All3Media International
In this Content London On Demand campaign, All3Media International is offering a playlist blending true crime, comedy, mystery and thrills, and the company says it is set up to deliver the best in writing, acting and producing talent.
As the distribution arm of an independent production group boasting 30 companies that are responsible for some of the biggest scripted brands in the world, All3Media International is in a strong position to make good on its promise of delivering premium storytelling and high-quality production values. The company also works with over 50 third-party indies to ensure the supply of programming for its global client base.
That it has launched more than 100 hours of new content to the market this year is all the more remarkable considering the current state of international television industry, which is still finding its feet amidst a raft of new health and safety measures and financial considerations needed to placate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“A number of our scripted projects were midway through filming when the pandemic hit and were forced to shutdown temporarily,” says David Swetman, the distributor’s senior VP of scripted content. “Fortunately, we are now back in production on all these shows and a number of other scripted projects that will deliver in early 2021. One of the key strengths of All3Media International’s scripted catalogue is that we work with producers around the world, so whilst we may have stopped filming in the UK, we still had productions underway in Australia, New Zealand and Germany.”
The flip side of delays to new programming has been an increased focus on finished and library content, which is where All3Media International is able to call up long-running titles such as detective series Midsomer Murders and The Brokenwood Mysteries.
“We have been working closely with all our buyers to help identify their needs during this tumultuous time,” Swetman says. “For some this has certainly been the need to secure large volumes of content from library deals, but more often it has been about securing a future pipeline of high-quality, premium drama for the months ahead, especially where local production is still on hold. All3Media International’s traditional areas of strength in the crime and thriller space is performing well, although there is also a growing need for feel good series that help audiences escape the bad news.”
On that note, the arrival of All Creatures Great & Small, based on James Herriot’s novels about a Yorkshire vet which were previously adapted for television in 1978, could not have been better timed. This uplifting, feel-good series is ideal for family viewing, while the luscious landscapes of Yorkshire have never looked better.
“In these difficult times it’s also great to have some uplifting, feel-good television to watch as a family,” Swetman says of this seven-part series, produced by Playground for Channel 5 and WGBH. “I am personally very excited to watch the Christmas special that will air next month.”
The delays to new content have also led to increased competition between buyers for All3Media International’s scripted programming, Swetman observes, with broadcasters and networks increasingly keen to commit to series early in order to secure the necessary rights.
“We work hard to structure deals that work for our clients in all territories, but we are certainly seeing an increasing amount of early commitment from our buyers – both as straight-forward pre-buys and more involved coproduction deals in Europe, Australia and North America.”
Those deals are taking place digitally, however, as the cancellation of physical markets this year has meant the distributor has had to adapt to new ways of pitching series to clients and provide them with all the information they need to make an informed decision.
It’s not just original programming that All3Media International is seeing returns on, however, as the company is also continuing to see a demand for scripted formats in both Europe and Asia. In particular, Liar, which was originally produced by Two Brothers Pictures for ITV, has now been remade in six countries, most recently in Spain, where Mentiras aired on Atresmedia.
“We have also had success selling remade series into other territories. Every Cloud Production’s Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries was remade in China as Miss S and we have now distributed this series to a number of buyers around the world,” Swetman says. “Buyers are increasingly keen to localise successful scripted series to increase the relevance of stories to their audiences. Scripted formats allow a quick production process built on an already proven concept.”
All3Media International’s playlist on C21’s Digital Screenings showcases the broad range of its programming, which also builds on one of the hottest programming trends of the year.
The distributor has had a great deal of success with crime drama based on real events this year, such as New Pictures’ ratings winners White House Farm and Des. The first is the six-part story of the murders committed by Jeremy Bamber, while the latter is a three-part miniseries telling the story of serial killer Dennis Nilsen.
“These are both riveting watches that give us an insight into the dark minds of some of the UK’s most notorious killers,” says Swetman. “It is also great to have something to make you laugh and Maxxx certainly delivers in that regard.” This six-part series, currently airing on Channel 4 in the UK, stars O-T Fangbenle and takes a cringe-inducing peek into the pop world, as a former boyband star turned tabloid laughing stock tries to relaunch his career.
“It’s also refreshing to see a devious politician who is merely fictional, in this case the embattled Peter Laurence, played by Hugh Laurie, in David Hare’s four-part political thriller Roadkill for the BBC and WGBH, produced by The Forge. It takes a look behind the headlines and explores what lengths you have to go to in order to reach the top in the political arena,” he says.
Looking ahead to next year, All3Media International is handling sales of Russell T Davies’ latest drama It’s A Sin, a five-part series for Channel 4 and HBO Max that explores the lives of a group of young gay lads in 1980s London. The series will have its world premiere at Content London.
Other entries on the playlist include The Sounds, an eight-part thriller that takes a missing person and a blissful marriage and turns it upside down in the sleepy settlement of Pelorus, in New Zealand’s beautiful Marlborough, where nothing is quite what it seems. It is a coproduction between South Pacific Pictures and Shaftesbury for Acorn TV and CBC in Canada and Sky TV in New Zealand.
Eden is a coproduction from Every Cloud Productions (Newton’s Law) and Balloon Entertainment (Clique) for Australian streamer Stan set in exotic Byron Bay that explores the unseen lives of a collective of locals after the disappearance of a young woman.
Miss S is the Chinese adaptation of Every Cloud Productions’ Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. The 30-part series launched on Tencent earlier this year.
A second season of crime thriller Baptiste is also in production and will star Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve) alongside the returning Tcheky Karyo, who plays the titular investigator. It builds on the events of season one and is produced by Two Brothers Pictures for the BBC.
“These shows sum up All3Media International’s scripted strategy – to bring the best writing, acting and producing talent to our buyers,” Swetman says.
New projects coming up include Dalgliesh, a detective series from New Pictures based on the novels of PD James. It is a co-commission from Acorn Media and Channel 5, with All3Media International distributing outside the US and UK.
“This is a great example of a series that All3Media International has helped bring together by working with key production partners who have already helped us deliver successful series including Blood from West Road Pictures,” Swetman notes. He is also looking forward to Two Brothers Pictures’ Angela Black, a 6×60’ thriller for ITV and Spectrum Originals starring Joanne Froggatt and Michiel Huisman. It centres on a suburban woman who’s seemingly idyllic life hides the fact that she is a victim of domestic abuse as well as the secrets of her husband.”
Two further true crime dramas are also on their way. Story Films’ My Name is Lizzie, which is currently shooting, is a four-part series based on events following the murder of Rachel Nickell in south-west London in 1992. New Pictures is also in early pre-production on The Yorkshire Ripper (working title) – a six-part series depicting the hunt for serial killer Peter Sutcliffe in the late 1970s.
Another crime series, this time fully fictional, is Too Close, which comes from Snowed-In Productions and stars Emily Watson and Denise Gough as a forensic psychologist and her patient accused of committing a crime but with no memory of the event.
Heading into 2021, All3Media International is in a “good position with a strong slate of programmes and will be focusing on supporting all our production partners during these challenging times,” Swetman says.
Against a backdrop of an evolving industry and with Mipcom on the horizon, C21 Screenings catches up with three execs from All3Media International to hear how the market is changing and what they have on offer for their trip to Cannes.
Trying to keep abreast of all the seismic and historic changes taking place across the TV industry, it can be easy to forget that the day-to-day revolves around buying and selling programming. And it’s the execs at that coalface who invariably have the best perspective on what’s really happening in the market.
The ongoing trend for mergers and takeovers, for example, “plays a constant role in the evolution of our industry, and the impact is felt in a variety of ways,” reflects Stephen Driscoll, exec VP of EMEA at All3Media International.
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Peta Sykes, All3Media International’s sales manager for Scandinavia, reveals how the company’s new autumn slate reflects an evolving market, with the pandemic and the streaming boom driving big changes in the territories she covers.
All3Media International’s autumn slate encompasses detectives, football, thrillers, period drama, more detectives, word games and a real-life kidnapping – a broad selection of titles that reflects the programming priorities at the UK-based distributor, as well as some constants in an ever-changing market.
“We have always been a strong home for detective programming,” says Peta Sykes, the company’s sales manager for Scandinavia. “We’ve got detective series with female leads, male leads, ensembles and series based on novels – both period and contemporary.
“We are really pleased about the breadth of our slate in this area – from New Pictures’ new version of PD James’ period detective Dalgleish to Glassriver’s stylish Icelandic thriller Black Sands – as well as Neil Dudgeon’s 50th episode as Inspector Barnaby in Midsomer Murders (he joined in series 14), from Bentley Productions, and Annika starring Nicola Walker. There is always a demand for strong detective dramas, and also for gripping psychological thrillers with strong casts that can be easily scheduled.”
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All3Media International’s Maartje Horchner explores how the market for scripted formats has evolved and talks us through the IP on the company’s playlist for C21’s Digital Screenings this week.
As with all parts of the international TV business, the scripted formats market has been impacted by lockdowns and the explosion of streaming over the past year as broadcasters and global platforms alike put the emphasis on local content.
So says Maartje Horchner, the London-based executive VP of content at distributor All3Media International, who is this week showcasing a dozen scripted formats to international buyers via C21’s Digital Screenings and is also sharing some of her insights as to how this particular corner of the global industry is changing.
“The international market for scripted formats had been growing, even before lockdown,” she says. “Interest was increasing year-on-year and slowly started to convert to actual local versions being produced and aired, rather than just discussed with creatives.”
This growth appears to be driven, in part, by all the global SVoD platforms that have launched over the past year. “The opportunity has a lot to do with the arrival of global streamers opening up the world to English-language content – and, indeed, global content,” Horchner notes.
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Maartje Horchner, exec VP of content at All3Media International, talks us through her C21 Digital Screenings playlist and discusses how events of this year have changed things.
Distributors have had to think on their feet this year, as programme supply lines dry up due to the production freeze and traditional markets go online, and the sales strategy shifts to readymade content and pitching via Zoom. Like other distributors, All3Media International has been impacted and has adapted its strategy accordingly.
“We are fortunate that the majority of our dramas had completed photography and had started post-production before lockdown,” says Maartje Horchner, exec VP of content at the company.
“The flexibility of our producers and the initiatives they have undertaken have been remarkable, so shows have been delivered with the highest production values and there’s a string of shows in development that could be produced within the strictest of social distancing guidelines – all without the viewer being aware of any production requirements.”
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The UK-based distributor has a Rolodex of more than 1,000 broadcasters and platforms dipping into its content library. This article explores All3Media International’s C21 Digital Screenings playlist.
Broadcasters around the world have taken on a far more important role in the lives of their audience in recent weeks, not only keeping them informed but also offering entertaining moments of respite and distraction.
“These are really tough times for colleagues and friends across the global production industry. As an international distributor with a substantial library we are lucky to be having conversations about filling gaps in schedule while trying to provide financial support to productions that have been delayed,” says Louise Pedersen, CEO of All3Media International.
Pedersen points to the organisation’s relationship with Knox Media Hub, which has seen the two develop a cloud-based content delivery system, as being key to its ability to deliver master material quickly to clients.
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