Endemol’s Tim Hincks on Investments, Creativity

NEW YORK: Tim Hincks, the president of Endemol Group, talks to World Screen about cultivating creativity, branching out into scripted production and investing in digital content and networks.

WS: Endemol has made some significant investments in the Israeli market.
HINCKS: Initially we took a traditional approach, which is we bought Kuperman Pro­ductions to become our producer in the territory. That was our first step. It’s really interesting to take a territory like Israel and say, Maybe we can grow with the experts and grow new properties and brands, which can start small and very quickly become global blockbusters. It was a short jump then to thinking maybe we should do a bigger play in Israel and form a partnership with a platform.

It’s an incredibly exciting adventure for us, but what [Endemol’s stake in Reshet] represents is not Endemol getting into the broadcasting business—I wouldn’t see it like that at all. It’s actually about Endemol using its scale and network to get behind its own IP and creativity. That’s the key. And this partnership with Reshet is one way we can do that. We are investing our own money and taking some risk to ensure that we can create local hits for the Israeli market. And that’s the most important thing: to first of all create local hits for Israel, because that is the way Endemol works. Once we’ve got a local hit, there is every chance that it can travel very quickly around the world. That is a really exciting model for us.

WS: Does Endemol have a decentralized approach to nurturing creativity? Do you let each company do what it does best?
HINCKS: I grew up as a creative in the TV industry and ran Endemol in the U.K. for some years. I understand that it is absolutely vital that you let each company in Endemol run their own show because they have the contacts in their territory. There are cultural factors in the type of television that works and doesn’t work in each territory, and so the first thing you do is create locally.

The only thing you need from creative people is to allow them to follow their ideas and their dreams. You cannot sit with a group of creatives and say, “It would be helpful if you came up with a global blockbuster. Could you get back to me by next Wednesday morning?” It’s just not how you do it. You have to understand that creative people are wired differently. They have all sorts of motivations and complexities, but they all have something to say; and whether it’s in scripted or non-scripted, they want to say it; they want to put it in front of an audience and they want it to be seen. They want to share it. You need to have the right atmosphere that allows them to do that in the fastest possible way and with the highest possible quality. That means, if you are running Endemol in Spain, for instance, we support you in the types of shows you need to create for the Spanish market. The mistake would be to say we make one type of show with one type of centrally controlled platform.

So our approach to creativity is very decentralized. However, having said that, the trick is to get the right balance, because you also need to work collectively, particularly now, as the world has become so much more competitive. I chair a meeting every couple of months called the Global Creative Team, which comprises the managing directors from each of the main territories in Endemol. We get together and share our ideas. We look at what’s working and what’s not working. And that is really important: to feel that you are part of a team, that we can support each other.

WS: Looking at Endemol as a whole, there has been more of an emphasis lately on drama.
HINCKS: Scripted production is incredibly important to us now, more important than ever. Over the last three or four years, our scripted revenues have increased by about 60 percent and now account for about one quarter of our business. This is something I feel incredibly proud of. Endemol was known in the last decade as a non-scripted producer, and we still want to be the best at non-scripted. But it’s clear that scripted is a very exciting place to be and we have worked hard to make serious inroads in drama and comedy production.

We’ve always made scripted content in a number of our territories—in Holland, Italy, Spain, Latin America. But the key difference in the last couple of years is that we’ve really scaled up our English-language output. And this has included setting up Endemol Studios in L.A., where we are deficit-funding scripted production. We got into the studio model with really encouraging success. We have Hell on Wheels, which will have its fourth season this summer. We recently did Low Winter Sun for AMC, which we’ve sold as a finished show in about 200 countries. In the U.K., we announced a new drama on an unprecedented scale for Sky [Atlantic] called Fortitude. It has an incredible cast and is extremely ambitious. For the BBC, we have Peaky Blinders, which is coming back for a second series and for which we’ve made a deal in the U.S. with The Weinstein Company. We’re in comedy with international hits like Bad Education, My Mad Fat Diary and Benidorm. We are extremely proud of our scripted presence and particularly pleased with the way the English-language story has grown.

We also have Endemol Worldwide Distribution (EWD), which is fundamental to our studio model in terms of us investing in content that we feel will travel the world. In addition, EWD represents third-party output. They acquire major series like, for instance, BBC One’s forthcoming World War I drama The Ark and the recent P.D. James adaptation Death Comes to Pemberley as well as big U.S. comedy like Hot in Cleveland.

WS: The U.S. is a big, complex market. How have you positioned Endemol North America?
HINCKS: In addition to having Endemol USA producing shows like Wipeout and Big Brother for the networks, there are very key companies that are part of the Endemol family: True Entertainment and Original Media in New York and 51 Minds and Authentic Entertainment in Los Angeles. Those were acquired four or five years ago and between them are pretty much the biggest producers of non-scripted cable content in the U.S. They make hit shows that are household names, from Swamp People to Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.

Last year we had a change in management and Charlie Corwin and Cris Abrego became co-chairmen and co-CEOs of Endemol North America. We want Endemol in the U.S. to be fit for the next stage in the evolution of the company and the market. We need to demonstrate real ambition in the U.S. and take real risk in a way we haven’t done before to push forward our creative agenda.

Cris and Charlie are grabbing that opportunity and it presents itself in a number of ways. There is scripted production, where we have invested more money, including recent deals we’ve announced with producers and writers. Then, of course, there’s our core business, which is fundamental to us still and is [very healthy]. We now need to come up with the next generation of hits and I’m confident we’ll be doing that. Wipeout returns this year on ABC and Big Brother is as strong as ever on CBS, but there is always a challenge to create the next generation, so Cris and Charlie are firmly focused on doing that with their teams.

WS: Tell us about Endemol Beyond.
HINCKS: Endemol is a digital company as much as it is a TV company, and nowhere is that more true than in the U.S. So the creation of Endemol Beyond, which is our investment in a multichannel premium network, is an absolutely vital step for us.

In the U.S., for instance, we brought in Will Keenan from Maker Studios to lead that charge under Charlie and Cris and to invest in our own digital content and grow a network. We’ve already announced some partnerships with major talent, including Courtney Love and Pitbull and others. It’s a whole different way of working and a whole different way of thinking about talent and content. It requires different marketing skills. It requires the ability to connect and measure the way the audience interacts with your content in a way we’ve never had to do in our traditional space.

In the end, the key test for Endemol is whether we can stand up and demonstrate that we have become more than a TV company and evolved into a digital media company. That’s the task at hand—everyone around the group is focused on that and America will lead the charge.

We never lose sight of the fact that in the end we are a creative company. We create content; we create IP. But the fact of the matter is that there are now so many interesting and different and varied ways of putting that content out there and so many different platforms. That’s what makes this the most exciting time for us.