TV Drama October 2014

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TVDRAMA

WWW.TVDRAMA.WS OCTOBER 2014

MIPCOM EDITION

Crime Dramas / Ryan Murphy / Carlton Cuse / Julia Stiles / Starz’s Carmi Zlotnik

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CONTENTS FEATURE

The Solace of Solving Crimes

24 CRIME TIME

There’s more variety in the drama business than there’s ever been, but crime series are still the most in-demand genre.

There is something both reassuring and discomforting about finding out that you are quite similar to lots of other people.

Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Editor Mansha Daswani Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Managing Editor Joanna Padovano Associate Editor Joel Marino Assistant Editor Simon Weaver Online Director Victor L. Cuevas Production & Design Director Phyllis Q. Busell Art Director Cesar Suero Sales & Marketing Director Faustyna Hariasz Sales & Marketing Coordinator Terry Acunzo Business Affairs Manager

Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP & Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Drama © 2014 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tvdrama.ws

It’s reassuring because you realize that you have something in common with a group, you share an interest or experience, but at the same time a little unsettling because, if you are so similar to others, what makes you unique, special?

Well, I just found a category where I fit in perfectly: female fans of crime dramas—being part of this group makes me feel unique, special, discerning and I’m so happy there are so many others like me!

It’s not that we want to glorify the acts of violence committed in these series, quite the opposite—the murders, rapes or kidnappings are abhorrent. What we females are drawn to is the sleuthing, the puzzle-solving, the slow but often brilliant connecting of dots that detectives and law-enforcement officers do—the bad guys get caught, victims or their families get some sort of closure, justice is served—this is the way it is supposed to work. Often there are also stories of redemption and forgiveness. We see flawed cops with difficult personal relationships overcome obstacles and become heroes. We see victims overcome adversity and become heroes of a different sort. This is the stuff of life. Seeing the system work, even if imperfectly, makes the real world that has undoubtedly gone mad seem less scary. These crime dramas are done so well, so believably, we become convinced we are safer, even though they depict fictional crimes, detectives and courtrooms.

In this issue of TV Drama we examine the crime genre and the many reasons for its worldwide popularity. There are other categories of drama that are engaging audiences, from TV movies based on real-life events to sci-fi and fantasy. We speak to Ryan Murphy about The Normal Heart, the Emmy Award-winning TV movie that documents the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic in New York City. Carlton Cuse tells us about vampire monsters in The Strain and the extreme mother-son relationship in Bates Motel. Actress Julia Stiles talks about the creative freedom she has found working in the web series Blue. Carmi Zlotnik discusses Starz’s approach to co-productions, and Global Agency’s Izzet Pinto weighs in on his slate of Turkish drama. They share the same opinion all distributors of quality drama have—the genre has never been more popular. And the majority of drama is no longer coming just from the U.S. and the U.K.—Scandinavian noir, Turkish serials, German crime procedurals and more are satisfying viewers, female and male, like never before. —Anna Carugati

24 INTERVIEWS

34

Ryan Murphy

38

Julia Stiles

42

Carlton Cuse

44

Starz’s Carmi Zlotnik

46

Global Agency’s Izzet Pinto

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A+E Studios International Sons of Liberty / Un-Real / Big Driver A+E Networks is launching a new banner at MIPCOM, A+E Studios International, and with it, a slate of new scripted content. This includes the miniseries Sons of Liberty, which follows a radical group of young men—Samuel Adams, John Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock and Joseph Warren— who band together in secrecy to change the course of history and make America a nation. A+E Studios International is also unveiling Un-Real, starring Shiri Appleby (Girls) and Constance Zimmer (House of Cards). “Un-Real is a dark comedy that gives a behind-the-scenes look at the chaos surrounding the production of a dating competition program,” says Joel Denton, the managing director of international content sales and partnerships at A+E Networks. A+E Studios International also has the Lifetime original movie Big Driver, from a story by best-selling author Stephen King. It stars Golden Globe nominee Maria Bello (A History of Violence, McFarland), Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis (Sex & Violence, Steel Magnolias), Grammy nominee Joan Jett, film and television veteran Ann Dowd (The Leftovers, Masters of Sex ) and Will Harris (NCIS, Sky High). “Our U.S. networks have a long history with scripted programming, and we have been distributing a large number of Lifetime original movies for several years,” says Denton. “This year, we will add about 30 new movies to our catalogue.”

“These properties feature A-list talent in front of and behind the camera, many of whom have mainly worked in the theatrical motion-picture business.”

—Joel Denton

Sons of Liberty

all3media international The Missing / Indian Summers / The Village 2 When 5-year-old Oliver is taken from his family while on holiday in France, it sets off a manhunt that will last for years to come. This is the premise of the new thriller The Missing, part of the all3media international catalogue.

“The Missing has an international cast, gripping story lines, and is so real that anyone watching can believe this could have been them,” says Peter Grant, the company’s senior VP of international program sales. Indian Summers is set in the 1930s against the backdrop of the Himalayas and tea plantations of Northern India. The story takes place during the dramatic last years of the British Empire in India. There’s a second season of The Village available from all3media international as well. Grant says that the “strong stories and great cast” make this a top international seller. This second season of the hit BBC One drama is set in the post-WWI era. “Our goals for MIPCOM are to sell our big new drama series and documentaries, expand on our VOD business, build relationships with key channels and also expand our client base with new channels and push some new co-productions,” says Grant. “We have a big back catalogue these days so we would like to push this with new channels and relicense popular shows like Skins, Midsomer Murders and George Gently.”

“Indian Summers is a huge-budget event drama with a lead actress in Julie Walters, who has been in major Hollywood movies. The story and script are totally engrossing.”

—Peter Grant

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Cennarium The Three Sisters / La Moneta / The Circus Princess Cennarium is making its MIPCOM debut, and CEO Gulu Monteiro has a number of goals he’s looking to achieve. “Not only are we aiming to increase the reach of the Cennarium platform—which is the world’s first global, live performingarts streaming service—but because we also produce the content ourselves, we are able to distribute a diverse range of world-class content to cable, SVOD and VOD services.”

Offerings include the Russian production of Anton Chekhov’s The Three Sisters, the Spanish dance spectacular La Moneta and the unconventional German operetta The Circus Princess. “Cennarium’s range of plays comes from a variety of countries and troupes, and are subtitled, so there is something for every audience,” says Monteiro.

“Cennarium stands apart in its offering of exclusive, unique and exceptional performing-arts content from all over the world.”

The Three Sisters

—Gulu Monteiro

Content Television Olympus / The Driver / Empresses in the Palace The epic drama Olympus is the first series for Content Television to come from its exclusive output deal with Great Point Media. “Olympus is a stunning blend of CGI and live action, which will take viewers on a thrilling adventure into the ancient world of humans, gods and monsters, featuring characters from mythology in a way never before imagined,” says Jonathan Ford, the executive VP of sales and distribution at Content Television. Also making its international debut is The Driver, a fast-paced BBC One drama. It stars David Morrissey as a taxi driver whose life is turned upside down when he is offered a job driving for a criminal gang. Empresses in the Palace, meanwhile, is a drama with six feature-length episodes set in 1722 during the Qing Dynasty.

“Olympus is already creating huge buzz, with its unique and ambitious production values as well as a combination of great storytelling, thrilling action and stunning mythological beasts.”

Olympus

—Jonathan Ford

DRG Strange Empire / Detectorists / Babylon The DRG highlight Strange Empire depicts the experiences of three different women in the North American frontier at the turn of the century. “The show shifts the attention to the women of the period, showing characters who are bold, sexy, intelligent and independent,” says Noel Hedges, the senior VP of acquisitions at DRG. “This female-skew should really appeal to a wide group of buyers. The series is beautifully cinematic and modern in tone as well as rich in character, adventure and psychology.”

DRG is also presenting Detectorists and Babylon. “Babylon is British TV at its best: irreverent, dramatic and contemporary,” says Hedges. “It takes the police procedural, a perennially popular genre, and picks it apart to show all the various levels of policing in the age of social media and public relations.”

“Strange Empire is premium drama at its best.”

—Noel Hedges Strange Empire 390 World Screen 10/14

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Eccho Rights Nurses / The Clinic / Cherry Season Eccho Rights has had “incredible success” with the period drama Kurt Seyit & Sura, according to Fredrik af Malmborg, the company’s managing director. For this market, Eccho Rights has added to its catalogue the Scandinavian drama Nurses, which comes from Yellow Film & TV Group. “From Turkey, we are extremely proud to present the breakout hit of the season, Cherry Season,” says af Malmborg. Eccho Rights also added the brand-new medical drama The Clinic, which comes from Tuvalu Media. Featuring patient case histories seen through the eyes of four doctors and one nurse, The Clinic provides two stories per episode, giving the audience a front-row seat to the intense moments in the lives of the featured characters. The show was produced for VTM in Belgium.

“We will launch new dramas, with Cherry Season from Turkey, Nurses from Scandinavia and the daily hit format The Clinic from Belgium.”

—Fredrik af Malmborg The Clinic

FremantleMedia The Returned / Acquitted / Blue From A+E Studios and FremantleMedia North America comes The Returned, based on the French hit Les Revenants. The show, which is being presented by FremantleMedia, follows the residents of a small town where the deceased are returning from the grave. “We’re incredibly excited about the launch of The Returned, which has been so highly anticipated by both buyers and audiences,” says Sarah Doole, the company’s director of global drama. “The Returned is an amazing story with a truly unique premise, and there is a huge appetite at the moment for high-concept dramas.” Other highlights include Acquitted, a classic Nordic noir from FremantleMedia’s Miso Film, and Blue, a new U.S. acquisition starring Julia Stiles as an accountant by day and escort by night.

“We’re showcasing an array of fantastic new titles that really reinforce our commitment to growing our primetime drama.”

Acquitted

—Sarah Doole

Global Agency Seeds of Revenge / The Promise / Reaction Based on a classic Turkish novel, Seeds of Revenge was shot in the Cappadocia region of Turkey. “This story of impossible love and passion will show audiences new meanings of revenge,” says Izzet Pinto, the founder and CEO of Global Agency. “We are sure it will be a new hit, especially in the Middle East, CEE and CIS territories.” Pinto also has high hopes for Reaction. “I believe that Reaction will be one of the most in-demand drama series of the market,” he says.

“Top actors star in the project, which combines action and romance in a spectacular way. A high-budget production with realistic action scenes, this will be on top of many buyers’ lists.” The drama The Promise comes from the same producer as the successful series Dila and Iffet.

“With an outstanding and high budget, The Promise is sure to attract many buyers.”

—Izzet Pinto The Promise 392 World Screen 10/14

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ITV Studios Global Entertainment Aquarius

/ Poldark / Jordskott

At MIPCOM, ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE) is presenting the world premiere screening of the new NBC drama Aquarius. The series, which is set in Los Angeles in the 1960s, stars David Duchovny as a police sergeant tracking a small-time criminal and budding cult leader who turns out to be Charles Manson. “The show will deliver compelling drama, action and all of the unique fashion and music of the 1960s era to our international partners,” says Dan Gopal, ITVS GE’s executive VP for EMEA distribution and global digital partners. The company is also bringing out Poldark, an adaptation of Winston Graham’s acclaimed saga set in 18th century Cornwall, and Jordskott, a Scandinavian crime drama with a mythological twist.

“Poldark will appeal to international buyers looking for all the hallmarks of a quality British period drama produced for a modern audience.”

Poldark

—Dan Gopal

Muse Distribution International Tut / The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries / Signed, Sealed, Delivered The legacy of Tutankhamun is brought to life in the new event miniseries Tut, produced by Muse Entertainment for Spike TV in the U.S. Muse Distribution International is launching the title at MIPCOM. “Most people have heard the name Tutankhamun, yet few know about his life and death,” says Michael Prupas, Muse’s CEO. Also at MIPCOM, the company will be discussing with buyers The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, which features three mystery movies about a librarian who is an amateur sleuth, played by Candace Cameron Bure (Full House). Another highlight is Signed, Sealed, Delivered, a comedic drama about postal workers who take it upon themselves to deliver letters and packages that have been lost for years. “This feel-good series is for family audiences around the world,” says Prupas.

“We are working hard to acquaint major international networks with the iconic property Tut and to secure prime-time presales in certain key territories.”

—Michael Prupas

Tut

Red Arrow International Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot / 100 Code / Bosch The Oscar winners Dame Judi Dench and Dustin Hoffman lead the cast of Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot, part of the Red Arrow International catalogue. Also new is the crime series 100 Code, which features Dominic Monaghan (Lost) and Michael Nyqvist (the Millennium trilogy). Another highlight is Bosch, starring Titus Welliver (Argo) and adapted from Michael Connelly’s best-selling book franchise. “On our way to becoming a ‘mini studio,’ we are increasing our activity in the fields of co-production, co-financing and packaging, and MIPCOM is the perfect place to find and secure new properties and bring the right players to the table to lay the foundation for new exciting projects,” says Irina Ignatiew, the managing director of global scripted distribution at Red Arrow International.

“An A-list cast and crew combined with high-quality on-location productions— all our programs come with built-in unique selling points, making it easy for broadcasters to market them.”

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—Irina Ignatiew

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Russia Television and Radio/Sovtelexport Ekaterina / Demons / The Iron Ivan Sovtelexport is presenting a catalogue of content produced

by Russia Television and Radio as well as other major Russian studios. This includes Ekaterina, which tells the story of the daughter of an impoverished Prussian Prince who goes on to become Catherine the Great. Demons is a psychological thriller based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel of the same name. The Iron Ivan is about an invincible fighter of the 20th century who was considered to be the world’s strongest man. “Our substantial experience working with major international companies and a constant focus on the changing TV trends have helped us formulate optimal selection criteria and develop an effective sales approach,” says Julia Matiash, the director of Sovtelexport.

“Sovtelexport has been taking part in MIPCOM for over 15 years, and every year the market brings us considerable results in promoting Russian content abroad.”

Ekaterina

—Julia Matiash

Series Mania European Co-Production Forum April 22-24, 2015 Organized by the Forum des Images, the Series Mania European Co-Production Forum takes place in the heart of Paris. It is supported by the Creative Europe program of the European Union and serves as a high-quality professional pitching forum. During the event, ten selected TV-series projects are presented to a panel of 150 decision-makers from the TV industry. Alongside this pitching session, the 2015 event will feature conferences, case studies and a special presentation with European TV broadcasters to help professionals better understand their production and sales strategies. “Through this event, we hope to enhance opportunities that will secure adequate budgets and higher production values,” says Laurence Herszberg, Forum des Images’ general director.

“The aim is to contribute to a more competitive market for TV drama series in Europe by encouraging collaborations between producers, distributors, TV broadcasters, TV funders and commissioners.”

Series Mania European Co-Production Forum 2014

—Laurence Herszberg

Shine International Gracepoint / Grantchester / Catching Milat Shine International’s big drama launches include Gracepoint, which is the U.S. adaptation of the British hit Broadchurch.

There’s also Grantchester, which is adapted from the books The Grantchester Mysteries by author James Runcie. Set in 1953, the six-episode series “is incredibly lavish and has some wonderful characters at its heart,” says Nadine Nohr, the CEO of Shine International. “Rising star James Norton in the lead role of Sidney Chambers cuts a real dash as a charming, inquisitive, crime-solving clergyman, and with Robson Green making his return to prime-time drama, we’re incredibly excited about it and hope audiences will fall as much in love with this compelling new series as we have.” Produced by Shine Australia, Catching Milat is another highlight of the Shine International catalogue.

“We are on a continued growth trajectory when it comes to drama.”

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—Nadine Nohr

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Telemundo Internacional Les Miserables / Queen of Hearts / Don’t Be Late At MIPCOM, Telemundo Internacional is presenting Les Miserables, a Spanish-language adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic French novel. The drama stars Aracely Arámbula, a popular telenovela actress whose long list of credits includes the novela The Return. In Les Miserables, Arámbula portrays a woman struggling to prove her innocence to the man she loves while protecting her adoptive daughter. Also in the catalogue is Queen of Hearts, a love story set in the world of forbidden gambling. The love of its protagonists becomes the greatest prize at stake in this drama. “It’s exactly the kind of production that Telemundo creates so well,” says Melissa Pillow, the company’s sales director for Europe. “It’s a hybrid of the classic telenovela fused with cinema-style action and production.” In it, Paola Núñez and Eugenio Siller star alongside Juan Soler, Catherine Siachoque and Laura Flores. The company’s catalogue also includes Don’t Be Late, which follows a mother’s investigation to discover the reason behind her son’s sudden and suspicious death.

Pillow believes that the thriller will “be of great interest in many different territories,” following on its strong ratings in Chile. The company’s offering for MIPCOM additionally features Acero, Woman of Steel, about a woman who starts a money-laundering empire catering to drug traffickers after the father of her son is murdered.

“Don’t Be Late has had outstanding ratings in Chile.”

—Melissa Pillow

Don’t Be Late

Zodiak Rights The Pinkertons / Occupied / Charlie The big-budget drama Occupied comes from the internationally renowned writer Jo Nesbø. Represented by Zodiak Rights, the political suspense thriller is set in the not too distant future, as Russia has staged an invasion of Norway in order to control its oil resources. At MIPCOM, the company is hosting a launch event for Occupied so that buyers can see the drama for the first time. Zodiak Rights is also presenting The Pinkertons, a crime procedural set in America’s Wild West in the 1860s. “Our most recent third-party acquisition is the U.S.-Canadian co-production The Pinkertons,” says Caroline Torrance, the head of scripted at Zodiak Rights. “This appealed strongly to us because it is 22 episodes, and it is a procedural. It will be a great fit in multiple international broadcasters’ schedules, and the trend that’s never going to go away is crime.” Charlie, based on real events, explores the political and public life of the late Irish Prime Minister Charles J. Haughey from 1979 to 1992. “Charlie has true international appeal in the form of its lead actor Aidan Gillen, who plays Lord Baelish in the HBO series Game of Thrones and Tommy Carcetti in The Wire, also on HBO,” says Torrance.

The drama is produced by the Zodiak Media production company Touchpaper Television.

“Zodiak Rights is actively looking to acquire new series for distribution worldwide, so I am keen to hear what producers have in development.”

—Caroline Torrance

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CRIME TIME

FremantleMedia’s Wentworth.

There’s more variety in the drama business than there’s ever been, but crime series are still the most in-demand genre. By Steve Clarke hey say crime doesn’t pay, but broadcasters, producers and, significantly, international distributors all beg to differ. From Dragnet to True Detective, Kojak to CSI, Hill Street Blues to Broadchurch, the television audience’s love affair with crime drama is long and apparently everlasting.

“Audiences love the escapism that crime provides,” says Irina Ignatiew, the managing director of global scripted distribution at Red Arrow International.

Ruth Clarke, director and executive VP of global content and co-productions at ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE), agrees. “Broadcasters around the world are always pleased when the word ‘murder’ is included in a show’s title. It helps people navigate their EPGs.” “A good crime story provides excitement, suspense and surprise,” she adds. “The emotional roller coaster of a compelling whodunit is second to none.”

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In fact, imagining a mainstream network TV schedule minus crime drama is a bit like Christmas minus the gifts under the tree. And now VOD operators like Amazon have started to surf the crime wave. At MIPTV, Red Arrow International launched Amazon’s procedural series Bosch, based on Michael Connelly’s novels about an L.A.-based detective.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, the classic crime procedural renewed earlier this year by CBS for its 15th season, is one of the most successful TV shows of all time.

For five years, the program—part of what distributors like to call a “cookie-cutter franchise”—won the award at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival for the world’s mostwatched show. This year, that honor went to another CBS procedural, NCIS, which focuses on a team that investigates crimes involving the Navy and Marine Corps.

More recently, a newer type of crime show—dark, serialized rather than having self-contained episodes, and often

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ZDF Enterprises is building on its extensive crime-drama portfolio with The Team, co-produced with several European broadcasters.

starring a female detective as the lead investigator—has provided an alternative to the perennial appeal of the police procedural.

However, if audiences’ appetites for TV crime fiction are to remain strong, their creators need to innovate and avoid some of the genre’s obvious clichés.

“There’s no innovation without good scripts,” observes Fred Burcksen, ZDF Enterprises’ executive VP and COO. “Innovative storytelling is largely in the hands of talented scriptwriters.”

FremantleMedia is looking to offer up a new take on the genre with Suspects, produced by FremantleMedia UK’s Newman Street for Channel 5 in the U.K. “It’s an improvised, almost reality crime series, but using top actors,” says Sarah Doole, the director of global drama at FremantleMedia. This follows FremantleMedia’s success with Wentworth, a reboot of a classic Australian drama that is set in the violent world of a women’s correctional facility. The show has been renewed by Foxtel for a third season and sold into the U.K. with Channel 5.

It has also been remade in Germany and the Netherlands.

SERIALIZED STORIES Most distributors maintain that serialized crime shows, strong on complex plots and detailed character studies, are continuing to gain ground on the classic procedural piece, and that European series remain in the ascendant.

“Commissioning editors are becoming braver in greenlighting sophisticated serialized crime drama, and audiences love them,” says Georgia Brown, the senior VP of acquisitions at Shine International, distributor of Broadchurch and its American version, Gracepoint.

She adds: “One of the recent trends in crime drama is how they have engaged with bigger issues.”

In the U.K. Happy Valley, a hit for the BBC (and airing on Netflix in the U.S.), revolves around the destructive power of drugs; Line of Duty (distributed by Content Television), focuses on police corruption; while ITV’s Broadchurch

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zeroes in on a single community and its inhabitants. The BBC Three show My Murder examines a real London murder through the eyes of the person who was killed.

“Ten years ago it was procedurals; today audiences are more prepared to give up big chunks of their time,” says Noel Hedges, DRG’s senior VP of acquisitions. “It’s like reading a book.”

“One innovation is that the characters now have lives,” adds Greg Phillips, Content Television’s president. “We see their problems at work and at home.”

In theory, single-episode crime stories are easier to schedule because they are produced in volume. They are still in demand, especially from free-to-air networks.

“There is now a balance between procedurals and serialized drama,” observes Phillips. “Some markets will always prefer the procedurals, but innovation is in serialized crime drama.”

Entertainment One (eOne) has great hopes for The John Cardinal Mysteries, based on Giles Blunt’s stories. The firm is looking for Scandinavian, U.K. and U.S. partners for the project, commissioned by CTV in Canada, at MIPCOM. “The innovation is that the crimes are all set in the Canadian Arctic,” explains Carrie Stein, executive VP of global production at eOne. The company has also had success worldwide with the procedural Rookie Blue, a U.S. and Canadian co-pro, and the more serialized Rogue, recently renewed by DIRECTV. Meanwhile, in the summer it was announced that a long-running British procedural, ITV’s Law & Order: UK (based on the NBC original), was being “rested” following eight seasons after its lead actor, Bradley Walsh, said he was quitting the show. The U.K. is regarded as a bellwether market. In a digital age when more TV is watched online and binge viewing via catch-up services and box sets is commonplace, the demand for multi-episode stories looks likely to grow even stronger.

In an über-competitive world, broadcasters and other content providers demand “event TV” that can be effectively

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Earlier this year, the BBC committed to seasons three and four of Line of Duty, which is represented by Content Television.

marketed. The aim is to give audiences distinctive shows that can bring a sparkle to tired schedules. Well-crafted crime serials possessing depth plus suspense can be highly valuable commodities.

MAKING A KILLING So was it the Scandinavians and DR’s seminal series The Killing that sparked the revolution in crime drama? Well, yes and no. “There were four shows that kicked off the change in TV crime drama—The Killing, The Bridge, Those Who Kill and Broadchurch,” suggests eOne’s Stein. “I guess success breeds success. Broadchurch felt different to the other three.”

DRG’s Hedges agrees: “The Killing was gripping serial drama. People were saying ‘Did you watch that on TV last night?’ ” Hedges adds that having a female lead helps on the international market, as women make up a large portion of crime drama audiences.

The show was sold internationally by ZDF Enterprises, which was the first distributor to make a big bet on Scandi dramas internationally. “ZDF Enterprises was able to bring Scandinavian crime series to German television and successfully distribute them around the world,” says Burcksen.

“Many were skeptical about this project, but success proved that we were right. In the meantime, many competitors have joined the fray.”

He adds: “Scandi drama paved the way for outstanding, innovative foreign-language shows, but did not necessarily nurture the broad genre.”

ITVS GE may be relatively late in hitching its wagon to the Scandi crime craze. But at MIPCOM, the distributor has two new Swedish noir serials (both boasting female leads) it will be talking up.

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“We’ll be starting conversations around Jordskott and Ängelby,” says Clarke. “There’s a light undertone of supernatural and fantasy within these crime stories.”

Jordskott, a ten-parter, is a mystery crime story that follows the disappearance of a child in the small community of Silverhöjd. The drama is produced by Palladium Fiction in association with SVT. The 12-part Ängelby, about a woman who embarks on a new start in the eponymous town, is produced by Tre Vänner/Svensk Filmindustri in association with SVT and Film i Väst. ITVS GE hopes to sell the Swedishlanguage shows in as many markets as possible.

The importance of having a strong female character at the heart of a story is evident in eOne’s Glue, commissioned by the U.K.’s Channel 4 for its youth-skewed network, E4. The eight-part thriller is written by Jack Thorne, whose credits include Skins, This Is England and The Fades, and is produced by Eleven Film. The lead detective is a twentysomething rookie policewoman.

GENRE FUSION Many crime dramas on the market are embracing elements of mystery, science fiction and more. Another apparent innovation is to put gay characters at the fore. At MIPCOM, DRG will be selling Eyewitness, a dark Norwegian saga produced by NRK. The drama tracks the fallout for two teenagers who inadvertently encounter a gang murder on their first clandestine meeting.

Mixing crime with period drama is another way to bring new life to the genre. Zodiak Rights is unveiling The Pinkertons at MIPCOM, a 22-part procedural series about the early days of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Starring Angus Macfadyen, the show is set in Kansas in the mid-19th

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Red Arrow International has 60 episodes of its crime procedural The Last Cop, produced for Sat.1, to offer buyers.

century and features what claims to be America’s first female detective, Kate Warne.

“As the U.S. has [moved towards more serialized shows], there are the buyers of the procedurals within Europe who are finding it quite difficult to find content,” says Caroline Torrance, Zodiak Rights’ head of international scripted.

“The Pinkertons [is] really appealing to us because it is 22 episodes and it is a procedural. There is a real appetite from European broadcasters for that, even though they can also accommodate the eight- to ten-episode serials.”

A LIGHTER TOUCH The Pinkertons has a light touch that, in theory, should make it easier for broadcasters to schedule in the early evening than, say, Ripper Street, axed by the BBC after two seasons but resurrected by Amazon.

“The Pinkertons is not in any way a comedy, but it does have a sense of humor,” says Torrance. “The interplay and chemistry between the two main characters will appeal to a lot of audiences.”

TV’s crime rate might be rising, but is this apparent glut of shows unusual? The jury is out on whether or not the market is experiencing a full-fledged boom in TV crime drama.

“Our longtime competence in crime series means they have become a major pillar of our sales operations,” notes ZDF Enterprises’ Burcksen. “We need no special booms for success in this segment.”

That may be true, but creatively, the willingness of U.S. cable to foster high-end shows seems to have done a favor to more mainstream crime serials.

“In the last three years, the big thing that changed is that scale and quality have united,” suggests Jane Featherstone, the CEO of Kudos, the British independent that struck gold

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with Broadchurch, which sold to more than 100 territories and was remade for the U.S. as Gracepoint. “As an industry we’ve found a way to tell crime stories across 8 or even 12 episodes, so the impact of crime shows is far greater than it used to be. Also, brilliant writers who once didn’t want to write crime drama but would be happy to write a period piece or an issue-based series are [now] happy to write crime because crime has become fashionable.”

This, combined with the growing number of outlets for crime drama as OTT platforms like Amazon invest money in original content, is helping to change the dynamics of the market for the genre.

Since the arrival of Scandi crime as a market leader, there is a widespread belief that Europe’s cop shows can more than hold their own against their U.S. rivals.

CONTINENTAL CAPERS “The emergence of strong Euro crime dramas is giving the dominant American shows a run for their money,” says Burcksen. “Euro crime drama is gaining steadily in popularity. And since production quality is constantly improving in Europe, a high-value European production might feel more authentic and closer to Europeans.”

Content Television’s Phillips agrees: “In terms of quality, there is no longer any distinction between U.S. and U.K. drama, although [the Americans] still have the volume.”

“There’s always going to be a place for American crime drama, but nowadays, quality crime shows can come from anywhere,” opines Louise Pedersen, all3media international’s managing director. “Crime drama is particularly strong at the moment. It could be a procedural series or a serial. My only concern is that it’s high quality and comes with a strong story, great acting and looks wonderful.”

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The Missing is a new drama from all3media international starring James Nesbitt as a father searching for a missing child.

To illustrate her point at MIPCOM, she and her team are selling the second season of the Welsh noir drama Hinterland, which comes in English- and Welsh-language versions (season one was bought by Netflix in the U.S.), and The Brokenwood Mysteries, set in New Zealand wine country and made by South Pacific Pictures. The company’s other new MIPCOM crime drama is The Missing, an eightpart thriller in which a father returns to France to look for his son who disappeared years earlier. That show is being co-produced with Starz in the U.S. Hinterland’s debut season was recently sold by all3media international to ARD in Germany—its first major series deal with the broadcaster in several years.

“In Germany, even young people are gathering in bars and watching crime shows together,” says Red Arrow’s Ignatiew.

Europe’s biggest economy still reserves part of Sunday night prime time for police series on ARD, the regional pubcaster. After more than 40 years, the police procedural Tatort continues to be a mainstay for ARD. On private network Sat.1, Thursday evenings are crime nights with series like Criminal Minds and Tandem’s Crossing Lines.

“European broadcasters are still looking for procedural crime shows, but U.S. studios are going more and more into serialized crime and event programs,” says Ignatiew. “We at Red Arrow have tried to fill that gap.”

CODE RED Ignatiew has high hopes for the 12-part 100 Code, produced for Kanal 5 in Sweden and Sky Deutschland. The series stars Dominic Monaghan as NYPD detective Conley, who travels to Sweden to investigate a string of murders. He is paired with Swedish cop Eklund, played by Michael Nyqvist, who starred in the original Swedish-language The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. 100 Code was created by U.S. showrunner Bobby Moresco, winner of an Oscar for Crash.

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“The show combines all the best parts of Scandi crime drama but has a more American commercial hook,” she explains. “We always try and find the right partners who share the same vision. I have no doubts that both the U.S. and U.K. will buy it.”

Red Arrow is convinced that Scandi crime can continue to impress the international TV community. So, too, is ZDF Enterprises’ Burcksen. “Scandinavian crime drama is defined by unique features and can practically be seen as a subgenre of its own,” he says.

Zodiak’s Torrance claims the demand for Scandi crime is as strong as ever. “There is huge demand for Scandi crime shows,” she says. “But good serial crime drama can come from anywhere now. We’re developing a French series.”

At MIPCOM, ZDF Enterprises will be selling The Team, a pan-European cop show written and directed by Scandinavian talent. The co-producers are ZDF, ORF, SRF, DR, SVT and ARTE. Explains Burcksen: “The Team portrays a group of European police officers fighting international crime throughout Europe.”

The series attempts to reflect Europe’s cultural diversity, and so appears to bring something new to the genre.

But others are skeptical that Scandi crime can keep innovating. They suggest that producers and distributors put their faith in writers from other parts of Europe and the U.S. to create concepts and stories that are genuinely original.

“Scandi crime is losing a little bit of its luster,” reckons Content’s Phillips. “I’m hearing from the marketplace that they are trying to evolve their drama and make it less dark.

People are saying, ‘We can’t keep producing the same thing in the same way.’ ” Ultimately, if crime drama is to remain highly sought-after by international buyers, screenwriters need to keep reinventing the genre. It’s anybody’s guess where the next big innovation will come from, but one thing is clear: in such a healthy market, TV’s crime wave is no longer dominated by the U.S.

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really strong male friendship show, which I hadn’t seen in many years—a heterosexual love story somewhat modeled on the one in Carnal Knowledge by Mike Nichols. That was my goal.

TV DRAMA: How did you get a lot of what you wanted to put in the show approved by FX? That must have been a tough battle!

MURPHY: The first two years were very tough. I’ve always had very good relationships with all the executives at every network I have worked at, for the most part, so the battles were always with Standards and Practices. But those battles were never based on the people who were giving me the notes, they were always based on precedent. They were based on, “Well, we’ve never done this.

This has never been done on television at this hour.” My response was, “Well, that doesn’t mean that’s right.” So I spent a lot of time those first two years fighting the Standards fight. It was pretty appalling to me because the issue was always about nudity, never about violence. You could cut a woman’s head off on TV but you couldn’t show a nipple. I always thought that that was absolutely atrocious. So I fought for that—I fought for sexuality, particularly for the female characters. And then after two years, the show was a hit and was winning awards and the the network backed off a little bit. There were a lot of protests and it got a little bit ugly in the middle there! But I worked my way through it.

TV DRAMA: How did Glee come about?

MURPHY: I wanted to do the opposite of what I had done before. Nip/Tuck was very dark, very sexualized.

RYAN MURPHY

By Anna Carugati

Throughout Ryan Murphy’s career, he has tackled a number of diverse subjects and genres, but a common thread in all of his shows has been his pursuit of some sort of social message: people’s obsession with plastic surgery in Nip/Tuck; the struggles of underdog high schoolers in Glee; ideas about infidelity, sanity and oppression in American Horror Story; and the suffering and discrimination the gay community faced during the onset of the HIVAIDS crisis in New York in the early ’80s in The Normal Heart. Key to Murphy’s success has been his desire to always make shows that haven’t been done before.

TV DRAMA: Nip/Tuck really pushed the envelope. What did you want to accomplish with that show?

MURPHY: There were two things. First, I was really interested in doing a show about this obsession in our culture with the manifestation of physicality—how you can work your ass off [to look a certain way] and usually that is not the thing you need to be working on. I wanted to do a show about people fixing themselves on the outside when really what they should have been working on was the inside. Second, I wanted to do a

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I felt at a certain point unrelentingly sad. I felt that writing about plastic surgery was depressing, so I wanted to do something optimistic and buoyant. I also wanted to do it because everyone was saying it’s never been done and it will never work. I liked the challenge of that and sometimes I move toward ideas only because of that. So I had a great team at the studio and the network and I went in with this idea. They said, “We love it. We don’t know if it will work, but let’s try it.” It was one of those magical things with the perfect script and the perfect cast; the music and everything worked and it felt very fresh and new. Half the cast had never been in front of a camera, let alone on a sound stage. It was a very magical thing and then there was the little-engine-that-could element to it. It was a show about underdogs and it was an underdog.

When it started out it wasn’t a hit. It took about a year and then it exploded.

TV DRAMA: I read that you pursued making The Normal Heart at great personal expense. Why was it important for you to make that movie?

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Jessica Lange is a recurring cast member in the American Horror Story anthology series for FX, most recently appearing in American Horror Story: Coven.

MURPHY: Well, the reason is twofold. When I was in college I saw the play [by Larry Kramer], which I loved. It was very important to me growing up. I read it when I was 18 or 19. First, I approached it as a fan, but then I lost many friends to AIDS and I grew up as a gay man terrified that I was not going to live. Now I am in my 40s, married with a child, and gay marriage is on its way—I hope and believe— to being legal throughout the United States. I was appalled that no one had been able to present that story. Young people in my life did not know that story. They did not know the sacrifices. They did not know the pain and the fear and the discrimination. What we have today as gay people is because those activists started that civil rights movement, so I just called up Larry and said, “I hate the fact that nobody’s been able to get this movie made. I can get it made. I’ll put my own money down. I’ll fight and get this beautiful script perfect. I’ll get the best cast we can and I’m going to get it made.” He didn’t know me, but I had such passion for him and his work and the ideas in it and I loved it so much. And I put my money where my mouth was. I broke into my IRA and I bought his play. I bought it so that it didn’t have to go through a development hell situation, which it had. It was also one of the sacred texts, in my opinion, in theater history. There are not a lot of them. I wanted to do it and I fought and I worked with Larry for three years every day. It was hard, but every day was a blessing and I loved it.

It’s rare to do a piece where you’re not just hopefully creating art, but also launching a discussion. That’s what we wanted to do and I have found that that’s what we

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were lucky enough to do. Close to 6 million people in the U.S. have seen The Normal Heart on television, which is why I wanted to do it on television. I get emails from young people saying they didn’t know [about that part of history], which I knew they didn’t, and now they do and they are interested in activism, which is the great unexpected joy. The Normal Heart is probably the only thing in my career that I have ever done selflessly. I didn’t make any money [off of it]; I wasn’t interested in making any money. Anything that I earned I put back into the production. I just had such a burning passion for it and felt such an obligation to get it right.

TV DRAMA: You’ve been compared to Norman Lear. Are there other writers or producers you have admired?

MURPHY: I admire so many people, but growing up the person who I looked up to the most because his work had social implications was Norman. So whenever I am compared to him it’s such a thrill because he represents what I want to do in my work. Some people say it’s just entertainment, but I always had a social message I wanted to get out. I do the same in American Horror Story and The Normal Heart and the things I’m working on now—that’s what I’m interested in doing. I’m interested in touching people and hopefully changing hearts and minds. The fact that I get to do it and get to be paid and have this amazing life is unbelievable. When I was growing up I never imagined that. In my wildest dreams, never did I imagine that I would be able to touch people in that way, and that’s the best thing about what I do.

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JuliaStiles The line of feature-film talent that has moved from the large screen to the small one is lengthy indeed. Julia Stiles, whose film career was launched with the teen romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You and who went on to star in the Bourne trilogy of films and then Dexter, chose the Internet to continue her experience with episodic storytelling. Stiles was selected by Rodrigo García (In Treatment), co-founder of the YouTube channel WIGS, to star in Blue, a series about a single mom secretly working as a call girl to help make ends meet. Blue first appeared on WIGS and then on Hulu, and now FremantleMedia International is offering it to broadcasters as a ten-episode drama series. Stiles talks about the creative freedom she has encountered working for the web as an actress, and also as a writer and director.

TV DRAMA: How did you get involved in Blue?

STILES: It was largely because of Rodrigo. I had been a fan of his work for a really long time. We had met at the Sundance Film Festival years ago. He sent me the script, and I really wanted to work with him. This was a few years ago, when the Internet was just starting to be a place for serious content. I was a little bit leery of the idea of doing a web series, but then the minute I read the series, I was hooked. I thought it was a fantastic part and so was the writing. The very first episode grabbed me because there was such a great setup and an interesting premise. Rodrigo is such an observant, funny, empathetic writer and director. It’s been one of the best collaborative experiences I’ve had in my career. I’m really happy that he thought of me and I decided to take a gamble on this new media.

TV DRAMA: What were your concerns about the Internet?

STILES: The fact that Rodrigo had created Blue alleviated my concerns, meaning I knew he is a reputable artist. I guess I thought YouTube videos at that point were amateur videos and scripted content hadn’t really been shown in that venue at that time, especially the subject matter of a woman working as a call girl. I worried that if sexual content is on the Internet, does that make it pornography? Very quickly, however, I knew that that wasn’t what Rodrigo was interested in and it was fine.

TV DRAMA: What was challenging and interesting about the character of Blue?

STILES: I liked that Rodrigo shows her in all walks of life, that she’s not defined by this secret life that she has. She is also a mother and a friend. There is a depth to Blue that appealed to me—any character who is living with a secret is interesting. The idea that there is this almost masochistic quality [to her] and the tension surrounding [her situation] and how are they going to keep this tan-

gled web from unraveling is interesting to me. How is she going to handle the emotional repercussions of the job she has? She thinks that she can keep it all together, but the audience knows that it’s only a matter of time before it really affects her.

TV DRAMA: Since Blue, has the Internet become as valid a place to showcase quality scripted material as linear channels?

STILES: Absolutely, and sometimes there is much more creative freedom, so you can see artists taking more risks.

TV DRAMA: How is acting in a web series different from acting in feature films or television?

STILES: I found that one piece of direction or advice that Rodrigo would give me and the guest stars often was to slow down. Maybe it has to do with the format, but it also has to do with Rodrigo’s sensibility as well, that he would allow the interesting pauses and moments in between lines of dialogue to observe the characters. A lot of time on a television show, particularly network television, they are fighting to keep the viewer’s attention between commercial breaks. I’ve had the experience of working on TV pilots where they told me to talk faster. They are not really interested in the moments in between or the subtext.

TV DRAMA: Do you enjoy having the opportunity to explore the development of a character over multiple episodes as opposed to a film that has a beginning, middle and end?

STILES: Absolutely, yes, not only exploring a character for so much time and in depth but collaborating with people like Rodrigo and Jon Avnet [co-founders of WIGS].

Working consistently with the same people over the course of years has been really rewarding. The writing gets better, too, because then they start writing to your

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By Anna Carugati

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times actors think that they are more in control of their careers than we actually are, and sometimes you just have to go where the opportunities are. I’m lucky that opportunities, like working on Blue or doing this play, have come into my life serendipitously.

You have to follow that.

Blue first launched on the online platform WIGS and is now being offered to broadcasters by FremantleMedia International.

strengths and there is a shorthand you develop at work every day.

TV DRAMA: Not all child and teen actors are able to transition into acting as adults. You have. What has guided your career and what roles and characters have you been interested in?

STILES: It never gets easy. You can never really coast as an actor. It’s very competitive. For me, in my 20s, my goals changed. I had to rediscover what I actually wanted out of my career. I am lucky that the work that I did as a teenager and in my early 20s has afforded me a lot more creative freedom now, I mean financially. I did a play in New York recently for the Cherry Lane Theatre that was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had. I love live performance. I have the freedom to do that because of my earlier work. One of the guiding principles that I have is to work with like-minded people and cultivate relationships with other artists, performers, writers and directors. I have continued to nurture those relationships throughout my life and career. In terms of the stories that I want to tell, whatever the platform is, whether online or a TV show or a movie or a play, it’s got to be a story that I find interesting and that I would want to watch. I also am starting to believe, though, that you don’t really pick the part, the part picks you. A lot of

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TV DRAMA: How did Paloma, the series about the fragility of relationships and love that you wrote and directed, come about?

STILES: When Rodrigo and Jon asked me to make a second season of Blue, I had been watching what they had set up at WIGS. They were encouraging other directors to come in and make short series for them. I asked if I could write and direct something.

I had in mind that it would just be a one-off, but they turned out to be so encouraging and supportive and great mentors for me that they asked me to expand it into a series. And the next year when we came back to do more of Blue they asked me, Why don’t you write a second season of Paloma? I have learned so much about acting from being behind the camera. It was also nice to have this story that I had imagined in my head while I was sitting at a computer, and watch it come to life as the actors arrived and as the crew was setting up sets. It was a wonderful collaboration. I could make something of my own; I really, really enjoyed it. I also really enjoyed not having to go through two hours of hair and makeup! It was such fun to be behind the camera and working with the actors.

TV DRAMA: Did your experience as an actor help you as a writer?

STILES: I really appreciated when actors would show up on set and already knew their lines, so that wasn’t an obstacle while we had limited time on the set. I’ll take that with me the next time I’m on a set. I also appreciated that the director is dealing with so many different factors that it’s really refreshing when an actor is [talented and collaborative]. Grace Gummer [Meryl Streep’s daughter and star of Paloma] is delightfully playful, and she varies her performance through each take, so it gives you a lot of options in the editing room.

All those things are important to remember when you are acting.

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TV DRAMA: Speaking of complicated characters, are the vampires in The Strain all bad, or is there something good about them?

CUSE: I wouldn’t say you should be looking for good in the vampires. That’s the thing that differentiates The Strain from other movies and shows in the vampire genre, where vampires aren’t bad as much as they are misunderstood. In our world, vampires are bad. Another thing that differentiates our show is that there is also a very complicated layered mythology for the vampires. In a show like The Walking Dead you have one force of zombie antagonism—the zombies are all homogenous. In our story the vampires are more like bees, there are worker bees and then queen bees. We have elevated vampires, and what’s interesting is the complex mythology about the vampires that unfolds across the course of the first season and even beyond, where we as an audience are really learning the whole story of the mythology of the Master and the other vampires, how they came to be and why they are here and what their goals are.

TV DRAMA: Are you using social media to connect with fans of The Strain?

CUSE: Yes, really engaging the fans is an important and critical part of making television nowadays, but that is also with the understanding that by the time the fans see something, we are well down the road. So for instance, if the fans are

CARLTON CUSE

By Anna Carugati

Carlton Cuse has always blended genres in order to enhance his storytelling. He first honed his skills while helping to develop Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, undoubtedly an adventure, but with some pretty scary elements to it. Cuse then wrote the TV series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., a western with science-fiction elements. Of course, Lost is the network show that has bent the most rules, combining adventure and science fiction and introducing flashbacks, flash-forwards and even flash-sideways. More recently, Cuse has adapted The Strain trilogy of books into a series about a virus connected to some badass vampires, and has also created Bates Motel, a prequel to the movie Psycho. The prolific showrunner has three more projects in the works, and he tells TV Drama about all of them.

TV DRAMA: What was Lost’s legacy?

CUSE: The lesson that came out of Lost was that you could subvert expectations and that in subverting those expectations you give an energy to your show that would really engage an audience. And the legacy of that can be seen on a show like Game of Thrones. The surprising and unexpected death of major characters is something that we did on Lost, and they have taken the mantle of that and run with it very successfully. The idea of complicated characters that are neither good nor bad is something we were on the forefront of in network television. We could take risks and be commensurately rewarded by an audience embracing our show for all the things that were ultimately novel about it.

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watching the first season of The Strain, the first season is written, shot and we’re just putting the final post-production work on the final episode. So there is no changing the narrative of the first season of the show. However, I am paying attention to what people like and don’t like and what people respond to in the show, and the detailed reactions that are available through social media are definitely going to impact the second season.

TV DRAMA: How do you break stories for Bates Motel, and how is the writing process different than it is for The Strain, which is based on books?

CUSE: The books provide a guideline that is wonderful, but there is a lot of invention and creation involved in making The Strain episodes. In Bates Motel the idea was to take two wonderful characters from the iconic movie Psycho. The thing that really intrigued me was that Norma Bates is this famous character in cinema, but we don’t actually see her alive, we just see her corpse and hear a projection of her voice. So I thought, What would it be like to bring her to life?

I sold the idea of doing this as a contemporary prequel to A&E. I had come up with some other inventions, including the idea that there was a brother, and very quickly presented a version of the show that was untethered from the movie. I wanted to work on it with someone, because I really do like the collaborative process of television. I was introduced to Kerry Ehrin through Universal Television. We teamed up and she had a bunch of wonderful ideas and we jointly developed the concept for what the show would be. The

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idea fundamentally became that it wasn’t interesting to just have this shrewish character. You imagined that Norma Bates was this shrewish character that berated her son into becoming crazy. But it seemed far more interesting to us if Norma Bates and her son had this complicated, crazy, dysfunctional, but intensely loving relationship and that Norman had a flaw in his DNA and maybe her behavior ultimately catalyzed his demise. These characters loved each other more than anybody in the world, and yet we know ultimately that they befall tragic fates. Tragedy is a wonderful storytelling form—it’s worked for a long time, it worked pretty well for Shakespeare! It worked for the ancient Greeks. It worked well for Jim Cameron in Titanic! But it’s not an easy storytelling form to go out and sell. It’s hard to go to a cable network and say, Hey, I’ve got a great tragedy for you! So we Trojanhorsed an original tragedy within the framework of Psycho, and we were blessed to get the two most wonderful actors we could have possibly gotten: Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore. They can do anything that we give them and make it better. The idea for that show became this notion of doing pulpy, exaggerated storytelling that was almost noirish, but had super-nuanced characters. It’s taken the audience a little bit of time to understand what we are doing; everyone had preconceptions from the movie. But the great thing was that by the end of the second season, people were saying, Oh, I get what you guys are doing, I’m into your show!

TV DRAMA: What other projects do you have in the works?

CUSE: I have three other projects that I am working on. One is The Returned, which is filming ten episodes in Canada. It is a remake of the French show Les Revenants, which won the International Emmy for best drama series produced outside the U.S. last year. It’s a wonderful story about people who mysteriously come back from the dead, and there is no real understanding as to why this happened. They are not here to eat people or take over the world; they are here to reunite with their loved ones. It’s this very nuanced character story about moving on and about love and death and the ways in which we connect to one another in the world. It’s really wonderful and it’s been a lot of fun to do.

I’m about to shoot an original science-fiction series, Colony, about Los Angeles under a futuristic colonization. It’s a very humanistic story. It’s not an us-versus-aliens battle—it’s more of a rumination on the nature of colonialism against a science-fiction backdrop.

And the final thing I’m doing is called Point of Honor, for Amazon. It’s a family saga set against the American Civil War.

FX has given a second-season order to The Strain for 2015.

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By Mansha Daswani

STARZ’S

CARMI ZLOTNIK With original programming having become key to Starz’s growth strategy, the premium channel operator has been taking an innovative approach to finding new business models for shows. Its wide slate includes the urban crime drama Power, which it has renewed for a second season and is distributing worldwide; international co-productions like Da Vinci’s Demons, returning for a third season in 2015; and the much-buzzed-about Outlander, which premiered to strong ratings in August. Carmi Zlotnik, the managing director of Starz, tells TV Drama about his approach to finding the most compelling drama concepts for Starz’s subscribers.

TV DRAMA: How do you strike a balance between projects that Starz is leading creatively and international co-pros that you participate in?

ZLOTNIK: We have a budget to manage. We’ve got a few projects that are a little bit more expensive, so finding co-productions that suit our network are key to managing the budget in a sensible way. For things like The Missing, which is a co-production, we don’t have to pay the lion’s share because the BBC is already financing that. We come in and buy certain rights. We also do that through the licensed shows—things like Out lander. [We don’t have]

any set template or rules; we look at each deal on a bespoke basis and figure out what’s the best way of structuring the creative and the business around the concept.

TV DRAMA: What have been the major developments in the international drama business over the last year?

ZLOTNIK: It’s becoming more competitive because there is so much being produced. There are countries like the U.K. where the established production centers are completely overbooked. Now we’re breaking into the secondary and tertiary markets, which is what we’re doing in Swansea [with Da Vinci’s Demons], and trying to develop an industry where one hasn’t existed. There’s a lot at stake. Part of what goes along with introducing a city to the requirements of production is that you almost have to set up a training program in order to start to educate them on what it takes and how to do it.

One of the reasons why we came [to Swansea] is because there was an old Ford transmission plant that was sitting empty. We decided to locate the show around that facility.

Actors and some of the crew come from London, some come from Cardiff. What we’ve been going for over the last couple of years is this blend of the U.K. production approach with the American production approach. There is a vigorous give-and-take between the two. We come out somewhere in the middle. Some things that are standard, like a ten-and-a-half-hour workday in the U.K., are hard to get your head around if you’re used to a 12-hour workday in the U.S. You can appreciate it because it allows you to work in the entertainment industry and have a life—a lot of people who work in the U.S. have just given up on that concept. It’s folding yourself into a European sensibility and learning how to work with it and make it work for you.

TV DRAMA: How has the response been to Power, which you launched to the international market at MIPTV? ZLOTNIK: The response has been great. We knew it would skew African American and it has. We were hoping it would skew younger, and it has. So it brings another dimension to our network. That’s one of the things that works within a pay-TV business—different shows that can bring in an audience and cause people to subscribe. That’s how we build our subscriber base. The interesting thing about Power is that so much of popular culture is influenced by hip-hop culture. It’s a story that transcends race.

TV DRAMA: Do you ever do pilots or do you always go straight to series?

ZLOTNIK: We haven’t made a pilot yet. It’s an innovative process that is unique to us. We do a lot of work on the writing—multiple scripts, the series bible—we put a lot of effort into preproduction, pre-visualization, in trying to figure out what the difficult parts of the show are. And then we bypass the pilot and go right to series. That’s one of the reasons why we do eight episodes as the initial order. Ten is sometimes too much, but again, we have no hard-and-fast rules.

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TV DRAMA

By Kristin Brzoznowski

GLOBAL AGENCY’S

IZZET PINTO In just a few years’ time, Global Agency has become one of the fastest-growing distributors in the market. One of the engines of this rapid expansion has been the popularity of Turkish dramas, which are now enjoyed by audiences all around the world. Izzet Pinto, the founder and CEO of Global Agency, talks about the global appeal of Turkish drama series and the territories where he sees new sales opportunities.

TV DRAMA: When did Global Agency first get involved in selling Turkish dramas?

PINTO: When I set up the company, in 2006, it only focused on exporting TV formats. Around the end of 2008, I decided to look into selling Turkish drama series. That industry was becoming very big in Turkey, but, frankly speaking, I didn’t have very high hopes [for international sales]. I visited some producers and got a few screeners, and one of them was 1001 Nights. I sent the screener to a client of mine in Bulgaria at Nova, and they acquired the show. The result was absolutely magnificent; the average share of the channel was around 14 percent, and the grand finale of 1001 Nights reached a 60-percent share.

With this track record, I was able to sell it to a broadcaster in Greece.

Again, it proved to be a huge hit.

Then, there was a domino effect, and I was able to sell it to Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia. We’ve been selling this title now for six years, and we close a new deal on it almost every month. It has sold across Latin America as well.

Following a launch in Chile, it has sold to Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru and Argentina.

TV DRAMA: How has the Turkish drama industry evolved over the last few years?

PINTO: When we first started distributing Turkish dramas, it was not easy to sell them abroad. The industry was small. Ten years ago, the export of Turkish dramas was about $100,000 a year as an

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industry. Now, it has reached $150 million per year. It’s easier to sell Turkish dramas now, but clients are still very selective. As a company, we have also been very selective.

We only represent the very best titles from Turkey; only the best of the best will sell globally. Not every Turkish series has a success story.

TV DRAMA: What factors have contributed to this growing popularity?

PINTO: If you look at the territories where Turkish dramas are frequently sold to, they are countries that are not as strong economically. The quality of production is not the best in territories such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Central and Eastern Europe and some CIS countries. Therefore, the Turkish production quality is very high for them.

In Turkey, because the drama industry is thriving and the advertising revenues are huge, the budgets for Turkish productions are very high. Therefore, great dramas come to the market each year. As long as the industry remains strong in Turkey, these titles will sell abroad.

TV DRAMA: What new markets are opening up for Turkish drama series?

PINTO: There are new sales prospects in territories across Latin America, as well as in Asia. We recently sold titles into China and Vietnam, and we are in talks with clients in Indonesia and Malaysia. Turkish dramas still have a hard time entering Western Europe, but we’re sure that when the time is right, these countries will give them a try.

TV DRAMA: Tell us about Global Agency’s major new drama launches for MIPCOM. PINTO: We are launching three big titles. One is called Reaction. It has the highest budget ever for a series in Turkey. It comes from the co-creators of Valley of the Wolves, which has been a phenomenon in Turkey for the last ten years. The second title is Seeds of Revenge, and the third one will be from a new business partnership we’re establishing with a leading Turkish production company.

Also, the older titles are still selling well, such as 1001 Nights, Magnificent Century and Love and Punishment.

TV DRAMA: Are there any plans for Global Agency to start producing its own Turkish drama series?

PINTO: We don’t have plans to move into production. At one time we had plans to move into production with formats, but we abandoned that idea because I still see incredibly good potential for growth [in our distribution business] and I don’t want to stop that growth. Going into production would mean that I would have to invest a lot of time into it, and then potentially other businesses of ours could fail. We’re focusing our efforts on distribution, and we want to continue growing the business exactly as we have been growing it. Sometimes, after a company has grown so much so quickly, it starts to decline. We have never seen declines and hopefully never will.

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