StudioCanal adapts to a changing market

Beatriz Campos, senior VP of global sales and production financing for TV series at StudioCanal, talks us through her Content London playlist and explains how the company’s distribution strategy is changing.

 

Can you tell us about the shows on your Content London playlist?
Our brand new drama programming crosses multiple genres, from contemporary to period, from hard-hitting to light-hearted. We are extremely proud of the contrasting line-up we are showcasing, with very strong female-led titles, celebrating diversity and telling universal stories.

 

Finding Alice is a darkly comic family drama from award-winning writers Simon Nye and Roger Goldby, starring Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard) in an honest, raw, darkly comic journey of grief, love and life. Gripping period crime drama Paris Police 1900 delivers a modern, gritty representation of La Belle Epoque set in Paris in the early 20th century. New thriller Shadowplay is the wild west of purgatory, set in divided Berlin, starring Taylor Kitsch (Waco) and Sebastian Koch (Homeland), created and written by award-winning Måns Mårlind (The Bridge). Psychological thriller Possessions sees a young French woman in Israel accused of murdering her husband in an increasingly mysterious murder case, directed by Thomas Vincent (Bodyguard).

 

Set in 1937 Warsaw, gangster drama series The King of Warsaw is based on a best-selling novel and tells a story of violence and lust for power. The final eighth season of award-winning crime drama Spiral embraces varying perspectives of those involved in the judicial system. The second season of Pros & Cons, a Danish original drama, and International Emmy-nominated The Collapse (8×15’), an anthology drama that follows eight groups of people who undergo a sudden and forced energetic transition, are also available to view in our digital viewing room.

 

Comedy dramas include UFOs, which sees a brilliant space engineer whose dreams literally go up in smoke, while La Flamme introduces a seductive singleton and airline pilot who devises a competition to find a partner to join him on his journey through life. About Last Night… is based on real-life situations and features different groups of friends talking about their latest wild escapades, while All The Way Up sees talented rapper Clément and his two childhood friends dive into the world of rap.

 

Animation series Esther’s Notebooks (153×2’, six specials) is adapted from the novels by Riad Sattouf and take us into Esther’s daily life – a funny, moving, tender and cruel portrait of today’s youth.

 

How did these shows perform domestically?
We are particularly pleased with the performance of our new shortform eight-part series The Collapse, which has been nominated in the C21 International Drama Awards and at the International Emmys 2020. This series, which is part of Canal+ Creation Décalé brand, did extremely well when it aired in France on November 11, 2019. It delivered strong non-linear performances with a total of 2.23 million views after eight weeks. It was also one of the few shows selected to be part of the special screening block for shortform series at the Berlinale 2020.

 

The King of Warsaw, produced by Aurum Film for NC+, is Canal+ Poland’s biggest TV series production to date, featuring a prestigious Polish cast and over 300 characters with lines. After only a week of availability on Canal+ platforms, Possessions gathered more than two million views, a performance similar to successful series Baron Noir S3 and Savages.

 

What about the shows might make them appeal to international audiences?
The King of Warsaw is set at a powerful turning point in history rarely seen on screen, right before the onset of the Second World War and the Holocaust. With contemporary issues such as nationalism and identity crises, the series strongly resonates with our world today.

 

Yet to air on commissioning channel ITV, Finding Alice has all the ingredients to resonate with a global audience. The acclaimed talent behind the camera and an ensemble cast of award-winning actors, led by the incredible Keeley Hawes, elevates this series to an extraordinary level that we are confident will be very well received. In addition, the series is sure to bring much-needed relief during these difficult times, which have brought the world closer together, and stresses the importance of family above everything.

 

How are the production values of your foreign-language titles changing?
StudioCanal has a continuing pipeline of new, high-end productions with strong appeal for the global market. At the moment, we are launching 11 new shows originating from nine countries in seven languages: French, English, Polish, Danish, German, Hebrew and Russian. The support of the Canal+ group enables us to increase the scale of the productions we want to be involved with.

 

We continue to support our group channels and the production entities within StudioCanal TV and this means we can deliver more ambitious projects with bigger budgets. My task now is to continue to develop more international partnerships so we are able to produce more content at the highest level across the board. With an established reputation for working with the best European talent, we are being able to bring big stories that with the right partnership can be scaled to new heights.

 

How is your format strategy growing in importance?
Format adaptation is one of the key goals of StudioCanal as we look to explore new avenues to tell our stories around the world. We are proud to present a strong scripted formats line-up to the global market, with more than 400 hours of high-quality dramas ready to be reimagined for new audiences.

 

We have seen a growing trend in local adaptations and at a time where everything seems to be more universal, let’s not forget that local productions are still achieving good performances. Our new expanded formats catalogue showcases brand new IPs with huge potential to be remade, with a variety of scripted genres from thrillers to comedies.

 

How are your distribution plans changing due to the events of 2020?
These unexpected times have given us an opportunity to reflect on a more creative and fluid way of working. We have understood the challenges our clients were facing and have invested a lot of time finding different ways to support them.

 

Luckily, we have built a strong library catalogue over the years and, with more slots becoming available, we have been able to explore more windowing opportunities. In particular, the foreign-language side of the catalogue has achieved higher exposure, penetrating new markets, fulfilling the hunger for content the world is facing. This challenging period has also helped us to increase our format presence, we have strong IP within the group and it was the perfect time to explore different adaptations.

 

In what ways are you adapting to the changing needs of buyers?
Our diverse library of dramas is ready to fit the needs of many broadcasters internationally. And the spectacular growth of digital platforms has helped to diversify the content needed, increasing the opportunities on our side. At these difficult times, we pride ourselves in responding very well to our clients’ needs and flexibility can be found in different ways within the scope of rights. For us, finding the right home and exposure for our content can be some of the most important factors to consider.

 

What genres are in high demand at the moment?
We are definitely seeing a growing need from international clients for light-hearted content as audiences around the world are looking to escape from the current reality. We have some incredible shows right now that fit this demand, such as La Flamme, Pros & Cons, UFOs and Finding Alice, to name just a few.

 

There is currently strong competition for unique dramas from broadcasters and platforms globally. We are living in a digital boom right now, with channels and platforms desperately trying to differentiate themselves from one another. This opportunity is giving us more avenues to explore and open up our portfolio.

 

What new shows do you have in the pipeline for 2021 and beyond?
We have a strong pipeline of content coming through via our wholly owned and affiliated production companies, including Red Production, Tandem Productions, StudioCanal Original, Bambú Producciones, Urban Myth Films and SAM Productions, as well as long-standing relationships with third-party producers.

 

One brand-new series that we are extremely excited about is Ridley Road, written and adapted for television by award-winning writer Sarah Solemani (Barry, Aphrodite Fry), from the critically acclaimed novel by Jo Bloom, which has been commissioned by BBC1 and will be transmitted in the US on PBS and in France on Canal+.

 

Currently in production, the 4×60’ drama is produced by Red Production Company (a StudioCanal company). It is a thriller set against the backdrop of a swinging 60s London we haven’t seen: an East End world where far-right fascism is on the rise. When Vivienne Epstein follows her lover into danger and he is caught between life and death, Vivienne finds herself going undercover with the fascists, not only for him but for the sake of her country.

 

We are also extremely excited to be representing the highly-anticipated daily drama Two Lives (working title), which has just started shooting in Spain. A universal and relatable story of love and family, Two Lives is intriguingly set in both the past and the present. Commissioned by RTVE’s core channel La 1, Two Lives is produced by RTVE and StudioCanal in collaboration with Bambú Produccionnes and will be distributed worldwide, excluding Spain, Andorra, Latin America and the US, by StudioCanal.