Jules Borkent

Last July, Nickelodeon tapped Jules Borkent to fill a newly created global acquisitions position. Headquartered in New York, Borkent, who first joined Nickelodeon Europe more than a decade ago, oversees buying for the U.S. and international feeds of the kids’ service. What is he currently on the lookout for? "Live-action, 7-plus comedy and broad 6-to-9 animation comedy," he says.

"We’re usually on the lookout for preschool, but at the moment we have less of a need. We have a lot of preschool rolling out across the networks around the world over the next 18 months. We’re definitely commissioning made-for-TV movies and game shows, and co-production opportunities outside the U.S. In Latin America we did a great deal with Sony on a telenovela."

That telenovela is Isa TKM (Te Quiero Mucho), produced by Nickelodeon Latin America and Sony Pictures Television.

Series that are working well for Nickelodeon, Borkent says, include Genie in the House, from the French production company Moi J’aime la Télévision; iCarly, created by Dan Schneider and Schneider’s Bakery in the U.S.; and True Jackson, VP, created by Andy Gordon and Gordon 3000 Industries in the U.S.

"iCarly launched last year internationally and is rolling out and growing," Borkent says. "True Jackson is another show that launched in the U.S. this November, which we will be rolling out on our international networks. We have really high hopes for that, given the success it’s having in the U.S."

Last month, Nickelodeon’s U.S. channel launched The Penguins of Madagascar, produced by DreamWorks Animation, and the series starts rolling out on selected international networks this spring.

Operating a collection of networks gives Nickelodeon unusual co-production opportunities. "Sometimes it’s for one channel only," Borkent says. "For example, a show would be co-produced in the U.K., like Genie in the House, and then we would acquire that show for a number of networks around the world as well."

Borkent can also co-produce with a group of territories. "It depends where it originates. Some shows, like Isa, that we did with Sony, is very much a Latin American show, so it’s something we wouldn’t do immediately worldwide."

Nickelodeon’s Borkent says that the downturn’s effects haven’t been as severe as he had expected, at least not so far. "It hasn’t had a huge impact from a programming point of view. We’ve already committed to a lot of shows for the next year at least. That’s not going to change. We know we need to feed our channels. We’re always looking at a certain number of new titles and that number hasn’t diminished for us. We’re definitely commissioning even further than we have done in the past in TV movies and game shows, and co-production opportunities outside the U.S. Those deals are still coming along and they’re not going away anytime soon."