Kew Media Group’s Greg Phillips

Kew Media Group marked its arrival as a global media company in early 2017 with the acquisition of six leading outfits, among them Content Media and producers such as Bristow Global Media and Frantic Films. Kew has continued on an acquisition path since then and today owns a cross-section of production companies working across all sectors of the business and two distribution outfits: Kew Media Distribution (KMD) and TCB Media Rights. As the president of KMD, Greg Phillips leads a team tasked with exploiting a catalog of 11,000 hours across all platforms and working with producers, internally and externally, on financing and distribution strategies. He tells World Screen about how he is positioning KMD in a market in flux.

WS: It’s been more than two years since Kew Media Group acquired Content Media. What have been the most significant benefits of being part of this broader media company?
PHILLIPS: Resources. Not just financial—though that is of course extremely beneficial—but intellectual resources, too. The team we are involved with now has a great deal of experience in all aspects and approaches to the business. Our combined force means we know even better how to deal with opportunities and issues. There is greater complexity to deals and more competition than ever before. As part of a larger group, we are now more equipped to think things through, see opportunities from different angles and figure out the best approach to take.

The fun part is that we aren’t just creative in the end result but in how we get there. The fun of it is to work it out and trust the audience agrees with you. The Kew production companies have welcomed us and our sister company TCB Media Rights into the fold and have given us both access to our own in-house supply lines; that’s been incredibly positive.

WS: How are you working with your sister production companies?
PHILLIPS: More substantially and more quickly than I anticipated and hoped for. There is great creativity and a positive attitude from our production companies. They have been embracing, inquisitive and supportive. Of course, we are achieving revenues for them, but they aren’t just paying lip service to our working with them because of that. They are sharing their development slates and ideas and asking KMD what opportunities there are around the world. We help to educate them on the international marketplace and develop contacts for them, which helps them decide what [projects] to develop and take further.

WS: What does KMD offer to third-party producers?
PHILLIPS: Well, it’s more than just finance—it’s time, expertise, experience and knowledge of the marketplace, as well as, in hard terms, the whole effort from marketing to delivery. We have a genuine interest and passion for the shows we sell. We are excited by working with creative people. We are still as eager, if not even more so, to acquire the best programming from whomever we can. We want to buy in and sell the best of the best, providing we can get our hands on it! It’s about relationships with talent who have faith in us to do the best job for them—which sometimes takes longer than they might think, or want. But we offer them a commitment. Everything gets consideration—we make our business out of listening to people—and people like dealing with us!

WS: Drama is more competitive than ever. What are you doing to cut through?
PHILLIPS: We explore different ways for every partnership and relationship. We are focused on preselling more than we used to be, [which is] down to market conditions and the even more charged competitive environment. We are bolder and more creative in our thinking. The structure of the deals—who shares in what—can now be more complex. Of course, everyone always wants it all, but necessity means we must look at things and decide on the best course to take.

I believe having multiple partners not only delivers the finance but actually authenticates a project. If a number of major broadcasters or platforms believe in a show from the start, we know they will deliver their audiences to the show. We always have to look beyond the deal—the deal is just the conduit to get shows in front of audiences around the world. We want our partners and customers to share our passion for the products.

WS: What strategies are you employing at KMD to navigate the opportunities and challenges ahead?
PHILLIPS: Hard work! To be honest, there was a time when it wasn’t too difficult. You did some gentle persuasion, of course, but clients either wanted your shows or not. But now you have to do so much more. More research and marketing. Providing ratings information and profiles. Having a better understanding of the shows we have and where they will fit in a client’s programming spectrum of offerings. We have to be more aware of what the competition is doing. We travel more to sit with our clients for longer to learn what they need. There is a definite need to be bold. That’s not a cavalier approach by any means; before we say that, we have to have considered all options and reached a conclusion as to what would make more sense for us.

You can’t make deals by rote like we might have done back in the day. We need to consider all the parts and market differently from day to day. We have to bring to each deal our intellectual understanding and a belief in the direction of the market.

We know hospital shows and cop shows will invariably work to one degree or another, but we’re looking for fresh ideas, new angles, new vision, we have to keep moving the dial. And we have to be prepared to take a risk and to have the courage of our convictions as there is more competition and greater creative excellence in programming out there.

We also have to make a commitment—results don’t happen overnight.

It’s all about being bold and taking carefully considered risks. We aim to be as informed as possible, but we have to move forward. We can’t just go with what we’ve done before—the market changes constantly.

WS: What areas are you focusing on over the next year?
PHILLIPS: Continuing the work we commenced when Kew acquired the former Content Media. Continuing and increasing our activity in non-scripted entertainment. We are pleased to have the “go-to” status for significant music and related documentaries and stories in non-scripted, on which we need to further capitalize. There is a significant market for entertaining non-scripted shows. Building our scripted portfolio. We have some strong dramas from third-party producers, such as the award-winning Line of Duty, which [has] a sixth season coming soon. We are continuing to build on our drama co-production partnership with the U.K.’s Channel 5 following the successful ten-part drama Clink, which has strong appeal to young adult audiences. We will launch season three of Shaftesbury’s Frankie Drake Mysteries at MIPCOM.

Our in-house slate is emerging and building extremely well under Carrie Stein [executive VP of global scripted series]. We recently announced the international drama series Margeaux, created by Adi Hasak, which we are partnering on with Nordic Entertainment Group. We are going to be delivering more in the scripted arena in the coming months.

We are interested in looking more closely at younger-skewing—the YA [segment].

Being part of Kew means we can pretty much do what we want to expand. We are able to hear concepts and ideas that might work for us. We aren’t a huge monolithic, “siloed” company that is set in its ways.

We have a great team across the board and people—talent and broadcast clients—like to work with us. It’s a truly creative and entertaining business that gets more interesting day by day as it continues to evolve.