Carrie Stein

World Screen Weekly, May 8, 2008

CEO

Alchemy Television Group

Formed just two years ago, Alchemy Television is positioning itself as a quality provider of drama and reality programming, with bases in both Los Angeles and London—cities that Carrie Stein, the company’s CEO, describes as “centers of creativity” in both genres. Having offices in both the U.S. and the U.K., Stein notes, “has contributed to our very rapid success. We have moved much more quickly than any of us can keep up with right now!”

The company set out to make a big impression at MIPTV, where it announced the acquisition, together with Tele München Gruppe, of worldwide rights (excluding North America) to the new series Flashpoint, an ensemble police drama for CTV in Canada and CBS in the U.S. In Cannes, Alchemy also unveiled a slate of high-end event mini-series, among them Coco Chanel, Iron Road, Burn Up and Diamonds. Cast members from those productions, including Shirley MacLaine, Sam Neill and Sir Derek Jacobi, were on hand to promote the new shows, which were funded by securing broadcast partners at an early stage. “Co-productions are fantastic to pull off and very challenging,” Stein says.

Piecing projects together is not new for Stein, who spent many years running the long-form television department at International Creative Management (ICM) before joining Alchemy as its CEO. Looking back on her time there, Stein says, “It was much harder 5 to 10 years ago. People are finally receptive to co-productions due to bigger budgets and the need for sharing the risk,” she explains. The key to a successful co-production, Stein notes, is that the story be universally appealing. Alchemy’s current batch of completed titles explores such subjects as “global warming, diamonds and Coco Chanel, the greatest fashion icon of our time.”

While Stein’s roots are in drama—she began her career working for the acclaimed movie director Taylor Hackford—she spent several years working at Cosgrove-Meurer Productions, which was best known for its Unsolved Mysteries series. Although Stein was charged with building Cosgrove-Meurer’s drama department, the experience there gave her some insight into the world of unscripted content, which led her to launch a reality division almost immediately upon joining Alchemy.

The impetus behind the launch of Alchemy Reality in April 2007, Stein says, was the company’s relationship with Rocket Science Laboratories, the outfit behind Temptation Island and Joe Millionaire, among other shows. “They were entrepreneurial and wanted an alliance with a distributor so they could focus on the international market a lot more.” For Stein, meanwhile, adding reality to the mix was a sound business strategy for Alchemy. “The drama business can move very slowly. It seemed an ideal balance to have this other division that moves much faster—sometimes you can’t remember what show you’re doing when!”

The next stage of Alchemy’s expansion will be into series television, Stein says, and she’ll be looking to tap into her experience as a packaging agent at ICM. Her stint there opened her eyes to the importance of being involved in the international market. “It became clear to me early on that the TV business was a global business, not just for sales but for production as well, and that if you didn’t know the world market you would miss the boat. So I really paid attention. I went to every market I could. I met with producers all over the world. When Alchemy came along and asked me to come in and run their company, I was just thrilled. It was the perfect opportunity for my skill set!”

Stein is now busy working on Alchemy’s slate for 2008-2009, with a focus on continuing to “build this boutique, global business and to move more and more into originating production as well as financing and distributing. At least 50 percent of our activity this year is original production, initiated by Alchemy.” The first two projects on board for production this year are a new version of Ben Hur, which Christian Dugay is set to direct, and a mini-series based on Caroline Alexander’s book The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, which Alchemy is producing for the BBC with Scott Free Productions.