Cathy Payne

When Endemol acquired the Southern Star Group in January 2009, the producer of megahit formats like Big Brother and Deal or No Deal not only significantly augmented its library of finished programs, it also got an experienced executive to run and expand its distribution business. In the past five years, Cathy Payne, the CEO of Endemol Worldwide Distribution (EWD), has merged the Endemol and Southern Star catalogues, identified key third-party acquisitions and continued to build relationships with producers. She talks to World Screen Weekly about EWD’s new slate of shows, managing rights effectively, and the much anticipated return of Mr. Bean!

WS: Since Endemol acquired Southern Star, what has been your strategy in expanding and diversifying the merged catalogue?
PAYNE: When we put the two companies together, we had a look at the distribution market and we decided that we were going to go for broad-audience scripted, broad-audience factual and broad-audience entertainment programming. Our strategy is to focus on shows that can sell in 80 percent of the world rather than a show that would only sell in 20 percent.

We also continued the strategy we had back in the Southern Star days of having third-party as well as internal content to be able to protect ourselves in those years when there might not be as much coming through the pipeline and to increase our relationships. Certainly before I joined Endemol the amount of their third-party content was tiny. Now, in our overall catalogue, third-party content is 50 percent of what we sell.

In addition, we’ve had a strategy of reviewing everything in our library. When the company was in its early days it was about production more so than creating assets for future sales. So we went through and identified brands that could be taken out internationally and we have been doing that. One of the key things we wanted to do with a number of our catalogue items was sell them as a franchise for a channel, for example Wipeout. When you buy Wipeout, it’s not just Wipeout U.S., it’s also Total Wipeout (Wipeout U.K.) and Wipeout Canada—we’re grouping the English-language shows together and creating volume so a franchise like Wipeout can really be useful to have in the schedule.

WS: The EWD catalogue spans many genres. Which titles are selling well?
PAYNE: Broad-audience entertainment programming, the likes of Wipeout—that is an evergreen for us. From the U.S., we sell the factual documentary series Cold Justice made by Wolf Films and Magical Elves for TNT. We sell Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown for CNN. That is a great talent and the show does very well for us. We also have Death Row Stories and Crimes of the Century from CNN. And from the U.K., our shows Bodyshockers and Secret Eaters, those franchises perform very well.

WS: There is a lot of drama in the market. How do you differentiate your offer from the other drama in the market?
PAYNE: No doubt in the last couple of years the drama that’s come from the cable sector in the U.S. and British drama have had a real renaissance, while the drama that hasn’t performed well has been the broadcast-network drama. The nature of the British short run or the U.S. cable series is that in those environments writers are allowed to do things that they wouldn’t normally do—there is more risk-taking. And when there is more risk-taking there are going to be more programs that break through. To me it all starts with a fantastic idea and very well-written scripts. Being able to combine that level of writing with interesting and challenging roles along with a couple of really strong theatrical directors and names just makes for a really good offering.

What we look for in drama is something that is going to look different. What is distinctive about the show? It might be the creative team or the on-screen talent.

WS: And your MIPCOM slate will have a lot of drama?
PAYNE: It’s a heavily scripted slate. We have Gallipoli, an eight-hour miniseries for the Nine Network in Australia. It’s the equivalent of D-Day for Australia and New Zealand and is about a battle that happened on the Turkish peninsula. We have a very big fantasy series, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, for BBC One based on a best-selling book by Susanna Clarke. We have season two of The Fall. Season one was a fantastic success on BBC Two, so much so that we bought the company and are doing a deal with Content Media to take back the rights to season one. We have season two of Peaky Blinders. We have Kingdom, a family drama set in Los Angeles, and Younger, the new comedy for TV Land starring Hilary Duff with Darren Star (Sex and the City) as executive producer.

WS: You have quite a few comedy series. How did that come about and how are they performing?
PAYNE: It started off with Hot in Cleveland from TV Land. I remember when I first read that script I thought, it’s kind of old-fashioned, but there is something good about it. Hot in Cleveland is a bit of an old-fashioned comedy with four fantastic pieces of talent. What works with the TV Land shows, and we have quite a few of their properties, is when you pick up one of those comedies you know you are going to have ten episodes. TV Land launches two, maybe three, shows a year. For them it is a huge investment, so there is more opportunity to succeed there than there is on a broadcast network. Look at some of the big names that didn’t make a second season this year—Robin Williams and Michael J. Fox. It’s tough; the level of success there is so finely tuned and you don’t get a chance. On cable they are more likely to give you a chance at success and give you another go.

WS: And almost everything that TV Land has launched has been renewed.
PAYNE: Yes, nearly all of them have, and what I like about the new slate is Jennifer Falls, which stars Jaime Pressly, and Younger, which is coming later in the year. TV Land is aging down its audience all the time, which is good, but they are not alienating their regular audience.

WS: In the entertainment category, you mentioned Wipeout. Are there other shows that Endemol produces locally and that EWD sells internationally?
PAYNE: If we look in the entertainment space, you’d be surprised at some of the shows that we sell all around the world. Snog, Marry, Avoid? has aired on the BBC for several years and is being made in the U.S. now as Kiss, Marry, Avoid? A man chooses a girl he would rather kiss, marry or avoid. We are now producing the show in so many countries; we are doing an Italian version and a Russian version. We are selling the finished English version and now we are doing a U.S. version. At the moment, we’ve got 50 or 60 episodes of the show, and it’s a constant performer for us. The Brits do very good factual entertainment. Those programs do very well.

We continue to sell our big franchises like Fear Factor and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition; they are constantly relicensed to networks around the world. Our big announcement in entertainment this year is that Mr. Bean is coming back! Mr. Bean has more than 55 million friends on Facebook. He is about the eighth most popular channel on YouTube. He is one of those few characters that have nonverbal humor. As well as having the new animated series, we’re also re-mastering the original. So Mr. Bean is back with a vengeance!

WS: Are you finding sales opportunities with over-the-top (OTT) platforms?
PAYNE: Yes, to me OTTs are another distribution channel. But one thing that I think is more important than ever is really managing your windows. When SVOD came around everyone said, Oh, another opportunity to sell and make more money. But as the SVOD platforms mature they want exclusivity—everyone wants some form of exclusivity to manage the windows. And remember that SVOD has caused, to some extent, the decline of the rental business. I hate it when people use the term digital, because digital can be anything from digital television to a permanently retained copy of a program to a subscription to a monthly service. [When selling rights], you need to be clear about what you have, what you’ve lost, and then you look at your real growth.

WS: What issues are impacting the distribution business?
PAYNE: Channels want to offer viewers more opportunities to view content and to keep them on their channel and their services, so broadcasters are pushing for more rights and more exclusive rights, but not always wanting to pay for them. Shows cost so much to produce, and whether you are a start-up service or you are a major broadcaster, if you want a first-class show with big stars and big creative attached, it’s going to cost. Production costs haven’t gone down. It’s always the push and pull of what rights and more rights and not having to pay for them. I’m always very interested in managing windows so you have a proper tail. You don’t [sell] everything in the first cycle. Making sure you effectively manage the life of a show is more important than ever.