eOne’s John Morayniss Talks Co-Pro, Co-Financing Models

NEW YORK: John Morayniss, the CEO of Entertainment One (eOne) Television, shares his experience about forming partnerships and crafting co-financing and co-production models, which are becoming essential these days as broadcaster license fees diminish and viewer demand for quality programming increases.

WS: You are expanding eOne’s scripted business. What opportunities are you seeing across the TV landscape?
MORAYNISS: We’re growing our scripted business because we think there are a lot of opportunities in North America. There are now more than 30 networks in the U.S. that are commissioning original scripted programming. In the international market there are also networks that are commissioning original scripted programming. You’re also seeing more co-productions, co-financing models, just more partnerships. Part of it has to do with digital platforms that are growing over-the-top services like Netflix. So we’re seeing more demand for high-end programming and we want to meet that demand.

WS: Since a lot of companies that traditionally haven’t been in scripted are starting to commission now, are you finding it harder to get the actors and writers that you want? Or, because of eOne’s reputation, are you able to find the talent you need for your projects?
MORAYNISS: Part of it has to do with our reputation; part has to do with the shows that we’re involved in. Obviously, good scripts, good auspices attract talent. I also think that the U.S. marketplace is more open to global talent: writers out of the U.K., out of Canada, out of the rest of Europe, and the same with [actors]. So we’re seeing more and more British writers and Canadian writers working on American shows. Same with the talent; a show like Rogue, which we’re doing for DIRECTV, stars Thandie Newton and Marton Csokas. While it’s more competitive, there are more opportunities to source talent from around the world.

WS: When did that opening take place? Ten to fifteen years ago, the U.S. networks didn’t want anybody who hadn’t been tested in the American market.
MORAYNISS: It’s been gradual. It’s partly out of necessity and partly because the talent is there and is contributing to making great TV shows. Over time, as networks have started to acquire or be involved in co-productions, they’re seeing the value of shows coming from all over the world—especially [from] the U.K. and Canada—they’re seeing these shows work. The result is that [U.S. networks] are now open to this talent not only being involved in co-productions and shows that come from overseas, but also in the shows that they’re commissioning.

WS: eOne has been a pioneer in co-financing models. Are you still using them?
MORAYNISS: Yes. “Co-finance” is such a broad term, but generally speaking, as an independent, we’re all about partnerships, we’re all about co-production models, co-financing models. So almost everything we do has some component of that. Our goal is, obviously, to hold on to the international distribution rights. So how we get those rights can take on many different forms. It can be through our own internal development that we sell and then produce on our own. It could be through shows like Klondike, that we’re doing for Discovery, which was developed by Scott Free and then brought to us. In that case, it’s really a partnership between eOne and Discovery on the financing side, and then a creative partnership with Scott Free. So, yes, more and more we see these opportunities to co-finance, co-produce, and partly it’s how the shows originate. They’re coming from financing entities, just other distributors that want to partner with us, production companies that want to get involved in the financing. We’re open to all different models.

WS: Tell us about Klondike.
MORAYNISS: Klondike’s very exciting. It’s a big action-adventure six-hour mini-series that was commissioned by Discovery Channel in the U.S., developed by Scott Free. It’s set in the Klondike during the Gold Rush. Our show is set in 1897 and it’s an exciting rags-to-riches-to-rags and then back to riches story, and there’s a mystery element in it. It’s really quite thrilling. We’re really excited to be involved because, one, it’s Discovery’s first big scripted event, and two, we’re excited to be in business with Scott Free. They’re just a great and talented company in the film and television world.

WS: What appealed to you about the series Rogue?
MORAYNISS: Well, we were fortunate with Rogue. When it was brought to us by a company called Greenroom, run by a British producer named Nick Hamm, we already had a script that they had developed. We had a first episode that was just terrific. We loved all the characters, but especially the female character, which was complex and dark. It was just a great thriller/mystery cop show. We loved the script and we thought it was something in line with what eOne was looking to develop, which is something a little more pay-cable, serialized, just interesting. So we got involved, and we liked the partnership, and the show was pitched to a number of platforms in the U.S., and ultimately DIRECTV came on board and now we’ve shot the first season and are excited for the launch.

WS: eOne has been able to keep the cost per hour on dramas a little lower than some other series and yet you deliver all that quality on screen. How are you able to accomplish that?
MORAYNISS: It’s never easy, and I’ve noticed over the years, as we get involved in higher-end programming, it’s tougher and tougher when the next show comes around to revert back to a lower-budget model. So part of it has to do with expectations and who our broadcasters are and the kinds of shows that we develop. Some shows just warrant a lower budget and, actually, creatively and organically work better that way, and on other shows you need to spend money. On a show like Klondike, we’re spending a lot of money. We’re starting to spend more money for the bigger-budget event-type series and then when it makes sense with the more contained character pieces that don’t have a lot of action or special effects, we can still control those budgets. We’re doing lower-budget TV movies for Hallmark Channel and Lifetime, but when Discovery wants a big event mini-series like Klondike, we’re going to spend the money.

WS: Writers in the U.K. usually write six or eight episodes per series. Do they have a hard time adapting from one person writing six episodes to working in the American format of a writers’ room?
MORAYNISS: It really depends on the show and, obviously, the order. For shows that have lower-episode orders, you said six or eight, maybe even ten, and if you have enough flexibility and enough time in your schedule, you can get a writer or two writers to write all those episodes. And it’s very different than the American approach, where you’ve got that strong showrunner and you’re barely being able to keep up with the schedule of deliveries. It’s starting to change, because, again, as more and more U.K. writers start working in the U.S. environment, we’re seeing a shift in methodology. It works in a number of ways. I don’t think any model is better than the other. I think there are some benefits to writing your scripts up front. Certainly there are production efficiencies that you can have. On the other hand, series are organic; characters come alive once you shoot them. And sometimes certain actors pop and others don’t. And you want to be a little in front of that and be able to write as these stories unfold, as these characters develop on screen. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way of doing it, it’s just different, and sometimes there are cultural clashes, which are challenging [when you are] working with one methodology but [have] writers or producers that are used to a different methodology.

WS: You and eOne have a long track record of bringing cultures together, whether it be in financing or on the creative side. Are you a diplomat at heart?
MORAYNISS: You kind of have to be. Necessity is the mother of invention, and for many years in the U.S. you didn’t need to co-produce, because the market could sustain, from an economic standpoint, an original program without going outside its borders. Things have changed. Growing up in the Canadian system certainly has helped because you just had to do more of these co-productions. But now you’re seeing this on a worldwide basis, and certainly, some of the most successful shows on a global basis are being done through co-financing models. Look at a show like The Walking Dead. Three key partners all came together on that show—AMC, FOX International Channels and eOne. So you’re seeing more and more broadcaster partnerships, broadcaster-distribution-producer partnerships. It’s the way of the world now.