Miramax Looks To Up International Revenues

CANNES: Exhibiting for the first time at MIPCOM, Miramax is keen to drive its international revenues to between 50 percent and 70 percent of its overall business within the next three years, the independent studio’s CEO, Mike Lang, told World Screen Newsflash in Cannes today.

"International has been a very small part of the Miramax business—something like less than 20 percent of our revenue," Lang told World Screen Newsflash following his Media Mastermind keynote on day one of the market. "My goal is for it to be 50 to 70 percent within three years. That is the future for our business clearly—expanding our presence [worldwide]. Not only our library and licensing that but also building these owned and operated platforms around the world. International is at the core. It’s about building relationships with people on the ground."

The studio has been having discussions with broadcasters and platforms across the globe about its acclaimed 700-plus title library—home to such contemporary classics as Pulp Fiction and Good Will Hunting. Lang, who helped launch Hulu while he was at News Corp., has made digital a key part of the revived Miramax’s business model. At MIPCOM, he and his team are talking to buyers about linear TV deals, on-demand, catch-up rights and a branded Miramax cable channel. For the planned cable network, he is keen to line up partners in strategic markets worldwide. "We don’t see ourselves getting into the cable-network business around the world without the right partners in the right marketplace [that] can bring carriage, market knowledge, local content, knowledge of ad market and so forth. Because the library was not exploited at all in many of these international markets, we can take avails and find opportunities to give shorter windows."

Lang used is keynote speech to talk about the vision for the newly independent Miramax. At the helm of the company since its sale by Disney, Lang stressed the value of the library and the need to exploit that trove of content on as many platforms as possible. Discussing its digital deals with Netflix and Hulu in the U.S. and internationally, Lang noted the importance of interoperability and cross-platform deals.