Far East Influence

October 2006

From martial arts and animation to documentaries and romance, Asian product is in demand.

By Marlene Edmunds

Asian programming is reaching more international audiences than ever before. This phenomenon is a product of both the global media economy and a new move on the part of Asian players to expand their presence on the international scene.

While most deals in the region still involve North American, European and Latin American companies selling programming and launching channels in various Asian territories, a combination of factors has created a reversal of that trend. Asian programming, most notably Korean drama, has been selling around the world. And channel programmers are now targeting an often highly educated and high-income group of Asians living in urban areas outside of Asia.

There are also more award-winning Asian directors, producers and scriptwriters now than ever before, among them Stephen Chow, whose Kung Fu Hustle was a worldwide hit for Sony Pictures last year. Finally, the development of the global economy has meant a less insular attitude toward Asia, and an unparalleled willingness to tap ideas and stories from the region.

One case in point is China, says James Gibbons, the senior VP of programming and creative services for Discovery Networks Asia (DNA). Discovery has several initiatives aimed at tapping creative talent. Gibbons points to the Discovery Channel First Time Filmmakers project, which has been active in China since 2001. “This is a country that has a rich history and so many stories that can be told,” he says. Documentaries with Chinese content “are of universal interest and will resonate on a broad basis,” he adds. Discovery works in partnership with companies like Shanghai Media Group.

“Our documentaries with Asian content are made primarily for broadcast in the Asia-Pacific region, where this content works very well,” continues Gibbons. “But we know there is an increasing demand for these programs internationally because our sister networks have bought several of these. Among them is Man Made Marvels, which aired in the U.K., Europe, Latin America and India, and The History of Singapore, a regional Asian documentary, which now has an international version that will air on Discovery channels [around the world].”

Gateway Asia is another project aimed at finding Asian-made documentaries and re-versioning them for an international audience. Gateway Asia is a collaboration between DNA, Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) and the production company The Right Angle. DNA spearheads the editorial team while The Right Angle produces and recasts the stories for the international market.

Asian martial-arts movies have been popular around the world for some time now. The fact that Hollywood and European studios are hoping to duplicate that success is another example of the increased viability of Asian product. The Hong Kong-based Celestial Pictures has worldwide rights to the Shaw Brothers library. Some 200 of the martial-arts titles, which comprise 40 percent of the 760-title catalogue, are in HD and are being offered at MIPCOM for various TV windows, including pay, cable and free.

The value of the library is not only that it is a solid collection of movies with “pure” martial-arts action (not tampered with by CGI), but that it has also been completely out of circulation for nearly two decades. “In that period of time, there were no Shaw movies in the market until Celestial picked up the library,” says Terry Mak, the executive VP for distribution and TV networks at Celestial Pictures. “We were able to start from the first window, the video and DVD releases, and now that we’ve spent a couple of years doing that, we’re ready to release to pay, cable or free TV, depending on the territory.”

Mak believes that martial-arts films of this quality have universal themes that go beyond the obvious struggle between good and evil, and therefore do not require much translation. The values explicit in the films, among them respect for age and wisdom, appeal to a number of cultures and age groups, he adds.

Celestial has lined up a string of deals internationally, including more than 100 titles for Iran, 30 titles for the U.S. and a Portuguese deal that includes the best-selling Shaw Brothers film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978).

JAPANIMATION

The Japanimation craze was possibly the earliest indication of the growing acceptance and popularity of Asian ideas. A whole generation around the world grew up on Japanese anime and many of those shows featured martial-arts themes. That popularity hasn’t diminished, and even though there may be an anime glut in some regions, the genre is still selling well.

MICO, the international distribution arm of the Japanese public broadcaster NHK, is selling the animated series Samurai 7, based on Akira Kurosawa’s classic film The Seven Samurai (1954). So far, the series has travelled to numerous territories worldwide, including across Asia on Sony Pictures Television International’s Animax network. FUNimation Entertainment has picked up the title for a U.S. home entertainment release. The success of the series is no surprise, since each of the 26 episodes was shot in HD with surround audio, and features a combination of 2-D and 3-D CGI techniques—not to mention the fact that it was the first official animated adaptation of Kurosawa’s masterpiece.

“This [series] targets not only anime but also movie fans,” says Yukihiko Amagi, the senior VP and head of sales for MICO. “As a result, Samurai 7 was the first animation title acquired by the Independent Film Channel (IFC) in the U.S.”

Hikaru No Go, from Japanese content supplier VIZ Media, was recently sold to the U.S. channel ImaginAsian TV and is one of several Japanese anime titles that appeal to kids as well as adults. The series concerns a young student who accidentally finds an ancient Go board and unleashes the spirit of a Go master. The master urges the young student to become the ultimate Go champion.

“Anime fans in the U.S. have been waiting for the series to premiere here after its enormous success in Asia, which helped to spur a new generation of Go fans,” says David Chu, the senior VP of programming and production for ImaginAsian TV. “The strength of this series lies not only in the brilliant animation, but in the indelible characters and the strong theme about the determination of the mind and soul in achieving one’s goals, which is a very ‘Eastern’ philosophy.”

Asian companies have also learned how to serve up product that caters to international needs. Korea’s Educational Broadcasting Service’s (EBS) new Math Fun with Ria entices kids into enjoying math, and is clearly targeting educational networks.

Other Asian product offers a new twist on Western tradition. One example is TV Tokyo MediaNet’s Fairy Musketeers, which casts fairy-tale icons in a darker light. The plot finds Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White and Blair Rose (a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty) serving as guardians of a secret power, which could destroy the universe—and the musketeers are charged to save the day.

The fact that the aging population of Japan has less of an appetite for children’s animation has inspired outfits like Cartoon Network to launch local production outfits, in this case Cartoon Network Japan, aimed at capturing the talent of the Japanese animation community, its producers and directors, and bringing it to the international stage.

And the success of Samurai 7 has encouraged MICO to go forward with a new and completely different project, a docu-entertainment format that begins shooting in October. The new HD series is about the Global Chinese Kung Fu Star TV competition, sponsored by the famous Shaolin Temple in China. “This will be a search for future stars who are very good not only at fighting but also singing and performing,” says MICO’s Amagi. “Preliminary rounds are being held around the world and the finals will be held at the Shaolin Temple in October 2006.” Clearly meant to travel, the new program will involve young Chinese hopefuls aspiring to become stars like Jackie Chan and Jet Li. MICO is currently on the hunt for outside participation in the project.

Facts of life

Along with animation, documentaries from Asia have traditionally sold well internationally, and Japan, China and Korea have all zeroed in on the increased demand for factual programming. NHK has always done well with documentaries, and the cutting-edge sophistication of its current HD technology bodes well for major sales. A case in point: Satoyama: Japan’s Secret Watergarden, which has notched up sales worldwide.

While China is increasingly busy with preparations for the Beijing Olympics, the international and programming arm of state broadcaster CCTV hasn’t dropped the ball when it comes to maintaining a high international profile. China has been striking record deals over the last decade in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and even in Africa. In November, CCTV will begin shooting a 40-episode series chronicling the life of the martial-arts superhero and legend Bruce Lee. The Legend of Bruce Lee will be produced by China International Television Corp., CCTV’s production-and-marketing arm. The plan is to release the series in conjunction with the Beijing Olympics and direct it at a global market, particularly to Asians of Chinese descent living abroad.

The increasing popularity of Bollywood films has aided efforts to sell Indian product internationally, with WEG India reporting sales up by 30 percent over the last couple of years. Avinaash Jumani, the international head of sales for WEG India, notes, “Movies like Monsoon Wedding and Bend It Like Beckham, while not even Indian fare, also pushed up interest in the Bollywood aspect of India, and sales began to climb.”

North America is the biggest market for WEG titles, with the U.K., Germany, France and the Netherlands following close behind. In one of its latest deals, WEG signed on FremantleMedia to distribute its titles on DVD, including Kyon Ki, Holiday and Aatma the Ghost.

KOREAN DRAMA SENSATION

Korea’s track record of selling drama and animation across Asia has been phenomenal. The worldwide popularity of these programs has resulted in Korean actors being mobbed at airports and hotels by fans, mainly women. Romance clearly travels, as do stories of good versus evil, and Korean drama has shown its legs in territories across the globe, although its main presence is still in Asia.

The Korean public broadcaster KBS has made numerous drama deals over the last six months, including Emperor of the Sea to the Indian public broadcaster Doordarshan, and several programs, such as Full House, Forbidden Love and Sons of the Wind to Khabar, a distributor in Kazakhstan. The network has a lineup of new dramas such as Mr. Good-Bye. Jung Yun-joo, the president and CEO of KBS, believes that the production quality of Korean drama “is getting closer to that of the studios in Hollywood, Europe and Japan.”

Many Korean drama producers continue to look, however, for more financial backing for preproduction and development. They include Ahn Kug-jung, the president of the Korean terrestrial network SBS, which churns out more than 600 hours a year of drama.

Riding on the back of the Korean drama craze, all three Korean broadcasters have major new branding campaigns to extend their reach across the globe. The Korean broadcaster MBC has fired up bidding wars in the U.S. for titles like Jewel in the Palace, and recently sold My Lovely Sam-Soon to the AZN channel in the U.S. MBC has an office in Los Angeles, and has launched its international channel in the U.S. It has also sold into the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa.

KBS Global, the international arm of Korea’s KBS, has aggressively sold programming to many territories. Its new dramas include The Man of the Vineyard, Invisible Man, Hearts of Nineteen, Famous Princesses and Great Expectations. KBS has also agreed to a deal that calls for exchanging its Korean drama series for telenovelas from the Latin American distributor Venevision International.

There are more and more channels catering to ethnic populations across the globe. These services are no longer being seen as offering second-rate programming to first-generation immigrant populations. Instead, they have stimulated a new appetite for Asian fare by even the non-Asian community. Korea’s KBS World is now carried in 36 territories around the world; with another 30 territories targeted for expansion. The channel airs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Part of the schedule airs with English subtitles.

Eun Mun-ki, the head of global strategy for KBS Global, is in charge of expanding the channel’s reach across the globe. He believes KBS Global’s high-quality programming from the Korean channels KBS1 and KBS2 is unique. “To begin with,” he explains, “KBS Global has first-run drama released just four to six weeks after the original [air date] in Korea.” For the increasing number of fans around the globe hooked on Korean drama, this is no small attraction. KBS Global also launched successfully in Japan this year. “This fact alone is pushing the penetration of Korean content up another level,” Eun adds.

KBS Global enjoys its greatest success in the U.S., where it is distributed through EchoStar’s satellite platform, DISH Network, as well as through a number of cable systems. Part of the plan is to subtitle or dub programs into local languages, declares Eun, noting, “We are looking at ways to cooperate with partners as co-financiers. They would take care of localizing the content for a percentage in exchange for advertising or even product placement.” He adds that the same model is being developed for the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Eun is also “cautiously exploring” possible partnerships and joint ventures to distribute KBS Global programming to IPTV channels across the globe. KBS Global is not alone in this regard: Korea’s educational channel EBS signed an output agreement with the U.S. media group GlobeVISION for its PIE on-demand IPTV service aimed at Asians in the U.S. and Canada. EBS will deliver children’s programming as well as a range of cultural and documentary programs for adults. While PIE is concentrating at the moment on Korean programming, it is expected to expand its offering to include programming from India and China as well.

ASIA IN AMERICA

There are now almost 20 channels in the U.S. targeting audiences interested in Asian programming. Among those launched over the last four years are AZN, Bollywood on Demand, MTV CHI, MTV Desi and MTV K, Television Korea 24 and ImaginAsian TV.

Last month, a new player joined that group—Bollywood Hits on Demand. Programmed by the Indian distribution giant Eros Entertainment, the SVOD service is being distributed in the U.S. by Comcast’s International Networks, the parent company of AZN and a leading supplier of niche networks in the U.S. The service will offer 50 hours of content per month, including hits such as Devdas.

ImaginAsian TV has pegged itself from the beginning as the first 24/7 channel to serve the diverse cultures of the Asian-American community. Programming head Chu spends much of his time on the road scouring Asian territories for the latest shows, all to be subtitled and hosted, if necessary, by Americans of East Asian and South Asian descent who can help explain cultural nuances where needed.

Earlier this year, ImaginAsian TV inked a programming deal with MediaCorp Studios in Singapore. This is a coup, says Chu. “Their wide range of content, which is well produced, fits very nicely with our network. We can access their Mandarin, Tamil and English-language programs. More recently, we also just completed our first deal with CCTV in China for 100 hours of programming.”

In addition to increasing the distribution of the linear channel, parent company ImaginAsian Entertainnent is also focusing on video-on-demand, broadband and IPTV platforms. “We are already working with Time Warner Cable on transactional video-on-demand offerings, and are aggressively ramping up our subscription video-on-demand services,” says Chu.

Chu sees the other Asian networks operating in the U.S. as no threat. Noting that most serve completely different markets and target groups, he adds, “We have close ties with many of them and I do not view these other networks as competitors, but rather as partners in our concerted quest to break new ground here in the U.S.”