TV Europe NATPE Budapest & Sunny Side of the Doc 2019

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TVEUROPE

WWW.TVEUROPE.WS JUNE /JULY 2019

NATPE BUDAPEST INTERNATIONAL & SUNNY SIDE OF THE DOC EDITION

Terra Mater’s Walter Köhler / BBC Studios’ Michael Gunton / Drama in CEE / Trends in Formats

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CONTENTS

Stories to Tell

Millions of TV viewers around the world are still scratching their heads over the Game of Thrones finale. Series finales seldom satisfy all fans, but in this case, the level of frustration over unanswered questions about characters and plotlines, not to mention shock over coffee cups and water bottles, is remarkable.

Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Executive Editor Chelsea Regan Alison Skilton Associate Editors Victor L. Cuevas Production & Design Director Phyllis Q. Busell Art Director Simon Weaver Online Director Dana Mattison Senior Sales & Marketing Manager Genovick Acevedo Sales & Marketing Assistant Andrea Moreno Business Affairs Manager

Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Europe © 2019 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tveurope.ws

What is the point of character arcs if Jon Snow, Tyrion and Jaime all ended up right back where they started?

Dany went mad like her father, even though she spent nearly eight seasons trying to demonstrate she was not like her father? And where, pray tell, did Drogon take her?

The level of fans’ investment in the finale is proof of the power of an iconic show that made television history and also reveals how caught up we can get in characters and stories.

The television landscape has changed so much since GoT’s premiere in April 2011. Viewers have been bingeing on shows on devices and screens large and small. We have learned that great ideas can come from anywhere, including a great many from Europe, as we’ve seen again and again with extremely accomplished dramas from Scandinavia, Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Turkey, in addition to the U.K. We’ve also realized that big budgets and snazzy special effects aren’t always necessary in drama. Of course, added resources can provide access to bigger and better talent and locations and allow more time to shoot, reshoot and edit. But compelling, thrilling, suspenseful, heartrending, thoughtprovoking stories can indeed be told on smaller budgets.

In this issue of TV Europe, we spotlight the varied appetite for drama in Central and Eastern Europe. We also look at trends in the format business.

We talk to Walter Köhler, the founder and CEO of Terra Mater Factual Studios, about the significance of delivering films with a message of conservation.

At MIPDoc, I had the thrill of speaking with Dr. Michael Gunton, the creative director of the Natural History Unit and factual at BBC Studios, before he was presented with the World Screen Factual Trendsetter Award. He talked about working with the legendary David Attenborough and discussed several of the incredible experiences he has had working in immersive wildlife filmmaking.

Quality scripted drama, formats and documentary filmmaking have one indispensable element in common: they tell extraordinary stories. And as Tyrion answered his own query in that marvelous speech in the GoT finale, “What unites people? Armies? Gold?

Flags? Stories. There’s nothing in the world more powerful than a good story.”

—Anna Carugati

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FEATURES 14 FORMAT FRENZY

A look at the latest trends in the format business across Europe.

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17 A WORLD OF DRAMA

Broadcasters across CEE have demonstrated a varied taste for international drama.

17 INTERVIEWS

10 Terra Mater’s Walter Köhler The founder and CEO of Terra Mater Factual Studios discusses the value of conservation docs such as Sea of Shadows.

12 BBC Studios’ Michael Gunton The creative director of the Natural History Unit and factual at BBC Studios talks about immersive wildlife filmmaking.

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ABS-CBN Corporation The General’s Daughter / The Heiress / A Mother’s Guilt Led by Angel Locsin, the ABS-CBN Corporation highlight The General’s Daughter explores the story of a highly trained assassin who goes undercover as a military nurse.

“Fans are glued to their TVs, and the show has earned such positive feedback from its viewers,” says Laarni Yu, ABSCBN Corporation’s sales head for EMEA. A Mother’s Guilt, another title driven by a female protagonist, follows a mother who will do anything—even commit murder—for the sake of her son. The Heiress, meanwhile, centers on a family that appears to be tightknit but has deception and cruel desires at its core. “Our series will surely appeal to the NATPE Budapest buyers, as they tell stories that are very relatable,” says Yu. “What we create touches and transforms lives on a deeply personal yet universal level.”

The Heiress

“We believe that our production skills and talent are world-class, and it’s time that we work with international players in the industry.”

—Laarni Yu

ATV Hercai / Lifeline / Don’t Leave Me ATV’s new drama Hercai will be its main focus at NATPE Budapest. The series presents an epic romance, as the two main characters must choose between love and revenge.

“Hercai builds its story from oppositions: one of the main characters is innocent, purely filled with love, but the other main character kindles a huge fire of revenge inside,” says Müge Akar, deputy manager of content sales at ATV. “This strong story is supported with excellent casting and a picturesque view of southern Turkey and Mardin.” The company is also presenting Lifeline, centered on a woman who is the victim of domestic violence. She crosses paths with a stranger, who will help her fight against the abuse. In addition to these prime-time series, ATV is presenting its first daytime drama, Don’t Leave Me.

Hercai

“ATV’s mission is to broaden its presence and to bring more high-quality content to audiences.”

—Müge Akar

The Mediapro Studio

Paradise

Side Games / Paradise / Money Balls Side Games and Paradise, thrillers from The Mediapro Studio, are two of the offerings leading the company’s slate at NATPE Budapest. Side Games mixes the cheeriness of soccer fans with the dark underworlds that often surround the sport. It follows an executive at a regional soccer club who becomes immersed in a game of corruption, violence and betrayal as shady deals, match-fixing and power struggles surround him. Paradise tells the story of a detective from Helsinki who arrives in “Little Finland,” an outwardly idyllic town in Spain where Finnish tourists vacation, to solve two seemingly unrelated murders. Meanwhile, the quiz show Money Balls takes on a lighter tone, combining knowledge and luck as contestants vie for the grand prize.

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ORF-Enterprise Empire of the Vineyard / Beauty and Despair: Austria’s Empress Sisi / Beer-tastic!

Returning to Sunny Side of the Doc, ORF-Enterprise has a slate that includes Empire of the Vineyard from its ORF Universum strand. The program provides “exceptional insights into the wildlife of European vineyards,” says Armin Luttenberger, head of content sales international. The ORF Universum History lineup features Beauty and Despair: Austria’s Empress Sisi.

ORF-Enterprise is also presenting at Sunny Side four episodes of the 4K series Beer-tastic!, following beer sommelier and author Conrad Seidl on a journey around the globe. Meanwhile, at NATPE Budapest, the company is shining a spotlight on ORF Universum wildlife and history fare and other unscripted content, as well as successful scripted shows such as Walking on Sunshine, Suburbia: Women on the Edge, K-Files and Fast Forward.

Empire of the Vineyard

“Together with our colleagues from the ORF Universum production and editorial departments, we proudly present new wildlife and history projects to international decision-makers.”

—Armin Luttenberger

Record TV Jezebel / Jesus / Leah Jezebel, a soap opera highlighted on Record TV’s slate for NATPE Budapest this year, tells the story of the titular Phoenician princess who marries an Israeli king and attempts to impose her pagan gods upon the Israelite people, encountering resistance from prophets and adversaries along the way. Jesus, meanwhile, tells the detailed story of the figure who changed mankind, delving into little-known parts of his life and deepening the stories of the cast of characters that surrounded him. Also on offer from Record TV is Leah, which chronicles the story of the eponymous lead who falls in love with and marries a man who she knows would rather be with her sister.

After years of an unhappy marriage, she resolves to turn her life around.

Jezebel

Terra Mater Factual Studios Borneo: Earth’s Ancient Isle / Cute Little Killers / Dragons & Damsels Terra Mater Factual Studios arrives at Sunny Side of the Doc with Borneo: Earth’s Ancient Isle, which takes viewers on a journey to one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. Tiny marsupials from Australia with a taste for blood, bone and meat take the spotlight in Cute Little Killers. “This film tells the story of some of the strangest and rarest predators with pouches and the equally unusual people who track their secret lives,” says Sabine Holzer, the company’s head of specialist factual. The behaviors of dragonflies and damselflies are under examination in Dragons & Damsels. The plan for Sunny Side of the Doc is to “finalize some editorial discussions with potential partners to be able to start production right after summer,” Holzer says.

“We’re not only bringing new hours of available programming, but we’ll also bring new projects to the market that require co-production and presale funding.”

—Sabine Holzer Dragons & Damsels 6/19 WORLD SCREEN 27

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By Mansha Daswani

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fter a storied three decades at ORF, Walter Köhler founded Terra Mater Factual Studios (TMFS) to further his passionate commitment to high-end documentary filmmaking. From activism feature films like The Ivory Game to specials with natural-history icon David Attenborough to ambitious science docs like The Moon: Our Gateway to the Universe, TMFS has been serving the documentary needs of broadcasters and platforms across the globe. Köhler talks to TV Europe about the company’s recent distribution partnership with Off the Fence, the new film Sea of Shadows and the significance of delivering films that speak to the importance of conservation.

TV EUROPE: What was the reasoning behind your new distribution partnership with Off the Fence?

KÖHLER: This was a logical step in our development. I always took the word “studio” in Terra Mater Factual Studios very seriously. We want to protect our content from the cradle to the grave. But in nine years, we produced more than 220 hours of prime content! Dinah [Czezik-Müller, Terra Mater’s COO] and I talked a lot about if we should build up our own distribution business. The figures routed us in the other direction. Ellen [Windemuth, CEO and founder of Off the Fence] and I are age-old friends. We knew each other before Off the Fence was a reality. So this was a natural fit.

It’s amazing that the corporate cultures in

our two companies are really similar. So Ellen is doing all of our post-sale business and we are doing all the co-productions and presales. We are good at production. This is where our heart is. Therefore, to have a partner in distribution is a natural fit.

Then there is the German team coming on top with ZDF Enterprises [Off the Fence’s new parent company]. That’s quite helpful! [Laughs] TV EUROPE: Tell us about your investment in conservation docs such as Sea of Shadows, about the endangered vaquita whale in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.

KÖHLER: I’ve been in this business for more than 30 years.

I’ve lived a good life on natural history. My feeling is that it’s time to give a bit back. The first attempt was The Ivory Game, where, from the start, we not only wanted to produce a film—we wanted to change politics with the power of film. We achieved that. With Sea of Shadows, we wanted to do the same, but [go further]. Where Ivory Game was about a species, Sea of Shadows is on a whole ecosystem. It was a thousand times more dangerous [to film]. It’s really hard to accept that the smallest whale on the planet is dying out, five hours away from Los Angeles [in the Sea of Cortez]. It’s not somewhere in the jungle. It’s one of the busiest tourist spots. We also wanted to show that it’s not only the conservation of animals; it’s also the conservation of humans. What the Chinese Mafia and the drug cartels are doing there [supporting poachers] is destroying the local economy, too. One of the main protagonists [in the documentary, Carlos Loret de Mola], who is a renowned journalist in Mexico, made a live [broadcast about the vaquita crisis] and 30 minutes later, the new minister of the environment called and said, You have pictures of the vaquita? We were going to declare it extinct! If they declare it extinct, they don’t have to do anything.

We said, This film is coming out in Mexico, so you better search for a solution. Otherwise, you have a problem. This worked.

They are now searching for [solutions].

TV EUROPE: There are so many threats to the environment.

How do you and your team figure out which ones you want to tackle in your films?

KÖHLER: On the vaquita, it was simple because it’s one of the first mammals to go extinct now. And it’s not just for the animal; it’s for the whole Sea of Cortez. If this goes, you cannot count the number of species that will go.

And this will have a significant impact on biodiversity.

We also invested in Watson, our newest film with Participant Media on the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Paul Watson. He says the same thing. At the moment, the overfishing rate is so enormous that we have to think about whether we can live on a planet without fish. He thinks this is quite impossible. If a whole group is missing in the food chain, the biodiversity rules will go against us. We have to think about this.

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World Screen’s Anna Carugati interviewing BBC Studios’ Michael Gunton at MIPDoc.

By Mansha Daswani

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r. Michael Gunton, creative director of the Natural History Unit and factual at BBC Studios, was honored with the World Screen Factual Trendsetter Award this year. He received the award at MIPDoc, following a keynote interview with World Screen’s Anna Carugati. Gunton’s impressive list of credits includes Planet Earth II and Dynasties, among many other landmark naturalhistory series.

In the early days of his career, Gunton initially aspired to be an observational documentary filmmaker. “Some of that approach has permeated what I do now,” Gunton said. He had seen many David Attenborough docs and knew that if the opportunity ever arose to work with the icon, he would take it. Such a chance occurred with The Trials of Life. After three years of working with Attenborough on that show, Gunton never looked back, and he has worked in the nature docs space for the past three decades.

Technology was far more cumbersome back then, and Gunton had to tote his filmstock out into the wild. “The good thing about that is, it forced you to be very decisive about what you do. The myth of wildlife filmmaking is you go out and sit around and wait for stuff to happen. To do good stuff, you have to be very clear about what you’re trying to achieve, what story you’re trying to tell.”

On his approach to storytelling, Gunton noted, “A lot of it is research. Natural-history audiences love to see new things.

When the camera can draw the veil back and show things that are remarkable, that’s the approach. Trying to find surprising stories. Some of the best surprises come from when you think you know an animal, and you show something that completely turns [that belief] on its head.”

He continued, “One of the things I’ve been obsessive about is trying to tell stories, not about animals but about a particular animal—that rhino on that day.”

About landmark series like Planet Earth, Gunton stated, “Every time you make one of these, people say, You’ve done it all! Mother Nature is so extraordinary and so fascinating, if you dig deep, you find new stories. Of course, you want to bring in new technology that allows you to show things you might have seen before in one way but can now be shown in another way.”

Gunton said that ahead of embarking on production for Planet Earth II, he found himself thinking, “Is anyone going to buy the idea that there’s a sequel? It was a challenging thing to do. But there was new technology that allowed us to bring the camera closer to the animals, which is something I always wanted to do.

“Season one was about seeing the world from almost a God’seye view. I wanted to reflect that and also say, We’ve moved on, there’s new technology, and we look at the world in a slightly different way now. We’re much more aware of the fragility of the planet. I also wanted to do something [Attenborough] hadn’t done before. I said, Let’s take him up in a balloon. It was two weeks before his 90th birthday! He agreed to do it.”

Planet Earth II let audiences “savor the wonders of the world,” Gunton said. “It came at the right moment. The idea was to get close to the animals. Get down there and use the camera and the storytelling to make you feel you were experiencing their lives.”

He showed as an example the much-watched “Iguana vs.

Snakes” video shot in the Galápagos. “People all around the world were shouting, ‘Run iguana, run!’ It’s immersion, engagement and empathy with the animals. The camera is super close.

We wouldn’t have been able to do that five years ago.”

With the more recent Dynasties, Gunton said he wanted to “change the rhythm of these films. A lot of the Planet Earth–type shows are shot in multiple locations with multiple stories. They have a particular approach. There’s a frustration as filmmakers that…there’s so much more story to tell. I thought there was an opportunity to tell stories about a life. It was risky.

I had to pick five animals and tell the story of the challenges individuals face when they are fighting against their own kind, their own family and rivals.” When Gunton conceived of the project, he envisioned it as a “Game of Thrones for animals.”

Natural-history docs have “many roles,” Gunton added. “We had 2 million years of evolution that connected us with the natural world, and the last 250, 300 years, we’ve stepped away from that. People want to make a connection with the natural world. And there’s endless fascination about our fellow creatures on the planet. They’re a reminder of the wonder and value and fragility [of the natural world].”

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Global Agency’s Shopping Monsters.

Kristin Brzoznowski checks in on the latest trends in the format business across Europe.

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ith cord-cutting heating up in the European TV landscape and the number of on-demand platforms mushrooming, the craving for shows simmered in local flavors has intensified among broadcasters in the region. Channels in Western Europe and across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), hoping to attract younger viewers in particular, are looking to formats as a way to stand out amid the vast buffet of entertainment options on offer these days.

“Across Europe, there is an appetite to create homegrown content,” says Mark Lawrence, executive director for EMEA at

Endemol Shine International. “The constraints on the volume of regional production will always be governed by budget considerations, which can be balanced with finished acquired programming—and indeed, the finished and format of the same show on a platform can complement each other.”

Lawrence points out that long-running global formats are continuing to do well in Europe. For example, from the Endemol Shine stable, Big Brother is celebrating its 20th anniversary and “is enjoying one of its best years yet,” he says. “The teams have been implementing innovative tech to revitalize the production process.” The show made a comeback in Poland after 11 years off the air and also returns in Finland this year.

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MasterChef, too, is “universally loved in [many] countries and is constantly being innovated,” Lawrence adds. “In Spain, they have launched bespoke content on YouTube to draw in a new, younger audience.”

“Our globally successful talent shows continue to be renewed and are delivering for our respected partners, especially our iconic entertainment brands Got Talent, Idols and X Factor,” says Daniela Matei, CEO for the Nordics, Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans at Fremantle.

The company has also recently received “a lot of interest” for its new entertainment format The Greatest Dancer, according to Matei. She adds that prime-time game shows such as the classics Family Feud and Golden Brain, as well as comedy panel shows, including What’s My Line (Inkognito), To Tell the Truth and Who Knew, are continuing to notch up recommissions.

HERE TO ENTERTAIN “Generally, the interest from Western Europe and CEE is in the same genres, such as shiny-floor entertainment, game shows, dating shows and comedy panel shows,” Matei says of the regional format tastes.

Keren Shahar, the COO and president of distribution at Keshet International, reports “very healthy” format sales across both Western and Eastern Europe. “We haven’t seen much change in Western Europe in the past six months, and the needs remain the same. We have, however, seen steady growth in Eastern Europe, in both scripted and non-scripted formats,” she adds.

Like Matei, Shahar says that game shows have been top draws.

“Studio-based game shows for access prime very much remain in demand,” she notes. “BOOM!, our best-selling game show, works very well in the daily access-prime slot.” The format has been licensed in 20 territories to date, including Italy, where more than 400 episodes have aired, and Spain, where the show celebrated its 1,000th episode this year.

“In CEE, prime time is still very much dominated by shinyfloor, studio-based formats and reality shows that have a proven track record in several territories,” she says. “While in Western Europe, factual entertainment is being added to the mix,” a trend she also sees beginning to make its way into CEE territories.

“In general, CEE is becoming more open to experimentation, with different genres and also formats that have not necessarily aired in major, or multiple, territories being considered,” Shahar adds. “We are also seeing increased interest in the Nordics for our fact-ent formats.”

“The Scandinavian territories are, in a way, waking up,” agrees Amos Neumann, the COO of Armoza Formats. “There was quite a decline in their consumption of formats recently, but we now see an interesting awakening in these territories. They have realized that there is a limit to what you can do with older things that keep coming back, that you need to open yourself up.”

In CEE, he says, “Besides the usual suspects—which are the big prime-time shows—they are looking for strong factual entertainment.” The Western part of Europe is “more U.S.-oriented in terms of content,” Neumann adds. “Shows that will find themselves in prime time in Eastern Europe will be daytime, afternoon

or access-prime-time shows in Western Europe. They are still looking for the big franchises for prime time.” However, he has seen that broadcasters in this part of the world are getting edgier in the content that they are seeking out. “Channel 4 in the U.K. [which aired Armoza Formats’ social experiment Sex Tape] has been edgy for a while. But in Poland, they bought the U.K. [version] of Sex Tape, and we have a Belgian version, a Dutch version and soon it’s going to be picked up in Germany. They are more inclined to get edgier content than they used to be.”

One reason for this, he says, is the declining audiences for traditional linear broadcasters. “When you’re looking at the opportunity to attract the audience, you have to be different.... Another thing is attracting younger audiences. The decline in younger audiences is much greater than in the 55-plus demo that is watching traditional TV. This decline drives the broadcasters to try different things and to engage their digital outlets—to perhaps start things on digital and move them to traditional channels and vice versa.” He points to Scandinavia and the U.K. as positive examples of this.

Ben Packwood, sales manager for EMEA North at all3media international, says that recently, Eastern Europe has proven to be “a strong market for formats because local productions are necessary there to grow channels, and local content is needed to resonate with audiences. Successful, well-traveled formats tend to be the most attractive in the region, as they generally look for tried-and-tested ideas.”

RISK-TAKERS Russia and Poland are willing to take more risks, Packwood says, highlighting the sale of 24 Hours to Hell and Back into Russia as the format’s first international version. “Other countries in the region tend to look at Poland and Russia; if they have adapted a format, it’s easier to get the attention of other countries, as they can better see that it works for budgets typical for the region.”

Indeed, according to Packwood, one of the most noticeable differences between the regions is budgets. “Another difference is that CEE has an appetite for constructed reality,” he adds. “This has contributed to the success of our constructed-reality strand over the last decade,” with hits such as Day and Night and Cases of Doubt. “Other factors include that it offers a large volume of scripts. This allows channels to strip content.”

Likewise, Global Agency has seen the greatest traction in CEE with its daily stripped shows, says Senay Tas, regional sales director. “Our style shows have sold best, but also our cooking shows.

In CEE, we recently licensed our cooking format My Wife Rules to Bosnia, and we are very excited to see how it will work, as this is our first format sale to the country in many years. We are also pleased to collaborate with the Slovenian public broadcaster on our quiz show Joker. The channel has already ordered additional episodes for next year.”

Looking ahead, she forecasts that “the trend of reality, cooking and daily stripped shows will continue in CEE for another couple of years. In Western Europe, we will continue to see reality, social experiments and factual entertainment in the future.

Shiny-floor talent shows always have a chance.”

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Inter Medya’s Broken Wings.

Broadcasters across CEE have demonstrated a varied taste for international drama, licensing titles from the U.S. to Turkey to the Philippines—and everywhere in between.

By Mansha Daswani

A

large contingent of rights holders will be showcasing their wares at NATPE Budapest International this year, including a raft of drama distributors eager to tap into the seemingly endless appetite for compelling scripted series from around the world. While content from established scripted suppliers like the U.S. and the U.K. remains in high demand, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has long been open to a diverse range of sources, with Turkish series, in particular, finding a solid foothold in the region.

“Turkish dramas have been on air for more than ten years in this region,” reports Can Okan, founder and CEO of Inter Medya. “Buyers have a high level of awareness about the storylines, casts and performance of all Turkish programs.

Since the beginning of their popularity in the international market, there has been strong demand for Turkish series in Central and Eastern Europe, especially in the Balkans, where many of our series and feature films have been exported.”

Kanal D International has also established a robust trade in the region, reports Ekin Koyuncu, the company’s regional sales executive. “Our penetration in Central and Eastern

Europe has been and still is in great shape. We are constantly working on expanding our reach and maintaining our longstanding relationships with leading TV stations, pay-TV platforms and telcos. Buyers have a high level of awareness of and excitement for Turkish dramas. The production quality is always something that we are proud of, and when it is combined with our unique but relatable storytelling, the buying decision comes very quickly. We are working closely with almost all CEE territories and lately, we also managed to increase our penetration in Poland and the Czech Republic.”

For ATV, Bosnia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia have become key markets, according to Müge Akar, deputy manager for content sales. “Our latest deals include Lifeline’s sale to Slovenia last year. In addition to Slovenia, Romania acquired one of ATV’s new big hits, Hercai, right after its third episode release in Turkey.”

One of Calinos Entertainment’s top sellers in the region has been its recent hit Woman, based on a Japanese scripted format. Asli Serim Guliyev, international sales director, notes that the drama has secured slots in Croatia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, while Forbidden Fruit was recently sold into Poland.

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While Turkish content is well established in CEE, new opportunities are emerging for Asian series, including shows from India and, more recently, the Philippines. “There is strong interest in our content from Greece, Macedonia, Ukraine and Russia because of how the stories relate to their viewers,” reports Laarni Yu, the sales head for EMEA at ABS-CBN Corporation. “We are setting foot in the region by offering stories with strong women leads, familial conflicts and more mature storylines.”

ABS-CBN is also eyeing opportunities with OTT platforms across Europe, Yu adds.

Similarly, Inter Medya’s Okan sees significant potential with digital platforms emerging in the region. “Europeans have usually spent less time watching TV than others around the world. This has recently changed thanks to the popularity of OTT. With many Europeans watching so much television, it is an optimal time for international media companies to enter into the region and for European broadcasters to invest resources in OTT. This clearly shows us that we have a lot of leeway in this area.”

DIGITAL SPIN

Turkish dramas that have generated interest across CEE include, from top, ATV’s Hercai, Kanal D’s Price of Passion and Calinos’ Woman.

Selim Türkmen, the sales executive for Western Europe, MENA and Africa at Kanal D International, reflects a similar sentiment, noting, “We see how local players are trying to find the right way to compete against giants like Netflix. Cooperation and alliances seem to be a common strategy. This competition creates a huge demand for exclusive and original content. This is where we can help make a difference.

OTT can be an additional window to monetize our content, and in new markets, it can help us test our content and get a better understanding of local viewing habits.”

Türkmen also mentions Kanal D’s growing business in Western Europe, an area that is opening up to Turkish distributors following the success of the country’s series in Spain. “In general, European broadcasters prefer picking regional content, [which is] less risky and more familiar. Lately, they’ve discovered Turkish content has these qualities.

This is a great chance for us, since we strongly believe in the quality of our production, the strength of our stories and the talent of our actors.”

ATV’s Akar adds, “We believe that other countries will follow the Spanish case and make a domino effect for Turkish dramas.”

Inter Medya’s Black Money Love has sold into Spain, and Okan is expecting the more recent Broken Wings to fare well across Western Europe. “The Western European market has become more fruitful for us,” Okan notes. “Turkish dramas have great potential, and the success of our dramas will soon spread to more countries in Western Europe.”

Calinos Entertainment has also found Spanish success, with The Girl Named Feriha on air in the country and a recent deal on Woman. “Due to the great success of The Girl Named Feriha, we expect to license it to Portugal and Italy very soon,” Guliyev says.

“Since Turkish dramas have universal themes like family and love, emotional issues with high-quality scripts and high production values, we believe more new markets will open, not only in Western European territories but all around the world.”

Drama distributors are also eager to pursue remake and coproduction opportunities in Europe.

“We actually have ongoing talks for a remake of one of our narratives,” ABS-CBN’s Yu says. “We are hoping that this would set a great start to our expansion in Europe.”

“We have licensed the remake rights of our titles in recent years, and co-production seems the logical next step,” Kanal D’s Türkmen notes.

“Building joint ventures with producers in the region has been a priority for us for the past few years,” adds Calinos’ Guliyev. “We are currently working on co-production opportunities with partners from Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, to name a few.”

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