Q&A: All3Media International’s Louise Pedersen

Part of global television, production and distribution company All3Media, All3Media International offers clients worldwide a diverse selection of high-quality content. Its scripted catalog includes a range of titles from beloved long-running soaps to contemporary thrillers, detective series and comedy shows. As CEO Louise Pedersen explains, at a time when the drama market in Europe is facing numerous challenges, proper financing, collaboration and timing are helping deals get made.

WS: What has been your view of the European scripted market in the last 12 months or so?
PEDERSEN: We’re not producing scripted content in Europe, but we’re selling into Europe, and it’s been pretty steady. The German market has been good for us. We have good co-production relationships with ZDF and ARD, and we’re really happy with how those relationships are working. Spain has been very good. Our long-standing and very valuable partners in Scandinavia, Benelux and Eastern and Central Europe have been good and very steady. So, for us, Europe hasn’t been a huge growth market, but it hasn’t been a market in decline. It’s been steady and responsive.

We’ve taken a bit of a step back from non-English programming, which takes us out of Europe because it’s hard to sell it in the States. That means that we can’t always make the numbers stack up. What many European producers are doing very successfully is forming relationships with one another, developing financing plans themselves and involving broadcasters in Europe as well. And that seems to be a model that they all like. That’s the way they’re getting a lot more shows funded.

WS: How do you help producers secure financing for their dramas?
PEDERSEN: We get involved at a very, very early stage, and we talk to loads of producers from Europe, from Australia and, of course, from the U.K. Our sole objective is to get a show that is as internationally appealing as possible, which means that it has a theme that resonates globally or some cast that is very well-known globally. We track projects from a very early stage. At that point, we try to give producers an early sense of whether we’re interested or not, so that we can either continue the conversations or they can talk to other people. We try to be really clear about that. Then we will take the deficit as the distributor. We will come in and gap-finance for the right shows. And if we bring in a German or Australian co-producer, we take that toward recouping our investment. So, the distribution advance model is still alive. It’s just that distributors are probably being a little bit more cautious about where they spend their money because costs have gone up.

WS: Have financing models become more complex?
PEDERSEN: The financing models haven’t necessarily become more complex. They still follow the same structure, but because production budgets have gone up, and, in some cases, broadcaster contributions have gone down or remained the same, and because of the decline in the U.S. co-production market, the money that distribution businesses like ours have been prepared to contribute has gone down. So, the financing models haven’t become more complex, but anecdotally, you hear about more shows that can’t get financed.

WS: In general, is a series based on known IP or with known talent attached easier to get funded and sold?
PEDERSEN: In this market, whether it be known IP, a great cast, a well-known director, all those things make buyers feel more secure about the project and the way that it’s going to turn out. So, yes, known IP definitely gives buyers that extra bit of comfort and security. In a market where buyers are more risk-averse, having a great bit of IP or some great casting really helps.

WS: Is that risk aversion also due in part to the fact that viewership is so fragmented?
PEDERSEN: You’re right. That’s up the chain, and it’s what has led us to where we are. But every time we invest in a show, we’re doing a business case. In that business case now, the American number has come down by 50 percent. That’s really the driver of it.

WS: What does a show based on a new idea need to catch buyers’ attention?
PEDERSEN: Not to be prescriptive about it because if you look at successful shows from our catalog, All Creatures Great and Small or Midsomer Murders, they’re so different. It’s very hard to generalize. You wouldn’t want to make a formula or apply an algorithm to creativity. But I do think that, in some ways, a show based on an original idea has to address issues that are relevant around the world, as Adolescence did with boys and social media; that’s something everyone worries about. Shows that deal with specific U.K.-based crime, U.K.-based political issues or social problems that don’t apply in the rest of the world are harder. A good crime story, a good detective show, a good action thriller—they are always going to get attention. But riskier or non-traditional shows have to say something that is universal.

WS: Are buyers showing a preference for series of certain lengths?
PEDERSEN: Six hours is best for our commercial broadcasters; half-hours are tricky. Comedy is still really tricky because it’s often six half-hours, and it’s a slower burn. People will perhaps discover a show in the second or third season, and then there’s word of mouth, so it takes longer. British comedy does travel quite well, but it’s still a bit of a harder sell.

WS: What distribution strategies have you been using for scripted shows?
PEDERSEN: At the moment, we’re really leaning into not going too early. Four or five years ago, we would go out with a writer and a script for one episode. We’ll still do that, but just to give buyers the sense of what’s coming. But in reality, we’ve accepted that buyers are probably going to want to see an episode one, or at least some good footage. That means that we’re leaning more into events like the London TV Screenings and festivals, where we can screen whole episodes so that buyers can see them for the first time on the big screen. At Content London, we premiered our new show, Secret Service, which I’m really excited about and will launch on ITV [this year]. The temptation as a salesperson is always to get the show out there as quickly as you can, but we’re waiting a bit longer and making sure that we’ve got the right event to launch shows.

WS: You also have Trespasses. I read the book it’s based on by Louise Kennedy, and it was devastatingly beautiful. It ripped my heart out.
PEDERSEN: That ripped my heart out, too. That was beautiful, and Amanda Posey and her team at Wildgaze Films have done a fabulous job. But again, we waited and launched it when we had episodes.

WS: There’s also something to be said for shows that provide escape. Midsomer Murders is so familiar to me—it’s like comfort food!
PEDERSEN: Exactly. It is a crime series, but they’re also a fun gang to hang out with, and it looks gorgeous. And with All Creatures Great and Small, people feel like, Oh, I can just relax and enjoy this. You feel that need for escapism, don’t you? And I think audiences do, too. We’re not seeing that many shows in that space. I’d quite like a few more. The Brokenwood Mysteries from South Pacific Pictures is another one that does a fabulous job of that. So, yes, it feels like the world is dark enough without lots of gritty crime, doesn’t it?