Nat Abraham

World Screen Weekly, November 20 2008

Head of Distribution

Breakthrough Entertainment

When Nat Abraham was appointed to head up distribution for Canada’s Breakthrough Entertainment—a role that gives him oversight for daily operations such as worldwide sales, presales and co-production opportunities—it was more of a return to his roots than starting a new endeavor.

With more than 16 years of experience in the distribution industry under his belt, Abraham has worked with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Tri-Star, among others, and represented programming from the likes of HBO, Showtime and Dick Clark Productions. And now for Breakthrough, he is heading up the exploitation of a catalogue that contains more than 2,100 half-hours of content, covering everything from documentary, factual and lifestyle to animation and comedy.

Abraham was previously Breakthrough’s head of Canadian sales and acquisitions, where he was "selectively sourcing high-quality programming from producers around the world and bringing it to Canadian broadcasters," he explains. "And now I’m doing both; I’m also thrilled to be showcasing Breakthrough’s own productions from Canada to the world." In his prior role, Abraham was key in the company’s recent acquisitions of Science of the Senses, Fraud Squad, Combat Forces and The World Without US. He also led Breakthrough’s collaboration with Partners in Motion, producers of Crime Stories, Re-Inventors and Disasters of the Century, all of which are distributed by Breakthrough.

On whether he prefers the acquisitions or distribution side of the business, Abraham is enthusiastic when he replies, "I love them both equally! When you’re involved in acquisitions you get to see a lot of what other people are doing, and the kinds of content that broadcasters are interested in. It’s extremely important to get a sense for things from other perspectives as opposed to just our own."

Abraham also shows great enthusiasm toward Breakthrough’s growing library for the international market. In the way of kids’ fare, Jimmy Two Shoes landed the top spot on the most screened list at this year’s MIPCOM Junior. "It’s a strong show, but still you can never anticipate something like that. We’re in the company of a lot of good properties, so you can never go in there expecting anything like this, but it sure feels rewarding to get it." Also on Breakthrough’s kids’ slate are Atomic Betty, Captain Flamingo and Miss BG.

"Our factual side has been doing extremely well for us," Abraham notes. "We attended MIPCOM this year with three brand new and very ambitious projects—ambitious even for Breakthrough’s standards. The first is Greatest Tank Battles, a ten-part series commissioned by History Television in Canada. The series profiles some of the most decisive battles in recent times with specific focus on the tanks used in those battles and the very soldiers who actually manned those tanks. All of the armored equipment, distinct to each of the countries involved in those battles, are profiled as well. With the spectacular use of CGI, the viewer is transported directly into the heart of the action and in the gunner’s seat experiencing each confrontation with a level of realism not seen before. We will be announcing a major multi-territorial deal on the series very shortly.

"At MIPCOM, we also launched our four-part documentary series Battlefield Mysteries, which premiered recently to rave reviews and high ratings on History Television as part of their Remembrance Week programming," Abraham continues. "Science of the Senses, also launched at MIPCOM, is an extraordinary project. This four-part documentary, made for CBC’s Nature of Things, takes a revealing look at our five senses—sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste—and profiles the remarkable technological solutions that have been invented for people who are lacking those critical senses. For example, in the episode on sight, viewers witness the fascinating technology developed for an individual who is blind, and reveals how advances in computerization has now actually allowed him to see. In the ‘touch’ episode, a gentleman with a newly-conceived prosthetic arm not only uses it just like a real limb, but technological developments in bionics actually allow him to now feel with it too. This is one of the most unique series we’ve offered and we’re very excited to be taking it to broadcasters worldwide."

Comedy also features prominently on Breakthrough’s slate. Abraham points to the new series Less than Kind as one that has "garnered a lot of attention right out of the gate." The critically acclaimed series features Jesse Camacho as Sheldon, an overweight high-school kid, and follows his dysfunctional family around as they deal with money problems, his over-the-top father, Sam (Maury Chaykin), his loser brother (Benjamin Arthur) and the cold Winnipeg winters. "The script is brilliantly funny yet does an excellent job tugging at viewers’ heart strings," says Abraham. Even before the series’ first season made its debut on Canada’s Citytv this fall, it was given the go-ahead for an additional season of 13 episodes.

Bringing an edge to the company’s comedy catalogue this year is Producing Parker, Breakthrough’s first foray into adult animation. "The series features the voice of Kim Cattrall (Sex and the City) who brings a similar wit and sarcasm to her character in this series. Producing Parker pushes the boundaries in humor and tone making it a very entertaining series for a prime-time slot. It’s the first adult animated series that we’ve done, and I think there will be a lot more to come from us."

Asked about the impact of the current economic crisis on business in general, Abraham admits that "there is a calculated cautiousness out there, but in the end it’s about the content. Buyers came to MIPCOM this year with much more of a deliberate and focused purpose and business was brisk."

—By Kristin Brzoznowski