World Screen AFM 2011

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THE MAGAZINE OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA • NOVEMBER 2011

www.worldscreen.com

AFM Edition

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contents

NOVEMBER 2011/AFM EDITION

Publisher Ricardo Seguin Guise

departments WORLD VIEW

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A note from the editor.

UPFRONT

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New content on the market.

MARKET TRENDS

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MIPCOM’s Acquisition Superpanel—What Do Buyers Want?

WORLD’S END

In the stars.

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Executive Editor Mansha Daswani

spotlight

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Miramax’s Mike Lang.

IN THE NEWS

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Editor Anna Carugati

Managing Editor Kristin Brzoznowski

FILMMAKER WERNER HERZOG

Contributing Editor Elizabeth Guider

The internationally acclaimed German director talks about his new project, Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, a Tale of Life.

—Anna Carugati

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DIRECTOR PAUL VERHOEVEN

This year the Dutch filmmaker launches an ambitious cross-media, user-generated —Anna Carugati

special report

Art Director Phyllis Q. Busell Sales & Marketing Director Cesar Suero

GIVE ME A BREAK

Business Affairs Manager Terry Acunzo

Tax incentives and lush locations are luring producers of series and movies to destinations across the globe.

—Jay Stuart

one-on-one

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Editorial Assistant Marissa Graziadio Online Director Simon Weaver

movie called Entertainment Experience.

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Editor, Spanish-Language Publications Elizabeth Bowen-Tombari Executive Editor, Spanish-Language Publications Rafael Blanco

director’s cut

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Special Projects Editor Jay Stuart

AMC NETWORKS’ JOSHUA SAPAN

The company’s president and CEO talks about the game-changing value of original productions and the importance of championing the vision of independent filmmakers.

—Anna Carugati

Sales & Marketing Assistant Vanessa Brand Senior Editors Bill Dunlap Kate Norris Contributing Writers Chris Dziadul Chris Forrester Bob Jenkins Juliana Koranteng David del Valle David Wood Copy Editors Grace Hernandez James Trimaco

Ricardo Seguin Guise, President Anna Carugati, Executive VP & Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani, Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development WORLD SCREEN is a registered trademark of WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, Suite 1207 New York, NY 10010, U.S.A. Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.worldscreen.com

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©2011 WSN INC. Printed by Fry Communications No part of this publication can be used, reprinted, copied or stored in any medium without the publisher’s authorization.

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world view

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR ANNA CARUGATI

Constant Innovation Recently, the media have been full of tributes to Steve Jobs—an innovator, entrepreneur and out-of-the-box thinker like no other. Magazine cover stories with headlines like “The Magician” and “Inventor of the Future” have enumerated his accomplishments, described his intensity and passion and detailed the many ways he revolutionized our world.

I can’t add anything to the analyses and accolades already written. I can only get in line behind the thousands of public and private individuals who claim Jobs changed their lives. Reading about his life, however, has made me pause, not only to mourn the loss of a genius, not only to realize that he was only two years older than me and to ponder how fleeting life is, not only to wonder how many other extraordinary gadgets and devices he might have given us, but also to step back and reflect on how the three and a half decades since Apple was founded echo how completely our world has changed.

The Economist printed a time line of Jobs’s accomplishments. In April 1976, he cofounded Apple with Steve Wozniak and that July they launched the first Apple computer. In 1984, Jobs introduced the first Macintosh. The following year he was ousted from the company, but went on to found Pixar and revolutionize animated films, then returned to Apple in 1996.Two years later the iMac was introduced and the following year the iBook. For two decades all the innovations were in the realm of computers.Then, with AS STEVE JOBS TAUGHT US, the dawn of the new millennium, not only did the pace of innovation pick up COMPLEX TIMES CALL FOR but it was no longer just computers.

2001: the first Apple Store. Also 2001: iPod. 2003: iTunes. 2007: iPhone. 2010: GROUNDBREAKING IDEAS. iPad. 2011: iCloud. And one can’t but wonder if there wouldn’t have been more if Jobs had not had to take medical leaves in 2004 and 2009 as he battled pancreatic cancer.

This accelerated pace of innovation applies to the media world as well. Just think back to 2001.The author and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman says it so much better than me: “Facebook didn’t exist; Twitter was a sound; the cloud was in the sky; 4G was a parking place; LinkedIn was a prison; applications were what you sent to college; and Skype for most people was a typo.”

The way we use media has changed radically. Our relationship with movies and TV shows has evolved to the point where we are no longer beholden to a schedule.Television has become personal. Just as Jobs wanted us to have 1,000 songs in our pockets with the iPod and the world at our fin10

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gertips with the iPhone, we can have our own tailor-made libraries of series and films on our iPad. Technology keeps offering up new screens and devices.As Anne Sweeney, the co-chairman of Disney Media Networks and president of the Disney/ABC Television Group, said in her keynote speech at MIPCOM, the power of television has been unleashed.Television programming has burst out of the confines of the TV set and we are free to enjoy it on various devices wherever and whenever we want.

Sweeney said,“Television is no longer something you watch, it’s something you do.” And smart media companies large and small are reacting and adapting and responding to viewers’ preferences.

In this issue we hear from Joshua Sapan, the president and CEO of AMC Networks. He is considered a pioneer in launching and developing cable channels and is an avid supporter of independent filmmakers. He took AMC and IFC, originally movie channels, and widened their audiences with cutting-edge original programming. He found an innovative way, using cable video on demand, to give independent films a broader audience.

We also have interviews with two master filmmakers: Werner Herzog (Fitzcarraldo, Grizzly Man) and Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Basic Instinct). It is always a thrill to get a glimpse into the creative process.

That brings me back to Jobs, whose work exemplified creativity. According to his biographer Walter Isaacson, Jobs was the greatest business executive of our era. “He revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing and digital publishing…. History will place him in the pantheon right next to Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.”

The world Jobs lived and worked in was infinitely more complex and fast-paced than the world of Edison and Ford. As Jobs taught us, complex times call for groundbreaking ideas. It’s worth repeating a sentence from the commencement speech Jobs made at Stanford University in 2005 after he had been diagnosed with cancer. “Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with results of other people’s thinking.”Words for all of us to live by, and particularly for media creatives and executives in these rapidly changing times.

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Artist View Entertainment www.artistviewent.com • Flight of the Swan • Kings of Appletown • The Misadventures of the Dunderheads • Red Rose of Normandy • Sanorini Blue

This year marks Artist View Entertainment’s 20th anniversary. “There are four things we feel are vital to the success of a film in the international market,” says Jay Joyce, the company’s VP of worldwide sales. Firstly, in the first 10 to 15 minutes something must happen in order to grab the audience’s attention. Secondly, a story line must have a well-paced beginning, middle and end. High-quality production values and a solid, recognizable cast make up the other pieces of the puzzle, according to Joyce. “We feel we have a strong slate of product this year and that all of our titles have these key elements,” he adds. On the roster for this market are the thriller Flight of the Swan and the family movie Kings of Appletown, featuring teen stars Dylan and Cole Sprouse and Victoria Justice. There are also the warbased action movie Red Rose of Normandy, the adventure film The Misadventures of the Dunderheads and the romantic comedy Santorini Blue.

“Artist View handles a wide variety of genres and because of that we have a wide variety of clients.

We always look forward to meeting with our friends from near and far at AFM.” —Jay Joyce

Kings of Appletown

The Fremantle Corporation www.fremantlecorp.com • Women, War & Peace • Bhutto

Bhutto

For nearly five decades, The Fremantle Corporation has been building its slate in the area of quality documentary entertainment. “Since our formation in 1952, Fremantle Corporation has been successfully marketing our documentaries in many languages and across every international territory,” notes Irv Holender, the company’s principal director. “Fremantle continues to seek out new, original, quality documentaries from producers to satisfy the demand from a growing number of traditional and nontraditional platforms...who are seeking the very best in content and production value for their respective markets.”

Two new docs are on offer: Women,War & Peace, a four-part PBS mini-series featuring the narrators Matt Damon,Tilda Swinton, Geena Davis and Alfre Woodard, and Bhutto, which was an official entry at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and was chosen as one of the year’s five best documentaries by the International Documentary Association.

“Women,War & Peace and Bhutto represent outstanding and compelling documentary entertainment that will appeal to audiences everywhere,” says Holender.

Women, War & Peace

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MarVista Entertainment www.marvista.net • Dangerous Attraction • 3 Holiday Tails • Shattered Silence • The National Tree • Fairfield Road

There are eight new movies, ranging from thrillers to romantic comedies and dramas, that MarVista Entertainment is offering. “AFM gives us a great opportunity to connect with independent producers, and to develop new productive relationships that will deliver the type of movies that our buyers have come to expect from MarVista,” says CEO Fernando Szew. On offer are the thrillers Dangerous Attraction and Shattered Silence. Romantic comedies include Fairfield Road and 3 Holiday Tails. Also with a holiday theme is The National Tree. As for other highlights, Szew adds, “Following our domestic and international success with the Disney Channel movie 16 Wishes, starring Debby Ryan, we recently wrapped production on our second movie for the channel, Radio Rebel, also starring Ryan. Both movies feature deephearted story lines, comedy and music—all key elements to attract today’s teens. We will continue to actively produce and acquire these types of movies.”

Fairfield Road

“Each of these movies are bolstered not only by captivating stories, but also exceptional casting.”

—Fernando Szew

SevenOne International www.sevenoneinternational.com • The Greening of Whitney Brown • Fateful Love: The Hunt for U 864 • The Man with the Bassoon • Room 205 • Lilyhammer

An A-list cast is featured in The Greening of Whitney Brown, among them Brooke Shields, Aidan Quinn and Kris Kristofferson. The U.S. feature film, which tells of a spoiled preteen forced to move to the country who winds up befriending a horse and bringing her family together, was picked up by SevenOne International just ahead of MIPCOM. The company will be showcasing the title for buyers at the AFM. Another title with a big-name lead is the dramedy Lilyhammer. Star Steven van Zandt, known for his role as Silvio Dante in The Sopranos and from his work as a guitarist in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, joined Jens Richter, SevenOne’s managing director, in launching the show in Cannes last month. SevenOne’s AFM slate also includes the action-adventure Fateful Love: The Hunt for U 864, set against the backdrop of the Nazi-resistance movement; the drama The Man with the Bassoon, based on a true story; and the mystery Room 205.

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“[We’re interested in] talking to producers who might be looking for partners who can help them with financing and getting [their] programs out to the world.”

The Greening of Whitney Brown

World Screen

—Jens Richter

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Solid Entertainment www.solidentertainment.com • Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective • Popatopolis • Lords of Nature • White Water, Black Gold • Rally On!

The Scream movies spooked and delighted audiences on the big screen, and now Solid Entertainment is offering an inside look into the successful film franchise with Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective. “Still Screaming is one of our newest titles and a real behind-thescenes look at the Scream movie series,” says Richard Propper, Solid’s founder and president. “It’s everything about the Hollywood movie machine you’d want to see.”Also giving a behind-the-scenes look into the world of film, Popatopolis is a documentary about low-budget B-movie productions. Adding some adrenaline to the Solid lineup is Rally On!, which gives viewers a passenger seat to all the action from the Gumball 3000 Super Car Rally. Lords of Nature, meanwhile, focuses on top predators from the animal kingdom and how they play a key role in preserving biodiversity. White Water, Black Gold looks at the environmental costs of importing oil from Northern Alberta.

“AFM is a great market for us. We showcase our best feature nonfiction programs and series for this market.”

—Richard Propper

Rally On!

Starz Media www.starzglobal.com The Dog Who Saved Halloween

• Spartacus: Vengeance • Baby Geniuses: Baby Squad Investigators • A Christmas Wedding Tail • Stolen Child • The Dog Who Saved Halloween

Coming off a successful MIPCOM, Starz Media is looking forward to AFM as an opportunity to again meet with its key clients and firm up deals that have not yet been finalized, according to Gene George, the executive VP of worldwide distribution. Highlight titles that George will be presenting include Spartacus: Vengeance, as well as Baby Geniuses: Baby Squad Investigators and Stolen Child. In the way of holiday fare, Starz is showcasing A Christmas Wedding Tail and The Dog Who Saved Halloween. “For our series, we look for unique and compelling television, unlike anything ever before seen,” says George. “The Spartacus franchise has been a great example of that and a true success for us.We also look for general-entertainment content to complement our strong family and animation businesses. For our movies, we look for content that plays well on both television and DVD. Our track record indicates that we do especially well with action, thriller and holiday movies.”

“We are also looking to meet with many of our distributors that we work [with] for DVD licensing.”

—Gene George

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spotlight

PROFILING THE INDUSTRY’S TOP FILMMAKERS

BY ANNA CARUGATI

The internationally acclaimed German director Werner Herzog, whose films include Aguirre, the Wrath of God; Nosferatu; Fitzcarraldo; Little Dieter Needs to Fly; and Grizzly Man, has never shied away from difficult, dark or even shocking topics. With his latest documentary, Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, a Tale of Life, Herzog embarks on an intense dialogue with death-row inmates and offers a glimpse into the abyss of the human soul. In this exclusive interview, he talks to World Screen about this personal and emotional project, which resulted in a 105-minute film as well as a mini-series for television, distributed internationally by ZDF Enterprises.

Werner Herzog

WS: What interested you about the death penalty and led to making Into the Abyss?

HERZOG: I have always been interested in death-row inmates, because contrary to us, they know exactly how they will die and exactly when they will die, but we do not. That’s one aspect. The other aspect is the general subject of capital punishment, and I’m not an advocate of capital punishment. Although I’m not an activist and this is not an activist film, it’s quite obvious where I stand. Although the crimes are monstrous, the perpetrators are never monsters. I always see a human being and I always respect them as human beings. While filming I’m always behind the camera and yet I’m wearing a suit. I hardly ever wear a suit in my life but as a sign of respect, I wear a suit and I address the death-row inmates formally. I would not say, “Hey Mikey” to Michael Perry, “How’s it going?” I said, “Mr. Perry” or “Michael Perry, you will be executed in eight days. How does time occur to you?” The question of time is very interesting for me as well. How time comes to a standstill sometimes in their lives. And sometimes it races as if a whole day passes by in a second. I must say it’s the most intense project I’ve ever done, which, by the way, you can see with audiences. Into the Abyss was shown in Toronto in a big theater with 1,200 seats.When I saw this huge audience my heart sank for a moment, and I thought, How does a film like this come across? But the audience was sitting as if they couldn’t even breathe—they were completely focused on the film, so I have a good feeling that it’s going to work with audiences.

WS: Did you see the Republican debate and how the audience cheered when the moderator asked Governor Rick Perry about the 250 executions in the state of Texas?

HERZOG: I did not, but somebody sent me the excerpt of Perry, who actually signed more than 250 death warrants. He was very proud. Texas is proud of the practice.

WS: What do you think makes Americans so interested in the death penalty?

HERZOG: It’s not the only country. All the big nations on this planet are practicing the death penalty. China: 1.4 billion inhabitants. India: 1.3 billion inhabitants. Pakistan: almost 300 million inhabitants. In Africa, the biggest countries: Egypt and Nigeria. Even Japan.They all are into the death penalty. Japan executes in rare cases but they do have capital punishment. I’m not into America-bashing or Texas-bashing and I explain it to everyone. I explain it to the inmates and I explain it to the warden. I’m not an activist against capital punishment because I cannot vote in your country. I’m a guest in your country, and secondly, my historical background is a different one.

When I speak of historical background I mean the barbarism under the Nazi regime where you had an excessive amount of capital punishment. Parallel to that you had a systematic program of euthanasia where you would be

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killed as being a worthless life if you were insane, for example, and on top of it, a genocide of 6 million people. I don’t even have an argument; I only have a story. But of course I do not want to be didactic and tell the Americans, you are doing it wrong. I say, with my different historical background, and being a guest in your country, I respectfully disagree with the practice of capital punishment.

WS: Let’s talk about Death Row. How much of a

departure is it from what you’ve just done?

HERZOG: Into the Abyss is a film that will have its theatrical release; it’s almost two hours long.And it is not just a crime and the perpetrators, in this case a complicated crime of two murderers, three murder victims, four crime scenes; I was not only fascinated by that, I was fascinated by the repercussions a crime like that would have for the entire environment. I’m speaking to victims’ families. I’m talking to the man who is a tie-down captain, who would strap you down on the gurney and who after 125 executions all of a sudden quits his job. Shaking uncontrollably, crying for hours and hours, he knows he cannot do it anymore.

He loses his pension over it and steps out of it. It’s a whole tapestry of a gothic America. Something that in a way is like the dark recesses of the human soul. It’s a film that has ramifications far beyond the crime itself.

Death Row is only for television and it’s 52-minute films or 44-minute films, which in the U.S. would be a full hour, because they have commercials in between.And it is single cases of death-row inmates. It will be called Death Row: Conversations with Joseph Garcia, or Death Row: Conversations with James Barnes. It’s a television project, a mini-series.

WS: How did talking to people about to die affect you?

HERZOG: In Into the Abyss, the main character of the

film was executed eight days [after we filmed him] and I’m completely candid. I tell him point blank right at the beginning that because life has dealt you a very bad deck of cards doesn’t mean that this exonerates you and it does not necessarily mean that I have to like you. And he’s taken aback for a moment because he’s never heard anything like this, but they love me for being so straight. How does this affect me? During shooting I had 50 minutes [to talk to each inmate]. First you have to find the right tone right away and second you have to deliver a film.You have to do your job, make sure technically everything is all right.

You have to know what the cameras are doing.Two cameras. I’m behind the cameras. So it’s performing and delivering. There is not much thinking. But when I was editing Into the Abyss it was so intense, it’s very hard to describe. I can only give you one hint. Both the editor, Joe Bini, and I started to smoke again. We had to step out, out under open sky, and we would hang onto a cigarette every one and a half hours. Usually we work eight hours, very straight, very focused, very quick as we are working,

but in this film we could only work five hours maximum and we would be spent.

WS: Tell us about the use of 3D in Cave of Forgotten Dreams, the documentary about the Chauvet cave in southern France that houses the oldest known human paintings?

HERZOG: Well, it was the only way to do it. And it became clear to me once I was allowed into the cave for one hour because I wanted to assess the technical problems. I knew I was only allowed three persons with me and I was allowed only one week of shooting, only four hours per day. No support from outside. And you have to imagine, you are moving along a 60-centimeter-wide metal walkway.You cannot put the camera anywhere because right next to you, beyond this metal walkway, there are tracks of cave bears, almost fresh-looking tracks. However, the cave bear is a species that became extinct 20,000 years ago. So you cannot step down and plant the camera on the paw prints.

WS: You were the first one to go in there, right?

HERZOG: The first filmmaker.There was a small handful of

scientists.These restrictions were not frivolous or the caprice of the French.You have to see it in the light of the most famous cave so far, Lascaux, in the Dordogne area.Too many tourists were inside and the breath and the exhalations of all these people left a mold on the wall that is very hard to control now, so they shut it down categorically. And more than any other cave, this cave was preserved as a perfect time capsule because something like 20,000, maybe 25,000 years ago, the entire rock face of this gorge completely collapsed and buried the prehistoric entrance and it was completely preserved as a time capsule.You see footprints of a child and the paw print of a wolf next to it. But coming back to the question about 3D, once I had seen the cave it was evident this was imperative. It had to be in 3D. 11/11

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Hot shot: Herzog used 3D to document the paintings featured on the walls of France’s Chauvet cave in Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

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director’s cut

CONVERSATIONS WITH LEADING DIRECTORS

BY ANNA CARUGATI

Paul Verhoeven Dutch director Paul Verhoeven began his career in television, and went on to produce the feature films Turkish Delight, Soldier of Orange and The Fourth Man. He then crossed the Atlantic and accomplished what many foreign directors have not been able to do—he made a series of extremely successful Hollywood movies, including RoboCop , Total Recall , Starship Troopers and the blockbuster Basic Instinct . He returned to his native Holland in 2006 and produced the award-winning film Black Book . This year he launched an ambitious project: a cross-media, user-generated movie called Entertainment Experience, for which FCCE is distributing the format internationally. Verhoeven, who will edit the final cut of the Dutch version, explains the project and talks about making films on both sides of the Atlantic.

WS: Tell us about the Entertainment Experience project.

VERHOEVEN: I’m going to make a 30-minute movie that

is written by the public and is also shot by the public. But I will [also] edit a remake of what the audience has done.That means that we start with a script of three minutes that has been written by a professional scriptwriter in Holland.Then the public is invited to write the next three minutes and the next three minutes and that repeats eight times. So the first three minutes are given and [the remaining minutes] are invented by the public. At the same time, we invite the public to shoot a movie of the first three minutes of the first script and then of the [subsequent scripts, which are user generated]. So the public art schools, visual academies, theater schools will work together to make these movies of three minutes and send them in to us. I will look at the scripts and I will look at their movies and then I’ll make my movie, which is then a professional version of everything that has been selected by us from what the public has proposed.

WS: Will you be doing this also in other countries?

VERHOEVEN: No, I don’t think I will do that. I feel the

format or concept [was] invented for Holland, which is to use a well-known Dutch director to be their flag on the 18

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ship, so that he can invite the public to participate and to convince them that this is serious, [this is the right approach]. It’s really trying to get the public to be creative and I think every country should do that in its own way.

For example, if Poland would do it, they would need somebody like Roman Polanski. In France they would need perhaps somebody like Luc Besson. It’s necessary to have a professional supervisor, because we have to steer.We have to make sure that the project doesn’t go into areas that the public would never film, like buildings exploding or whatever. There have to be things that a group of normal people in their art school or film academy can come together and say, OK, during the next two days we’re going to shoot this movie. But my creative group on the project has to make sure that the project is staged within boundaries that are acceptable, where it is possible for the public to shoot it.

WS: You will steer it from the very beginning?

VERHOEVEN: Yes, we steer it by giving them the first

three minutes. In the first three minutes we introduce eight characters, which is more than enough for the 30 minutes that the movie ultimately will be—four male and four female characters of different ages, say from between 18 and 50 or 60, and that is already a given. [The public has] to improvise on that.They have to do the continuation of that story but in the first three minutes there are already a lot of things given that are suggested about relationships, secrets, secret affairs, perhaps even financial things that are playing in these three minutes.Then the public has to continue with these themes.

WS: And you will select from all the submissions?

VERHOEVEN: It’s clear to us that we need a much big-

ger redaction team than we thought. In fact, we released the first three-minute script, which is written by a professional writer, on the Internet on the 20th of September, and in ten days we received 270 scripts from the public.

So we need a really big redaction team to find out which elements in what script would be the best. We have to put them together and then there is the second script and so on. It’s pretty big and nobody, certainly not I, was prepared to find 270 scripts.

WS: Did you ever have any concerns, when you were coming to America, that the U.S. market is too commercial?

VERHOEVEN: Going to the United States at 48 was a really big step into the unknown and in some way I can compare what I’m doing now with this project as a step into the unknown, because I don’t know if it’s going to work. I make these jumps in my life. I think that’s important, it’s creative. I rejuvenated myself by going to the United States and doing RoboCop. I was really not a fan of science fiction.All my Dutch movies are kind of normal. They are not about science fiction; they are about people and normal historical circumstances. But going to the United States and doing science fiction had a really interesting effect on my brain.You open up and say, Oh, I can express myself in different ways, in science

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fiction or even in thrillers like Basic Instinct. In fact, there is not an enormous difference between Basic Instinct and The Fourth Man.You could say Basic Instinct is the Americanization of The Fourth Man, although I didn’t write Basic Instinct. The script from Joe Eszterhas was bought for $3 million and was given to me and it didn’t need to be developed further. By taking these steps in the unknown, you are opening yourself up, you force yourself to do something you don’t know that you’re afraid of.

There’s a lot of anxiety involved in moving to the United States and living there after 48 years in your beloved country. But you have to do these things. I used to hate all this stuff off the Internet. I’m not somebody who buys iPads or iPhones. I don’t Twitter, I don’t Facebook and now I do it!

I have to do it all because this [Entertainment Experience] project demands it. I want to reconnect with younger people, and that was my desire to step into something I didn’t know because otherwise I’ll be stuck with myself and I will do the same things that I’ve been doing.

If you say America is much more commercial, that’s all true and for film even more true. I would really say that making Black Book in 2006 was really a reaction to Hollow Man: Oh God, I think I have to change my ways; this is not going well. Starship Troopers is still fine because it has these political layers and I thought it was a really interesting movie and subversive. But Hollow Man was like, OK, now I’m doing basically what you should never do. I did it because I was fascinated by the techniques, but afterwards I looked at it and asked, Why did I do that? So I thought, OK, this is not going to happen to me again, I’m going to do something I want, not something the studio wants. Hollow Man was something Sony wanted to make and they said, Here’s the movie and here’s your salary, and I said, OK. And then I thought, I have to do something for myself. That was Black Book. It’s OK to do something they want, but if you do it all the time that’s not good. [I decided I could do] one film for the studios and one for me, and that’s really what it is: Black

Book was for me; Hollow Man was for them.

WS:

“I used to hate all this

When you came to America and did big-budget movies, did the number of people that you had, the crew, concern you? Was it scary to you?

VERHOEVEN: No, I never felt that way. If you want to make that kind of revolutionary science-fiction digital stuff then this is what it costs. It never bothered me that it was more expensive. I felt it’s just more expensive because that’s what’s on the page, they wrote it that way. Mars is going to have air.

The volcano is going to explode and whatever else is happening. Well, that’s expensive.That’s what they want, they put the money on the table, I use the money, and I never felt that there was any difference, in fact, between making a $1-million movie like Turkish Delight, or Starship Troopers, which cost $100 million.

It’s like, OK, this is on the table; this is what they want to see. So I always feel that if it really works it’s a good compromise between art and economy. I feel that it is necessary to see it that way. Lawrence of Arabia is art and it is also a commercial movie and it was expensive for the time—$12 million. Doctor Zhivago was the same, very expensive, but it was worth it. It was a good compromise between having an audience but also being able to do as an artist what you wanted, and David Lean, especially in Lawrence, did that in the most brilliant way.

stuff on the Internet. I don’t Twitter. I don’t

Facebook and now I do it!

I have to do it all because this [Entertainment

Experience] project demands it. I want to reconnect with younger people.”

WS: An epic way.

VERHOEVEN: An epic way.

In the frame: Paul Verhoeven has embarked on an ambitious social-media film project called Entertainment Experience with FCCE in the Netherlands.

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World Screen

And with so much power and so much audacity. Enormous shots. Absolutely amazing what he dared to do. He dared to do something he could not prove would work, but still he did it. I’m in awe of his audacity and his belief in himself as an artist that he could pull it off. It’s amazing, what he did. Nobody has done it since.

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market trends

A LOOK AT THE BUSINESS OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA BY MANSHA DASWANI

Miramax’s

Mike Lang

In the ten months since its sale to a privateequity group by The Walt Disney Company, Miramax has set out to reinvent itself in the U.S. and international marketplaces. CEO Mike Lang tells World Screen about the studio’s approach to digital deals and its plans for a cable channel.

From the early ’80s all the way through till late 2008, Miramax Films was the independent studio to beat in Hollywood.

Over the years, the studio, founded in 1979 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein and sold to Disney in 1993, had released more than 700 films, notching up 284 Academy Award nominations—winning 68 in total, including four for best picture: The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, Chicago and No Country for Old Men. From Oscar bait to edgy, pop-culture-defining classics like Pulp Fiction, Miramax had a string of hits until 2008. By 2009, however, the studio had become a low priority for its new owners, which scaled back Miramax’s staff and slate, and by 2010 the name and its valuable library were on the auction block.

The new owners, Filmyard Holdings—led by the Los Angeles construction magnate Ron Tutor—last year appointed Mike Lang to run the studio in its new incarnation. The former News Corporation executive, who had a hand in the creation of Hulu, has made digital a key pillar in his strategy for reinvigorating the studio. Back in May, Miramax clinched a deal with Netflix to offer several hundred titles on the streaming service in the U.S. Six months later that deal was expanded to include Netflix’s new service in Latin America. Also this summer, Miramax closed a deal with Hulu to offer hundreds of titles on the Hulu Plus subscription service in the U.S. In September, another agreement was signed to take Miramax films to Hulu in Japan.

The studio has also launched the Miramax eXperience app on Facebook, initially in the U.S., the U.K. and Turkey, with plans to venture out into other markets.

Indeed, international is at the core of the new Miramax’s growth plans, with the studio exhibiting at MIPCOM for the first time, appointing a worldwide sales chief in exMGM executive Joe Patrick and tapping former Sony Pictures Television staffer and ex-Power chief Danny Goldman to lead the new London office.

“International has been a very small part of the Miramax business—something like less than 20 percent of our revenue,” Lang tells World Screen. “My goal is for it to be 50 20

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to 70 percent within the next three years.That is the future for our business, clearly. International is at the core, and for me it’s about building relationships with the people on the ground who really understand [their markets] versus us trying to control that in Los Angeles.”

In making Miramax titles available on as many platforms in as many markets as possible, Lang is focused on taking a flexible, creative approach to every new opportunity. “First and foremost is the ability to understand how long a particular [window] you’re going to offer and what kind of restrictions there are relative to other business models you may want to be able to exploit,” Lang says on his approach to new digital licensing deals.

“For instance, in the U.S., the pay window is 7 to 9 years plus. That’s crazy in today’s environment. So our goal is really to try to find ways that we can provide our clients with the content they need, do it both for television and digital, and not hold back the opportunities. We’ve had conversations with TV buyers in which we’ve offered up the opportunity to give them the digital rights for catch-up windows as part of that particular sale. It is complicated; it’s like 3D checkers! But I do think we’re making some good progress.”

Lang is aware that piracy concerns have stopped some content owners from doing digital deals in several global markets. “I have a theory on this,” Lang says on the piracy question. “There are clearly things from a defensive standpoint you always want to try in the U.S. Around the world it’s very difficult for us to try to manage piracy, especially in markets where we have no authority or direct involvement.

The best way to combat piracy is by offering legitimate opportunities for consumers—create services that they like and desire. I was heavily involved in the formation of Hulu when I was at News Corp.When we launched Hulu we saw our piracy numbers drop precipitously. The other thing too is that many consumers still don’t know about the Miramax product, because it’s never been exploited in that market or it was way back when and there’s been nothing since then. We think just getting our product out there, even if it is free ad-supported in some short windows, is a good thing as a way to combat piracy.”

Lang and his team are not just talking to clients about licensing the Miramax library—conversations are also under way with platforms about a branded cable channel.

The service would offer up titles from the Miramax trove and acquired films, and provide exclusive windows for new features and TV series that the studio is developing. “It would have to be a partnership-based initiative,” he says.

“We do not see ourselves getting into the cable-network business around the world without the right partner in the right particular marketplace, where they bring carriage, marketing support, local content and knowledge of the advertising market.”

The underlying message to the worldwide community, Lang says, is that a studio that was “almost forgotten” is now “back and we’re open for business.”

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in the news

MAKING HEADLINES IN THE MEDIA INDUSTRY

BY MANSHA DASWANI

Content Trendsetters

Sitting in the spotlight: Anna Carugati (right) with World Screen Content Trendsetter Award winners Sarah Wright, Carlos Sandoval, Jeff Ford and Mike Cosentino at MIPCOM.

MIPCOM’s “Acquisition Superpanel—What Do Buyers Want?” session featured an engaging conversation between CTV’s Mike Cosentino, Sky’s Sarah Wright, Channel 5’s Jeff Ford, Televisa’s Carlos Sandoval and World Screen’s Anna Carugati about programming strategies, memorable negotiations, signature acquisitions, digital media rights, output deals and more.

Canada’s CTV is required to fill 50 percent of its prime-time schedule with local fare; the other half comes from acquisitions, mostly from the U.S.The U.K.’s Channel 5 also buys about half of its grid, said Ford, again largely from the U.S.Televisa’s Sandoval is tasked with overseeing acquisitions at four Mexican channels, all with varying degrees of acquired and locally produced fare.Wright buys for a broad portfolio, including Sky1, Sky Arts, Sky Living, Sky Atlantic and Challenge. “The percentages vary from channel to channel,” she said.

Asked by Carugati about their most important purchases, Ford cited CSI. “That particular program at that particular time got us into one-hour drama…and gave us a whole new audience.” Cosentino mentioned two significant acquisitions.

The first was in 2000, when CTV bought the unedited rights to HBO’s The Sopranos to run over 14 consecutive nights as counterprogramming to the Sydney Olympics. “We won every single night,” he said. The more recent key purchase was The Big BangTheory strip,“one full year ahead of the world.

It just exploded onto the schedule for us.”

Televisa’s Sandoval offered a different perspective.“One of the acquisitions that marked me was actually one that I lost.

It was 2004 and we were discussing the franchise Ice Age with Fox. [Televisa] had just given me a big budget and I guess I was feeling on top of the world, cocky, and actually we lost it to our competition and they have been very successful the last six years [with it]. I think that taught me a lot in the beginning.”

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For Wright, the acquisition of Modern Family was a turning point. “Apart from The Simpsons, people really hadn’t been buying that much comedy, and not that much had come out of the States that had been very, very good. People weren’t taking the risk.When we saw Modern Family at the L.A. Screenings it was really exciting but it was actually quite risky as well because comedy is very subjective. That was the foundation of the comedy strategy for Sky1.”

The programmers then talked about what they look for when screening new potential acquisitions. “There are all the natural things: the pedigree, the pacing, does it have an explosive opening,” said CTV’s Cosentino. “I also remind myself that I am a viewer...I have to think about whether I would change the channel at this point or would I watch the second episode.”

Ford concurred. “The one person you mustn’t view it as is yourself.What you want is not important.You have to view it as your channel, the brand of the channel, what it stands for, will it fit in with all our shows, where does it play in the schedule, how much money have we got.”

At Televisa,“We make decisions as a team,” Sandoval said.

“We rarely make decisions on the spot because we need to go back, evaluate it among each other and then make the final decision.”

The ever-more complicated nature of rights acquisition was next on the agenda, with all conversations with distributors now involving catch-up online or mobile rights to shows.

“It’s definitely more complicated,” said Wright.

The panel ended with the presentation to each of the buyers of the inaugural World Screen Content Trendsetter Award in partnership with MIPCOM. “We’re absolutely delighted to be partnering with our friends at World Screen for this award,” said Laurine Garaude, Reed MIDEM’s television division director, who came onstage to present the statues with Carugati. “It means a great deal to us because it’s a chance to recognize the contributions, the achievements of people so key to this industry and whose decisions and choices impact the content that millions of people around the world watch.”

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HBO Hungary’s When Shall We Kiss.

Give Me a

By Jay Stuart

Break Tax incentives and lush locations are luring producers of programming to destinations across the globe.

P

roducers are used to being sellers in the television business, pitching ideas to programming executives. But when it comes to choosing production locations, they are increasingly finding themselves in a buyer’s market as destinations around the world compete to attract projects and the potential benefits they bring to the local economy and tax coffers.

Some of the biggest new shows on American TV screens are being made in Central Europe. Production of ABC Studios’ new ten-part series Missing, starring Ashley Judd, is based in the Czech Republic (and is also shooting in other European territories, including Croatia and Turkey).

Showtime’s The Borgias is shooting a second series of ten episodes in Hungary. The two high-profile series have one critical point in common.

They receive incentives in the form of tax breaks from the countries hosting the productions.

“Tax incentives are a huge factor in today’s market,” says David Minkowski, the head of film production at Stillking Films, which plays a central role in organizing the locations for Missing. “Whether you’re talking about making a feature film or a series or a TV movie, you need incentives. Studios and networks want incentives, whether it’s close to home in one of the states or Canada or anywhere else around the world.”

The main production base for Missing is Barrandov Studios in Prague. “We are shooting as much as possible of the series there,” Minkowski says. The Czech tax regime, in place for a bit more than a year, offers Missing a break of 20 percent on local spending. In addition to that, there is a 10-percent break on foreign labor costs. “In effect, it means if you have a star making $5 million you get $500,000 back. That is very attrac24

tive. The incentives were one of the reasons ABC chose to work in the Czech Republic.”

HUNGRY FOR MORE

Hungary offers The Borgias, with an estimated budget in the range of $40 million to $45 million for 10 hours, an incentive of 20 percent of the approved spend in the country, so the producers get 20 percent of the budget back. In addition, The Borgias post-produces in Canada, where the incentive is 25 percent of approved spend.The show is an Irish-CanadianHungarian co-production.

James Flynn of the Dublin-based Octagon Films, executive producer of The Borgias along with Neil Jordan, previously produced The Tudors for Showtime as a co-production of Ireland and Canada. Showtime was interested in a replacement series and after coming up with The Borgias it decided it made sense to expand the

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co-production to Hungary by shooting there. “We explored various location options, including Ireland, Spain and Hungary,” Flynn says. “There is a checklist of things that you go through when you’re choosing.Along with the incentives, the studio set-up in Hungary was great. Hungary has a tradition of large-scale sets. We found out they were building a Renaissance village at Korda Studios, which was ideal for us. They have an entire medieval village at Fox Studios, too.

Hungary also has good crews.

“We make it our business to track the incentives around Europe,” Flynn continues. “Various states in the U.S. are now offering incentives as well nowadays, which not many of them were doing five years ago. We follow changes in legislation and we are alerted to opportunities by people in the field. We do location scouting.”

Eastern Europe is also attracting productions with a natural outdoor

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A look of determination: The main production base for ABC Studios’ new drama Missing is Prague, as the Czech Republic offers tax breaks for shooting in the region.

setting. MarVista Entertainment, which is based in Los Angeles, recently produced Super Eruption, a Syfy original movie, in Bulgaria. The movie was licensed at MIPCOM following the U.S. broadcast.

“This is our first movie in Bulgaria,” says Fernando Szew, MarVista’s CEO. “Syfy had a history of producing in Bulgaria. They suggested that we should explore there and we decided that for this film in particular it made sense. A disaster/catastrophe setting is hard to replicate if it’s supposed to take place in a city, but this was set outside, in Yellowstone, which was an easier task, and the forests and fields in Bulgaria worked. We were able to deliver a film that’s very big for television. It’s bigger in scope than we could have done in the U.S.” Bulgaria has not yet gotten to the point of advantageous tax legislation.

For Super Eruption, a 90-minute movie with a budget north of $2 million, lower costs were a big attraction.

“There were some incentives for doing it there in the cost differentials,” Szew states. “It’s a lower-cost production environment. Much more important was the history in Bulgaria of a crew base that had worked on things in the past, not just for Syfy, and were good at what they had to do. They have a fairly robust industry.We obviously took key people, but Bulgaria has infrastructure and people. It wasn’t a question of incentives so much as the right fit for the right movie.”

MarVista worked on Super Eruption with a local producer, UFO Film. “It was a learning curve, as it always is with a new location,” Szew says.

“Now that we have the experience under our belt we would look to try again there. We always have our eyes and ears open. Movies and TV are produced all over the world, and in many different states in the U.S.” Stillking is right in the middle of the globalization and increasing complexity of producing on location. As a line-production outfit it facilitates 26

shooting in overseas destinations by providing an additional layer of administrative services. With a lot of its offshore activity in Prague, Stillking also has offices in Budapest, Barcelona, Cape Town, London and Santiago, as well as Los Angeles, with about 50 full-time staffers.

“Usually a company that’s making a film or series does not have a legal presence in the location,” Minkowski says. “We offer that presence. We offer corporate infrastructure. We take care of the incentives, and offer payroll services and cover all the legal and administrative aspects.”

Stillking’s growth has followed the upward trend in offshore production.

The British producer Matthew Stillman launched the company in Prague in the early ’90s as a kitchen table–type operation. Minkowski joined in 1995 to run the film side of the business.

“The mid to late ’90s was when the runaway production phenomenon [films and TV shows shot in locations outside of the market in which

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they originated] started to take off and the business in Prague just exploded,” Minkowski says.“There has been a big evolution since.We went through the runaway production phase, which was about getting lower costs and better value in a location, and moved into the tax-incentive phase. The whole business is much more sophisticated.

Producers are a lot savvier now. It is definitely more competitive. Every country that wants to be in the film business, which is consistently shown to be a net benefit to the economy, needs to create incentives.”

RUNAWAY INCENTIVES

Runaway production took off in the ’90s, most notably in the area of TV movies. Production of these in the U.S. dropped by about 30 percent during the second half of the decade, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

The biggest “foreign” location remains Canada, which attracted foreign production spending to the

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Strategic moves: The Borgias shoots in Hungary, which offers an incentive of 20 percent of the approved spend to give back to producers, and the show post-produces in Canada, where the incentive is 25 percent of approved spend.

tune of more than C$1.5 billion in 2009–10, up from C$768 million in 1996–97. However, Canadian location spending is down from a peak of some C$1.9 billion in 2003–04.

HOLLYWOOD NORTH

Canada enacted its first incentive program in 1998, and has both federal and provincial incentives.

British Columbia, the preferred location, attracted a total of 135 productions in 2009–10 with a production value of C$321.8 million. The projected tax credit on those projects was C$57.3 million. Of those 135 projects, 39 were TV series, 24 were movies of the week, 4 were mini-series and 32 were other TV programs. Nine pilots were also shot in British Columbia.

The spectacular growth of incentives is nowhere more evident than in the U.S. In 2000, there were only four states with incentive programs for film production and they offered a grand total of $3 million in benefits, according to the Tax Foundation. By 2005, there were 15 states offering $129 million. That jumped to 24 states offering $369 million the next year, 33 states and $489 million in 2007, 35 states offering $807 million in 2008 and 40 states offering $1.25 billion in 2009. The number of states held steady in 2010 as the amount rose to $1.4 billion.

But this year has seen a rollback to 37 states with a total of $1.3 billion in incentives. And the number is set to drop to 35 states next year. One factor has been the weak economy, with governors and legislatures giving preference to other priorities. But, according to the Tax Foundation, the competition among states means that the main beneficiary is the production business rather than local businesses or state coffers. Several governors have targeted the subsidies in their states for elimination.

Arkansas, Idaho and Maine have appropriated no funds for their programs this year. Arizona, Iowa, Kansas and New Jersey have suspended their programs and Washington is following suit.The incentive regime may not survive in Alaska, Georgia, Missouri and Rhode Island, and the generosity of treatment has been scaled back in some other states.

MarVista Entertainment shot the teen drama series Beyond the Break in Hawaii for The N (now TeenNick).

“When we went to make our show in Hawaii there were better incentives,” Szew says. “That has changed now. Hawaii does tend to be more expensive. But you can still get 15 percent to 20 percent of the budget covered with their incentives, making it equivalent to other places. If 28

you want big waves and beaches, that is the place to go. We also did two movies in Hawaii. There is a look to movies shot in Hawaii that is very special. Only Australia or South Africa offer the same sort of potential and they are even farther away with their own logistical issues.”

CREATIVE NEEDS

Incentives and lower costs aside, the creative demands of a project still loom largest. “It is all about the right project in the right place, not the incentives,” says Szew. “It is hard to pinpoint the tipping point. It’s a drawing-board puzzle. Finance and economics play a part, but the decision absolutely must work creatively. It’s about weather patterns and the director’s experience and what the director of photography wants. The creative team must be convinced. Creative absolutely comes first.”

“Incentives are an important factor, but the key is whether the location does the script justice,” agrees Octagon’s Flynn. “The options are to do it in a natural location, which is very hard for most drama, or to have a set. Hungary, for example, has high-end designs and sets. They invest in sets.”

The issue of location is now part of the creative discussions at an early

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stage. “I am contacted at a very, very early stage in projects,” Stillking’s Minkowski says. “Sometimes it’s when the script is still in development. A producer calls us and wants to know how can I make this.We do location research to see if it can be done visually as well as financially.”

There are still times when only a particular geographical setting will do.

An example was an episode of the ITV Studios series Agatha Christie’s Poirot shot in Morocco in May of 2008.

Entitled “Appointment with Death,” it was based on a novel set around the ancient site of Petra in Jordan. “We were advised by an executive producer that Jordan would not necessarily be a safe place to film,” Karen Thrussell, the show’s producer, says.

“Morocco is very film-friendly and has equipment and crews to hire. It also has some great locations and we felt it could really work with the tone of the film. However, there were not really any financial incentives to work there.”

The local partner was a company called Dune Films. The British producers brought most of their crew and equipment from England but had additional makeup, wardrobe, sparks and construction help in Morocco. Plus, they used local background artists and there were Moroccan nationals in the cast.

There were practical drawbacks.

“On the whole it was a smooth process, but getting British trucks through customs was very nerveracking as they held them for as long as they wanted,”Thrussell recalls.“Our makeup truck with all the actors’ wigs inside arrived only hours before we were due to start filming. We would have had real difficulty otherwise because you need a lot of wigs for period drama. Getting permission to film in government buildings was also difficult and it often took a long time to get things approved.”

What would she say to someone thinking of producing in Morocco?

“It’s a very friendly place with lots of interesting locations. Make sure you have a really good fixer who is up front about any problems that may arise and the timescales for solving them.”

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In Central Europe, the production infrastructure is by no means reliant on foreigners coming to town; local production has become a strong underpinning to the sector.

“We are producing programming targeted at our own Central European markets, so we are really less interested in the international appeal of our series,” says Linda Jensen, the CEO of HBO Central Europe. “The important thing is that we create landmark series and television events for our various markets and cultures. We are currently producing for Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. But without a doubt, one can produce in Central Europe for the international audience. Many Hollywood studios, and HBO U.S., do come to our territories to produce. Keep in mind that the region hosts great facilities, including the Buftea studios in Romania, Barrandov in the Czech Republic and Korda in Hungary.”

Once again, however, incentives are important. “Many countries do have tax incentives and financial schemes, along with cultural support funds,” Jensen says. “We have obtained funding, together with our producers, from the Czech and Polish film councils in the past. And the current Hungarian tax-rebate scheme is helping our development of Hungarian fiction.”

She adds, “We are producing for the local markets. So our ‘lower’ costs are monetized across a lower value (GDP) audience base, if one were to compare them to Western markets. In fact, sometimes we lament that multiple foreign producers in our markets drive the prices up. On the other hand, the foreign presence in the production industry is increasing knowledge and standards of production, which is a great plus for all of us.”

sions of In Treatment are also being made by HBO Poland and HBO Czech Republic as part of their extensive local-production slates.

Meanwhile, American and European media companies pursuing productions in markets beyond Central and Eastern Europe and Canada appear to be one of the emerging factors in the locations business. Outside of the U.S., India is the largest market Disney has invested in for local production, producing literally thousands of episodes of local fare. Output is aimed at the Indian market at present, but as Disney becomes more comfortable working in India, a low-cost environment with a variety of natural settings, who’s to say that that might not change someday?

As part of the globalizing market, producers have definitely started looking to new continents and countries for locations.“South Africa is popular now,” says Minkowski.

“There are incentives to producing there. They are slightly different from what we get in the Czech

Republic, for example, but basically the concept is similar. It’s about getting back a sizable chunk of the budget. South Africa’s drawback is the distance you have to come from the States. But it has quite a specific look that is special.We see lots of business— feature films more than television.”

LOCAL FLAVOR

South America is up and coming too.

Stillking worked on the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace in Santiago.

“South America offers great nature, great cities, a European look and an American look,” Minkowski says.

“We are doing a lot of commercials in South America. It’s also relatively close to L.A. Another advantage is the different seasons—if you need a winter look in summertime, you can get it in South America.”

MarVista is partnering with a company in Argentina called SNAP TV to begin producing in Latin America. “We have a film in Brazil in development and we are looking for a Brazilian partner,” Szew says. “We are also looking at

doing one in Colombia. We are very actively looking around.”

So is Octagon Films’ Flynn, who will return to Ireland for his next project, a second series of the crime show Love/Hate featuring Aidan Gillen, who had a leading role in The Wire. “I’m based in Dublin so I focus on Europe, but there are other opportunities,” he says. “Australia and New Zealand have flourishing location businesses. South Africa has become very interesting with some attractive incentives. The Emirates and Morocco are starting to emerge.”

All in all, the buyer’s market shows no sign of abating for producers, at least outside the U.S. “We are going to reach the point where if you are a producer you are going to be able to make your movie or program exactly where it is supposed to be,” Minkowski says.“It used to be that a few locations were doubling for whatever you wanted and people were faking everything. Now you’re starting to be able to go to the location you really need. It’s a good time to be a producer.”

FARTHER AFIELD

HBO Romania produced The World According to Ion B, an International Emmy Award winner, and has made the first five episodes of the Romanian version of In Treatment. Local ver-

Lush locales: MarVista shot the teen drama Beyond the Break in Hawaii, which is an expensive location but one that offers a number of incentives to ease the costs.

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one on one oshua Sapan, the president and CEO of AMC Networks, has spent his career creating and nurturing some of the best known entertainment brands, including AMC, IFC, Sundance Channel and WE tv. He has also been a staunch supporter of the independent film industry and has used cable on-demand platforms to help indie movies find audiences beyond their limited runs in movie theaters.

He joined AMC Networks, then called Rainbow Media Holdings, in 1987, as president of the company’s AMC and Bravo networks. AMC, which launched in 1984, has come to define what a classic movie network is and Sapan adroitly complemented beloved movies with high-quality scripted TV series, including Mad Men, which won multiple Golden Globe Awards and the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Drama for four years in a row, and Primetime Emmy Award winner Breaking Bad. Sapan also oversaw Bravo, which launched in 1980 and became a destination for culture and arts. Inside the Actors Studio and the pop culture phenomenon Queer Eye for the Straight Guy added to the appeal of Bravo, which was sold to NBC in 2002.

Sapan continued to add groundbreaking

channels to the cable universe, including WE tv (which launched as Romance Classics in 1997, and today is a leading destination for women with such original series as Bridezillas, My Fair Wedding and The Locator) and IFC, whose programming, summarized in its tagline “Always On, Slightly Off,” currently targets a young male demographic with films and cult TV shows, as well as alternative scripted series such as Onion News Network.

It is perhaps with IFC Films that Sapan made his biggest mark, with his goal of bringing the best specialty films to the largest audience possible. IFC Films includes three distribution labels: IFC Films, which features talent-driven independent films; IFC Midnight, focused on genre entertainment, including horror, science fiction, thrillers, erotic art house, action and more; and Sundance Selects, which concentrates on American independents, documentaries and world cinema. All three labels utilize a unique distribution model that makes independent genre films available to a national audience by releasing them in theaters as well as on cable VOD platforms.

Earlier this year, AMC’s parent company, Cablevision Systems Corporation, announced the spin-off of AMC Networks, creating two distinct companies.

Sapan talks to World Screen about the spin-off, his company’s brands, the game-changing value of original productions and the importance of championing the vision of independent filmmakers.

Joshua Sapan AMC Networks

WS: Why was AMC Networks, formerly

Rainbow Media Holdings, separated from its parent company, Cablevision?

SAPAN: Earlier this year, AMC Networks was separated from Cablevision.

Similarly, last year, Madison Square Garden was separated from Cablevision. We believe this provides a clearer view to shareholders of what the assets are within this enterprise. It also provides for greater clarity about what is now called AMC Networks. If someone is purchasing AMC Networks stock, as opposed to purchasing Cablevision stock, there is a greater specificity about what’s in that security and how it performs. We think there’s value in what we do here that will be further recognized as it is seen more clearly.

WS: Tell us about the IFC Films distribution model and making indie films available to a national audience by releasing them through theaters and on demand.

SAPAN: We were one of the first to release films simultaneously on cable VOD and theatrically. When we did it, it was not well received by some con30

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stituents. But our feeling (particularly for independent films; this does not necessarily apply to big films) was that the audiences were relatively small enough and discrete enough and dedicated enough that the viewing of the films would be incremental; that a simultaneous exhibition on cable would actually have a beneficial effect on the theatrical release.That was a theory that turned out to be accurate and it has since become quite commonplace.

A couple of companies followed us, some with larger films. It worked out quite well and we’ve continued to pursue this strategy. In a certain sense, that was the beginning of an awful lot of window bending, which I think has been very good for the industry because it has created additional points of access or purchase beyond going to the theater.

WS: So the simultaneous release on cable VOD has not cannibalized theater attendance?

SAPAN: It has actually helped the theatrical box office. And most importantly, it has

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helped producers and directors and creative people because they are able to benefit from incremental revenue streams. And, therefore, more movies can be made.That trend has been followed by other alternations in windows, and I think that is very exciting.

If one rewinds [to] a short five years ago, the only place to get money for independent films was the movie theater. In terms of the initial point of distribution, that has changed significantly today. At the same time, homevideo revenue opportunities and DVD sales have diminished. So cable VOD has had a bit of a helping hand in making independent film vibrant and vital. Independent films are enhanced and are benefitting from cableVOD because they generally live off smaller numbers of ticket purchases. If those ticket purchases can become electronic on cableVOD then that means more films can be made.

We’ve seen for certain films [that] two or three times the revenue occurs on cable VOD as opposed to theatrical. That’s not every film, that’s the occasional film, which means that the discrete and very interested audiences are finding a place to watch what they want to watch. There are films that may not find their way to a theater for long enough to make it economical; however, cable VOD gives them an opportunity to be economical, which means that more movies will be made, which is a pretty wonderful thing. That is all good when you are dealing with this fragile business that is based not on market conditions, where someone says, “We are going to make this and make a lot of money,” but on the creative expression of an individual.

That effort really needs as aggressive a posture of distribution as possible in order to keep it alive. We look forward to utilizing other means of distribution as well.

WS: How do you see the state of

the independent film industry, and what challenges is it facing?

SAPAN: It’s always a bit challenging because it’s not inherently mar-

Addicting television: Breaking Bad, which heads into its fifth and final season in 2012, helped put AMC on the original-programming map.

ket driven; it really is creatively driven.

So when one goes to a film festival, like Sundance, for example, it’s fair to say that most of the films there were not made by some person who said, “Oh gee, I want to go capitalize on this and make a lot of money.”

Those films were made by an individual or group of individuals who said, “I really want to see this on the screen.” That is inherently challenging in a free-market system; there is no subsidy for independent films.

But all of this technology, beginning with cable VOD, has provided a whole lot more money and opportunity for people to see those movies. If I showed you the number of people who click “buy” on the films we release on cable VOD, it’s almost jaw dropping because these 11/11

films would have not been seen almost at all heretofore and subsequently they may not even have been made had that cable revenue not created a reward and a means for subsequent films to be made. So they are being made in ever more abundance and in part that is being facilitated by production technology and by the advent of digital, and it’s just a terrific turn of events.

WS: How has original program-

ming changed the game for your portfolio of channels?

SAPAN: Our overall approach has been to add original programming to what were historically movie channels. It’s designed to give a greater perception of differentiation and propriety in the minds of con-

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sumers, to make the brands more distinctive in a world in which it’s increasingly challenging to be distinctive, and to ultimately have greater control over our destiny— inasmuch as we have greater control over those shows.

On IFC we are appealing to young adults.We recently premiered a fun show called Whisker Wars. It’s a reality competition show about men growing beards and has a degree of satire associated with it.

We also have scripted material on IFC—there is a returning show called The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, which stars David Cross. And last year, we premiered Portlandia, which stars Fred Armisen from Saturday Night Live and is executive produced by Lorne Michaels.

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one on one These shows are illustrative of what is on IFC: they’re comedic and have a degree of satire which is meant to appeal to young adults, and that is developing a head of steam.

On Sundance Channel, there are very different and one might call idiosyncratic nonfiction shows. There is a great series that is returning later this year, Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys, which is reflective of Sundance’s desire and success in exploring, through nonfiction, social phenomena and patterns of behavior that have not yet been examined or recognized. On the flip side of that we had a miniseries, Carlos, which was a more direct continuation of Sundance’s history and dramatic filmmaking and, I’m happy to say, it won a Golden Globe and an Emmy nomination for Best Movie or Mini-Series.

Greener pastures: The Independent Film Channel (IFC) not only airs independent films, but has also branched out into original programming, with hits such as Portlandia.

On WE tv there are nonfiction shows. We’ve had a show on the air for some years called Bridezillas and we’ve had a Sunday night weddings

Perfect pair: Sundance Channel, which airs Iconoclasts, bills itself as the destination for “What’s Next, Now.” 32

block that has been very successful.

We added a show last year called Braxton Family Values, which had the highest-rated series premiere in the history of WE tv and is returning in November.

AMC has had the most transformative quality from what earlier was a classic movie channel. Its original programming set out to add differentiation, define the brand, increase our audience and our perception among our commercial constituents. We began favorably with Mad Men and followed it with Breaking Bad, which just completed its fourth season, and it actually had its highest ratings ever as well as a tremendous critical reception. Along the way we added more series, including The Walking Dead, which is the highest-rated series on our air by far and whose second season premiered October 16. There is also a series called The Killing, adapted from the wildly successful Danish television series Forbrydelsen. And we have another new series coming in November for which we have very high hopes, called Hell on Wheels. It’s about the building of the transcontinental railroad.What all those shows have in common is that they are cinematic-like. I hope they really do reflect the reverence that we have for the writing and the artistry that is now manifest on TV, oftentimes to a greater extent than it is in the world of commercial film. We have had the good fortune of striking a responsive

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chord with consumers and with every other group that we deal with, so it’s had a very beneficial effect and has transformed the perception of AMC. WS: The AMC Networks’ brands

certainly have helped boost indie filmmakers and the industry.

SAPAN: We are the beneficiaries of it, but I hope we are the true believers and true champions. And our association with Robert Redford and the Sundance Channel is important to us. He, among all others, gave the independent film industry a greater push.

WS: He certainly had a vision and a passion for independent filmmaking even though he came up through the Hollywood system.

SAPAN: Amazingly so. He went first and he went where no man would go and he went with a completely iconoclastic vision of it.

WS: You are also highly regarded as

an executive who is creative and constantly pursues innovation. What has given you that drive?

SAPAN: Thank you, it’s interesting and fun and rewarding to take what we were just talking about, which is creative expression, and find ways for technology to emancipate it and free it and to create access and to make it work as a business. That’s an interesting recipe to mess with!

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world’s end

IN THE STARS

Almost every national constitution forbids the establishment of an official state religion. But this secular bent doesn’t stop people from looking to the heavens for answers to life’s most troublesome questions: Will I succeed? Will I find love? Will Arnold make a statue of me?

Every day, papers and magazines worldwide print horoscopes—projections for people born in a specific month, based on the positions of the stars and planets. While many people rely on these daily, weekly or monthly messages for guidance in their lives, some readers skip over them entirely.

The editors of WS recognize that these little pearls of random fore-

David Boreanaz

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Global distinction: Buffy’s Angel.

Sign: Taurus (b. May 16, 1969) Significant date: October 9, 2011 Noteworthy activity: In an interview with TV Week,

Global distinction: The Dark Knight darling.

Sign: Scorpio (b. November 16, 1977) Significant date: September 21, 2011 Noteworthy activity: The starlet’s latest project, the

the Bones actor opens up about his extramarital affairs.

Boreanaz admits to cheating on his wife with Rachel Uchitel, who became a tabloid staple after her wellpublicized dalliances with golfer Tiger Woods. He says that the 2010 affair has been a “bonding experience” for himself and his wife.

Horoscope: “The month isn’t expected to be easy, but the Taurus is able to look on the bright side of bad situations. Optimism will help you move ahead.” (gotohoroscope.com)

Victorian-era film Hysteria, about the invention of the sex toy, has her receiving some interesting gifts. She tells reporters at a press conference at the Toronto Film Festival that she has been sent several different vibrators by different people with sex-toy stores. Gyllenhaal also says she “lends” the vibrators to her friends, and they sometimes take them “for six months at a time.”

Horoscope: “On the career front, secrets, mixed messages and confusion will rule the roost.Avoid making any major decision regarding your job or sharing information with others at the office.” (horoscopes-love.eu)

Arnold Schwarzenegger

But rather than poring over charts

Global distinction: The Terminator.

Sign: Leo (b. July 30, 1947) Significant date: October 7, 2011 Noteworthy activity: The bodybuilder turned film

our staff prefers to use past horoscopes in an attempt to legitimate the science.

As you can see here, had some of these media figures remembered to consult their horoscopes on significant days, they could have avoided a few surprises.

Scarlett Johansson

David Boreanaz

sight occasionally prove prophetic.

of the zodiac to predict world events,

Maggie Gyllenhaal

star turned California governor unveils an eightfoot flex-posed statue of himself in his hometown of Thal, Austria. According to the New York Daily News, it is the first of three statues, costing about $100,000 each, to be distributed to various locations throughout the globe.

Horoscope: “Leo is the sign of the healthy ego that develops confidence and personal power while maintaining an inner sense of humility and respect for others.” (beliefnet.com)

Scarlett Johansson Global distinction: Voluptuous film siren.

Sign: Sagittarius (b. November 22, 1984) Significant date: September 30, 2011 Noteworthy activity: The curvaceous celeb is the lat-

est victim of a cell-phone-hacking ring thought to be responsible for stealing photos from female celebrities.

Nude photos, which she appears to have taken of herself, surface on the Internet. Johansson enlists the help of the FBI to get to the bottom of the scandal.

Horoscope: “Sagittarius tends to be egocentric. While Sagittarius is unquestionably one of the geniuses of the zodiac, it is still a good idea to add a few ounces of modesty to the Sagittarius mix.” (horoscopes.ws)

Nancy Grace

Russell Brand

Global distinction: Legal commentator.

Sign: Libra (b. October 23, 1959) Significant date: September 27, 2011 Noteworthy activity: The 52-year-old TV journalist

Global distinction: British bad boy.

Sign: Gemini (b. June 4, 1975) Significant date: October 3, 2011 Noteworthy activity: The comedian is forced to cancel

and former prosecutor is on board the latest season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. During a performance of the quickstep, her dress slips, exposing a nipple.

Horoscope: “You might feel like you’re not getting all the attention you deserve, but this is not actually the case. What you do behind the scenes may be more important than what you do in front of others now.” (m.aol.com/horoscopes)

a show in Canada after being stopped by customs officials at the airport and denied entry to the country. Earlier this year he was deported from Japan, reportedly because of his criminal record.

Horoscope: “Though roadblocks may still loom fierce in your environment, your ability to ignore these may be heightened by your dedication to your purpose.” (dailyom.com)

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Stand Out at NATPE! World Screen TV Kids TV Latina TV Formatos TV Niños Guía de Canales Guía de Distribuidores World Screen Newsflash Diario TV Latina For more information contact Ricardo Guise on 212-924-7620 or email rguise@worldscreen.com

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