE POSCH: Two years ago in Hungary, we made a bold consolidation move. We acquired seven cable channels, propelling our family of stations from one to eight. The economic situation in Central and Eastern Europe—
Washed out: The drama series Wentworth was produced by FremantleMedia’s Australian operation for Foxtel and is now being sold worldwide by FremantleMedia International. 10/13 World Screen 389
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Taking a swing: RTL Group’s broadcast assets outside of Germany include M6 in France, which airs a version of The Farmer Wants a Wife, L'amour est dans le pré.
including Hungary and Croatia— remains challenging, but the prime-time audience share of our family of channels in Hungary is very strong.We attracted 37.2 percent of our target group ages 18 to 49 during the first six months of 2013, underlining the rationale behind the acquisition of the cable channels. Having a family of channels also enables us to offer advertisers a range of packages focused on various target groups, and I believe this has helped us to fight the economic crisis. In Hungary, the combination of cost savings at the main channel RTL Klub and stable EBITA from the cable channels contributed to a rise in half-year EBITA, despite the [expense of launching] RTL II. In Croatia, an increase in ratings in the first six months of 2013 resulted in a larger TV advertising market share and thus brought RTL [Hrvatska’s] half-year EBITA to break even. Just recently, RTL Hrvatska was awarded a license for a new kids’ and family channel to be named RTL Kockica. The free-toair channel is scheduled to launch in autumn 2013. We believe these markets will recover and grow again in the medium- to long-term.
WS: The RTL Group also has
stations in Holland. Is northern Europe feeling less economic pressure than countries in southern Europe? DE POSCH: On a scale of pain, the further south you go, the more pain you feel. Benelux has been relatively resilient, and performance from these countries has been okay. Germany has been the most resilient of all. As our financial results show, overall, we’ve been able to compensate for our revenue shortfall by cutting costs. WS: Looking further afield, how
has BIG RTL Thrill in India been performing? DE POSCH: To put it into context, I would call BIG RTL Thrill a flag in a new continent. From the perspective of RTL Group, it’s a relatively small project.Why did we do it? Simply because we realized that Southeast Asia, India and China are growing fast, and in the long term, there should be more appetite for new channels and new programs in the region. We decided to proceed cautiously, meaning that we share the risk with a very strong local group— Reliance, one of the India’s largest conglomerates—and that we roll
out the channels in various parts of India gradually. Overall, the distribution of the channel has been strong simply because 31 million households in India can now watch the channel—that’s the good news. The programming and the ratings are doing fine.Within our target group of male viewers ages 15 to 44, we are well ranked against channels that have been in the market for 10 to 15 years. We now need to further monetize the channel by convincing advertisers that it’s a great channel. And in the TV business, this is a long-term process.
we’ve done in India. In August, we announced a new venture in cooperation with CBS Studios International to launch two thematic pay channels across Southeast Asia.This move is part of our strategy for geographic expansion in the fastgrowing Asian markets. But we only undertake new projects there if they meet certain criteria; they must fit with RTL Group’s overall strategy. In the case of [RTL CBS Asia Entertainment Network], it’s a low-risk model with one of the world’s most renowned partners, based on a tried-and-tested [growth] strategy. Like in India, synergies with the group through FremantleMedia’s content will help drive returns.
WS: Are you scouting for oppor-
tunities in other countries as well?
WS: Would you always be looking
DE POSCH: As you know, there are
at a free-TV model? A lot of groups from Discovery to Turner are diversifying their portfolio and planting flags in both free TV and pay TV. DE POSCH: I wouldn’t rule out that we would launch basic pay channels, which typically offer a combination of advertising revenues and subscriber fees—we already have these within our footprint, especially with our channels in Asia—but we won’t go into premium film and sports channels.
three pillars to RTL Group: broadcast, content and digital. Our broadcast strategy includes selectively increasing our presence in our current footprint by launching new channels in regions in which we already have a presence. Last year we launched four new channels, one each in Germany, France, Hungary and Holland. This autumn, we will launch a new kids’ and family channel in Croatia. We also want to selectively expand out from our footprint, as
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in conversation
hen you think of Brazil, you think of soccer, samba…and Globo. That’s because Organizações Globo is Brazil’s media behemoth. Owned by the Marinho family, it comprises a TV network, terrestrial stations, radio stations, cable channels, newspapers and more. TV Globo, the terrestrial television arm of the company, is one of the largest broadcasters in the world. It produces 2,500 hours of entertainment each year, along with 3,000 hours of news. Its 122 stations reach 99.5 percent of the population. Audience erosion? Not in Brazil. At least not yet. Despite the exponential growth of cable subscriptions during the past few years, fueled by a massive jump in consumer spending by a rapidly growing middle class—and despite the recent entry of Netflix into the market—nothing
seems to undermine the loyalty Brazilians have for Globo. Its novelas are still able to attract more than 60 percent of the country’s audience in prime time. With more than 90 percent of its productions done inhouse, in the huge studios at Projac on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Globo is a major source of employment for artists, writers, journalists, producers and others. Globo is known for the quality of its productions and has received International Emmy awards for its news and entertainment programs. Carlos Henrique Schroder has been at Globo since 1984. This past January, after a number of years heading up news and sports, he was promoted to CEO of Globo. He talks to World Screen about his transition into the top position at the company and the challenges for the next couple of years as Brazil prepares to host the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the 2016 Summer Olympics.
CARLOS HENRIQUE SCHRODER Globo
WS: How has Octávio Florisbal, the former CEO, helped you in this transition process? SCHRODER: The transition was a gradual and worry-free process, as it must be for a company the size of TV Globo. Octávio Florisbal was at the helm of the company for the past ten years, and we all learned enormously from him, far beyond the impressive results he generated. It’s a huge legacy, with impact on our programming, on the way we relate to each other, on the way we value talent, and also on the business. In addition, he was always kind, which helped me as I prepared to assume my new responsibilities. The company is mature, strong and robust. Now it’s time to look at the new challenges on the horizon, some in the near future, such as the great events that Brazil will host—the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games—and the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Globo, which will take place in 2015. WS: What genres constitute the greatest strengths in Globo’s schedule? SCHRODER: News, sports and entertainment. We have a strong schedule, based on these three pillars, which is frequently renewed with shows that bring boldness, freshness and innovation. We just finished airing Brazil Avenue, one of the greatest hits on Brazilian television, and we are already airing another great 10/13 World Screen 439
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media pie. This demonstrates our proven ability to deliver results to advertisers, both locally and nationally, and irrespective of the size of their investment. Without a doubt, the strengthening of the Brazilian economy is overwhelmingly positive. The growth and sophistication of the buying habits of the middle class impacts various sectors, which consequently affect the advertising market. Broadcast television naturally benefits from this, as the sector of mass-market consumer products is responsible for 70 percent of the advertising pie. WS: Is online viewership growing
television viewing outside the household. Our content is now watched on smartphones and tablets. Our programs are also watched every month by more than 60 million passengers in buses, trains, airplanes and subway trains. In addition, we have the Globo TV app, which improved the experience of consuming our programming on mobile devices, offering free and pay options. Last year we had our first experience with VOD, with Globo TV+, which, along with the programs on our linear channel, offers archival materials and historic moments in Brazilian soccer. We’re also working on several secondscreen projects.
in Brazil? SCHRODER: In Brazil, broadcast
Universal stories: Avenida Brasil (Brazil Avenue) was a huge hit for Globo domestically and has subsequently been sold to more than 100 markets.
success, Amor à Vida, a novela that gets a 61-percent share, an enviable number on any part of the planet. News is also very strong, especially during these times when Brazilians have gathered in the streets to protest. In Brazil, 80 percent of the population receives the news through television. We produce six hours each day for our 11 newscasts and news-related shows, seven of which air nationally. In sports, the menu is enormous, and it represents 11 percent of our programming output. We showcase soccer—the Brazilian national championship, the state championships, the Brazilian Cup, the Copa Liber tadores, the South American Cup, European Champions League and the matches of the Brazilian national soccer team—as well as Formula 1, stock car, UFC, volleyball, cycling,
marathons, artistic gymnastics, basketball, futsal, beach soccer and extreme sports.We had excellent ratings with the Confederations Cup this past June, and we are getting ready for the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. All of this is done with passion and technology, a combination that makes Globo a ratings champion. WS: How has the strength of the Brazilian economy, and the growing middle class, impacted the advertising market in the country? SCHRODER: The advertising market grew 6 percent in 2012. For Globo, last year was positive not just in terms of ratings but also in terms of our financial perfor mance. Broadcast TV received most of the money spent on advertising—nearly 65 percent of the total
TV is a massive phenomenon, and the habit of watching Globo and discussing its programs at home with the family, at work and with friends, is widespread. Our content has been part of the national conversation for a long time. The Internet and social media increased this “watercooler” effect, making the sharing of information, opinion and expression that have always circulated even more dynamic. We are aware of those developments. We recently created a directorate for digital media to work on the distribution of our content on all digital platforms. Our content is already available on the Internet, on news portals (G1), sports portals (Globoesporte) and entertainment, and these sites are market leaders in their segments. We still have some difficulties with infrastructure, as broadband is still not available to everyone in Brazil, but, despite this, we have been working to offer our content on phones and tablets. WS: How is Globo satisfying this demand for online content? SCHRODER: We are working to be closer to the viewer, wherever he is, and whichever way he wishes. The arrival of digital television increased
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WS: Do you consider Netflix a
friend or a foe? SCHRODER: We believe that the
exploitation of our content, be it on the web or on pay TV, should be done by us. Our view is to have our own distribution system. Globo TV+ allows viewers to watch all content from TV Globo’s entire broadcast day with a three-hour delay. We are testing a system to distribute this content so that viewers that miss the regularly scheduled programs can watch them at another time. So we know that we have the ability to deliver this product with our own content and with our own delivery system. WS: Cable is growing very fast now in Brazil. As a consequence, do you see erosion in free-TV viewership? SCHRODER: No. From the last numbers I have, from June, we now have 17 million pay-TV subscribers in Brazil. The average is three people per household. So we are talking about 50 million people with access to cable. But when you look at this audience, you notice that it is very fragmented, very diluted. So much so that the leading cable channel has a 0.4 [percent] share of the total audience. We are monitoring this evolution. We understand cable is the greatest source of erosion for terres-
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trial broadcasters, and we need to have programming that is increasingly competitive to cable. We’re analyzing and tracking these developments and our strategy is to create programming that is daring, especially during the night, when pay TV is stronger. WS: How has terrestrial TV in
Brazil been able to keep its audience share from decreasing? SCHRODER: In the U.S., there are 100 million cable subscribers, so there is no significant distinction between people that subscribe to pay TV and people watching freeto-air TV. In Brazil, with 17 million subscribers, pay TV reaches only 29 percent of the population. So there is a lot of room for growth in the pay-TV sector. For it to grow further it will depend on the economy. In the U.S., TV is very inexpensive and you can have pay TV for just $30 a month. In Brazil, only if economic conditions are strong and if there is growth in consumption will this model work. During the month of May, with the drop in consumer spending in Brazil, we had for the first time in years a reduction in pay-TV subscriptions. Why? Because the moment that there is a tightening in the economy, pay TV is still considered superfluous. More economic growth equals more pay-TV growth. Pay TV also helps in the transmission of the signal, especially with high definition. It’s a different quality of transmission.There are people living in certain geographic areas who are not able to receive good quality over-the-air TV, so pay TV is very helpful. But 60 percent of what they watch on pay TV is terrestrial channels. So they continue watching free TV in a pay-TV environment.
are preparing ourselves with great care. We’ve made large investments for the Confederations Cup and were very satisfied with the results, not only from a technical standpoint but also in terms of viewership. It was our most comprehensive coverage of this event, with 500 people, including journalists, commentators and technicians, and, among other innovations, we introduced for the first time on Brazilian TV two 4K cameras with a definition that is four times greater than HD. The image quality of these cameras is extremely sharp, especially for close-ups, which helped the commentators when evaluating questionable calls. During the games in which the Brazilian team played, we exhibited Cup Central, a sports program showcasing innovations such as holographic projections of miniature virtual players, which helped the commentators analyze and explain the plays, and helped the viewer understand the tactical maneuvers from each team. We also had a “Virtual Field,”
where the commentators discussed specific plays from a virtual soccer field. All 23 players from the Brazilian team could appear life-sized, since they had been scanned and mapped by the art department at Globo. We want to improve these technologies for the World Cup, and, of course, bring more innovations so that the viewers can have a unique experience. We’re also making investments in digital technology. Our objective is to reach 70 percent of digital coverage by the time the World Cup starts. And for 2016 and 2017, the objective is to reach 90 percent. WS: Tell us about the company’s
international division and the sales of your programming around the world. SCHRODER: Drama is our main product. In the 40 years since Globo launched its international division, we have sold more than 130 programs to more than 170 countries. Brazil Avenue is a recent
example of how Brazilian novelas are well received around the world. One of the greatest success stories in Globo’s prime time, Brazil Avenue has been in the international market for just six months, and is the best-selling show ever in Globo’s history. It was licensed to 106 countries in 14 languages, such as Spanish, English, Russian, Greek, Polish and French. Just in Africa, 57 countries have acquired the rights to Brazil Avenue. In addition to the sale of novelas, we have partnerships with international broadcasters for the co-production of new shows based on Brazilian scripts, such as The Clone, which we produced with Telemundo in 2009; Between Love and Desire, created with Azteca also in 2009; and, produced with SIC, Dancin’ Days and Blood Ties, which was awarded the International Emmy for best telenovela in 2011. This June we launched the coproduction My Dear Handyman in the United States, another partnership with Telemundo. It’s the
WS: How is Globo preparing for
the World Cup and the Olympics? How important will these events be for Globo and for Brazil in general? SCHRODER: We’re talking about gigantic global events, for which we
Exporting passion: Globo has been stepping up its international co-production activities, including partnering with Telemundo for El Clon, a U.S. Hispanic version of the Brazilian hit O Clone (The Clone). 10/13 World Screen 441
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Hispanic version of our novela Looks and Essence. Globo also has linear channels that are transmitted by pay-TV operators and content distributors around the world. We license sporting events, such as Brazilian soccer, which is very popular around the world. Our international channel, also named Globo, is targeted to Brazilians and communities of Portuguese speakers living abroad. [It] is transmitted in 116 countries. In addition, we have two Globo channels in Portugal— one is offered as a basic service and focuses on dramas, and the other is offered as a premium service and offers entertainment shows
and interviews. All together, the three Globo channels abroad have 2.2 million subscribers and reach 7 million viewers. WS: Nowadays, Globo has much more competition from countries such as Turkey and Korea, which are also selling novelas around the world. Do you think this will lead to an oversupply of content and a subsequent reduction in prices? SCHRODER: It’s true that the entry of new players in the market could cause this to happen. If you have more companies in the market and a greater supply, the tendency is that there will be a reduction in the cost of the prod-
Head-turners: Cheias de Charme (Sparkling Girls) is among the novelas that Globo’s international sales arm is highlighting at MIPCOM.
uct. To counterbalance this, we have been working to increase the number of our clients. We are looking for new markets where, up to now, novelas have not been well received. On the other hand, when you make a high-quality product, such as Brazil Avenue, you have spectacular sales in more than 100 countries. So when you have this kind of high-quality product, it is much easier to sell. Although there is an attempt from others to enter the business, Globo has a long history in the telenovela market. While others from Turkey, India or China attempt to establish themselves in this business, we have a solid and wellestablished brand. WS: What are your plans for international growth? SCHRODER: We continue to bet, with our current partners, on coproductions.The international market continues to be very promising, especially for novelas. Regardless of programming trends, viewers like to be moved by a great story, and our productions are full of great stories! We’ve also been active in the distribution of news and sports content. We’ve recently launched NewSource Globo, a news agency that offers content and services to international broadcasters. In partnership with the Associated Press, the agency was launched during the Confederations Cup, and also supplied news about the demonstrations that occurred in Brazil during the months of June and July. In total, 14 broadcasters in 12 countries utilized our services. WS: Nowadays, do you see
Globo primarily as a broadcaster with a vast programming production output or as a pro442 World Screen 10/13
gram producer with broadcast stations? SCHRODER: Globo is a major content producer. About 90 percent of our programming is created by the network in our numerous studios, making us the leading employer of artists, writers, journalists, producers and technicians in the country. Our production facility is constantly expanding and being brought up to date to satisfy demand, with 100 percent digital installations offering HD content. All in all, we produce 2,500 hours of novelas and other programs each year, in addition to more than 3,000 hours of news. We also work with domestic independent producers in search of innovative and varied program ideas. We will continue to invest in our portfolio to increase our production, paying attention to all platforms. WS: How do you create a program
that will appeal to a mass audience that consists of both wealthy, educated individuals and viewers from a much lower socioeconomic segment of the population? SCHRODER: This is terrestrial television’s great challenge. In a country as heterogeneous as Brazil, we must have a program schedule that is of interest from the “A” to the “E” classes.This is the case with our news, which garners audience shares of more than 50 percent every day at 8:30 p.m., and it is also true for a novela. We need to have daring, interesting and attractive shows that talk to Brazilians from all socioeconomic classes. This is not the same as lowering standards. We cannot lower the quality at any moment. But there is no point in making a product of very high quality that is unintelligible. A good example was Brazil Avenue, which had absurdly high ratings in both the “A” and the “C” classes. When you are able to unify these classes in a successful product, you have achieved your objective.
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advertisers’ in conversation index
41 Entertainment 246, 247 4K Media 295 9 Story Entertainment 260, 261 A Film Production 264 A+E Networks 443, 446 ABC Commercial 485 ABS-CBN Corporation 491 activeTV 425 AFL Productions 91, 587 all3media international 99, 435 AMC/Sundance Channel 113 American Cinema International 101 American Greetings Properties 307 Animasia Studio 363, 365 Animation from Spain 359 APT Worldwide 470 Argentina Audiovisual 195 Armoza Formats 394, 395, 405, 407 Artear 229 Artist View Entertainment 20, 21 Asia TV Forum 505, 519 Astro 187, 495 ATV 171 Audiovisual from Spain 191 Australian Children’s Television Foundation 289, 291, 293 AVA Entertainment 335 Avalon Distribution 477 Azteca 97, 193 BabyTV 133 Bandeirantes Communication Group 92, 93 Banijay International 403 BBC Worldwide 8, 9, 10, 11, 22, 125 Beta Film 12, 13 Beyond Distribution 107 Blue Box Entertainment 429 Boomerang TV International 223 BoPaul Media Worldwide 40, 41 BRB Internacional 331 Breakthrough Entertainment 254, 255, 469 Brightcove 508, 509 CAKE 284, 286, 288, 290 Canal 13 SudMedia 231, 543 Canal Futura 189 Canamedia 471 Caracol Television 233 Carsey-Werner International 117 CBS Studios International 145 CDC United Network 154, 581 Chello Latina America 561 CJ E&M Corporation 427 Construir TV 565 Cyber Group Studios 248, 249, 263, 386 D-Rights, Inc. 264 Daewon Media 313 Daro Film Distribution 123 DHX Media 323 DISCOP 521 Disney Media Distribution 529, 567 Distribution360 141 Dori Media Group 236, 523 DQ Entertainment 311 DreamWorks Animation 256, 257, 258, 259 DRG 169 E! Networks Latin America 582 Echo Bridge Entertainment 109, 375 Electus International 411 Endemol Group 75 Endemol Latinoamérica 555 Entertainment One Family 318, 319 Entertainment One Television 1, 135 Estrella TV 563 Eyeworks International Distribution 420 Filmax International 185 FINAS 489 Foothill Entertainment 361 FOX International Channels 39 FOX International Channels Asia 497, 511 FOX International Channels Latin America 524, 525, 545 Fox Telecolombia 132 Foxtel 143, 156 FremantleMedia 391, 400, 438, 527 FremantleMedia International 209, 212, 479, 484, 482, 483, 507, 510 Gaumont Animation 245, 264 Gaumont International Television 43, 45, 47 Global Agency 392, 393, 396, 397, 398, 399 Global Screen 221 Globo 177 Globosat 137, 559 GMA Worldwide 181 GRB Entertainment 83, 85, 87, 88 Hasbro Studios 285 HBO Latin America 531 HIT Entertainment 325 Hoho Rights 357 IMPS 283 Imagina International Sales 541 Incendo 81 Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales 575 International Academy of TV Arts & Sciences 383, 626 INTV Conference 105
ITV-Inter Medya ITV Studios Global Entertainment Kanal D KBS Keshet International Ledafilms Lionsgate m4e AG Mainstream Media Mance Media MarVista Entertainment Media Development Authority MediaCorp Mediatoon Distribution Mercis bv Miramax Mission Pictures International Modern Times Group Mondo TV S.p.A. Multicom Entertainment Group MultiVisionnaire Media National Geographic Channels NATPE NBCUniversal Nelvana Nerd Corps Entertainment New Dominion Pictures NHK Enterprises NHK World NordicWorld Nottingham Forest ON TV Onza Distribution ORF-Enterprise Passion Distribution Peace Point Rights Peacock Alley Entertainment PGS Entertainment Planeta Junior Platinum Films Polar Star Pol-ka Producciones Power ProSieben MAXX Rainbow Rainmaker Entertainment Realscreen Red Arrow International Rio Content Market Rive Gauche Television Russia Television and Radio/Sovteleexport Saban Brands SBS International Scripps Networks International SF Shaftesbury Shine International Sky Vision Smilehood Smithsonian Channel SPI International Starz Worldwide Distribution Studio 100 Media Studio Campedelli Sullivan Entertainment Taiwan International Children’s Festival TANDEM Communications TCB Media Rights Technicolor Animation Telefe International Telefilms Telemundo Internacional Televisa Internacional Televisa Networks Terra Mater Factual Studios Terranoa TM International TNT Latin America Toon Goggles Toonmax Media Toonzone Studios Tricon Films & Television Turner Broadcasting TV Chile TV Film Distribution TV France International TV5MONDE TVE Twentieth Century Fox TV Distribution twofour54 Universal Cinergia Dubbing Venevision International The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) Warner Bros. Intl. Television Waterman Entertainment WWE Xilam Yair Dori YEP! ZDF Enterprises
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16, 17 31, 33, 35, 37, 409 56 199 413 157 14, 15 264, 309 264 6, 7 4, 5, 250, 251, 379 480, 481 179 330, 332, 334, 336 264 55 101 167 373 631 475 119, 478 580, 591 28, 29 264 287 465 449 583 419, 463 329 535 333 173 421, 457 161 453 296 369 264 155 201 27 264 252, 253 355 625 115, 417 577 103, 151 219 2, 3 499 73, 487 264 77 129, 213, 215, 401 79 569 139 210, 211 24, 25, 147 321 264 49 368 51, 53 444, 445 315 549, 551 153, 547 207, 506, 539 225, 423, 493, 522, 533 557 451 459 67, 69, 217, 455 573 336 327 336 461 385 585 571 235 227 240, 586 95, 131, 159 18, 19, 513 579 239 126, 127 632 197 71, 148, 149, 537 336 553 264 165, 317
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on the world’s end record IN THE STARS
Almost every national constitution forbids the establishment of an official state religion. But this secular bent doesn’t stop people from looking to the heavens for answers to life’s most troublesome questions: Will I succeed? Will I find love? Will I have a flingy wingy? Every day, papers and magazines worldwide print horoscopes—projections for people born in a specific month, based on the positions of the stars and planets. While many people rely on these daily, weekly or monthly messages for guidance in their lives, some readers skip over them entirely. The editors of WS recognize that these little pearls of random fore-
Sharon Osbourne
Russell Brand
Sofia Vergara
Global distinction: Good girl gone bad. Sign: Sagittarius (b. November 23, 1992) Significant date: September 7, 2013 Noteworthy activity: Following her scandalous per-
Global distinction: Latina looker. Sign: Cancer (b. July 10, 1972) Significant date: September 5, 2013 Noteworthy activity: On her way to grab some grub after
formance at the MTV Video Music Awards, the former Hannah Montana star is booted from the December cover of Vogue by editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who, according to a source for the Daily Mail, “found the whole thing distasteful,” and “decided, based on Miley’s performance, to take the cover in a different direction.” Horoscope: “Impulsive actions could cost you time or money today, but once you have your heart set on something, there will be no stopping you. Go ahead— just be prepared for the consequences.” (kajama.com)
a day of shopping in Los Angeles, the Modern Family actress—who is sporting a pair of high-wedge shoes—slips in a stairway and lands on her derrière. The gravitational mishap is caught on camera by a photographer lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Horoscope: “Sometimes your life gets a little out of balance—like today.Try not to worry too much or read too much into it all, because this is just how life gets when you swim into the deep end.” (shine.yahoo.com)
Johnny Galecki Sharon Osbourne
But rather than poring over charts
Global distinction: Wife of rocker Ozzy Osbourne. Sign: Libra (b. October 9, 1952) Significant date: September 10, 2013 Noteworthy activity: The British chat queen tells her
our staff prefers to use past horoscopes in an attempt to legitimate the science. As you can see here, had some of these media figures remembered to consult their horoscopes on significant dates, they could have avoided
Johnny Galecki
Miley Cyrus
sight occasionally prove prophetic.
of the zodiac to predict world events,
Sofia Vergara
The Talk co-hosts that she had a “flingy wingy” with late-night host Jay Leno. She confesses that it was before she met her husband and it all started with a prank call to Leno after seeing his comedy routine one night. “One thing led to another.... He came to my house and met me and then we had a little fling.” Horoscope: “Don’t be afraid to admit what you’ve done in the past; it is the only way to approach the future with a clean slate.” (theastrologyroom.com)
Global distinction: The Big Bang Theory star. Sign: Taurus (b. April 30, 1975) Significant date: September 12, 2013 Noteworthy activity: Galecki’s ex-girlfriend and former
Roseanne co-star Sara Gilbert says she first realized she was gay while the two were dating. She reveals that after they would make out as teens, she would get very depressed. Gilbert now thanks him for helping her through the experience of coming to terms with her sexuality and the two remain close friends. Horoscope: “Don’t be oblivious to that which is obvious. The picture in front of you is clear, even if you don’t want to admit that what you’re seeing is real.” (examiner.com)
Sarah Michelle Gellar
a few surprises.
Russell Brand Global distinction: Provocative comedian. Sign: Gemini (b. June 4, 1975) Significant date: September 3, 2013 Noteworthy activity: The British funny man is kicked
out of an after-party for GQ’s Men of the Year awards, where he mentioned during his acceptance speech that Hugo Boss—the event’s sponsor—made uniforms for the Nazis. He later pens an op-ed for The Guardian in which he voices his dislike for award ceremonies and distrust of politicians, big business and the media. Horoscope: “There could be a little controversy in your day, but the possibilities of true communication are also enhanced.” (glo.msn.com) 630 World Screen 10/13
Global distinction: Buffy alum. Sign: Aries (b. April 14, 1977) Significant date: September 6, 2013 Noteworthy activity: The blonde is really hitting it off
with her The Crazy Ones co-star Robin Williams, but the relationship is rubbing her hubby, Freddie Prinze Jr., the wrong way, reports National Enquirer.“Sarah goes on and on about what a dream it is to work with Robin and how he even gives her parenting tips,” a source tells the tabloid. “Freddie feels like,‘Enough with this guy, already!’” Horoscope: “Your attention may be diverted from those who need it most, leaving some people in your life feeling neglected. Putting a little extra energy into meeting their needs will be useful this month.” (gotohoroscope.com)
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