Sony Pictures Television’s search for coproductions in CEE has yet to deliver, but distribution exec Mark Young is ready to consider new models to get the right project over the line.

Mark Young

“There is no one set model – anything can come from anywhere, and any model can be built in any way,” declared Sony Pictures Television (SPT)’s Mark Young to an audience of Central and Eastern European (CEE) executives at the inaugural Content Warsaw in June.

The US studio’s executive VP of distribution and networks for EMEA was talking about fashioning coproductions, which has been a repeatedly stated, if elusive, ambition of the company in CEE for some time.

And in these economically challenging times, the production and distribution company, whose roster of international hits includes The Last of Us, The Crown and Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, is opening up to more inventive models in its deal-making and is eager to apply these to CEE, according to Young.

Speaking to a packed audience during a session entitled Fundamentals: New Models for International Distribution, Coproduction & Partnerships, alongside CEE distribution representatives from Beta Film, ZDF Studios, Mediawan and GoQuest, Young explained: “We’ve been playing around with what has always been our traditional model, which has been something getting picked up in the US and then doing some pre-buys around the world, and reversing it by trying to get some investment from Australia, the UK, France, wherever we can, to get a patchwork to then sell into the US, knowing we’ve already got some investment from other places.”

Young highlighted Italian drama Doc as an example of where conventional wisdom has been turned on its head at the Japanese-owned Hollywood studio. The TV series has been remade across CEE, including in Slovakia, where it has aired on TV Markiza for three seasons.

Before its international success, Doc played on Rai for three seasons. “[It] has done incredibly well for Rai,” Young told the audience. “We sold the format in some Central and Eastern European territories and that led to us getting a US sale to Fox. It’s interesting that it’s worked that way around. We are now selling that US version globally.”

Medical procedural Doc was adapted by Fox in the US

Addressing coproductions specifically, Young added: “Everyone is having to be more creative to get the funding models together and each piece of IP is coming through in a different way.”

Young is a veteran of the TV industry, with more than 18 years under his belt at SPT, so is no stranger to CEE, having joined as sales director for the region and the Middle East.

“We’ve always taken the region very, very seriously,” he tells CEE21.com. Over the years, Young moved into different roles across different regions, but returned to overseeing CEE in 2021. That move coincided with SPT selling off its 22 pay TV networks and two streaming services in the region to Greece’s Antenna Group, as part of a wider strategy.

SPT still has one channels business left in Europe, AXN in Iberia, which Young describes as “very successful,” but given the current woes of the global streamers, SPT’s lack of presence in this market could be viewed as a fortunate position to be in.

Indeed, when asked about the company’s content distribution strategy, Young is quick to differentiate SPT from the rest of the pack: “We are an independent studio. We don’t have a streaming platform, unlike many of the other studios. So for us, it really is about working with our partners and trying to have as many as we can make the best content to get the best talent in the shows – behind the camera and on screen, and in the movies as well – and sell them to as many partners as possible. That really is the strategy, and it’s working well. While others have vertically integrated and are putting their product on their own services, we’re out working with everybody else, as well as those big global partners.”

Dragons’ Den is under licence in three CEE countries including Hungary

Being independent, though, hasn’t shielded SPT completely from the economic headwinds. SPT global scripted chief Nina Lederman left the company in June and there are no plans to replace her, and while SPT announced in July it had acquired a majority stake in UK production outfit Eleventh Hour Films, at Series Mania in March, SPT’s president of international production Wayne Garvie played down expansion plans.

“The world is in a tricky place right now,” acknowledges Young. “Advertising markets are difficult. You’ve got the situation in Ukraine, the situation in Israel, which impacts on different things from an economic standpoint. I think everyone is struggling a little. We’re all trying to figure out the [right] paths. For us as a studio, we’ve just had a strike in the US, which has an impact. So there’s a lot of different things going on.”

Young admits this is having an impact on SPT’s coproduction ambitions in CEE, which he describes as “something we’re very interested in, market by market.”

One area SPT is exploring with CEE partners is developing local stories from its own drama formats. “That’s quite an interesting opportunity,” he says, pointing to the UK, where SPT has had success through its local production companies Left Bank, Bad Wolf, Eleven and now Eleventh Hour. “The various shows we worked on there with ITV, Paramount+ and others, such as the BBC, have been fantastic.”

Who Wants to me a Millionaire? has aired for eight seasons in Poland

Moving things forward in CEE, though, “the challenge really is economic,” he says. “Ideally, we’ll work with a local partner for them to commission for the region and then we’ll take on distribution internationally and try to monetise. That’s a tricky thing, and obviously there are different scales of production budgets and ambitions. But we’re in various discussions and hopefully they’ll come to fruition.”

SPT has established relationships across the region, including with Poland’s Polsat and TVN, Hungary’s RTL and TV2, Czech Republic’s Nova, Romania’s Pro TV, Croatia’s HRT, Slovakia’s TV Markiza, Serbia’s Nova, Bulgaria’s bTV and Slovenia’s Planet TV and Pop TV.

“What we’ve tried to do in each of the CEE countries over the years is just build the relationships and work with the clients, not just on the US content but also with our formats as well. We produce Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and Shark Tank/Dragons’ Den, so we’ve got those formats up and running in a lot of places.”

The iconic Who Wants to me a Millionaire? format has been a stand-out success for SPT in CEE. It has been on air for eight seasons in Poland (TVN), five seasons in Croatia (HRT 1), three seasons in Bulgaria (currently on bTV), two seasons in Serbia (Nova S) and is now in its sixth season on Planet TV in Slovenia. “Beyond this we’re having conversations with partners in multiple countries now for the launch or the return of this timeless format,” says Young.

The TV version of PlayStation title Twisted Metal was picked up by streamer Max

Meanwhile, the Dragons’ Den/Shark Tank franchise “has been a huge success in CEE and is currently under licence in Hungary, Slovakia and Romania and we are in discussions in other countries,” says Young. In Hungary, where it is produced by RTL, it has been one of the top two most-watched programmes in the 18-49 and 18-59 core demographics since returning for season six.

One area where Young suggests SPT can add value to its partnerships is through the post-sales support it can offer its clients. He points to the TV series version of PlayStation IP title Twisted Metal, which it sold pan-regionally to Warner Bros Discovery streamer Max in the first premium window.

With the show soon to reach screens in Hungary, Bulgaria and Adria in subsequent windows, Young says: “We supported Max’s launch with a major local marketing, publicity and social campaign ahead of its premiere in October 2023, and the title stayed in the top 10 for eight weeks, having reached number one in Hungary and the Czech Republic.”

Summing up, Young says success in the CEE, whatever the model, remains the same as it does elsewhere: “It comes down to having the best content we can have, making fantastic gripping, thrilling series and movies that will perform at the box office and on TV,” he says.