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Independents’ day

Independent distributors from around the world tell Nico Franks how they aim to take advantage of new business opportunities arising across the Americas when they gather for the LA Screenings.

Honig-LisaLisa Honig, senior exec VP, TV and digital distribution, North America, FremantleMedia International Subscription VoD platforms can take more risks with content that you might not find in primetime on a US cable network. I am curious to see if some of the OTT services of the linear channels start buying content from outside to broaden their portfolio.

The Australian prison drama Wentworth is a good example of something we’ve had success with on SVoD, with Netflix. [US culture blog] Vulture picked up on the show and said that it makes Orange is the New Black look like a high school melodrama.

Cold War drama Deutschland 83

Deutschland 83

Cold War drama Deutschland 83 will be the first German-language series to air on a US network with Sundance TV. It was written by an American and that’s why it comes across as relatable to a US audience.

Overall, there’s more of a receptiveness to foreign-language dramas. There’s a hunger for content and a lot of the US services are wondering how to stand out. That’s something as a distributor that we have to ask ourselves too.

Jon-RutherfordJon Rutherford, exec VP of distribution and business development, Tricon Films & TV
There are more platforms than ever before, so although things may become a bit saturated, with less revenue generated from certain things, for other things there may be more revenue. Everyone needs to be open and flexible to the opportunities that now exist.

You don’t have to necessarily go down the traditional road of broadcast first. You might still do that and incorporate an SVoD window into the mix, which could be quite lucrative. But having more of these platforms pop up, even if they’re attached to a linear channel, means there are more opportunities for them to buy your content.

Rob Schneider cable comedy Real Rob

Rob Schneider cable comedy Real Rob

The aim of distributors is always to maximise revenue in any given market. There are some pretty big players out there that want to control all the rights in a territory and that can be fine, but the licence fee has to go up.

A big piece of our slate this year is Real Rob, which is a new cable comedy from Rob Schneider. It’s a semi-fictional portrayal of his life. Rob has a huge international fan base, particularly in Latin America.

Marcello-ColtroMarcello Coltro, exec VP of content distribution, Cisneros Media
Shows like Jane the Virgin are causing broadcasters, cable networks and OTT platforms to pay more attention to stories generated in Latin America.

We want to make our programmes better suited to the changing viewing habits of today’s audience, who are now watching several episodes at a time. The traditional soap opera doesn’t work well in that environment.

Jane the Virgin

Jane the Virgin

We’ve edited some of our existing soaps, but they still don’t work the way our clients are looking for. So we’re completely revamping our creative process from the script up. Right now, we’re developing four soaps that are going to be different in terms of pacing, number of episodes and characters.

In the case of formats, we’re not only talking with the US Hispanic market but with some mainstream producers. We recently met with some agencies in LA that are working with OTT services in particular.

Lisette-OsorioLisette Osorio, VP of international sales, Caracol TV Internacional
We have sought to strengthen our presence in the US by partnering with MarVista Entertainment and Snap TV to coproduce English content in Latin America for international audiences. We are always looking for opportunities in the US. Our productions have had a great reception from the US Hispanic market, with premieres on UniMás and Telemundo, among others.

At the moment, audiences can watch our content on platforms such as Netflix, Vivoplay, Megacable, Viewster, Veo, DirecTV, Hulu and Viki. For the LA Screenings we will be presenting two new productions, including Laura: An Extraordinary Life [25×60’].

Les-TomlinLes Tomlin, president and exec producer, Peace Point Entertainment
One of the trends over the past few years has been a move towards co-viewing, in scripted and unscripted. Channels that previously focused on female viewers are now looking to bring in their partners for a co-viewing opportunity.

That’s definitely influencing programming commissions and acquisitions. A good example is Spike in the US, a channel that was predominantly male now going much more co-view with a drama like Tut. We hold the rights for that show in Latin America.

Spike's co-viewing drama Tut

Spike’s co-viewing drama Tut

When selling shows now, it’s about hitting all the platforms available – doing two or three deals for the same programme. But that’s becoming more difficult because buyers want to have all platforms covered as part of their agreement.

We’ve licensed a lot of series to Amazon Prime and Hulu that haven’t been on linear air for quite some time, so VoD represents an opportunity to squeeze more dollars out of existing programming. There are a lot of platforms in the OTT world that are hungry for content and it doesn’t have to be first-run.

PINTO,-IZZET--GLOBAL-AGENCYIzzet Pinto, CEO, Global Agency
The income from VoD sales is still low, so at this market we’re focusing on free television. It’s all about creating demand. If there is demand, the price goes up, if there isn’t, it goes down. Our fees are quite high at the moment, because our series are in demand.

We’ve been attending the LA Screenings for the past four years. For the first two of those we didn’t have much luck. But two years ago we had a great market because Turkish programmes had become very popular in Latin America.

This was the beginning of a nightmare for the major US studios, as Turkish drama started to broadcast in primetime on Latin American channels. They weren’t expecting that and, to be frank, neither were we.

In the US, our series Forbidden Love has been remade by Telemundo for Spanish-language viewers, while Sony Pictures TV has produced a pilot for NBC based on our series Game of Silence.

Fernando-SzewFernando Szew, CEO, MarVista Entertainment
There have been two vast and positive changes over the past few years, as far as independents are concerned. There are now more platforms and channels, meaning there are more opportunities to license content.

Secondly, there seems to be a shift away from the lock that the major US studios had internationally with their output and volume deals. We’ve noticed there’s a lot more room to move around them, as broadcasters’ commitments aren’t as restrictive as they once were.

VoD sales have been a good shot in the arm. We haven’t moved to a place where SVoD revenue has replaced broadcast revenue, but it certainly makes up for any loss of home entertainment.

There seems to be a very positive rush towards quality that is also niche and that is being funded, either fully or primarily, by some of the SVoD platforms. Sometimes, they’re the first people we go to now.

Correa-Neto,-Raphael----GloboRaphael Corrêa Netto, exec director of international business, Globo International
The new SVoD distribution platforms are contributing to the development of our business by expanding the ways we can deliver content in Brazil and around the world.

The North American market is the most dynamic and complete in the world and Globo wants to be open to all of the opportunities available. For example, in the US Hispanic market, we have [with Telemundo] coproduced My Dear Handyman, a remake of the telenovela Looks & Essence by Aguinaldo Silva.

Globo drama miniseries Doomed

Globo drama miniseries Doomed

There is huge potential in developing international productions based on the telenovelas that are in our archive, which have been well received in countries all around the world.

One of the highlights of our library at the LA Screenings is the drama miniseries Doomed, which stars Cauã Reymond (Brazil Avenue) as a sommelier who loves wine and women. It reached almost 38 million viewers per day when it aired in Brazil.

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