World Screen Pre-MIPTV & FILMART

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Pre-MIPTV & FILMART Edition

WWW.WORLDSCREEN.COM

THE MAGAZINE OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA • MARCH 2017

Trends in Drama / eOne’s John Morayniss / ITV Studios’ Maria Kyriacou Keshet’s Avi Nir / Sonar’s Thomas Lesinski

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CONTENTS

MARCH 2017/PRE-MIPTV & FILMART EDITION DEPARTMENTS WORLD VIEW

By Anna Carugati.

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UPFRONTS New content on the market.

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IN THE NEWS eOne’s John Morayniss.

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Publisher Ricardo Seguin Guise Group Editorial Director Anna Carugati Editor Mansha Daswani

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Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski

MARKET TRENDS 28 ITV Studios’ Maria Kyriacou.

SPOTLIGHT Keshet’s Avi Nir.

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FOCUS ON Sonar’s Thomas Lesinski.

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WORLD’S END In the stars.

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Managing Editor Joanna Padovano Tong Associate Editor Sara Alessi Editor, Spanish-Language Publications Elizabeth Bowen-Tombari Associate Editors, Spanish-Language Publications Rafael Blanco Robert Valencia Contributing Editor Elizabeth Guider Production & Design Director Victor L. Cuevas Online Director Simon Weaver Art Director Phyllis Q. Busell Senior Sales & Marketing Manager Dana Mattison Sales & Marketing Assistant Nathalia Lopez Business Affairs Manager Andrea Moreno Contributing Writers Steve Clarke Andy Fry Jane Marlow Joanna Stephens Jay Stuart David Wood Copy Editors Maddy Kloss Tamara Schechter

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Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP

SPECIAL REPORT

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From uplifting family sagas to twisty soaps and edgy thrillers, the global drama business is still booming—but finding ways to cut through the clutter is no easy feat.

—Mansha Daswani

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WORLD VIEW

BY ANNA CARUGATI

The Power of a Role Model I thought I was unique—not so. When I heard that Mary Tyler Moore had passed away, I thought that only I had been profoundly influenced by her iconic character, Mary Richards—not so. I had formed such a personal connection with Mary when I was a teenager that surely I was the only one—wrong again.

I was surprised by the flood of tributes to and recollections about Mary Tyler Moore and her influence on comedy, on the TV industry and, more importantly, on thousands and thousands of young women, generation after generation, including Oprah Winfrey and Shonda Rhimes. I had always felt that my experience with Mary Richards, starting in the fall of 1970 when The Mary Tyler Moore Show premiered, was intensely personal; it was just me and a small, 12-inch, black-and-white TV. I was 13 years old and had recently moved back to the U.S. after living in Italy for eight years. That year was not as violent as 1968 had been, but there was still much turmoil. The shootings at Kent State University sparked unrest on campuses nationwide. The U.S. invasion of Cambodia expanded the war in Vietnam and generated more anti-war demonstrations. The Apollo 13 mission nearly ended in disaster and kept the nation and the world spellbound. The Beatles disbanded— now that’s enough to rock a young teenager’s world.

Despite the Civil Rights Act of 1964, there was still plenty of racial discrimination. Women were demanding equal pay, many encouraging others to burn their bras and stop shaving their legs or underarms.

Some adolescent girls may have found this liberating; I didn’t. Equal pay for equal work sounded more than fair to me, but “feminists” were derided daily in the media.

Amid this turbulent background, along comes Mary Richards: well-mannered, well-groomed, well-spoken, quick-witted. Single and in her 30s, she finds a job as an associate producer in a small, male-dominated TV newsroom in Minneapolis. Mary quickly discovers that she has to work twice as hard for less pay than men, but she stands her ground in her straightforward yet fair, determined but not arrogant demeanor, always maintaining humility and a sense of humor, and wins the respect of her boss and co-workers. As the show’s theme song goes, she turned the world on with her smile.

She did more than turn my world on—she was a lightning rod. If studying the Muckrakers in school and reading and watching All the President’s Men had ignited in me the belief that journalism can make a difference, Mary Richards, during the seven years her show was on the air, took my ideals and grounded them in real life. I saw her and thought, This is what a female associate producer does, and this is how a feminist behaves.

Mary Tyler Moore’s passing has made my attachment to her fabulous show and to Mary Richards all

There is a lot more truth in many of today’s scripted series than there is in a lot of news reporting.

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the more poignant and thought-provoking, as it happened against the backdrop of today’s disturbing—no, more than disturbing, downright frightening—events.

The WJM-TV newsroom that Mary Richards worked in, though small and under-resourced, adhered to the same journalistic standards as bigger-budget news operations. Even within the context of comedy, Mary, Murray and Mr. Grant always fought for accuracy and integrity—and against anchorman Ted Baxter’s vanity, incompetence and foolishness—albeit with hilarity and bravura. Behind the laughs, WJM reflected what was accepted in the ’70s: there was a clear distinction between fact and opinion, and the public expected a news organization to be objective and to keep public officials accountable. When President Nixon was caught lying, he was forced to resign.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show aired on CBS, and CBS News’ anchorman at the time was the respected and avuncular Walter Cronkite. Cronkite made a guest appearance on the show, and the cast’s admiration was palpable. To me and many others, CBS was the house of Edward R. Murrow, Cronkite and numerous other outstanding journalists. It is not a coincidence that my first job was in the newsroom of a CBS station. We had to check facts—all facts—against at least two sources. As a newbie, they made me check everything at least three times. That term “fact” is bandied about quite a bit these days—mutilated, actually, enough to make one lose one’s mind. Just to make sure I wasn’t losing mine, I checked the definition of “fact” in two dictionaries. According to Merriam-Webster, a fact is “something that has actual existence; an actual occurrence.” The Oxford Dictionary defines a fact as “a thing that is known or proved to be true.” Ah, “true,” another concept that in today’s world of “alternative facts” and “fake news” has been flushed down the toilet.

I find that there is a lot more truth in many of today’s skillfully crafted and honest scripted series than there is in a lot of news reporting. It’s no surprise that viewers are flocking to dramas and comedies—perhaps even to escape from the news. There are more scripted shows than ever before. In this issue, we hear about the importance of scripted programming from Keshet’s Avi Nir, Sonar’s Thomas Lesinski, eOne’s John Morayniss and ITV’s Maria Kyriacou, and in our feature, we learn about the various drama financing models.

My hope is that there is a shy yet idealistic adolescent out there who can find in one of today’s shows an indelible role model to ignite their dreams and solidify a vision of what is possible, as Mary Richards did for me.

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UPFRONTS

BBC Worldwide Top of the Lake: China Girl / Broken / White Gold Following on the success of the first season, Top of the Lake is returning for a second installment, titled China Girl, which stars Elisabeth Moss, Gwendoline Christie and Nicole Kidman. Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake “was a huge hit, so I expect audiences will be very eager to see the followup,” says Paul Dempsey, the president of global markets for BBC Worldwide. The company is also promoting Broken, a Jimmy McGovern-penned drama centered on a priest in England, and White Gold, a comedy from Damon Beesley (The Inbetweeners) about a salesman in the 1980s. “We are also very proud to be launching Ocean, the new landmark series from the BBC’s Natural History Unit,” says Dempsey.

Other highlights include the entertainment formats Let It Shine and Let’s Sing and Dance.

“Our main focus is to continue the conversations with our clients that were started at BBC Worldwide Showcase in February.”

—Paul Dempsey

Broken

BBC Worldwide Latin America/US Hispanic Broken / Doctor Foster / Top of the Lake: China Girl Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) leads the cast in Broken, a drama series that follows Father Michael Kerrigan as he presides over an urban parish in contemporary Britain. “With a checkered past and a complicated relationship with his family, the priest is determined to help his parishioners through their troubles,” says Anna Gordon, the executive VP and managing director of BBC Worldwide Latin America/US Hispanic. “But despite his best efforts, Father Michael can’t always fix what’s broken in their lives.” Also on offer from the company is the second installment of Doctor Foster, presenting the next chapter in the life of a talented female doctor named Gemma, and Top of the Lake: China Girl, the sophomore season of the critically acclaimed crime series starring Elisabeth Moss.

“We are bringing to our commercial partners in the region a variety of new shows that are sure to resonate with Latin American audiences.”

—Anna Gordon

Top of the Lake: China Girl

CJ E&M Golden Tambourine / Tomorrow, with You / Voice Famous individuals compete by performing a recreated song in the music entertainment series Golden Tambourine, which CJ E&M will be presenting to international buyers at MIPTV. “Two teams of celebrities battle through several rounds, while the audience decides the winner by shaking their tambourines,” explains Jangho Seo, the company’s general manager of the global contents business division.

“Unlike other music/dance competition shows, Golden Tambourine does not only focus on talent. Rather, the key is to fill the audience with gusto, which is a feeling perceived universally.” CJ E&M will also be attending Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FILMART), where the company plans to promote the dramas Voice, My Shy Boss and Tomorrow, with You.

“CJ E&M aims to produce creative and high-quality content for our audiences and is continuously seeking partnerships for co-production.”

—Jangho Seo

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Entertainment One Mary Kills People / Gap Year / Full Frontal with Samantha Bee Set in the controversial world of assisted suicide, Mary Kills People is a drama highlight from Entertainment One. “It’s a unique idea paired with bold, complex characters and gripping story lines that brilliantly balances drama with some humor,” says Stuart Baxter, the president of Entertainment One Television International. Gap Year, formerly known as Foreign Bodies, is another title on offer. The show sees a motley crew of travelers set out on a three-month trip throughout Asia. There is also the late-night talk show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. “Our strategy is to partner with the best creative talent resulting in high-end, compelling programming that will appeal to audiences globally,” Baxter adds. “We’re focused on maintaining relationships with buyers specifically targeting the fragmented, diverse markets.”

“Each of these programs offers something vastly different for all types of buyers.”

—Stuart Baxter

Mary Kills People

Global Agency Eternal / Bring Your Fame Back / My Wife Rules A passionate love story takes center stage in Eternal, one of Global Agency’s MIPTV highlights. “This drama [asks] how far would you go for the sake of love, conscience and justice,” says Izzet Pinto, the company’s CEO, who adds that the series “brings together the very well-known actor Engin Akyürek (Fatmagul) and actress Fahriye Evcen (Lovebird).”

Global Agency will also be promoting Bring Your Fame Back, which sees one-hit-wonder pop stars get a second chance at fame while competing for a cash prize. Then there is My Wife Rules, a cooking contest in which husbands must prepare a meal while being instructed by their wives via an earpiece. These formats are “highly entertaining and also fresh, which brings a different and unique approach to their genres,” says Pinto.

“We already anticipate lots of interest in our full catalog, but especially for these shows.”

—Izzet Pinto

Eternal

GMA Worldwide Envy / Destined to Be Yours / Legally Blind New drama series are part of GMA Worldwide’s focus at Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FILMART).

When Diony and Cesar’s daughter Glenda dies in a fire, Cesar blames Diony for her death in Envy. He eventually abandons her out of resentment. The show launched in January and “is rating well,” says Manuel Paolo J. Laurena, the company’s senior sales manager. Other highlights include Destined to Be Yours and Legally Blind. The latter sheds light on issues such as rape and drug abuse. It tells the story of an aspiring lawyer who loses her sight after she is raped.

Laurena says that GMA’s “dramas appeal to all audiences because the stories and plots are compelling. They focus on universal themes that audiences around the world can relate to.”

“The focus in Hong Kong is to sell GMA’s new content to both existing and new clients.”

—Manuel Paolo J. Laurena

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Inter Medya Join Instant / Oasis / Hayat In celebration of its 25-year anniversary, ITV Inter Medya is rebranding as Inter Medya. “With a new name and a fresh look, we’re excited to roll out these changes at MIPTV,” says Can Okan, the founder and CEO. Inter Medya’s slate features the online interactive quiz show Join Instant, which allows viewers to participate in the live series. “We are excited to share the news that Join Instant was recently sold in India and Pakistan,” Okan says. The program will be featured in the “Live Quiz Show: Join Us Instantly” session during MIPFormats. The company’s slate also features Oasis, in which couples participate in endurance competitions to secure their place at the oasis, a luxurious dream space. Additional highlights include the dramedy Hayat and the drama Endless Love.

“We always try to provide our customers with not only highquality titles and products but also a wide range of genres.”

—Can Okan

Hayat

ITV Studios Global Entertainment Harlots / Fearless / The Commute Harlots is a new drama series featuring a female cast led

by Samantha Morton, Lesley Manville and Jessica Brown Findlay. The show is the first commission for Monumental Pictures by ITV Encore and Hulu. It “offers an edgy, elegant, erotic and uniquely commercial perspective of life on the streets in 1760s London,” says Ruth Berry, the managing director of ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE).

Fearless, another new drama series, follows an uncompromising human rights lawyer in a world where law and politics collide. ITVS GE is also offering the format The Commute, which looks at the morning trek to work. Berry says, “It’s a show that follows cars across the country, bringing us scenarios that will have been familiar to most of us at some point or another!”

“MIPTV continues to be a focal point of the international buying calendar, and therefore it remains a valuable opportunity for us to meet with buyers face to face.”

—Ruth Berry

Harlots

MISTCO The Last Emperor / Resurrection (Ertugrul) / TRT miniseries There will be a special screening event taking place at MIPTV for The Last Emperor, one of MISTCO’s brand-new drama launches. The series sheds light on the reign of one of the strongest Ottoman emperors, Abdulhamid Han. “There is no doubt that it will be a new phenomenon from TRT’s library in 2017,” says Aysegul Tuzun, MISTCO’s VP of sales and marketing. The company is also looking to shore up new broadcasters for its hit drama Resurrection (Ertugrul). There’s a wide selection of miniseries from the TRT catalog that MISTCO will have on offer as well, including The Legend of Destan. Tuzun says that miniseries “make perfect alternatives for our partners who are looking for less volume of episodes but at the same time want high quality and strong casts and story lines.”

“We’re proud to launch our brand-new seriesThe Last Emperor at MIPTV.” —Aysegul Tuzun

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Series Mania Co-Production Forum April 18–21, 2017 The Series Mania Co-Production Forum, organized by Forum des images, has been extended from three days to four and will take place April 18 to 21. “For the last edition, we received 209 projects and selected 15,” says Laurence Herszberg, the director of Forum des images and founder of the Series Mania Festival. “This year, with the reputation of the Series Mania Co-Production Forum getting bigger, and with the announcement of a €50,000 prize going to the producer of the best project, we are expecting even more entries.” A total of 16 series in development will be presented to an audience of 400 international industry executives. A jury will select the best project, and the producer will be awarded prize money for development.

“This Co-Production Forum...is now becoming the event for networking, discussing projects and having time in a friendly environment to do some business.”

—Laurence Herszberg

Series Mania

Silver Wolf International Salam Ramadhan Korea / Salam Ramadhan UK / Morocco at the Crossroads Three of the top highlights from Silver Wolf International’s MIPTV slate, including Morocco at the Crossroads, take viewers on a journey to different parts of the world. They also “aim to educate and enlighten viewers on a subject that not many people usually talk about,” according to Abdul Rashid Budin, the company’s CEO. “Take Salam Ramadhan Korea and Salam Ramadhan UK as examples.

The subjects are the same—how Muslims observe this holy month—but what we do not know is that the communities in each country observe the holy month differently, based on the culture of the country they are in, etc. It’s educational because most people think that it’s done the same way everywhere in the world, but what they do not know is that each country varies” with their traditions and practices.

“Programs that have the ability to educate and evoke emotions will resonate with everyone.”

—Abdul Rashid Budin

Salam Ramadhan Korea

Sky Vision Don’t Ask Me / Riviera / Bad Blood The Sky Atlantic drama Riviera comes from creator Neil Jordan and stars Julia Stiles. Set on the French Riviera, the series “effortlessly melds glamor and incredible storytelling,” says Barney Shingleton, the director of factual and entertainment at Sky Vision. The company is also presenting Don’t Ask Me, which engages the audiences with realtime interactivity. “Don’t Ask Me is a further sign of Sky Vision’s push into prime-time entertainment,” says Shingleton. “We’re excited to work with the very best partners in each territory to bring this format to audiences across the globe.” The drama Bad Blood, meanwhile, is based on a true story and is inspired by the book Business or Blood: Mafia Boss Vito Rizzuto’s Last War from crime experts Peter Edwards and Antonio Nicaso.

“The high caliber of the on-screen and off-screen talent in Riviera will be instantly appealing to international buyers.”

—Barney Shingleton

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STUDIOCANAL Ride Upon the Storm / Something’s Rockin’ / Trust Me Adam Price, the creator of the hit series Borgen, is back with a brand-new drama, Ride Upon the Storm. The characterled series explores the concept of faith and religion and how it affects our lives. “We will launch season one, which broadcasts on DR1 in the fall, at MIPTV with a second 10x1-hour season already commissioned to air in 2018,” says Katrina Neylon, the executive VP of sales and marketing at STUDIOCANAL. Something’s Rockin’ is a drama for TV2 that tells the story of Radio Mercur, a pirate radio station founded by a small group of music-loving dreamers in the late ’50s. Meanwhile, the Edinburgh-set drama Trust Me comes from RED Production Company for BBC One. The four-part series is written by Dan Sefton (Mr Selfridge, The Five) and stars Jodie Whittaker (Broadchurch).

“Commissioners and buyers are increasingly looking for channel-defining content, for event drama that will ensure they stand out from the crowd.”

—Katrina Neylon

Ride Upon the Storm VR experiences

VR Educate VR Room / VR Lab / VR Content Platform The newly launched VR Educate (VRE) provides fully immersive virtual reality education experiences to help students of all ages in the Asia Pacific. VRE is able to bring the VR Room, VR Lab and VR Content Platform to schools and educational institutions. “VR is upon us,” says Lanny Huang, the founder and CEO of VR Educate. “It promises to advance humankind on realms of training, learning, games, entertainment, education and beyond. In education, VR video, with its totally immersive experience, promises to encourage open imagination, selfmotivation and out-of-the-box thinking among students.”

Huang says that now is the right time for a company like VR Educate to enter the marketplace. “VRE believes that producers, storytellers, documentary creators and content suppliers are important [contributors] to VR education,” she adds.

“This is the time to bring VR Educate to the marketplace.”

—Lanny Huang

Big Pacific

ZDF Enterprises Maltese / Big Pacific / Dance Academy: The Comeback There will be a special screening of the crime series Maltese at MIPTV with the producer and cast in attendance. Presented by ZDF Enterprises (ZDFE), the series tells the story of one man fighting against the mafia. ZDFE also has in its slate Before We Die, a Stockholm-set Nordic noir. “The frantic tempo, plot twists and jaw-dropping revelations take the viewers on an emotional journey at the edges of their seats,” says Alexander Coridass, the company’s president and CEO. The factual highlight Big Pacific will have a World Premiere TV Screening at MIPDoc and has been selected for MIPTV’s UHD/4K Screening Program. Meanwhile, the feature film Dance Academy: The Comeback is based on the hit teen drama Dance Academy, which has aired in more than 160 countries.

“Big Pacific presents the ocean and its denizens in a way never before seen on television.”

—Alexander Coridass

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Sky Vision’s Riviera.

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DRAMATIC

VIEWS From uplifting family sagas to twisty soaps and edgy thrillers, the global drama business is still booming—but finding ways to cut through the clutter is no easy feat. By Mansha Daswani he landscape of American players vying for the best scripted series from the global market has gotten a lot more competitive over the last 12 months. Joining stalwarts like PBS, cable TV outlets such as SundanceTV and streaming giants Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, many niche SVOD operators are competing for Americans’ discretionary income. Anglophiles have Acorn TV and the brand-new BritBox. Those with more exotic tastes can now access Walter Presents, which expanded to the U.S. this month after blazing a trail in the U.K. with its eclectic mix of foreign-language series. Lionsgate and Hemisphere Media Group are setting up a Spanish-language SVOD platform this year. Fans of Korean drama can head over to DramaFever, which received a cash injection from Warner Bros. in 2016, when the studio acquired the platform.

For those in the business of drama, the proliferation of windows is very good news. Whether they’re putting up cash up front as commissioners or co-producers, signing up for pre-buys or taking secondary windows, the growing number of linear and streaming

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operators that are looking to deliver drama to their viewers is helping distributors recoup their investments and turn a profit in what has become a very expensive business.

MONEY MATTERS “Budgets are a concern,” says Liam Keelan, the director of scripted at BBC Worldwide. “They’ve skyrocketed. There’s no doubt about that.”

“For the general-entertainment broadcasters and SVOD platforms, it’s coming down to taking some pretty brave financial initiatives around intellectual property,” notes Patrick Vien, the executive managing director of international at A+E Networks, which has stepped up its scripted investments via its A+E Studios division.

“The scripted TV business has embraced a very old economic model, which is the model of film financing,” Vien continues. “Particularly in network TV, it used to be that you only had deficit financing— and the huge risk that went along with it—as an option. [Today] there’s room to deal with the international marketplace around a property that’s big enough, global enough, and probably of a particular genre of storytelling that would have natural appeal to big audiences. You can mitigate some of that risk.”

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Katrina Neylon, the executive VP of sales and marketing at STUDIOCANAL, reports that the “market is no longer dominated by several key territories; rather, productions with co-pro/financing partners from across multiple territories are now more common.

Budgets continue to be tight, but the rising demand for event drama is mirrored by the increasingly diverse ways in which this often big-budget drama can be funded and developed by myriad partners from the global market. These collaborations add a unique international perspective to each project, which also strengthens its ongoing appeal across a range of markets.”

Of course, finding the right fit for a property is essential. “If you don’t have that, then often the project can go awry,” Keelan says. “It’s something that we do agonize about. The advent of SVOD platforms has been a real boon to the industry, but also to broadcasters that then have the chance to partner on shows for which they might have had trouble finding partners in the past. Meanwhile, everybody has had to up their game.”

The importance of co-financing and co-producing has led to a greater role for distributors in putting drama projects together. “Our

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They can work in development on his projects. [The first one in the program] has gone on to write a script for him. He has a second writer in now who was here meeting everybody, seeing the scale of FremantleMedia. We’ve got to find those new, interesting, fresh voices.

Where is the next generation? I think we need that more than ever now. Nothing is being communicated in the same way it was six months ago, whether that’s a tweet or a newspaper article or the news.

We’re in a very different world.”

NEW VIEWS

Unlike most of its drama slate, BBC Worldwide’s The Collection does not have a traditional U.K. broadcaster on board; Amazon Prime has the first window. goal is to help producers find financing,” notes Malika Abdellaoui, the managing director of Newen Distribution, which represents titles from the TF1-owned Newen Group as well as third-party producers. “We can help producers at a very early stage by putting some money in development. It’s not to get a producer status, but to help producers have more financing and to be ready to propose the show to broadcasters. Also, a minimum guarantee or a distribution advance could be a way for the producer to have more financing at a very early stage. It’s also [important] for a distributor to understand the constraints of the producer and to provide a very good service.

Marketing is a key service that a distributor can offer to the producer to highlight the series and help broadcasters to commit.”

Sky Vision has been broadening its network of alliances to add to its portfolio of Sky originals. It took on the Canadian series Travelers and has an output deal with Foxtel that includes Goalpost Pictures’ Fighting Season. Sky Vision also has an alliance in place with a Nordic producer. “We’re going out there with

an effort to increase our relationships with third-party producers,” says Leona Connell, the director of sales at Sky Vision. “We want to grow our catalog. Drama is a genre that is doing well for us, and it makes sense for us to take on more.

Sky Vision also has a number of development deals. We’ve got one with Merman, Clelia Mountford’s company, and one with Double Nickel. These relationships will help us bolster our drama slate and, at the same time, help these producers get more projects off the ground.”

GOT TALENT? Connell concedes that in a highly consolidated market, it is challenging to find indie producers to partner with who are not already affiliated with another distributor.

“We’ve been able to keep in touch with key players thanks to the relationships our managing director, Jane Millichip, has with a number of producers. The Sky drama team and our own acquisitions team also have lots of relationships out there.

As those producers go out and launch new companies, it is an opportunity to discuss arrangements with them. In addition, Sky

has been investing in some production companies. We anticipate that the deal Sky has with Sugar Films, for example, will bring us some drama in due course.”

A+E Studios has also been busy lining up top-tier talent, including Jeremy Renner, who is exec producing Knightfall. Vien notes that A+E Studios has overall pod deals with Carlton Cuse and Michael Hirst, among others.

Finding new talent is the holy grail for all distributors of scale, even those like FremantleMedia that have a wide portfolio of innetwork producers to tap into.

“We’re trying to think innovatively,” says Sarah Doole, director of global drama at FremantleMedia, on fostering new writers. “We’re sponsoring the Greg Coote Scholarship in Australia, where we’re going to take an Australian writer and put them into one of our writing teams in Europe. We’ve sponsored some young theater writers’ projects, which is something I’m looking to do more of this year. Laurence Bowen, who runs Dancing Ledge, one of the indies we have a stake in, brings on board a young writerin-residence every three months.

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The new world order also requires looking beyond the traditional markets and well-trodden paths for the best ideas. BBC Worldwide’s Keelan cites The Collection, commissioned

by Amazon Prime in the U.K. and France Télévisions, as a project that came out of a slightly different route.

“There isn’t a traditional U.K. linear platform for that show,” Keelan says.

“There will never be one particular funding model or one way of doing things. Ultimately, it’s all about the IP and the strength of the idea. If it’s from a writer not based in the U.K. who still has an interesting story to tell, that’s fine; we’ll get it made. If it doesn’t have a traditional U.K. or U.S. platform, if we believe in the story then we’ll put the money behind it.”

The Collection is an Englishlanguage drama set in a major European city (Paris). While such shows continue to sell well, business in foreign-language drama is also booming. Among the region’s many lucrative markets is Spain, where an improving economy is helping to reinvigorate broadcasters’ drama investments. Perhaps the biggest development, however, has been pay-TV platform Movistar+’s new commitment to drama, observes Ivan Díaz, the head of the international division at Filmax International.

“The biggest problem that we had was not just the economy—it was the lack of a big pay-TV player who wanted to back good fiction,” says Díaz on the difficulty of the last few years for Spanish drama. “That has changed. Platforms are coming here to Spain, and Telefónica [Movistar’s

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STUDIOCANAL’s Ride Upon the Storm hails from Borgen creator Adam Price and is being produced by Denmark’s DR Fiktion, with ARTE France and SAM le Français, for broadcast on DR1 this fall. parent company] is now very aggressive and aware that they need to produce their own shows.”

Díaz is bullish about the Spanish drama export sector. Following the success of The Red Band Society, Filmax is rolling out the thriller I Know Who You Are, which has a second season in the works. “We financed the development ourselves, which is unusual in the Spanish landscape. Because we believed in this team—the same one that made The Red Band Society—we financed our own development for a year to have the scripts we wanted.”

French drama is also seen as a growth area. “The quality of French drama is getting better and better,” says Abdellaoui at Newen, which has a stable of hits that includes the France 2 crime dramas Candice Renoir, sold in 30-plus markets, and Witnesses, season one of which was licensed to more than 70 markets.

Also on the MIPTV lineup is Ouro, a Canal+ original series that premiered to big numbers for the platform. For Newen, the key to breaking through the international market with French drama is showcasing premium, high-quality “shows with powerful marketing opportunities, strong concepts and characters,” and high-end talent.

French drama is fairly new to FremantleMedia’s portfolio, following the group’s acquisition of Kwai and Fontaram. “When we looked around the world, the storytelling piece we were missing was France,” says Doole. “The market is very

strong at the moment, and we’ve been successful with German dramas around the world, so we honed in and bought two companies that are talent-based.”

IN THE ZEITGEIST Beyond viewers embracing foreignlanguage scripted, Doole also sees changes in the types of shows that audiences want, particularly in the wake of the rise in terrorist attacks, Brexit and America’s new Commander in Chief.

“The stories we are looking to tell in the next 18 months are very warm—they have love, redemption and hope,” Doole says. “I’m interested in stories that are firmly rooted in the family. Family becomes even more important in an uncertain, crazy, unstable world. More than anything, we’re looking for that lightened shade. You can have deep, dramatic moments, counterbalanced with some humor or color. It doesn’t have to be in the dialogue; it could be a different visual tone. The audience has probably reached saturation in terms of that girl-in-aditch type thriller. It’s an interesting time, and the writers who can write tonally, light and shade, will be the most successful in the next two or three years.”

FremantleMedia’s current slate, meanwhile, is headlined by shows that Doole believes tap into the angst and anxiety that many people are feeling today.

American Gods, for example, is an adaptation of the Neil Gaiman

novel that explores immigration and issues of faith. “I think audiences are willing to be pushed to the edge; in fact, I think they’re asking program-makers to do that. American Gods most certainly does it!” Doole also mentions a two-part German drama about Martin Luther, set to air in time for the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. “It raises some interesting questions about fanaticism, about religion at the edge,” Doole observes.

IMPACTFUL STORIES Whatever the story line, drama distributors must focus on delivering “channel-defining content,” says STUDIOCANAL’s Neylon. “With the proliferation of channels and platforms, it’s important to deliver drama that can be established as a strong brand, with engaging, relevant stories; well-developed characters and unexpected twists and turns that will draw viewers in and keep them watching as the series progresses.”

Neylon does see “real-world developments” as having an impact on story lines, which was the case for STUDIOCANAL’s Below the Surface, about a hostage crisis. However, she notes, “character-driven drama remains hugely popular—but the stories must be original, new and intriguing. Ride Upon the Storm, for example, explores the concept of faith, and how it affects people’s lives through the

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dynamics of a complex and volatile family relationship.”

Sky Vision’s Connell is excited by the diversity of her MIPTV slate, which includes big-budget shows for Sky Atlantic, backed by well-known talent both in front of and behind the camera. Britannia is a period piece written by Jez Butterworth and starring Kelly Reilly, David Morrissey and Zoë Wanamaker, that has Amazon on board as a co-pro partner. Riviera, with a cast that includes Julia Stiles, is “a thriller set against the bright background of the French Riviera,” Connell says. “It has the look and feel of a modern-day soap, with much more depth and a strong crime story running through it.

“What makes an impact are dramas that can return, and where buyers feel there’s a good opportunity to strongly market the series and make it their own in terms of being able to help create and mold the identity of their channel,” Connell continues. “That’s why the Sky Atlantic dramas have so much international appeal—they are very distinctive, they’ve got very big budgets, the production values are high, and the talent associated with them is of amazing quality.”

For BBC Worldwide’s Keelan, it all comes down to “mix and variety…. We’re always going to have different types of shows, not just in terms of the editorial but in terms of the length of the run. Audiences want that variety as well.”

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IN THE NEWS

JOHN MORAYNISS

eOne Television WS: There are several broadcasters attached to your new drama series Ransom. How did it come about?

MORAYNISS: Ransom is one of those great co-productions that started very organically with a relatively new production company in France called Wildcats Productions; we’ve had a relationship with [founders] Valerie Pechels and Odile McDonald for a number of years. They went after this great piece of IP—the rights to the life story of Laurent Combalbert, who is considered the preeminent hostage and crisis negotiator; he’s one of the top negotiators in the world and an extraordinary man. Wildcats acquired those rights, thought the story would make a great TV series, sold it into development at TF1 and brought it to us. We helped them with packaging it, bringing in a writing team and Frank Spotnitz, and selling it—ultimately to CBS, to Global in Canada and to RTL in Germany. So it’s a co-production with four key broadcast partners, and it shot in Toronto and the South of France. Even the subject matter is global because these crises take place all over the world.

Creatively, it feels very organic in terms of its global scope, and from a production and financing point of view, it works well.

By Anna Carugati

As part of Entertainment One (eOne), a leading independent owner and distributor of films, television programming and music, eOne Television is charged with developing, producing and selling scripted, factual, entertainment and even short-form content. John Morayniss, eOne Television’s CEO, has considerably increased the volume of projects his division finances, produces and distributes, which have included the megahit The Walking Dead, the critically acclaimed The Book of Negroes, the stunning David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef, and one of this season’s breakout shows, Designated Survivor. As Morayniss tells World Screen, he is a firm believer in the power of partnerships, whether co-financing series with international partners or investing in production companies.

WS: How you have seen co-financing and co-production deals evolve? Are they becoming more necessary as production costs rise and as broadcasters and viewers expect more sophisticated shows?

MORAYNISS: There is no question that partnerships, as a whole, are becoming more important. It’s a more complicated market; it’s a much more global market. There’s a lot of competition. I think the bar has been set very high for content and, as a result, budgets have gone up. There’s not a direct correlation between quality and what you spend—some of the most critically acclaimed shows are low-budget shows—but there is some connection, so we’re seeing budgets go up. So many new original productions are shooting in North America and around the world, and high-end talent has become more expensive. As a result of that, the need for partnerships is becoming more important, so obviously it’s not just about financing but about creative as well.

The challenge is marrying smart deals and financing structures with the right creative approach and mindset. You need your production partners, your buyers, your distribution partners, everyone to be more or less on the same page when it comes to what you’re trying to make. That’s not always easy when you’ve got a lot of voices in the room who all have a stake in the project, financially and creatively, but you make it work. Certainly, eOne has had a lot of experience for many years doing co-productions, and now we’re seeing a lot of new entrants into that market, but I think [partnerships have] become a necessity to make highend programming.

WS: Are the best projects the ones that are creatively driven?

MORAYNISS: Yes, 100 percent, always, I don’t think there’s any exception. It [must] start with the creative. You figure out that something is a great project, and then you start working with partners that have the same vision as you. The creative team is crucial—that is the number one priority for any co-production.

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Among the scripted series on the eOne slate are Designated Survivor (left), starring Kiefer Sutherland, and Mary Kills People.

Then you have to figure out the financing. But if you don’t have that strong creative connection with the partners—if you don’t have that strong vision that you’re all aligned with—it doesn’t matter how smart you are in the deal-making and the financing side, it’s not going to work.

WS: Is it still important for your projects to have a U.S. outlet, or can they be successful even without a U.S. broadcaster?

MORAYNISS: They can still be successful. There’s no question the U.S. is still the biggest market, and there’s a lot of value in it, so if we don’t have a U.S. buyer, we’re missing a great opportunity to monetize the show and maximize the value for eOne and its partners.

Secondly, there’s no question that, in addition to being an important market from a monetization point of view, the U.S. market validates a show for the rest of the world. It’s not a necessity, though, and there have been many shows we’ve done over the years that we haven’t sold in the U.S. but which still made sense for us; we’ve had subsidy dollars, other co-production partners around the world, but it’s not an ideal scenario.

WS: Tell us about some of eOne’s upcoming shows.

MORAYNISS: We’re in preproduction on Sharp Objects, which we’re doing with HBO, starring Amy Adams and directed by JeanMarc Vallée. Marti Noxon is writing the script based on a Gillian Flynn book—so that’s something we’re excited about. It’s the biggest-budget series we’ve ever done. We also have Mary Kills People, an exciting show with a unique, different approach to drama. It was created by a young writer named Tara Armstrong, who came out of the Canadian Film Centre. We sold it to Global in Canada and recently made a sale to Lifetime as well. We’re also excited about the crime drama ICE, which is our production with DIRECTV. We’ve had a long relationship with DIRECTV and the Audience Network. ICE [recently aired] in the U.S., and we’re selling it around the world.

We have a lot of great scripted series, and we’re also building on the unscripted side as well. We have our relationship with Renegade 83—we own the majority stake in Renegade, and they do Naked and Afraid for Discovery—and we’re [continuing to grow] our [factual] and unscripted business as well.

WS: Are you also moving into short-form content? What kind of potential do you see in that business?

MORAYNISS: The digital space is interesting. We made an investment in a digital-first, scripted content company called Canvas Media Studios, run by Bernie Su and David Tochterman, and we’re excited about that. Short-form content in itself is tougher to monetize, but what we’re interested in is the R&D part of it and accessing the talent that comes out of nonlinear platforms and YouTube channels. We’re interested in developing that talent and hopefully transferring that content from nonlinear to linear. The lines are so blurred now between those platforms that for us it is all about, Is it a good piece of content? Is it an interesting piece of IP? Is it talent we want to invest in? And if it makes sense for a YouTube channel or a go90 or a YouTube Red or MTV, it doesn’t matter. The lines are blurred even between film and TV; we’re finding more and more crossover of talent, crossover of IP. It’s about finding the best way to tell the story. If it makes sense to tell it in a short-form format, we’ll do it, but ultimately the monetization of content still makes sense first and foremost in the traditional [22-minute or 44-minute] formats.

WS: Is it harder to find talent now, when there are so many outlets doing originals?

MORAYNISS: It’s getting harder and harder because the demand for original content has never been greater, especially in scripted. That’s the good news, but the volume of original production has never been greater, so that’s the bad news. What that means is that if you are an A-lister, you are in demand. So it’s a great time to be supplying talent to the marketplace, but if you’re an acquirer of talent, you’re going to pay more for it, so that aspect is more challenging now. On the other hand, what you constantly have to think about is that it’s not just about cutting the check, it’s about finding a piece of material that speaks to a certain actor or writer or filmmaker or director or whoever it is. So we’re spending a lot more time going after IP and going after high-end intellectual property, like books or underlying rights to other material—Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn’s book that we developed originally as a film project but then transferred into TV, is a great example of that. We just announced a deal for Holly Cave’s novel The Architecture of Heaven, on which we’re partnering with producer Michael London. The idea of going after high-end IP that can attract talent is becoming more important.

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MARKET TRENDS

MARIA KYRIACOU issue was having three different ITV companies sitting apart from each other. The new combined presence feels really good. It’s a reflection of the new ITV—three different brands under one ITV Studios label.

WS: How has your strategy for the business evolved as ITV Studios has grown?

KYRIACOU: The model we’re employing is not new for a creative business—we haven’t invented something that hasn’t been seen before. We encourage a high degree of independence, with creative managers owning their own brand and identity. This allows us to scale up, as we can add new production labels quite comfortably. We take a light touch from the center, with very little bureaucracy dictating what needs to be developed. All development choices are made at the label level, and that is working very well. But we also need to be greater than the sum of our parts. You can achieve that by providing easy access to a network of other producers around the world. So if you want to co-develop an idea or if you want talent to have the opportunity to move across territories, ITV Studios provides a structure within which you can maneuver.

We had a great example of this at MIPCOM with 5 Golden Rings.

The idea originated with Glenn Hugill’s Possessed TV, one of the new-ish labels in the U.K. John [de Mol, Talpa’s founder] saw it, loved it and thought he had some good ideas about how to bring the show on. Glenn and John have been working together on it ever since. It’s being sold by Talpa Global around the world and produced by the guys at ITV in all the territories where we have a production presence. It’s the first complete collaboration between the two of us, and it won’t be the last.

By Mansha Daswani

ITV Studios has expanded dramatically over the last few years. The largest production company in the U.K., it has significantly ramped up its American presence as well as established a network of production outfits across Europe. At MIPCOM, the company debuted its brand-new stand, ITV Studios House, bringing ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE) together with Talpa Global and Twofour Rights, which joined the ITV family in 2015. As the president of international at ITV Studios, Maria Kyriacou oversees ITVS GE as well as the company’s production outlets outside the U.S. and U.K., while also helming its North American scripted strategy. She tells World Screen about the growth of ITV Studios, her approach to high-end drama and further opportunities for expansion.

WS: You’ve created a unified stand for ITVS GE, Talpa Global and Twofour Rights at MIPTV and MIPCOM. Tell us about the thinking behind that move.

KYRIACOU: It was born mostly out of necessity because we outgrew the old stand. ITV Studios is twice the size it was a few years ago. As we added production companies and were encouraging the creators to become a bigger and bigger part of this market, our old space was just too small. The other

WS: And ITVS GE, Twofour Rights and Talpa Global will continue to operate separately, rather than be merged into one central distribution hub?

KYRIACOU: Talpa has a very integrated model that closely connects the creative units to Talpa Global. If you start to meddle with that, you will break what is special about Talpa. In addition to the alliance with ITV in our production territories, Talpa has a number of other JVs and production businesses of their own. Apart from Germany and the U.S., there is no overlap. It’s a unique setup, and we fit well together. Twofour has a particular specialty in factual, while ITVS GE is a big generalist distributor with a very strong drama and entertainment slate. These are such competitive genres that a degree of specialization is not a bad thing. That doesn’t mean we don’t look for ways of working together. I have already mentioned 5 Golden Rings. And with Twofour, ITVS GE leverages its experience with drama and formats. Dramas from Mainstreet [Pictures, a Twofour company] are represented by ITVS GE. Twofour Rights works closely with Mike [Beale, executive VP of global development and formats at ITV Studios] and all of our production companies. Twofour’s This Time Next Year is in production in 14 countries, including ITVS productions in Germany, Australia and Denmark.

WS: Tell us about the evolution of your drama strategy.

KYRIACOU: I joined ITV six years ago. One of the things that immediately struck me was the strength of ITV’s reputation

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ITV STUDIOS for great drama. ITV was the home of Prime Suspect, Cracker, Inspector Morse—some of the most iconic British brands were born in this company. It may have been skewed toward past glories, but the heart and soul of the distribution business were still the scripted shows. It made sense, therefore, to invest wholeheartedly in drama and go along with the industry trend that meant higher-end productions and bigger budgets, like Victoria. We now want to build on that strong foundation of British shows to become a truly global drama producer. I want to be distributing and producing the best dramas from everywhere and anywhere in the world. Not surprisingly, ITV Studios America is a major focus, with the new ABC show Somewhere Between [produced by Thunderbird Entertainment in association with ITV Studios America] to look forward to, as well as a very exciting pilot order for TNT for Marty Adelstein’s Tomorrow Studios. Snowpiercer is based on the movie and book of the same name, and production is underway. And there will be more. Philippe [Maigret, the president of scripted programming at ITV Studios America] has created a great network of producers, including, most recently, Christina Wayne’s Assembly Entertainment and Gina Matthews and Grant Scharbo’s Little Engine Productions.

Beyond the U.K. and the U.S., we completed our first Norwegian scripted production, Aber Bergen, and the Norwegian guys are happily building up scale, having just received a commission for a second season. We’ve got a bit of work to do to build our presence across the whole Nordic region. The plan is to hire but also be open to the right companies to buy. The same applies to France and Germany. We’re excited

by French drama, which seems to be coming very much into its own.

While there is plenty of room for growth, we feel like our drama slate is in really good shape. Every market we launch something new and exciting, and for MIPTV it will be Harlots, an absolutely brilliant show. It’s a period piece with a very contemporary feel.

It has a very interesting female perspective on the world of competing brothels in the 1760s. This was one of the few opportunities for women [in that era] to make themselves rich and powerful in their own right.

personally, so I can’t very well say there’s too much drama out there. I believe you will always find the right home for a really good, well-written and beautifully produced drama.

WS: On the international production front, are there specific territories you’d like to be investing more in?

KYRIACOU: Europe. There are still opportunities for us to do more in the U.K., of course, but the region with most room for growth for us is continental Europe. We also want to continue to support Philippe in the U.S. Every conversation with a prospective partner starts the same way—with the shows they have made and the shows they are developing. I will always want to read the scripts.

WS: Any other growth opportunities you’ll be pursuing in 2017?

KYRIACOU: Kids. We are excited about our recently announced show Robozuna for Netflix and CITV. Netflix feels to us like a real destination for families. And Thunderbirds Are Go is rolling out across the world and with Amazon in the U.S. Wrapping around both the shows, we have our expanding L&M business that allows us to extend those brands and build an ecosystem.

With kids you can’t just be a TV producer, you have to be able to deliver everything—the games, books, etc.

WS: We keep hearing about “peak TV” in the U.S.—what are your thoughts on the volume of scripted available on the market today? Is it sustainable?

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ITV Studios has a brand-new drama launch for MIPTV with the period piece Harlots, which was commissioned straight to series by ITV and Hulu.

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AVI NIR KESHET MEDIA GROUP SPOTLIGHT

By Anna Carugati

Israel’s Keshet Media Group gained programming expertise from scheduling a portion of Channel 2 and used it to build a thriving international business. Led by CEO Avi Nir, Keshet has supplied formats and finished programs to networks around the world. It has also set up production hubs and sales offices in the U.S., the U.K., Asia and Latin America. Nir talks to World Screen about Keshet’s growth trajectory and its commitment to innovation and strategic risk-taking.

WS: How have you guided Keshet’s growth in the last few years?

NIR: I have looked for a word that describes who we are, what we are, and what we believe in, and the one word I have found is “agility.” I think that is the strategy—growing while remaining agile, which means being innovative and creative but at the same time relying on organic growth and innovation. We have evolved and created hubs throughout the world that didn’t exist when we created Homeland [based on Israel’s Hatufim]. Now we have original shows coming out of the U.K., the U.S., Latin America and the Far East. We are a small organization but growing very fast, and we’re always keeping our hunger, agility and—this is an important word—desire to be disruptive and to maintain our independence.

One of our strategic advantages is that we’ve maintained this kind of independence in a world of huge international companies that have grown even bigger in the last six years. We are constantly striving to maintain a creative edge. We have great people in Israel, but not only in Israel.

Also, we have no boundaries. We have gone into gaming, interactive and VR. Whenever we find something that inspires us, we’ll go out and get it.

Studios is working on an incredible number of scripted projects for cable and broadcast networks.

WS: What lessons have you learned about the types of content that can travel?

NIR: Simply put, great stuff travels! People around the world are watching Keshet’s original shows, even without dubbing, and they can appreciate them. Ten years ago, the notion was that cultural nuances would overshadow a story and limit its ability to travel. What we have learned now is that, maybe like Thomas Friedman said, the world is flat, in the sense that moving, personal stories with great characters travel, even if they are deeply rooted in local cultures, local dilemmas and local affairs. 2016 was a record year in development—both scripted and unscripted. In Israel, we had about 14 new prime-time shows. And in 2017 we will have about 20 new shows. This is in part because in 2018 we will have our own channel in Israel instead of sharing a channel with Reshet. We will have more real estate, and unlike other companies that rely heavily on international programs, I think our vision—and this is another strategy that is very rooted in Keshet—is that we want to rely on our own content. We don’t want more than 30 or 35 percent of the schedule to be acquired programming.

We aim for dominance in original content, both as an international company and as an Israeli company.

WS: You have a lot in development in the U.S. NIR: For God and Country, [a military drama] for NBC, produced by Keshet Studios and Universal Television and a great creator, Dean Georgaris, is really close to my heart. For a few years, I have been watching a genre of very successful movies in the vein of American Sniper and Sicario—these believable, hardcore movies about true grit. What Dean has come up with, with Rachel [Kaplan], is a show that brings this genre to television.

The second show is a Hagai Levi project that will be shot in Israel, mostly in Hebrew. It deals with the Arab-Israeli conflict. There isn’t a better group in the world than Hagai Levi, Noah Stollman, Peter Traugott and Rachel Kaplan to bring this unique project to life under the great auspices of HBO. It’s political, it’s legal, it’s human and, in this day and age when we are facing hate crimes and extreme politics, it’s timely.

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WS: Keshet has always had very much a “can-do” attitude in business and a willingness to take risks.

How have you preserved this attitude even as the company has gotten bigger?

NIR: We are here to create and innovate—not just to be very successful and safe on the business side.

I am responsible for the P&L of the whole company. I take full responsibility for innovation and risk-taking.

Whether it works or not, it’s my responsibility, and I will own up to it. I think this encourages other people in the company to say, Yes we can, yes we dare, yes we can take a chance.

Alon Shtruzman, who heads Keshet International, has a very strong vision and can hire the most talented people and take risks. He knows that he has my total backing, and he does incredible work knowing that at the end of the day, we support each other; we are ready to face success and failure. If you are into this and believe in your vision, you will have more success than failure.

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FOCUS ON

THOMAS LESINSKI SONAR ENTERTAINMENT In 2012, the private-equity firm Catalyst Capital Group acquired Robert Halmi’s RHI Entertainment library and relaunched the company as Sonar Entertainment. Today, as an independent studio, Sonar develops, produces, finances and acquires premium content and distributes it globally. Under the leadership of CEO Thomas Lesinski for the last year and a half, Sonar has been focusing on scripted series featuring A-list talent in front of and behind the camera. Lesinski talks to World Screen about Sonar’s focus on premium content, attracting top talent and diversifying its offering.

By Anna Carugati

WS: Has a focus of yours been to move away from TV movies and miniseries and more into long-running series?

LESINSKI: That has been a key focus. When we originally started the company, we acquired a library that consisted largely of TV movies and miniseries. We have completely changed the company’s strategy going forward and are aiming to become a top creative scripted television company. We are well into that planning cycle because we saw that was where the industry was headed and that was where the demand was. Fortunately, we picked the right strategy, and we have been executing it for almost two years now. And we have some great shows and a really strong pipeline going forward.

WS: Tell us about some of your shows.

LESINSKI: We are partners with Scott Free London and Hardy, Son & Baker on Taboo, which is on BBC One in the U.K. and on FX in the U.S. It certainly qualifies as a hit show; in terms of the audience, it has delivered in the U.S. and the U.K. and has been sold in many major markets such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

It’s the kind of show that sets up the positioning of Sonar as a premier, premium scripted, independent company. We just completed The Son, which will premiere on AMC in April. It’s an epic story that is really about the birth of Texas. It’s part of our overall strategy of marrying feature film talent with the television business. We worked closely with Ridley Scott, Tom Hardy and Steven Knight on Taboo. The Son stars Pierce Brosnan and an incredible cast. As the market continues to look for shows that can capture an audience and drive subscribers, we are positioning ourselves as a go-to company, and that is exciting. The third show is Mr. Mercedes, which was written by David E. Kelley and based on a best-selling book by Stephen King. It features Brendan Gleeson and Mary-Louise Parker. It is directed by Jack Bender, who also worked on Lost and Game of Thrones. We are assembling [content] that becomes must-see programming, helps brand networks and creates the kind of stickiness that platforms want for retaining audiences and attracting subscribers.

One of the things we decided to do two years ago was push our focus on international co-productions, and the most significant one that we’ve already greenlit is the next chapter of Das Boot, the critically acclaimed feature film and book. It is a

co-production with Sky Deutschland and Bavaria Film. It’s one of those cult movies that was highly distinguished, and the chance to turn it into a television series is proving to be exciting. Our relationship with Sky is really good. In addition to that, we have the second season of The Shannara Chronicles, which is our big Jon Favreau production, based on a Terry Brooks book, with Al Gough and Miles Millar serving as showrunners. We are shooting that now in New Zealand. It was a big success for MTV and a variety of international distributors last year. As a relatively small independent, I think it’s notable that we are managing five shows and are looking to make five more in the near future.

WS: Are you looking at different financial models for the projects you are developing and producing?

LESINSKI: We want people to understand that what makes Sonar a unique platform is that we are willing to finance things in lots of different ways. We are willing to finance 100 percent of a production. We are willing to be a co-producer. We are willing to look at every show in a completely different way to make sure that both the talent and the platforms are all invested in a project and uniquely incentivized to have it succeed. We don’t have a hard list of what needs to get done regarding the financial models. We are flexible. Catalyst Capital Group is our owner and has been very supportive; it has provided us with the wherewithal to not only incentivize talent the right way but also bring a lot of capital to the table, which allows us to get projects off the ground quickly without worrying about any third-party financing.

WS: What has contributed to your ability to attract A-list talent?

LESINSKI: It’s a number of things. The first factor is the creative culture that we have at the company. We wouldn’t look to be in business with people like Robert Downey Jr., George Clooney, Tom Hardy and others if we didn’t have the right culture, which is highly collaborative and allows talent to achieve their vision.

The second factor is that we have capital and deploy it, and we work with the best talent both in front of and behind the camera. We are not just attracting great talent; we are also marrying it with great writers, directors and showrunners. Finally, the way we structure our deals attracts talent. A lot of the big studios have hard and fast rules about how they structure talent deals. We are much more open to creating deals that incentivize talent to work with us, give them greater ownership in the show and allow them the creative freedom to make the show they want to make—which they wouldn’t necessarily be able to do in a larger, more bureaucratic setup like you see a lot at the studio level. That kind of flexibility, which involves both creative and financial capability, has become attractive to some of the biggest talents in the world.

WS: Are you looking to diversify Sonar’s product offering?

LESINSKI: We made a commitment to diversify beyond premium scripted drama and do comedy, unscripted and kids’ programming, and even occasionally the small independent feature film.

We want to be a home for our talent, regardless of what their interest is. We want to be flexible enough to meet their needs and provide them with the same financial support. In that way, any of their visions can be executed at Sonar.

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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 Donald Trump mock me?

Every day, papers, magazines and websites 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 foresight occasionally prove pro phetic.

But rather than poring over charts of the zodiac to predict world events, our staff prefers to use past horoscopes in an attempt to legitimize the science.

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

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Winona Ryder

Ariana Grande

Laverne Cox

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

ARIANA GRANDE

Global distinction: The Governator.

Sign: Leo (b. July 30, 1947) Significant date: February 2, 2017 Noteworthy activity: After being mocked by U.S.

Global distinction: Nickelodeon alum.

Sign: Cancer (b. June 26, 1993) Significant date: February 1, 2017 Noteworthy activity: The Associated Press mistakenly

President Donald Trump for low ratings on The New Celebrity Apprentice—part of a TV franchise previously hosted by Trump and now led by Schwarzenegger—the actor and former politician fires back in a Twitter video: “Hey Donald, I have a great idea: Why don’t we switch jobs? You take over TV because you’re such an expert in ratings, and I take over your job—and then people can finally sleep comfortably again.”

Horoscope: “Don’t let shady peeps or their shenanigans slide. Stand up to bullies and stamp out injustices where you find them.” (starskyandcox.com)

tweets a picture of the child-star-turned-sex-symbol with a caption that reads: “Ariana Grande is pregnant, guess who’s the father? #ArianaGrande.” The post is later deleted, with the AP sending a follow-up tweet explaining that the announcement was unauthorized and is being investigated. At press time, it is still unclear whether or not the 23-year-old singer/actress is actually knocked up and if so, who her baby daddy is.

Horoscope: “It’s now advisable to deal with…clarifying certain circulating rumors about you that are casting shadows upon your public image.” (eastrolog.com)

WINONA RYDER

JERRY SEINFELD

Global distinction: ’80s icon.

Sign: Scorpio (b. October 29, 1971) Significant date: January 29, 2017 Noteworthy activity: The cast of Stranger Things, Ryder

Global distinction: American funnyman.

Sign: Taurus (b. April 29, 1954) Significant date: January 26, 2017 Noteworthy activity: In an attempt to promote his web

among them, takes the stage to accept the SAG Award for best ensemble in a drama, and star David Harbour delivers an impassioned acceptance speech. What steals the spotlight though is the actress’s wild expressions, which range from excited to confused to just plain odd.

The internet is instantly flooded with memes of her many faces.

Horoscope: “Don’t be surprised if your thoughts and feelings are all over the place this weekend.

This is a time not for doing but for dreaming—and you do that so well.” (theglobeandmail.com)

series, the 62-year-old tweets: “New! Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Lewis Black. Black’s life matters.” Backlash ensues after some Twitter users feel that that remark is making fun of the Black Lives Matter movement. The Seinfeld alum has been known to express his disapproval of people who are, in his opinion, too politically correct.

Horoscope: “With your innate assertiveness, you could say or do something that someone might take offense to.

Be sensitive to others, yet make it clear that you are who you are.” (pressherald.com)

LAVERNE COX KOURTNEY KARDASHIAN Global distinction: Eldest Kardashian sister.

Sign: Aries (b. April 18, 1979) Significant date: January 27, 2017 Noteworthy activity: The famous reality-TV family is in Costa Rica for a tropical getaway, which is being well documented on social media. Big sister Kourtney posts a black-and-white photo of herself posing in a bikini to Instagram with the caption “Island ting.” Fans are quick to point out that Costa Rica is not, in fact, an island.

Horoscope: “Not everything can be about fun and games. Use this as an opportunity to do some research.” (dailyhoroscopesign.com) 34 WORLD SCREEN 3/17

Global distinction: Orange Is the New Black actress.

Sign: Gemini (b. May 29, 1984) Significant date: February 12, 2017 Noteworthy activity: The LGBTQ advocate introduces a joint appearance by Metallica and Lady Gaga at the Grammys. After a brief opening speech, she says: “Eighttime Grammy Award winners and six-time Grammy Award winner—Lady Gaga!,” missing mention of the heavy metal band that has been around since the early ’80s. Cox takes to Twitter to apologize for the omission.

Horoscope: “You’ll need to make an effort to tune out negative or chaotic vibes so you can stay focused on the task at hand.” (psychiclive.eu)

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