Great Expectations

June 2008

The markets of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are experiencing something of a heyday. Since 2004, economies in CEE and Russia have been growing at more than double the rate of markets in Western Europe. And, according to a recent Screen Digest report, the total pay-TV penetration in the region is expected to climb to an estimated 60 percent by 2012, up from the 40 percent reported at the end of 2007.

All of this bodes well for distributors attending DISCOP, the market dedicated to the region. Buyers will not only be looking for product, but chances are they will be willing to open up their checkbooks to buy a variety of programming to give their channels an edge in their increasingly competitive TV markets.

As economies and TV markets across CEE are on the upswing, major broadcasters are making some choice investments in local production facilities. This has led to an increase in format pickups, as locally produced fare is more in demand now than ever. Jens Richter, the managing director of SevenOne International, points out that this is a common pattern as a country’s TV landscape evolves. “At the beginning [a startup channel] needs lots of acquired productions, then [it invests in] third-party locally produced fiction, and then there is more and more locally produced entertainment as well.”

LA VIDA LOCAL

For SevenOne, this means successful sales in the region for its reality talent-show format The Successor, which seeks to find a country’s next great mentalist. The program has aired in the U.S. on NBC and on Canada’s CTV (Phenomenon), Germany’s ProSieben (The Next Uri Geller), SBS6 in the Netherlands (De Nieuwe Uri Geller) and TV2 in Hungary (A Kivalasztott), and had its most recent launch in Turkey on Star TV (Fenomen). Richter says that production of this show in Hungary stems from “the fact that they [now] do a lot of entertainment locally, and can afford the relative budget,” which is a testament to the country’s economic growth.

Another SevenOne format, Clever!, has also been closing up deals across the region. The hybrid science/family-entertainment game show has achieved a 47-percent share in Denmark on TV2 (Er Du Rigtig Klog) and the Czech Republic’s TV Nova (Clever), and also airs in Romania on Pro TV (MegaClever), Poland on TVN (Clever), Slovakia on TV Markiza (Clever) and in Russia on Ren TV (Bolshie Mozgolomi). “Russia is certainly a market where local production has developed a lot,” Richter explains. CTC Network, for example, is producing a daily version of Galileo. “They uses clips from Germany and also produce local clips,” continues Richter. “They have a local presenter in the studio, so it very much looks like a local show, but the whole structure, the ideas and a lot of the content come from us.” In addition to airing as a daily in Russia, the prime-time magazine show is broadcast as a weekly series in Poland on TV4, and clips from the series and the one-hour “monothematic” magazine show Galileo Extra run on TV Nova in the Czech Republic.

Endemol is looking to rack up deals on its new challenge format Wipeout, for which the company is building, in Argentina, the world’s largest TV obstacle course. The set will be used for back-to-back productions for international broadcasters. Mike Morley, the senior executive director of commercial and creative affairs at Endemol International, says, “Wipeout’s obstacle course is a visual feast, designed to create both high drama and pure slapstick. The scale of this undertaking is almost unprecedented, but it will allow us to deliver very significant cost-efficiency savings to broadcasters around the world.”

ALL3MEDIA International is also having success with selling its formats in Central and Eastern Europe. “The whole region is undergoing a strong period of growth at the moment, in both the broadcast sector and production,” says the company’s VP of format sales, Nick Smith, who also agrees that “the increase in local production has created more demand for formats and drama re-versioning.” Smith explains that ALL3MEDIA International “will now be representing our formats directly to buyers in Eastern Europe, rather than through an agent,” and says that the company is particularly “looking forward to building on the success of entertainment formats playing in the region.”

ALL3MEDIA’s formats include I Want My Mummy, a positive-parenting series that has just been renewed by CTC in Russia, bringing the total number of episodes produced around the world to more than 100. The show has also been picked up for Italy’s SkyVivo, Germany’s RTL, Slovakia’s TV JOJ, Romania’s Prima TV and Belgium’s SBS. ALL3MEDIA’s other formats include the game show Cash Cab, Your Wedding in Their Hands and Let Me Entertain You. There is also a “new interest in scripted dramas for local re-versioning,” says Smith, pointing to the success of Skins and Outrageous Fortune.

“We have noticed that Saturday-night prime time is quite big” in the region, notes Sarah Coursey, the head of formats and acquisitions for Zodiak International. The company’s Russian business development unit, Zodiak Vostok, recently closed a format deal with Channel One in Russia for a further 12 episodes of Stars on Stage, after the first season of the celebrity-based format was “a major hit.” At the time the deal was announced, Patrick Nebout, the VP of business development at Zodiak Vostok, said, “The Russian prime-time entertainment battlefield is an extremely competitive and tough one, and this new deal confirms the attractiveness and strength of Zodiak’s formats in the region.” He continued, “We’re in talks with the leading broadcaster in Ukraine, Inter-TV, regarding the production of a second season, and expect to close further deals in other CIS territories soon.” Coursey also notes “a lot of requests for game shows in the marketplace,” and points to The Majority as one that she expects to have great appeal for buyers at DISCOP.

While some companies are answering the call for local productions by offering up prime-time entertainment formats and game shows, others have dealt with the demand by choosing to build programs around international casts, so that they are ready for any market.

Nesim Hason, the president of New Films International, points out that “without having local talent in your films, typically Central and Eastern European companies are not interested in buying them. So that’s why, for many years now, New Films International has been using talent from all over the world, with an emphasis on Eastern Europe. This helps with the sales because that way, no matter what country we are targeting, there is an appeal.”

Aside from its American films, which include The Alphabet Killer, Vice and A Beautiful Life, New Films has a section in its catalogue called New Films Around the World, which Hason says he hopes will “[encourage] people to use film as a window into other cultures, and to learn from those cultures.” This slate includes the Hungarian drama Lora, starring Lucia Brawley (World Trade Center), and the Turkish film The Messenger, which celebrates peace and brotherhood as its main theme.

BROAD HORIZONS

But just as CEE’s fruitful conditions have given rise to the demand for local product, the expansion of channels across the region has created a need for finished product as well. FremantleMedia Enterprises’ (FME) Veronika Gracher, the VP of sales for German-speaking Europe and Central and Eastern Europe, points out that while yes, “local production is increasing on terrestrial channels,” which has been “good for FME format sales,” equally, “there is a strong demand for acquisitions due to the increase in new niche channels, which require good quality programming.” As a result, it’s important for a company to have a varied catalogue to service the needs of not only terrestrial outlets, but the new channels popping up on digital, basic cable and pay-TV platforms as well.

CELEBRATING VARIETY

Along with its formats Hole in the Wall, Soccer Prince and Crystal Clear, FME has a variety of entertainment programs, factual and drama fare to offer buyers in the region. For DISCOP, its entertainment slate includes She’s Got the Look, Oprah’s Big Give and Celebrity Apprentice, while its factual offerings are highlighted by DEA, which follows the inner workings of the Drug Enforcement Administration. In the drama vein, FME is heading to the market with the Australian series Satisfaction, which has already been sold in Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Israel, Korea and New Zealand; the teen drama The Best Years; and the contemporary series Nearly Famous, which follows a group of performing-arts students.

Nordisk Film TV World is another company that is looking to hit the market from all angles. While it’s representing a raft of formats from SVT (the Swedish public broadcaster), such as The Melody Challenge, the celebrity sing-along Doobidoo and the studio travel show On the Right Track, Nordisk also has drama fare that it is excited to present to buyers across the region.

“Each and every territory develops in its own way and at its own pace, but the overall tendency seems to be the willingness to convert some reality budgets into drama budgets,” says Jan Salling, the company’s head of international sales and business development. “Especially when we are talking telenovela-style drama series and other long-running daytime series with good plots and new innovative production methods to secure quality at fairly low costs.” This is why Salling has “high expectations for our very successful daily drama series 2900 Happiness.” He describes the series as “Beverly Hills, 90210 meets Dynasty,” and says that Nordisk has “developed a unique production method to secure close-to-film quality at only one-fifth of a normal Danish drama budget. It has already been picked up in three territories and we are in close talks in several others,” he says.

Granada International is also heading to DISCOP with a strong slate of drama fare, including Bonekickers, an action-adventure series centered on a team of archeologists, and Lost in Austen, a mini-series that is a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice. “There is a continuing appetite for long-running drama, literary adaptations and crime series, as well as for our young-skewing U.S. TV movies, such as Nature of the Beast, starring Eric Mabius (Ugly Betty),” says Dorit Schilling, Granada’s senior sales executive for Russia/CIS, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

In the way of children’s programs, Granada will be offering the series Captain Mack, targeting children ages 3 to 6, and The Pinky & Perky Show, a series for 6- to 11-year-olds that focuses on a pair of lovable piglets who are working on their own TV show. Adding to its diverse catalogue is Granada’s range of factual programs. The blue-chip documentary Neanderthal Code, an evolutionary detective story that explores the theory of how the Neanderthals may have interbred with our ancestors, joins Secret Life of the Brain and new episodes of Planet Science on Granada’s DISCOP slate.

FACTS OF LIFE

Factual programs are also top of mind for Cineflix International, which touts a variety of lifestyle, history, science and drama docs. “The growing number of cable and satellite channels means that competition for programming is becoming more fierce,” notes the company’s sales manager for CEE, Kate Llewellyn-Jones. “At the same time, the demand for high-quality factual entertainment and documentary programming is on the increase. Broadcasters are looking for high-rating shows that consistently bring in audience numbers. As a result, our number of clients in the region is growing steadily,” she adds, noting particular growth in business over the last 18 months. For DISCOP, Cineflix will be offering buyers a range of programs, from the 8×1-hour docudrama Paradise Lost to the 10×1-hour crime series Cold Blood to the 26×30-minute eco-lifestyle program World’s Greenest Homes.

AETN International is also a supplier of factual programming, heading to DISCOP armed with titles such as the 23×1-hour Ice Road Truckers, the 13×1-hour Ax Men, 13 one-hours of Shockwave and 17 one-hours of Crime 360. AETN agrees with the value of having a varied catalogue to bring something that a range of buyers would be interested in. So, even though its offerings are factual, “within this genre we have real-life, history, civilization, adventure, biography…the list goes on,” says Jonathan South, the company’s director of international content sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “I would say that, in general, male-skewing history and civilization shows work best, but the exciting thing about this part of the world is that markets are evolving continually.”

In regard to CEE, South has also noticed “a rash of new startups targeting HD programming,” and he says AETN’s catalogue has plenty to fill the demand. “Emerging markets also seem to be early adopters of mobile and digital technologies in general.”

Lightworks Program Distribution’s Daniella Kilim, the director of sales for Europe and Israel, has also noticed this trend. “We are starting to see a rapid growth in the digital area: mobile aggregators, VOD platforms and Internet portals are scouting for new opportunities to cater to the rapidly changing landscape of new media,” she says.

Earlier this year, the company took on the catalogue of Sandra Carter Global, and will be presenting the combined offerings for buyers at DISCOP. They include both Red Carpet Reporter and Hollywood Reporter, along with Shop the World for Beauty Secrets, Out There with Melissa DiMarco and Airshow Extreme, shot in HD. “With the Lightworks acquisition of Sandra Carter Global, we hope to present a catalogue that will offer a wide variety of high-quality content and cater to the ever-changing programming demands of Eastern and Central European buyers from the same familiar source,” Kilim says. She also points out how DISCOP has helped improve the company’s activities in the region overall, making it a very worthwhile market to attend. “Our business has significantly increased in Central and Eastern Europe lately, much of it due to our participation in the DISCOP markets over the past six years.”