Christina Jennings

This interview originally appeared in the MIPTV 2010 issue of World Screen.

 

Canada’s Shaftesbury Films has long been known for its live-action youth programming. Over the last several years, however, it has made a name for itself in prime-time TV movies and, increasingly, hour-long dramas. For Christina Jennings, the founder, chairman and CEO of the company, developing innovative co-production partnerships—such as the one it struck to finance and roll out The Listener, which has been renewed for a second season by CTV—are essential in the current economy.

 

WS: What’s driving your prime-time drama business?

JENNINGS: It’s all about partnerships. Every other week there is a European broadcaster or distributor in Toronto wanting to talk partnerships. Murdoch Mysteries is an example of a success—we’re going into the fourth season with UKTV’s Alibi, Citytv and ITV Studios Global Entertainment. We’re starting to see, with The Listener and some other shows, that the international pay stations like Universal Networks International and Fox International Channels are stepping up in a really significant way.

 

WS: How do you manage everyone’s needs in order to get the best show possible?

JENNINGS: The key is that everyone is making the same show out of the gate. So if one looks at The Listener, Fox and CTV were making the same show, so we weren’t stretched as a creative team. And you’ve got to be a real grownup about that. We all want our shows to get financed and the worst thing that could happen is to sell two different [versions of the] show, because no one will be happy and the show won’t work and they won’t want to buy your next show! You then have to be prepared to listen. In the Murdoch example, we knew that the U.K. audience needed something extra, something special to that market. So we shot some of the first episode of the third season in Bristol. France has now come on board with Murdoch in prime time, and we’re looking to bring a very recognized French actor over to the show.

 

WS: How are you approaching your business with U.S. broadcast networks, especially given that you won’t be guaranteed a full series run?

JENNINGS: One of the great things about these broadcast partnerships now is that we don’t necessarily need the U.S. to finance the shows. One of the reasons that every other week there’s another European broadcaster in town is because they are finding that they buy a U.S. show and sometimes it doesn’t get a full run in the U.S. and they’ve paid an awful lot of money, whereas in Canada, you’re going to be guaranteed that all 13 hours will run. The Europeans need to know those shows are going to continue and not be pulled. We’re still talking a lot with the U.S. and I would say they’re more open than they were a year ago.

 

WS: You’ve also developed partnerships with distributors that sell your one-hour dramas.

JENNINGS: The one-hour drama series business is a risky business. Unlike the kids’ business, you need to have a lot of money and you do need offices around the world. Those relationships are complex, they are incredibly varied and numerous, so we decided years ago that we would just be in the kids’ distribution business and that we would leave it to others to take on the one-hour drama series. It’s been terrific for us because we have very good relations with all of them. We will remain a producer of one-hour dramas and producer and distributor of kids’ [programming].

 

WS: What are the latest developments in your kids’ business?

JENNINGS: We have Baxter, our brand-new half-hour kids/family series set at a performing arts school. I think we have completely hit the right timing in terms of the zeitgeist, where kids are singing and dancing and performing. These shows make you feel good.

 

WS: What are the challenges facing kids’ distributors today?

JENNINGS: We went out of the gate with Life with Derek, so you start to build a customer base that is looking for the next one like that. Those customers are looking to Shaftesbury for quality of production, for shows that are comedies but that are “real.” We’re not limited to making shows about stars and limousines—we’re making shows about real kids. We’re not trying to be all things to all people. For us, it is about the knowledge of what we’re good at and staying true to that.

 

WS: What are your plans for new-media content?

JENNINGS: It remains a key focus of the business. We spent a year and a little bit more doing R&D, literally coming up with projects that would start online and be able to move to TV and mobile. Some of the broadcast partnerships we have on the drama side are now making offers on the original online content. As an extension of our core production business, transmedia and multiple platform is critical to audience penetration.