World Screen Pre-MIPTV and Series Mania Edition

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Pre-MIPTV & Series Mania Edition

WWW.WORLDSCREEN.COM

THE MAGAZINE OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA • MARCH 2019

Special Reports: Drama Trends / Inside The Passage Interviews: Missy Peregrym / ORF-Enterprise’s Beatrice Cox-Riesenfelder / Inter Medya’s Can Okan / Twofour Group’s Melanie Leach

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CONTENTS

MARCH 2019/PRE-MIPTV & SERIES MANIA EDITION DEPARTMENTS WORLD VIEW

By Mansha Daswani.

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Publisher Ricardo Seguin Guise

UPFRONTS New content on the market.

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Group Editorial Director Anna Carugati

MARKET TRENDS ORF-Enterprise’s Beatrice Cox-Riesenfelder.

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SPOTLIGHT Inter Medya’s Can Okan.

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IN THE NEWS Twofour Group’s Melanie Leach.

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WORLD’S END In the stars.

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Editor Mansha Daswani Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski

Missy Peregrym

WORLD SCREEN is published nine times per year: January, March, April, May, June/July, September, October, November and December.

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Mark-Paul Gosselaar

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SPECIAL REPORTS

14 SO MUCH DRAMA!

Leading distributors share their strategies for delivering projects that will stand out in a crowded drama landscape.

20 INSIDE THE PASSAGE

Executive producer Liz Heldens, author Justin Cronin and stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Brianne Howey talk about the book-based vampire series The Passage.

Associate Editors Chelsea Regan Alison Skilton Editor, Spanish-Language Publications Elizabeth Bowen-Tombari Associate Editor, Spanish-Language Publications Rafael Blanco Editorial Assistant, Spanish-Language Publications Jessica Ávila 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 Coordinator Nathalia Lopez Business Affairs Manager Andrea Moreno Contributing Writers Steve Clarke Andy Fry Joanna Stephens Jay Stuart David Wood

Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development

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WORLD VIEW

BY MANSHA DASWANI

A New World Order A volatile stock market, uncertainty over Brexit and fears of an economic slowdown rocked the media sector as 2018 came to a close, capping off another year of unprecedented change in a media business being reshaped by the growing dominance of the FAANGs and continued consolidation.

Last year saw the long-awaited AT&T-Time Warner deal finally happen. After fending off competition from Comcast Corporation, The Walt Disney Company formalized its agreement to take control of much of 21st Century Fox. Comcast Corporation lost the Fox battle but was triumphant in its bid for pan-European pay-TV giant Sky. For those companies, scale has become crucial to their direct-to-consumer goals. Disney, WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal all have streaming services in the works, leaving many questions about how much of their content treasure troves will be licensed to other services. Disney has already said that its operating income will take a $150 million hit in fiscal 2019 due to it forgoing licensing revenues for content it is holding for its own service. In Europe, many leading media companies are joining forces to take on the global behemoths in the digital space.

French broadcasters France Télévisions, M6 and TF1 aligned for an OTT platform.

ProSiebenSat.1 Media and Discovery are combining their streaming assets in Germany. As the OTT space becomes more crowded everywhere, the question remains over how many services customers can handle stacking before fatigue—and sticker shock—set in.

It used to be generally accepted wisdom that the cordcutters and cord-nevers reshaping the media landscape were millennials, but a recent PwC report, A New Video World Order: What Motivates Consumers?, indicates that viewing behavior is not as dependent on traditional demographics as it used to be. Older consumers in the U.S. are now cutting the cord more while “younger consumers are showing signs of positive pay-TV relationships.”

With age being a less relevant predictor for how a consumer will engage with content, PwC identified five broad audience groups based on viewing behavior and interests: indulgists, traditionalists, fanatics, engagers and connoisseurs. Indulgists are a key revenue driver for pay-TV operators and streamers. Around 57 percent subscribe to pay TV. They spend about $70 a month on video content and consume around 17 hours a week. More than one-third of this segment spends more than $100 per month on video entertainment. Engagers are the “future of immersive entertainment and the leaders in online engagement,” PwC says. About 43 percent subscribe to pay TV, and they are spending about 12 hours a week on content consumption.

They often share subscriptions with friends and family and engage in social media while watching. Fanatics will do

“anything to have access to an endless selection of content,” but only 32 percent subscribe to pay TV and their average monthly spend is $55. They consume about 16 hours of video a week. They are more likely to be cord-cutters while also subscribing to multiple services at one time. Connoisseurs are picky about content and savvy about subscriptions, with just 27 percent having a pay-TV service. They spend about 10 hours a week with video, with an average spend of $49 a month. Traditionalists prefer live TV, with about 45 percent subscribing to pay TV. Spending an average of $63 a month, they are watching about 15 hours a week. “We expect this segment will diminish over time as accessing content online and on apps becomes even more commonplace.”

Consumers see search functions and recommendation algorithms as being inadequate, PwC adds. “Consumers still prefer reviews and recommendations from real people because AI recommendations are falling short,” PwC says.

Also, half of the survey group said they would cancel a subscription “if the service was overwhelming (too much content) or inconvenient (not enough ways to overcome poor discovery).”

The report also stressed that the “death of TV has been greatly exaggerated,” with live viewing and smart TV usage on the rise.

Christopher Vollmer, global advisory leader for entertainment and media at PwC US, noted in the company’s outlook last year that “to succeed in the future that’s taking shape, companies must revisit every aspect of what they do and how they do it. For many companies, the models, assets, practices and capabilities that support their businesses today will simply not be enough in the future.

Standing still is not an option.”

This edition spotlights some of the many companies that are not standing still, including drama distributors exploring new financing models. We hear from Beatrice Cox-Riesenfelder about her strategies at ORF-Enterprise, Inter Medya’s Can Okan on diversification, and Melanie Leach about growing Twofour’s production and distribution operations. This edition also spotlights Missy Peregrym, the lead actress in Dick Wolf’s latest hit procedural, FBI, and we take a look at The Passage’s long and winding road from book to television.

Viewing behavior is not as dependent on traditional demographics as it used to be.

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Shipwrecked

UPFRONTS

Banijay Rights Catch! / Shipwrecked / Temptation Island A popularity contest set in paradise, Shipwrecked pits two tribes against each other as they battle to win the hearts of new recruits and prove they’re the better group, with the winning tribe ultimately taking home a sizeable cash prize.

In other island-centered reality fare, Temptation Island tests couples’ relationships by letting them live the “single life” on Maui to see if they’re really committed. The show got a reboot on USA Network “with the tone of the 2019 production subtly updated so the format feels contemporary and fresh,” says Andrew Sime, Banijay Rights’ VP of formats. The company is also breathing new life into the timeless game of “catch,” with its new aptly-titled show Catch!, which sees teams compete against each other in fast-paced rounds.

Calinos Entertainment

“Shipwrecked is a format that made a huge impact when it first launched in the U.K. back in the 2000s.”

—Andrew Sime Forbidden Fruit

Forbidden Fruit / Our Story / Woman Calinos Entertainment is showcasing a trio of dramas with strong women front and center, including Forbidden Fruit, a tale of two sisters with very different ambitions on the cusp of life-changing events. Woman, based on a format from Nippon TV, tells the story of a young widow named Bahar, who confronts life’s hardships with no one but her two children at her side. Lastly, there’s Our Story, which stars Hazal Kaya as Filiz, a young woman who is struggling to survive in one of Istanbul’s poorest neighborhoods while looking after her five younger siblings and her alcoholic father. “All of these stories depict the lives of strong, independent and driven women who would stop at nothing to protect their families or their dreams,” says Ismail Dursunov, deputy general manager at Calinos.

“Our aim is to strengthen our relationships with our current customers and establish new ones with potential customers.”

—Ismail Dursunov

Global Agency

Sisters

Sisters / Gülperi / Upgrade Sisters, a brand-new series about two women driven apart by love and betrayal in much the same way as their mothers were before them, is a highlight Global Agency is excited to bring to international buyers. “The themes of motherhood, love and betrayal are at the forefront in this great new show,” says Izzet Pinto, Global Agency’s founder and CEO. “Audiences will experience the luxurious Istanbul lifestyle as well as a love so deep that it will capture all generations.”

Fellow drama series Gülperi stars Nurgül Yeşilçay in the titular role as a woman trying to rebuild her relationships with her children while rediscovering her first love after the loss of her husband. Recently, Global Agency acquired the global distribution rights for the Israeli game-show format Upgrade, which it aims to take to more territories.

“Sisters is one of the highest-rated drama series of the new season and also one of the best premieres of 2019.”

—Izzet Pinto

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Drag Lab

Hat Trick International Drag Lab / Warren / Hypothetical Regular people become one with their inner drag queen in Hat Trick International’s Drag Lab, in which members of famed U.K. drag collective The Family Gorgeous train ordinary citizens in the art of drag, prepping them for a live lip-sync performance. Other highlights from Hat Trick include Warren, a BBC One comedy about a cantankerous cab driver who is convinced the world is against him, and Hypothetical, a panel show presented by Josh Widdicombe (The Last Leg) and James Acaster. The comedians are joined by two teams of celebrities as they compete for points based on how well they handle the made-up scenarios they are given. Sarah Tong, Hat Trick’s director of sales, says, “All three programs are highly entertaining to a global audience and each, in their own unique style, includes something that all viewers will enjoy.”

“We are always on the lookout for new producers for us to represent to add to our ever-growing catalog of high-quality entertainment.”

—Sarah Tong The Pit

Inter Medya Bitter Lands / Exathlon / The Pit Set in 1970s Istanbul, Bitter Lands follows two star-crossed lovers as they test their devotion amidst the throes of evil.

“International buyers want to see classic stories about love and family,” says Inter Medya’s founder and CEO, Can Okan. “And we can all agree that Bitter Lands is a special kind of love story.” Exathlon, meanwhile, is a sports-reality format that pits teams of top athletes against ordinary people in a bid to win the ultimate Exathlon competition, which culminates in the series’ final week. Another Inter Medya offering, The Pit, tells the story of a young man whose family rules the Istanbul neighborhood of Çukur.

Featuring a star-studded cast led by Aras Bulut Iynemli and Dilan Çiçek Deniz, the Ay Yapim-produced drama has been sold by Inter Medya into a number of markets already.

“We are planning a number of surprises by presenting additional new projects.”

—Can Okan

Multicom Entertainment Group

Boonie Bears / TheGrapevine & TheArchive / 4K Restorations The animated Boonie Bears franchise has already made a splash in China, and Multicom Entertainment Group is now looking to shore up a U.S. deal. The franchise includes Boonie Bears: The Adventurers, which follows a group of friends— Carly, a bright and headstrong girl; Briar and Bramble Bear, brothers sworn to protect nature; and Vick, their stubborn but adept guide—who find themselves on the journey of a lifetime.

The Multicom catalog also features TheGrapevine and TheArchive, two new channels that can offer hundreds of hours of content worldwide. “Since mid-2017, Multicom Entertainment Group has completed more than 20 film restorations from 35mm and 16mm film to digital 4K and UHD,” says Darrin Holender, the company’s president. The Adventures of Pinocchio is among the slate’s highlights.

“Multicom’s vast catalog can provide buyers with content from nearly any genre.”

—Darrin Holender Boonie Bears: The Adventurers 10 WORLD SCREEN 3/19

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Series Mania

Series Mania March 22-30, 2019; Lille, France

The next edition of Series Mania is just around the corner, taking place at the Lille Grand Palais from March 22 to 30.

The full international festival is free to both amateurs and professionals. Within Series Mania, there are three days exclusively dedicated to an audience of professionals, Series Mania Forum, set for March 25 to 27. A key part of the Series Mania Forum is Lille Transatlantic Dialogues, which brings together political decision-makers and A-list executives from the series industry. This is set for March 27.

“Series Mania will build on the solid foundation established and remain the same nine days of celebrating the best new series from all continents, with more than 100 screenings across the city and dozens of world premieres,” says Laurence Herszberg, general director.

“The Hauts-de-France region has been incredibly welcoming, and Lille has proven to be a great place to host an international festival.”

—Laurence Herszberg

STUDIOCANAL

Years and Years

Instinto / Sanctuary / Vernon Subutex

Billed as an erotic thriller, Instinto deals with themes of passion, intimacy, sex, trust and love. “It is a thought-provoking drama about human relationships, in particular about people’s fears and solitude,” says Beatriz Campos, head of international sales at STUDIOCANAL. It is a Movistar+ production in collaboration with Bambú Producciones. Campos adds that Instinto will be “a very interesting project to offer to platforms and channels that are searching for the next big thing.” Further highlights include the psychological thriller Sanctuary, starring Matthew Modine (Stranger Things, Full Metal Jacket) and Josefin Asplund (Vikings); and Vernon Subutex, which stars French actor Romain Duris in the title role as an unemployed former owner of the legendary record shop Revolver. The catalog also includes Years and Years, written by Russell T Davies.

“STUDIOCANAL has a roster of leading European production-company partners producing locally and in the English language as well as creating drama series that can be formatted worldwide.”

—Beatriz Campos

ZDF Enterprises The Worst Witch / The Greatest Race / Victor Lessard From the ZDFE.junior catalog, The Worst Witch follows the adventures of trainee witch Mildred Hubble in the magical world of Cackle’s Academy. In the way of unscripted fare, ZDF Enterprises is presenting The Greatest Race, which shines a spotlight on the charioteers of ancient Rome. “At the heart of The Greatest Race are elaborately reconstructed and reenacted races that are coupled with documentary segments, giving viewers incredibly rich, new insights into the highly influential Roman society,” says Fred Burcksen, the company’s president and CEO. Victor Lessard, meanwhile, is a drama that follows a troubled cop who becomes involved in a series of dark and disturbing murders and has to sacrifice his own peace of mind in the pursuit of justice. It is adapted from the novel I Remember by Martin Michaud.

Victor Lessard

“Victor Lessard is a dramatic crime series that tackles identity issues, recovering memory loss and a need for recognition.”

—Fred Burcksen 12 WORLD SCREEN 3/19

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Banijay Rights’ Wisting.

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Leading distributors share their strategies for delivering projects that will stand out in a crowded drama landscape. By Mansha Daswani

H

as peak TV peaked? Not yet, apparently. In the U.S. alone last year, the number of scripted originals hit 495, up from 487 the year before, according to research from FX Networks (whose CEO, John Landgraf, coined the term “peak TV” way back in 2015, a year that only had 409 scripted series). Estimates are that the number will hit about 520 this year, and that doesn’t include the prolific output out of Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa.

So what does it take to stand out amid all of that content? On that front, there are no easy answers. Crime still pays, but so do romance and sci-fi, family drama and psychological thrills, contemporary and period, limited and returning, in English and multiple other languages.

“The good thing about working in the scripted area at the moment is that channels are very open to many different genres of series and are not prescriptive,” reports Caroline Torrance, the head of scripted at Banijay Rights.

“The main shift in my focus over the past few months has been a move away from trying to chase specific genres, stories and formats to ensuring instead that we approach our development and production slate in a very comprehensive, balanced manner,” notes Carlo Dusi, the executive VP of commercial strategy for scripted at Red Arrow Studios International. “We’ve always found that developing and producing in response to current trends can be quite a tricky process.

Often, by the time you’ve reacted to a trend you saw in the marketplace, that trend has evolved, or the need has been filled and the opportunity is gone. We remain much keener to continue to keep as mixed and varied a balance within our slate as we can.”

TRENDSPOTTING For Vanessa Shapiro, the president of worldwide TV distribution and co-production at Gaumont, “discovering the gaps [in the market] and doing the hard work of filling them with compelling stories that will resonate with viewers around the world is the exciting part of our business.”

Despite never-ending shifts in trends, there is one constant: broadcasters and platforms want strong original concepts with great talent attached, Shapiro notes. “As showrunner for Narcos, Eric Newman has continued to enthrall audiences all over the world with the stories of the real-life rise to global power and wealth of the world’s most infamous drug lords. And we’re equally excited to have Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín on board for El Presidente.”

Both projects Shapiro mentions are international in nature—Narcos explores the drug trade between Colombia, Mexico and the U.S., while the new Amazon commission El Presidente, from Gaumont and Fabula, the company founded by Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín, is inspired by the 2015 “FIFA Gate” corruption scandal.

She adds that “local-language productions are hot right now,” with Narcos helping to kick off the surging demand in non-English3/19 WORLD SCREEN 15

language dramas. The Gaumont slate also includes its first German production, The Barbarians, for Netflix. “Over the past 18 months, we have reviewed multiple highend dramas, comedies and crime series, and we anticipate announcing at least three new productions for 2019 in Latin America, Canada and Germany,” Shapiro says.

At STUDIOCANAL, the emphasis is on “European programming with global appeal,” says Françoise Guyonnet, executive managing director of TV series. “Now that viewers are more open to content that transcends borders, effective international co-productions need to have the ability to travel and to deliver original, globally relevant storylines, compelling characters and unique settings.

Multinational platforms have led the way with globally produced content, giving a home to non-English-language shows. As a creator and supplier who works closely with broadcast and OTT partners, it is our responsibility to better understand their programming needs, their positioning needs and, ultimately, their audience’s needs.”

One need that Guyonnet has heard from broadcasters and platforms is for shows with strong female leads, such as STUDIOCANAL’s own Years and Years, from Russell T Davies and starring Emma Thompson for BBC One; and Spiral, the Canal+ original series that is in its seventh season with star Caroline Proust.

“The trend of theatrical talent moving to the small screen also continues,” Guyonnet adds. “Romain Duris, a French household name, stars in Vernon Subutex, while we

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that the show was shot in just one take. “We are always open to new ideas and are not afraid to push the boundaries to try something in a different way or in a new territory.”

With broadcasters and platforms having so many ideas to choose from, finessing projects during the development stage has become more crucial than ever.

“We’re making sure that we develop relationships with producers who are tried and tested and have a track record and the kind of industry reputation that will make buyers feel confident about the quality of the end result,” Dusi says. “All of these factors are essential to give a project the best chance to stand out in the current marketplace. And we’ve all had to become a lot more strategic about Produced for TV4/C More and NC+, Sanctuary is one of STUDIOCANAL’s lead new highlights for MIPTV. how we take our content out once we’ve packaged it. There are so many projgave us the confidence to commit to such a have U.S. actor Matthew Modine, well ects being circulated at any point in time. complex project. This compelling story known for his role in Full Metal Jacket, playYou only get one bite of the cherry with each delivers an unusual blend of New Zealand ing Dr. Fisher in Sanctuary.” potential buyer or partner, so if you don’t and Scandinavian narrative.” present a project in the best possible way and Torrance is also excited to be showcasing at the right time, you run the risk of burning Banijay’s first Spanish series, Hierro, produced The internationalization of the drama busiby Portocabo and Atlantique Productions ness has created opportunities for distribufor Movistar+ and ARTE France; and the tors to work with talent outside of traditional Norwegian series Wisting, commissioned by scripted powerhouses like the U.S. and U.K. Viaplay, TV3 and ARD and starring American “Audiences worldwide are much more actress Carrie-Anne Moss. open to local content and are increasingly keen on local stories exhibiting real specificity, and offering genuine insight into realities different from those of the viewers,” says Red For Red Arrow’s Dusi, another significant Gaumont is Arrow’s Dusi. “That’s given us a huge amount development in the drama business is producing season of potential to work with talent from outside “greater flexibility in terms of episode numfive of Narcos the traditional English-speaking territories ber, episode lengths and generally how for Netflix. and capitalize on our international relationbroadcasters approach the formatting of ships in a much more creative way.” shows. We feel that we can Of note, Red Arrow arrives at MIPTV with a now put forward shows in the slate that includes The Girl from St. Agnes, a format that most suits the series from South African platform Showmax, content creatively and best alongside Endor Productions’ period piece supports the storytelling, Vienna Blood for ZDF and ORF and the rather than having to shoeconspiracy thriller Departure, starring Archie horn particular stories into Panjabi and Christopher Plummer. a set number of episodes STUDIOCANAL boasts a roster that or a pre-determined includes a Francophone African series, the episode length. This ten-part Invisibles, produced as a Canal+ change has been feeling original; and a new Spanish drama, Instinto, very liberating for us produced by Bambú Producciones for and the talent we Movistar+. work with.”

Banijay Rights, meanwhile, has on its slate the Guyonnet at first-ever New Zealand/Danish co-production.

STUDIOCANAL cites “It is really important to have pieces that feel Collapse, an eight-part authentic,” stresses Torrance. “Our multiseries consisting of 15national drama Straight Forward is a great minute episodes, as an example. Our creative colleagues from Banijay innovative way of approaching Group companies Screentime and Mastiff scripted storytelling, noting

(NOT) THE USUAL SUSPECTS

TIME CHECK

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The Girl from St. Agnes is an original series from South African platform Showmax that Red Arrow Studios International is looking to roll out globally. bridges that you won’t be able to reopen afterward. So we spend a lot of time thinking carefully with our producing partners about the order and timing in which we take projects out to make sure we do it in the most intelligent way possible. We’re also constantly researching the market to verify what we might be in competition with and what needs we may be able to meet with a particular project.”

IN DEVELOPMENT It’s a similar story at Gaumont, Shapiro notes.

“We are spending more time, money and energy on series development,” she explains.

“There’s no cheap way to create high-end drama. Ideally, we try to have at least one to two scripts written before we take a project to the market, plus a bible with character descriptions and series arc.”

Banijay’s Torrance concurs that it’s paramount to spend time perfecting properties.

“Big event pieces take a while to put together because a lineup of partners is needed to finance each series and it is important for everyone to buy into the creative vision. This of course takes time, but is vital for the success of a drama.”

If a lot of time is spent in development but the project doesn’t come to fruition, all is not lost, Dusi says. “We’re finding that even when a development does not ultimately move all the way to production, other good things will come from the work we put in, whether it’s another project with the same creative team or an introduction to a new creative relationship. In such a busy, fastmoving market, everyone values the ability

to work with partners that they know and trust and where they can feel that their interests are aligned. We are in the process of building what we hope will be a wide international family of trusted relationships across which we can work on multiple projects in a way that will benefit both us and the content creators, as well as the buyers working with us.”

Guyonnet reports that STUDIOCANAL benefits from being part of the broader Canal+ Group, allowing the division to “work closely with our production company partners to help hone effective strategies for their shows as well as giving them time to develop dramas with leading writers and talent. It is the fact that we are part of a larger group that allows us to work in this way. Every show is different and demands a different strategy.

It’s a very complicated environment, which needs careful handling and experience, and we are delighted to be able to share this way of working with our production partners when we invest in them.”

TALENT SEEKERS But even the large federations are looking outside of their own production-company networks as the global talent race heats up.

“We’ve already developed material with producers in CEE and Latin America and are constantly looking at filmmakers and writers coming to us from new territories,” Dusi notes. “We have a strong relationship already with Israel, for instance, where we own a production company, July-August, but we also announced a label deal with two phenomenally talented Israeli writers, Amit Cohen and Ron Leshem, at the end of last 3/19 WORLD SCREEN 17

year, which is already starting to yield very exciting fruit for us. As a general rule, we are very international in our approach, and global in the way that we look at the talent pool.”

Torrance, too, says the team at Banijay Rights is casting a wide net. “We are always looking for new series and new partners, no matter where they are from. We attend all the festivals and screenings such as Göteborg, Berlin and Series Mania to keep our eyes out for original ideas. We encourage producers to come and talk to us at an early stage and use our expertise in distribution to help them get their series out to the widest possible audience.”

Sourcing book IP has been a critical method for STUDIOCANAL in finding stand-out concepts, Guyonnet reports.

“We’ve been working on several literary adaptations, which is a wonderful way of discovering new ideas and stories. Vernon Subutex, Sanctuary and the forthcoming War of the Worlds are great examples of how literature often provides content that translates successfully to screen. It was announced very recently that our owner Vivendi has partnered with prestige publishing house Editis, which we believe will be a real source of opportunity for us all at STUDIOCANAL.” For Gaumont’s Shapiro, there still are “some real gems to be discovered. The real difficulty is finding projects that stand out from the rest of the series already available— stories that have not yet been told with a new creative direction.”

And the race to secure access to those stories shows no signs of slowing down.

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issy Peregrym had acted in several TV series and movies—starting with Dark Angel then Heroes, Reaper and others—before she was cast as a vulnerable young cop in Rookie Blue. She is now starring in the Dick Wolf series FBI as Special Agent Maggie Bell, a competent and effective agent; one whose silences and expressions show equal amounts of toughness and compassion. Peregrym tells World Screen how happy she is to be part of a show that highlights the work of the FBI, especially in today’s charged political atmosphere.

By Anna Carugati

M

WS: Do you have consultants on the show? Have they helped you understand your character’s job?

PEREGRYM: We have an ex-FBI agent on set. I’m always learning about how they would do their job, and what’s important in the order of things. They’re very, very thoughtful. Yes, they have to do things quickly, but it’s meticulous in the details. If they’re going to show up somewhere, they know, because of this, this, this and this. That part is different than playing a police officer. There’s an authority there that is earned. That’s been fun.

WS: Does the subject matter of the cases weigh on you?

PEREGRYM: Sometimes. We did a sex-trafficking episode, and it was hard for me. I’ve got two sisters, and I’m female, and just the way that we shot it, I was crying a lot on the other takes. Then as soon as the camera came around on me, [I’d have to turn my emotions off] because that’s not what the character would do. But I have to give myself the room to feel and be upset. It was hard not to be crying a lot. That specific episode is just the first one that comes to mind, but there are situations like that where it’s tough. It’s not a [made-up] story; it’s happening [in the real world]. I want people to understand that what we’re discussing is not fake.

There are things that we can educate ourselves about. I think about it all the time. What can I be doing better so that we’re also putting that information out? Here’s a topic we’re discussing on the show, now what? Is there a number people can call, or write in, whatever it is, to stop this from happening? Because law enforcement can’t do everything, it takes the citizens to be aware of the issues. We need to know, one, that there is an issue; two, how we can be awake to it; and three, how we can deal with it. That matters to me.

I try to do that in my own life. I don’t know how to do it all because I can’t be informed about everything, but if we can bring awareness, great. If we can bring understanding to a certain degree of “why,” why would a person stand on a building and shoot a bunch of people? What happened to them that they’re this hurt and feel this betrayed that this is how they would get attention and react? I think that matters. We have to start paying attention to each other. We have to start making eye contact with each other.

Everybody is obsessed with their cell phones and is looking down. Look up, pay attention to what’s going on around you. Genuinely start caring about the people who are in front of you. Listening is a huge, huge thing.

WS: I love Maggie’s partner—Omar Adom “OA” Zidan, played by Zeeko Zaki—and what he brings to the table while interrogating suspects. As Muslims have been demonized so much, to see one as an FBI agent is phenomenal.

PEREGRYM: That’s really important. People don’t understand that the FBI is so diverse. I have read about what [J. Edgar] Hoover’s FBI was like. It’s not that anymore; there are a lot of women, and you can become a part of the FBI from so many different fields. It is good to have that narrative on TV because that’s the reality more than the other. Of course, it happens all the time that people take a religion and misconstrue it and use it for their own purposes and it hurts other people. It’s happened with Christianity; it happens all the time. The problem is you’re dismissing the person entirely.

You don’t look at them. You’re not getting to know them because you already have this preconceived idea of what they are; they’re just a write-off. That’s why I think that it’s really important that we have [a Muslim FBI agent]. I’m happy that they chose that and that they’re attacking that issue in a subtle way. I know that Zeeko is excited about that opportunity because of his family and being Egyptian.

WS: As viewers, we are slowly learning Maggie’s backstory.

Are we going to learn more about her, and OA, too?

PEREGRYM: Yes, I think so. It’s a little bit trickier when you only have a certain amount of time on a show like this, where the whole episode is about a case. There isn’t a lot of time to get into the backstories of each person, because we’re developing the relationship with each other, and how we work together and that takes time. If we have the opportunity to go further, we’ll definitely be getting into that. It’s important because it informs the audience of why we’re making the decisions that we make, why we’re behaving the way that we are. That’s very interesting to me. That’s how human beings work. [As FBI agents] we’re doing that the whole way with the case. We have to learn about [the criminals and victims] very quickly; we have to understand where they came from so that we can track why they got here and what the problem is. It’s important that we show [the backgrounds and motivations of the] characters in the show because that’s what’s going to bring people back.

WS: As the first on the call sheet, what kind of atmosphere do you want on the set?

PEREGRYM: Fun. We’re there together for a very long time and it’s stressful. Every day is tricky to shoot. I care that people come to work and even though they’re tired, even though it can be frustrating, that it’s still a joyful experience, that it doesn’t feel like you’re going to work in the same way.

Everybody has good days and bad days, but the more you know each other, and the more the environment is safe and fun, people want to be there. And it matters. It changes the dynamic, and it affects what shows up on screen. That’s my number one thing.

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Showrunner Liz Heldens, author Justin Cronin and stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Brianne Howey talk to World Screen about the book-based vampire series The Passage.

By Mansha Daswani

Twentieth Century Fox’s The Passage.

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J

ustin Cronin’s best-selling The Passage has taken a long and winding road to the small screen. Before the book even hit shelves in 2010, Ridley Scott’s Scott Free and 20th Century Fox had already scooped up the film rights. The project remained in development as Cronin released parts two and three in the trilogy, and eventually, Scott and the team at Fox determined that the story was better suited to TV. The first pilot produced was reshot and recast, and in May 2018, the show finally landed a series order on FOX. Penned by Friday Night Lights alum Liz Heldens, The Passage premiered on FOX in the U.S. in January, with a cast that includes MarkPaul Gosselaar, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Brianne Howey and Vincent Piazza.

Jumping back and forth between present day and a post-apocalyptic future, Cronin’s best-selling trilogy tells the story of vampirelike creatures called virals, and a young girl who holds the key to finally destroying them. For the TV series, Heldens homed in on the present day, focusing on a secret medical facility, Project NOAH, that is experimenting with a virus that could cure all disease. The experiments end up creating a breed of new beings that feed on humans.

“I came at this as such a fan of these books,” Heldens says. “In 2011 or ’12, I was doing a deep dive into the apocalypse—I think about the end of the world all the time!—and then I read Justin’s books and they stood out as being different. They were so character-oriented and so human that you forgot that it was a show about virals and just started hooking into the characters. I looked into it a little bit right after I read it and it was being made into a movie. In 2017, I found out that 20th Century Fox wanted to do a series, and I jumped all over it.”

On the challenges of adapting Cronin’s tomes, Heldens notes, “They’re ginormous. I said, ‘I want it, I’m doing it,’ and then I got it

and I was like, ‘Shit, how am I going to do this?’ It took a little bit of thinking about it and a couple tries, but we settled on breaking it up into pieces and having the first season be all the stuff that takes place at Project NOAH. We’re talking about the first season as being the bad decisions and good intentions that lead to the end of the world.”

“The trilogy is a million words, almost,” Cronin adds. “In different books and at different moments, I tap into different anxieties,” the author says about the messages behind the story. “When you get to the third novel and these events are being viewed from a distant future, the metaphor is environmental. Mankind creates an über-predator that eats the North American continent. It’s a metaphor for environmental destruction, for over-reach of science.

This was vampire genre, end-of-the-world genre, and then in a lot of other ways, it was a domestic novel that passes as a Western. The TV show doesn’t have all the same material since there’s less space to operate in. It’s a much slower build.”

After having spent years on the trilogy, Cronin tells World Screen that the experience of watching the long-in-development screen adaptation was “totally strange—in a great way! It was fascinating. It was a version of the story, just like every reader creates a version of the story in their head. I’m very calm about that. The question I get asked a lot is, How do you feel about people changing your book? The answer is, the book is exactly the same as it always was!

Nothing has changed! That’s the smart-ass answer. [The series is] a version of it that isn’t created by me. No version of the story has ever been created by me. Every time somebody reads the book, they’re doing half of the creating work in their head. I watched the pilot and I was looking at Liz’s dream, I was peering into Liz’s head and seeing what she saw.”

Gosselaar stars as federal agent Brad Wolgast, who is tasked with bringing a young girl, Amy Bellafonte (Saniyya Sidney), to the Project NOAH facility after she is 3/19 WORLD SCREEN 21

selected as a test subject. Gosselaar says there are challenges of being a part of an adaptation, particularly given how well loved the source material is. “There are pros and cons to having a built-in fan base, especially when it comes to books and how fanatical” people are about them, Gosselaar says. “I’m a huge fan of the books. And I’m a purist and I want to stay true to the books because why change a thing, it’s perfect. It took me a while to appreciate what we’re doing and also appreciate the books and not feel like we have to mirror exactly what Justin did. He said that what we’re doing is not the television version of his books; it’s a whole other being.”

Heldens describes the relationship between Brad and Amy as the “beating heart” of the series. “As the series unfolds, we’re trying to make the viewer hook into the other characters in the same way. We’re using a flashback structure to tell the backstories of some of the virals. We’re trying to make sure that by the time we get to the end of this chapter, you’re invested in all of these characters.”

Those include Chriqui as Brad’s ex-wife Dr. Lila Kyle; Piazza as Clark Richards, one of Project NOAH’s lead scientists; and Howey as death-row inmate Shauna Babcock, one of the test subjects being confined at the facility.

On preparing for her role—a character that was male in Cronin’s trilogy—Howey tells World Screen, “This is our round two.

Shauna was a bit different [in the first pilot]. She was a little crazier, a little wilier.

They’ve tapered her down to be [someone] who maybe had a shot at a normal life if these circumstances didn’t happen to her.

Which is a lot less on the nose and more interesting. And it makes it scarier because this could happen to anybody. With the vampire stuff, the prosthetics really help!

It’s hard not to feel in character. I’ve got fangs, these crazy eyes, the veins. I feel intimidating. [The virals have] these super immune systems, so everything is heightened, and that’s fun to play with. It’s kind of animal-like.”

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MARKET TRENDS

division of pubcaster ORF, ORF-Enterprise is tasked with bringing content made for Austrian audiences to viewers across the globe, from Vienna Boys Choir concerts to blue-chip natural history created for the UNIVERSUM doc strand to crime thrillers and dark comedies.

The commercial arm of the Austrian broadcast group also sells ad time across the ORF portfolio and runs a music publishing house and label. Beatrice CoxRiesenfelder, the managing director of ORF-Enterprise, tells World Screen how the company is positioning itself in the media landscape, working with digital platforms and raising the profile of Austrian content.

By Mansha Daswani

A

WS: How are you positioning ORF-Enterprise in this fastchanging media landscape?

COX-RIESENFELDER: As a subsidiary of a public broadcaster, we have a stable [pipeline] of local productions coming up every year, and we have a stable field of documentaries that we can provide to our customers, like UNIVERSUM. We do need to produce for the local audience, which makes the distribution of our programs to a worldwide audience a bit challenging. We do see a rise in the need for European productions by Netflix, Amazon and other VOD platforms.

Before they were mostly looking at U.S. content, but now we see significant interest in European productions. However, from a linear broadcaster’s point of view, you need to have a more strategic approach instead of just “feeding” the streaming platforms with your prime content that you might need for your own audience. Co-producing is one way to work together in the same market. For example, ORF is currently co-producing a miniseries called Freud with Netflix, Bavaria Fiction and Satel. This project works for ORF and the Austrian audience as well as for Netflix.

On the other hand, we have experienced difficulty in scheduling drama series that were made by VOD platforms on free TV. Their way of storytelling is aimed at binge-watching and sometimes is too complicated to survive a pause from one week to the next on linear. We experienced that with Babylon Berlin. On free TV it started very well, but the ratings went down, whereas on our catch-up service TVthek, it was exploding due to the opportunity to binge-consume when and where you want.

WS: Will the ORF acquisition strategy change from taking all rights to perhaps being more selective and only buying for linear or digital?

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COX-RIESENFELDER: That might be something ORF will do in the future. To date, the laws for public broadcasters are particular and some are restricted with regards to their online services, such as acquiring rights specifically for VOD or for catch-up. These kinds of legal restraints, on a local basis, have to be reviewed. It makes no sense anymore. We need to have different rights management for our programs, maybe online first, maybe online only. The legal [framework] has to follow for local media to persist.

In distribution, ORF-Enterprise is already used to selling very selected rights [internationally]. We know the buyers don’t need all rights/all media anymore. They prefer to pay less and not have all the rights. That means more work for us as a distributor because we may have more clients, but they would probably pay less because they need fewer rights.

WS: How is the UNIVERSUM brand continuing to resonate with your documentary clients?

COX-RIESENFELDER: The unique thing about UNIVERSUM is that it is produced for local and worldwide audiences from the beginning. UNIVERSUM produces in English, and since animals do not speak, it’s much easier to sync! From the beginning, we always try to find international co-production partners. VOD platforms are now interested in co-producing and they need specific rights to exploit. So there are different co-production models. If you want to keep up with the quality of UNIVERSUM, you need a lot of money—between €500,000 and €1 million for an international blue-chip TV documentary. These projects take a long time to be realized, a couple of years sometimes. Every time something is completed, we already know where we can sell it because the sales team had enough time to pitch it.

WS: Tell us about ORF-Enterprise’s scripted offerings.

COX-RIESENFELDER: We have a few scripted series and TV movies, most co-produced with German broadcasters like ZDF and ARD. Amazon and Netflix can be partners as well, or RTL. For our long-running series Suburbia: Women on the

Edge, Four Women and a Funeral and Fast Forward, our best market is Italy. We have secured a couple of deals with commercial broadcasters. Selling non-English-language content is always an issue because dubbing is very expensive with scripted content. We have to be clever on how to construct deals that can make the program travel so [that the investment in dubbing] pays off in the end.

WS: Are you looking at scripted-format opportunities to get over that language hurdle?

COX-RIESENFELDER: Absolutely. We made some contracts, but they didn’t get realized [as local adaptations]. It needs a lot of preparation, so we’ve gathered some experiences and now have two or three series we are prepared to give the format rights to.

WS: What are the major trends you see in the distribution business currently?

COX-RIESENFELDER: We are in a disruptive environment. I see a lot of changes that on the one hand are good because they open a lot of new possibilities. However, as a linear broadcaster, you have to be very careful about whom you cooperate with. I think we will see alliances within the traditional European broadcasters with regards to their streaming and catch-up services. In Austria, ORF, together with the press, plans to establish a login alliance—with one login you can enter the main Austrian websites, online services and VOD platforms. This model may work in the German-speaking market and on a European level.

WS: And that is to compete with the FAANGs, which seem to have unlimited amounts of money to spend?

COX-RIESENFELDER: Yes. Also, the tax issue has to be solved.

It cannot be the case that companies are acting in the same media and advertising market and not paying the same tax.

It needs to be resolved. I’m always a supporter of good competition, but it has to be on a level playing field. Hopefully, the European Commission will implement fair terms and conditions for all players.

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ORF-Enterprise’s wildlife documentary lineup includes Cuba ’s Wild Revolution.

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SPOTLIGHT

OKAN: Yes, and not only the international ones. BluTV is the first SVOD platform in Turkey. They have started their own original productions from local producers that we are distributing on their behalf. The linear market is still our core market because the conventional Turkish drama series are quite long and they are not being sold that much on SVOD platforms.

WS: Turkish dramas have crossed cultures so well. What allows them to be popular in so many different countries?

OKAN: When you go to a neighborhood in Istanbul, you see a mosque, next to it a church and right behind there is a synagogue. It has been the center of lots of different cultures for centuries. The stories that come out of this culture are appealing to almost all countries around the world.

WS: Has the Turkish currency crisis impacted the market?

OKAN: It hasn’t affected us. But the ad revenues in Turkey, unfortunately, are shrinking, so this is going to affect the broadcasters in the very near future. This may cause a decrease in the quality or the number of saleable products. So, we’re quite cautious and are waiting to see what’s going to happen in the near future.

WS: What new drama titles do you have?

OKAN: We recently got the representation rights of Flames of Desire from Kanal D. We have Bitter Lands, the latest title of Tims&B, which produced Magnificent Century: Kosem and many other titles. We are selling it quite widely and quite fast because it is a very well-produced drama piece. It’s very fast-paced, taking place in the 1970s; very high production values and high budget as well, of course.

WS: Given that these dramas are sold in other countries, do the producers think about international audiences too?

OKAN: They definitely do because, with the currency exchange and the potential economic crisis, they cannot recoup their expenses from the local market or from sales to the broadcasters. So they depend on international sales. Every single day, they are now trying to create concepts that appeal to the international market.

By Anna Carugati

C

an Okan, the founder and CEO of Inter Medya, set up the company in 1992 as a film distributor serving the Turkish market. Through the years, it has expanded into television programming and today is one of the leading companies selling high-end Turkish dramas around the world. Okan talks about the continuing appeal of these series and how he and his team are finding robust sales opportunities with unscripted shows and formats.

WS: In which territories is there demand for your dramas?

OKAN: We are still very successful in Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market, and there are some new countries opening up every month. In Asia, countries like Bangladesh, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand are opening. We also have quite a big demand from African territories—we believe that it is going to be a growing market for us.

WS: Have streaming services offered distribution opportunities?

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WS: With your expertise, do you offer them advice?

OKAN: We do give them advice on the storylines, concepts, sometimes for the cast. We give them forecasts so that they can do their calculations accordingly and don’t take any high risks—because if they don’t exist, we don’t exist.

WS: At what point was the decision made to branch out into unscripted programming?

OKAN: We had to diversify our content and our catalogs. The only thing we saw was to go into production, which would create a conflict of interest with our suppliers, so we said, Let’s go into the creation and production of formats. That’s how it all started. Now we are also receiving lots of formats from other sources for worldwide distribution. This is going to be quite an important part of our sales in the very near future. We have Exathlon that we represent worldwide. We got it right before MIPCOM in 2018, and it’s being produced in six countries. It’s been on air in Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Hungary, Romania and on Telemundo in the U.S. Hispanic market, which recently started with its second season with huge success.

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IN THE NEWS

to start season 15 of production on Channel 5. We have a scripted series on ITV called Unforgotten, which is about to start its fourth season, and we’re in the fourth season of Extreme Cake Makers, which we make in volume for Channel 4. Likewise, we have Impossible Engineering in season five, our big brand The Real Marigold Hotel and its spin-off The Real Marigold on Tour in season four, and This Time Next Year in season three. It’s a lot about the returning business right now at Twofour.

WS: Are there opportunities for collaboration among your production labels?

LEACH: There are, particularly between Boomerang and Twofour. Boomerang is a Cardiff-based business. Quite often if we have a broadcaster that specifically wants a program to be produced from one of the nations, then we’ll place that show with Boomerang, regardless of where it’s been originated within the group. At the moment, it’s really important in the U.K. to be able to offer the broadcasters flexibility when it comes to the nations and regions. Having a diversity of labels spread across the U.K. has never been more important.

WS: How is the commissioning landscape in the U.K. at present?

LEACH: There’s uncertainty in the advertising market, and that’s affecting the commercial broadcasters because they don’t have visibility yet on what the impact of Brexit is going to be. They’re understandably being cautious and you sense they are slightly riskaverse, so they’re more likely to greenlight a returning brand than they are to try something new. Having said that, I don’t feel there’s a lack of appetite for big ideas.

The channels are still asking us for programs that can create an event in the schedule.

By Mansha Daswani

T

hrough its award-winning production labels Twofour, Boomerang and Mainstreet Pictures, the Twofour Group has been filling the needs of U.K. broadcasters with a broad range of drama, comedy, factual and entertainment shows. Twofour America, meanwhile, produces non-scripted content, including adaptations of British formats, for U.S. broadcasters, while Twofour Rights delivers factual and factual entertainment to networks in 100-plus markets across the globe. As chief executive of the group, which is part of the ITV Studios portfolio, Melanie Leach is ensuring that the company keeps up with its clients’ needs for top-quality content while navigating Brexit concerns and a changing distribution landscape.

WS: What’s driving the production business across Twofour’s various labels?

LEACH: We have a lot of returning brands at Twofour and those are driving the production business. The market has been quite challenging in the U.K., which may well be a reaction to Brexit, so it feels like a time when it’s important to have big, returning brands on the production slate.

We’ve got shows like The Hotel Inspector, which is about 26 WORLD SCREEN 3/19

WS: How are you positioning your format business?

LEACH: The format business sits at the heart of everything we do within the group. It’s always our ambition to be creating the next show that’s going to really travel.

We had great success with This Time Next Year. In the last 12 months, we’ve seen success with What Would Your Kid Do?, which we’ve put in nine territories. That puts it pretty near the top of the table in terms of performance for a brand-new show. We’re going to be pushing hard on a new format called Undercover Girlfriends, which debuted last year on Channel 5 and is coming back for an extended run. Beat the Chef is a new competitive format that sees cookery married to a money ladder for the first time, so essentially a cookery game show. That’s for Channel 4. We have high hopes for that internationally; it looks like it might have the versatility to play in a wide range of territories across a number of day parts.

WS: What trends do you see in the factual content space?

LEACH: There’s a real desire at the moment for warm, funny, emotional, uplifting—anything to counterbalance the negativity surrounding Brexit. There’s very little desire for hard-hitting, slightly darker formats. Everybody is looking for escapist, joyful; it’s got to make you laugh. In terms of the success rate of new ideas that are going from development into commission, the common theme is that they are funny and entertaining.

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of what the markets are looking for. That intelligence is really valuable.

WS: What opportunities are Netflix, Amazon and others creating for you in the U.K.?

LEACH: It’s really exciting to have new buyers to talk to. Their requirements are different from those of terrestrial broadcasters. They provide different creative challenges, which is exciting. We’ve got some things in production with them. It’s really enabling to know that there are more homes in the market now for your ideas. And people are trying to change the form as well. I think what Quibi [Jeffrey Katzenberg’s com pany for premium short-form scripted content] is doing is fantastically interesting. It feels like it could be the next big play in content creation. It’s operating in a world that we haven’t seen before. Nobody has been making very high-quality short-form content specifically for mobile. That feels like a fantastic opportunity for content creators. We are so timestarved—to be able to treat yourself to something you know you’ll enjoy, but doesn’t require you to give up an entire hour of your life, really reflects the way we live today. Finding an hour is almost impossible!

Twofour Rights’ formats slate includes What Would Your Kid Do?

We have a new show coming up called Secret Teacher for Channel 4. [Business owners] who failed at school and left with no qualifications but went on to be vastly successful go back to school undercover and work as secret supply teachers. They spot kids who, like them, don’t get on with the education system, and they give them a life-changing opportunity, something that will turn those kids’ lives around and stop them from leaving school and falling off the rails. It’s really warm and uplifting and feels very of the moment.

WS: What are the benefits of being part of the broader ITV Studios portfolio?

LEACH: As part of a global production entity, we have expertise on the ground in so many key markets. We know our formats are going to be best-served in terms of the people who are pitching them to the broadcasters and ultimately then going on to produce those shows. No matter how good your format is, in the wrong hands it’s less likely to succeed. If you can rely on a network of really strong producers who know their local market and who have a track record of delivering high-quality shows—that’s a real competitive advantage. The access that gives you to local information is also really important. ITV is very good at making sure that all of the international labels are very connected—we meet four times a year for creative collaboration. We feel very much part of a network where we know not only what’s required of us in the U.K., but what’s required of us globally in terms 28 WORLD SCREEN 3/19

WS: Many of the U.S. major media companies are setting up direct-to-consumer platforms, and it’s unclear how much of their content will be licensed to other services. What opportunities do you see that creating for Twofour and other production and distribution groups?

LEACH: It seems likely that Netflix will have to commission more when they’re faced with a reduced supply chain. Anyone who is a publisher-broadcaster is going to have to find more content when the studios take their content back in-house.

WS: What are your thoughts on how the streamers’ exclusive talent deals will impact the overall production and distribution business?

LEACH: I think that is something producers need to be acutely aware of now. Studios or platforms doing deals directly with the talent is a way of cutting out third-party production. So it’s probably never been more important for producers to make sure that they either have a piece of underlying IP or they have really robust talent deals in play that prevent the platforms from making those deals. It’s increasingly difficult.

WS: What are your major priorities for Twofour Group in the next one to two years?

LEACH: Making sure we continue to grow our digital revenues will be key. Both in terms of the new entrants in the market and continuing to grow the business we have with the FAANGs. Making sure that we are monetizing all of our content in the digital world in the most efficient way. It’s taken a while for that market to mature, but there are now real revenue opportunities available. We have to be certain we capitalize on them. Looking at how we extend our TV brands beyond just TV is going to be important for us.

That will be a key focus for us in terms of the new things we’re putting into development.

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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 I get a lost-in-translation tattoo?

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.

Donald Trump

Gabrielle Union

Ariana Grande

Adam Levine

DONALD TRUMP

ARIANA GRANDE

Global distinction: 45th U.S. President.

Sign: Gemini (b. June 14, 1946) Significant date: February 2, 2019 Noteworthy activity: The hue of Trump’s skin color

Global distinction: Former Nickelodeon star.

Sign: Cancer (b. June 26, 1993) Significant date: February 1, 2019 Noteworthy activity: The sitcom star turned pop diva

comes under scrutiny in a New York Times article, which questions whether he uses a tanning bed, selftanning creams or something of the like. However, the Times reports that official line from the White House is that the orangish glow is the result of “good genes,” citing a senior administration official who would speak only on the condition of anonymity.

Horoscope: “Take time to set the record straight. You might learn that someone has spread misinformation.” (mercurynews.com)

gets a tattoo to pay homage to her new single. Though the Japanese characters were supposed to read “7 Rings,” the translation is actually “shichirin,” which is a small barbecue grill. The songstress attempts to get it fixed a few days later, but still misses the mark, with the fresh ink translating to “Japanese BBQ finger.”

Horoscope: “Now is the time to be crystal clear about what you want as you just might get it.” (hotworldreport.com)

ADAM LEVINE GABRIELLE UNION Global distinction: American actress & activist.

Sign: Scorpio (b. October 29, 1972) Significant date: February 14, 2019 Noteworthy activity: The cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty shares a photo of the L.A.’s Finest actress on Instagram “celebrating some of our heroes in beauty” for Black History Month. A social media user comments, “Brandy!!!! I love her,” mistaking the future America’s Got Talent judge with singer and actress Brandy Norwood. Union replies, “girl I [heart emoji] @4everbrandy toooooooooo! I, however, am Gabrielle Union Wade and I hope you are never a witness to any crime cuz your eye witness testimony is a problem.”

Horoscope: “You will get that opportunity to clear up a misunderstanding or misinformation that has been causing you needless trouble lately.” (meridianstar.com)

PINK Global distinction: Music superstar.

Sign: Virgo (b. September 8, 1979) Significant date: February 15, 2019 Noteworthy activity: Husband Carey Hart apparently gives the “Just Give Me a Reason” singer a reason to slash his tires after a fight around the stressful holiday season. The mother-of-two reveals in an interview that the attempted act of retribution left her with a gash in her hand that required a total of 13 stitches.

Horoscope: “Using force or anger to deal with situations that involve work or personal relationships will backfire.” (theitem.com) 30 WORLD SCREEN 3/19

Global distinction: The Voice mentor.

Sign: Pisces (b. March 18, 1979) Significant date: February 3, 2019 Noteworthy activity: Even before the Super Bowl begins, the Maroon 5 frontman faces criticism for playing the halftime show, a gig that many other performers turned down in solidarity with erstwhile NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The show itself doesn’t seem to win the singer over any of his haters. Levine is particularly taken to task for his fashion choices, which include a tank top with a black and brown geometric pattern that winds up becoming a meme.

Horoscope: “Take time to sit with your inner voice today to figure out who you want to be, as the world watches your professional ascent.” (broadly.vice.com)

ANDY MURRAY Global distinction: British tennis star.

Sign: Taurus (b. May 15, 1987) Significant date: January 29, 2019 Noteworthy activity: The 31-year-old tennis pro is expected to retire after playing in this year’s Wimbledon tournament. However, the athlete is forced to have hip surgery if he wants any chance of playing again, putting his plans in peril. Sharing an X-ray of his post-op hip, Murray accidentally veers into the X-rated, causing a Twitter debate about just how much of the three-time Grand Slam tournament winner is on display in the pic.

Horoscope: “Think twice before sharing personal or confidential information with anyone else.” (findyourfate.com)

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