Elizabeth Guider Reports From the Disney Lot

PREMIUM: Disney threw open its doors on its Burbank backlot Sunday evening to 750 overseas guests for its International Upfronts, the first official occasion for foreign program buyers to glimpse snippets of its new prime-time series on offer for its flagship network ABC and sibling cable outlet Freeform, as well as its upcoming theatrical tentpoles.

There were high marks from buyers for the Mouse House’s upcoming movie slate, and disappointment over so few new TV contenders.

The annual event is nonetheless a chance to brag about upcoming prime-time fare, something each of the Hollywood majors does every day during the Screenings—only Disney typically grabs the chance to do it first. The ongoing Screenings marathon revs up in earnest this morning at each studio and runs through the week. Buyers will sift through, warm up to (or sniff at), but hopefully in the end bulk up on American content for their stations back home.

In an odd twist in these times of strengthened vertical integration, one of the most buzzed about series (so far) at the Screenings—Designated Survivor toplining Kiefer Sutherland—will air on Disney’s ABC (on Wednesday nights) but is being licensed internationally by its co-producer, the aggressive indie eOne, where the show’s creator, Mark Gordon, is based. Similarly, ABC’s Monday night contender, Conviction starring Haley Atwell, is also handled by eOne, while its only new Thursday night drama, Notorious, is being licensed overseas by Sony Pictures Television.

Given the relative stability of the Alphabet’s current lineup and these drama pickups from outside producers, Disney unveiled only a handful of new shows it will distribute, led by the Shakespeare-inspired period piece Still Star-Crossed from Shondaland and the sitcom American Housewife toplining Katy Mixon. Also highlighted was a limited event series called When We Rise, about the LGBT community in which Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black and film auteur Gus Van Sant have a hand, and two entries for cabler Freeform: a suspenser called Beyond, about a boy with supernatural abilities, in which producer Tim Kring is involved, and a horror-adventure called Dead of Summer from the Kitsis/Horowitz stable.

ABC is coming off a season of noticeable slippage in overall ratings (some 18 percent) as well as the cancellations of its highly touted reboot of The Muppets and its long-running (and internationally popular) series Castle and Nashville. However, its freshman drama Quantico is catching on with viewers and is generally touted as a hit.

The 14th annual Upfronts was also the first opportunity for the international contingent to hear about the company’s newly minted entertainment topper Channing Dungey as well as to hear from other key brass on both the Disney TV and the film side.

During the 90-minute presentation, which included walk-ons from a panoply of stars, executives were at pains to point to the strides being made by the company to adapt to what the company’s president of global TV distribution, Ben Pyne, termed “unprecedented disruption” in the TV business‎. ‎

Joining him on stage at different junctures to showcase Disney’s content portfolio were Ben Sherwood, co-chairman of Disney Media Networks; David Hollis, executive VP of theatrical exhibition sales and distribution for Disney Studios; and Patrick Moran, executive VP of ABC Studios.

In providing the overview of Disney’s strategy, Pyne reiterated the priorities set by company chairman and CEO Robert Iger a decade ago: to strive for creative excellence,‎ to embrace innovative technology,‎ and to think globally‎.

“We took Bob’s marching orders to heart in all three areas, particularly to focus on global,” Pyne said. Meaning, the distribution topper explained,‎‎ ‎the company currently licenses more than 100 programs from its library across 261 territories, in 50-plus languages, to 500 million households around the world.

“Nobody can match the breadth and depth of what we offer,” Pyne stressed. “It’s not even close.”‎

Other stats illustrating how much the biz is morphing: there are, he pointed out, as many as 25 ways to watch a single episode of TV—as opposed to the one way folks watched not that long ago.‎‎ Nearly two-thirds of viewers around the globe watch some form of VOD programming. Time-shifting, binge-watching, on-demand viewing are becoming daily habits. Moreover, by 2019, two-thirds of the world’s population will use mobile phones, and nearly half will use the internet on them.

“That means,” Pyne argued, “that viewers today have elevated expectations, and infinitely more choice and control. Sub-par content and experiences will find it harder to succeed.”

Still, despite the changes in how audiences consume it, TV remains “the indispensable connective tissue” that brings millions of people around the world together.

To respond to technological change, Pyne listed a few of the new ways in which the studio is making its content available:

• In the Philippines, mobile customers of telecoms company Globe can leapfrog traditional cable packages and get a wide selection of Disney content directly through their mobile devices.
• ABC Studios On Demand is expanding its on-demand offering with traditional partners like Sky.
• In France, CanalPlay’s streaming service has launched an on-demand service from Disney’s Maker Studio.

In his remarks, Sherwood, who is also president of Disney/ABC Television Group, emphasized recent management changes at the company, including the promotion of Dungey, who, he said, brings “a breath of fresh air,” and his expectation that both she and Moran, who now reports directly to Sherwood, would be bent on boosting small-screen output.

In introducing Moran, Pyne confronted head-on the fact that this go-round the studio is bringing only a modest number of new shows to market. (Afterwards, one buyer told World Screen Newsflash that it can be contended that fewer new shows reflect the solidity and durability of stalwarts already on the network; however, he added, “the future does come. Even stalwarts get stale or axed; replenishment is de rigueur.”)

“I know many of you expected more new shows this year,” Pyne allowed. “I want to tell you that I have been working closely with Patrick and Channing to ensure that our owned-content pipeline remains robust.”

For his part, the executive VP of ABC Studios talked about his division’s commitment to continue to create more great content. In introducing clips, Moran extolled the “relatability”of the company’s comedies and “the passionate storytelling” at the heart of the dramas.

Returning shows also got a nod from Disney brass: American Crime, Criminal Minds, Grey’s Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder, Once Upon a Time, Scandal and the aforementioned Quantico, among them.

“Grey’s Anatomy was our number one drama in its 12th season and the number two drama overall,” Pyne noted.

As for audience reaction, polite applause greeted most of the trailers, the most enthusiastic reserved for the returning black-ish, perhaps because of an on-the-spot on-stage riff from its stars Anthony Anderson and Tracy Ross.

Among other talent taking part in the Upfront presentation were Ellen Pompeo from Grey’s Anatomy, Elizabeth Mitchell from Dead of Summer and Priyanka Chopra from Quantico.

Not surprisingly, given the thin small-screen pickings for the fall and the company’s recent stellar box office grosses, a lot of time was devoted to touting the Mouse House’s movie muscle. In the wake of the success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Captain America and Jungle Book, the film division’s executive VP, ‎Dave Hollis, unveiled trailers for upcoming pics, including Moana, Finding Dory and a live-action retelling of Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson.

“Boy, are we on a run,” Hollis said. “Well on our way in 2016, he added, “to rivaling the record haul from last year.”

Visit World Screen’s fall season grid here for synopses, trailers and a listing of new and returning shows by studio.