difficult since there isn’t enough money to support its actions, the producer finds it complicated to deliver content and not know how much time is being devoted to selling it to the networks,” she said. Distribution and production must compliment each other to ensure the product’s success: “Without a good product, distributors won’t be able to sell anything and without a good distributor, producers will fail in their attempt to publicize their work,” she said. TRADING MODELS. Producers currently search for presales, which the executive described as a “dangerous system” since it’s “very hard to accomplish” and when you do, “you risk your prestige” by making a commitment to meet deadlines you can’t always fulfill.
Clearly, the region has several challenges to overcome in regard to certain markets such as Europe. First of all, it must “speed up” its negotiation processes by eliminating the excessive bureaucracy, and pay more attention to “feedback from successful endeavors” in the region. She also stated there should be more collaboration and coproduction among the different countries in Latin America. There’s great demand for animation in Europe, yet the European Union’s current law -”TV Without Boarders”- demands a minimum amount of European content on TV. Therefore,
“Without a good product, distributors won’t be able to sell anything and without a good distributor, producers will fail in their attempt to publicize their work.” Angry Birds Series
In addition, when the content is almost finished, it’s “very difficult” to make a presale since the network “doesn’t know if the product has been aired before” or if it has “a good track record in other countries”, she said. She mentioned Discovery Kids Latin America’s series ‘Fishtronaut’ as a successful presale example. “When its producer [Brazil’s TV PinGuim] showed it to the distributor it only had the demo and music; yet the project was so good that the network purchased it shortly after that,” she said. According to the executive, the easiest presales are those involving a well known product, such as new seasons of an already successful show. In connection to this last statement, the executive highlighted the fact that there are no standard negotiation models between producers and distributors, and therefore deals are usually regulated by the market. Formoso did however explain the existence of three identifiable business models in this relationship: 1) When the producers don’t have a distributor and turn to one which charges a commission to distribute content in a short period of time (three months), during which the content may get lost and both parties lose out. 2) When a distributor trusts a certain producer and pays a minimum guarantee for it to continue producing the project until it’s ready for sale. 3) When a distributor knows a product can be sold extremely well and pays a minimum guarantee up front, which grants exclusive distribution for 10 years.
Latin America must co-produce content if it wishes to enter said market. According to the executive, refusing to co-produce with European companies means closing the doors to the European market. In addition, acquiring animated content aimed at kids is something the US is an expert at. “Distributors sell a lot to private networks, yet these become their direct competition,” she said. The distributors’ main function is to establish a close relationship between clients and dubbing studios. “[The distributor] must keep an eye on them and know what they want and what they’re doing, even more so if they’re private networks which -due to their big budgets- are able to buy productions at an excellent price,” she said. Distributors must also know their products: “If they understand them, they’ll be able to do a good job by
According to the executive, Facebook has proved to be an important tool for the market. “One can measure the amount of times the ‘Like’ button is clicked in apps created with the purpose of promoting an upcoming project on any TV network -both broadcast and pay TV- in which usually the link in the social network leads to a website where users can create their own avatars,” she said.
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CHALLENGES IN LATIN AMERICA. The executive believes the Latin American TV industry is “lucky” enough to include broadcast, niche and independent TV networks, which don’t have a timeslot devoted to animation as pay TV networks do, thus increasing presale opportunities. On the other hand, she also stated the region is used to long acquisition processes, which “delay negotiations and deliveries” in comparison to other regions.
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